Dave loses his shoe on the island after he chucks it at Hurley.

The guy with the red shoes/ruby slippers crushed under building materials in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”

Charlie loses a shoe as he dives down to The Looking Glass.

Does a lost shoe work as well as the wind blown hat of Miller’s Crossing? Not as a symbol of loss, but perhaps it means something else.

In addition to all of the eventual plot points raised throughout the seasons about why Jack didn’t bother to get new shoes for his dad…I think that the original intent was to use the image of Jack’s dad in the bright white tennis shoes to conjure the concept of “Follow the White Rabbit”.

I think that gave the right metaphor and mind-set for the series to follow.

just a thought but what if jack is imagining his dad? in the incident, christian tells jack to count to 5 after the dural sack thing, but in the pilot, jack never mentions his dad to kate when retelling the story. also jack blames christian for never being satisfied with him, but christian asks jack if he is sure its not himself that is never satisfied. christian never existing would certainly explain why the casket was empty when jack found it. just a toy for everyone to chew…

Hope you’ll have time to podcast during the hiatus!

m

Good vs. Evil?

Redemption?

Does the island have any power or is the power all from Jacob and AJ?

Is the island in danger and all this is being done to save the Island?

Will this all end up like Field of Dreams where Jack and his father are reunited at the end? I think the last episode will be Christian and Jack, and Jack having to trust his father in order to save everyone else. I also think Jack will sacrifice himself for everyone else.

In Episode 1, Tabla Rasa, Hurly asks if the thing that moved the trees was a dinosaur. Jack responded that it couldn’r be a dinosaur because they are extinct.

As we know…pretty amazing things are possible.

So…will Season 6 reveal that the Smoke Monster has something to do with dinosaurs?

1) John Locke was the piece of the “game” or “loop-hole” needed to bring the war that was mentioned by Widmore.

2) What ever happened, happened! The fact that Jack thought he was going to erase everything and Hawking knew that she killed her son in 1977 before he was born, that is the way it always happened in 1977. So the fact that Juliet tried to blow up the Jughead bomb, only ended the time loop for the misplaced Losties.

3)Dead is Dead. Since it is confirmed that Locke’s dead body was in the Ajira crate, the Locke that we came to know and love is gone. We are dealing with the nemesis as people are calling this mystery person.

4) I loved this season for all the cool stuff that was presented but hated it for giving massive migraine headaches on a weekly basis. I am so looking forward to next season.

Oh, what a ride they were about to begin!!!!

A thought and a speculation…

The thought: (Hope this isn’t too obvious) The Jacob interaction with Jack seemed pretty pointless unless you see it as Jacob preventing Jack and Christian from really arguing, which could have led to Christian revealing that he really was proud of Jack and believed in him. It would have prevented all of the tension in their relationship which led to all the events that ended with Christian’s death and jack going to and returning from Austrialia. Christian was a sacrifice that The Island demanded.

The speculation: If Claire’s mom had already been planning on going back to Australia the day after Kate dropped off Aaron, then she might have already had a ticket on Ajira 316. If she got on that flight with Aaron, then she and Aaron could be somewhere/somewhen on The Island. There are still a few missing reveals from the pre-flight actions of Ajira 316 (that is…Hurley opening the guitar case), which I expect to be a part of Season Six at some point. If we are going back to the airport in LA for that, then we could easily see Carole Littleton boarding the flight with Aaron (prior to the Losties)…which would mean she would have been in the back of the plane and they would not have seen them.

I know it’s a stretch, but with the huge build-up of spectral-Claire demanding that Aaron not being returned to the island and with Aaron and Walt being the only ones not to return, from a narrative stand-point, I just think it makes sense. If assume somehow Walt will end up back at some point, but I can’t see how that would happen just yet.

——————–

Additional thought (just popped into my head)…since we have seen Walt just appear where needed…can’t he just will himself back to the island? Maybe he’ll have another dream and realize that he needs to be back there. Then all of the living 8125ers will be back.

All left would be for Desmond, Penny and lil’ charlie to return on the boat and we’ve got a Very Lostie Renunion. With everyone home for the holidays…it’ll be the best Christmas ever. (You get the idea…it would not be a stretch or an unplausible leap to get the remaining Losties back)

Now regarding the «poor» French of Danielle’s team
This was nowhere near French Canadian accent
I should know I ive in Quebec
However Robert and Montand did talk in some international French accent
I guess they used the actors they could find
But for the American audience it was meant for, it must have sounded French enough

There were good wink/ties to some classics in this season 5 (as in previous) like Le Petit Prince The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King’s
but it unfortunately lost steam towards the end of the season
These references to literature have always been my favorite part of the show
It seemed that we would constantly learn something through this series, a rare feat in US TV …

The mystery I hope to be solved is how the hell was this Beechcraft ever wound up on the Island from Nigeria and why was EKO on O815
But there were others
like why were the Losties unmasked by the 74-77 Dharmaites?
Lafleur/Sawier talks Richard out of the truce crisis
Juliet delivers a baby
Razinsky gets thrown on the wall by Jin
and this goes unnoticed
I thought that the Dharmaites were supposed to be of superior intelligence

By the way, the H Bomb story seemed really out of place and not realistic
Like it was mentioned above
There was not a design for backpack carry…

My favorite moments must have been the various exchanges between Miles and Hurley

Favorite quote was by Captain Lapidus (of course)

My theory is increasingly leaning towards a closing of the loop going forward and finding the motivations of each person boarding flight O815 in 2004

john is not fake. if he were aj, then he would have recognized the foot of the statue. aj went there to talk to jacob, because jacob lived there. john tells richard its a nice foot but what does it have to do with jacob. to me thats an easy one.

the occupants of the black rock are characters we already know. the ship was lost in 1881 and left port travelling in the wrong direction, indicating it was heading for the island, which made it in the incident part 1. the ship might be the original sub, taking people to and from the island.

what better way to destroy a 200+ foot statue than to blow it up with dynamite?

adam and eve had a black and white stone in their pockets. these are clearly backgammon gamepieces, which indicates that the male can only be john, walt, sawyer, or hurley, as they are the only ones who played backgammon. that means the female can only be someone related to those males, if it is john then it would be helen, if walt it would be shannon, if sawyer kate or juliet, and if hurley it would be his mother or starla. logic dictates sawyer and kate, but the fate of juliet is unknown. as soon as timetravel was introduced into the show i immediately assumed that since kate and jack found adam and eve, in the style of the show it would be fitting that these two found their own long dead bodies.

walt is an enigma that will reveal himself in the final season.

jacob and aj have northern american accents. not the typical sort of english spoken in 1881, if that is the time they were in. they are not ghosts or gods, they are men who, as far as jacob is concerned, can travel in time, per the visits he made throughout the lives of select losties.

any thoughts?
twentyfirstcenturybuccaneer@yahoo.com

Yes some froward cabins where dead on… but others weren’t. I kinda remember one about an helicopter. But I might be wrong.
But the question still remains: Jacob brings the players (as the Black Rock) so it’s understandable that he visits Sawyer, Kate…
But AJ? And even if they can bring them… how come AJ knew that way way back in the past Locke would be near the wheel and that he should use Christian to talk to Locke so that it would convince Jack to come back???

Sorry. I do hate spoilers, but couldn’t resist a bit of humor there. I’ve recently gone back to listen to some forward cabins and I don’t know how R & J do it. They had foreknowledge of Jacob not only being real, but visiting young Sawyer.

I don’t know about the magicbox… I discarded it (maybe to early) as “just another Ben lies”. It seemed far more logical to me that Mr. Friendly in his way to see Michael also brought back Cooper. But I might be wrong!

But the sub is still something really strange: how come everyone has to be unconscient while on the journey? And wasn’t the signal jammed since the sky turned purple (but Ben could have asked the girls to let the sub come in and out… and he talked to Michael on the boat so he already unjammed before)? And if the sub is a fake how did the Dharma arrived on the Island in the first place?

About the AJ comment… John had been told he would have to die to help his friends way back in the past (the 4toe statue was still there) by Christian. If Christian works for/is AJ then it means he has been working on all this since a long long time ago (with a knowledge on what would happen that is quite amazing… Really looking to know how much the two “players” had forseen)

I just had an amorphous thought. It confused me a bit when AJ declared that “You have no idea what I’ve had to do to get here.” What’s so difficult about assuming another’s form to trick people into doing your dirty work, if you’re some kind of demigod with superhuman powers? Unless he has to undergo the experience of death every time he vacates a form. So could AJ have been Anthony Cooper, for example, appearing out of nowhere and suffering a genuine death just to further his evil scheme? Is this somewhat reminiscent of the film, The Prestige, in which Tesla figures out how to manipulate space/time/energy? to create duplicates just as in The Orchid orientation film? The whole trick lies in the fact that the newly created man appears out of nowhere in a place he shouldn’t be while the original magician is sealed in secret box that kills him and is whisked away.

At any rate, the magic box is among my top 5 mysteries that require answers along with the numbers.

Cooper probably came back with “Mr. Friendly” Tom when he went to see Michael to recruit him… probably with the sub.

And, what about that whole Cooper (John’s dad) thing? Now that we know there are path ways or trajectories to access the Island how did Cooper get to the Island. Did he get thrust through some portal to the Island in an opposite fashion that Ben left the Island? Or was that smokey too?

@Carol: If the “tsktsk” is performed before smokey/aj happears. The maybe the “whispers” are performed before jacob does.

another quote: “Who is the president of the USA? … Ok dude I’m from the future”(but favorite is: “We are not going to Guam, are we?”)

re:Favorite lines – I still love when they are being shot at on the boats, and they start flashing in time and Sawyer says “Thank you God” and then when they turn up into a bad storm and Sawyer says “I take it back”.

I keep thinking of the quote we have been hearing for five years “live together or die alone”. Is this Jacob’s goal? Will Jack be the last man standing on the Island? I think he may die to save everyone else and finally fulfill his role as a hero.

I recently began thinking about the almost forgotten term “dark territory.”
Maybe AJ can only work his magic within its parameters. I want to go back to my subterranean grove on Dagobah reference, a place strong with the dark side. We definitely need a geography lesson in season 6 incorporating the maps of Rousseau and Radzinski.

So, I was thinking a typhoon to wash the Black Rock inland, but it’s such a clear day for its arrival. A tsunami? This could topple the statue as well. Maybe as a result of some ill-advised mining operations, ostensibly the purpose for its voyage, while the BR is anchored in the bay.

Favorite lines of season 5:
5. Wherever you are, I’ll bet you’re laughing your ass off-Jack.
4.Your mother’s an other? -Sawyer
3. Bloop. -Hurley
2. I just didn’t have time to talk you into hanging yourself again. -Ben
1. No such thing. -Hurley

I hope there is one at least one more show.. I love your podcast!
I have reviewed The man behind the curtain and I have noticed:
Young Benjamin is visited by her dead mother when he arrives to the island and then Richard ask him if she was dead on the island. This means that Richard knows at that moment that Benjamin has been visited by AntiJacob?
On the other hand the mysterious Annie gives Ben an Apollo bar when he arrives could it mean she is Jacob ?

Lack of skills in writing plots?
Or is that due to the fact the serie passed from 23 episodes format to 14/17?
Maybe.

I just know that Abrams worked on season 1, then other executive produces came in during season 1,2 and 3.
The problem is that now the two left LIndelof and Cuse had to justifiy and merge together all the storyline started along the years.
Because: its obviously clear that they are writing while the serie is going on.
There is no a main plan.
And whats the cheapes trick to justify and explain things?
Supernatural and magic.
It’s the Stephen King trick.
Fantastic atmospheres, characters and storys ,but all of his books turn out with a monster in the end.

And the LOST writers played safe aswell.
And its not even an idea: its clear that’s what happened.
Just watch the season finale of S 05 to understand. Jacob character popping out of nowhere, ant jacob, supernatural battle.

Its a shame.
And its a shame that most of the explanations seen in season 5 are cheap and 5 per episode (danielle, dharma as silly hippies, desmond going back to penny, etc etc)
so rushed and cheap.
They killed all the interesting characters to get to season 6 with the core of the characters from season 1.
Eko, Faraday all so interesting characters…

I was hoping in a theory that didnt happened.
Faraday being Jacob.

But thats it.
We will have to see season 6 and this stupid fight between light and dark, and forget about all those scary, sci fi atmospheres in season 2.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/woman-who-arrived-late-for-doomed-air-france-flight-killed-in-crash-20090612-c5lb.html

The fact that this happened in real life has left me with a very eerie feeling.

Just a thought: Will we see the “boat” thing with Sawyer/Juliet and others on the cannoe while they are shoot at? I hope so!

Season 5 seemed rushed. I suppose now that they have all these stuff to wrap up they need to throw answers our way. But compared to the previous season it just seemed completely 100% rushed. I’m glad we got all the answers we got, lord knows we needed them…but still…
Remember the first few seasons we’d get 1 answer every 5-6 episodes and be all “AWESOME!!” I’d talk for days with my friends about how amazing that episode was. Can you believe that Henry really was an other!!?!?! or “omg!!! did you see what happened when he didn’t push the button!!”
But having 5 answers in one episode is like a massive shock to the system…
I don’t know..
I loved the season, but I think something was missing.

My favorite moment of the entire season was Locke coming back to life and being a badass.
I was so happy to see Locke, who I always thought was the anti Jack (who for better or worse is without a doubt the main character) and being such, Locke would have to live til the end. When they killed him off I was bummed out. Not pissed, cause they said “he’ll still be alive in the past on the island” So I figured we’d get to see him the rest of the show or whatever, but just in the past. Fine.
But then to bring back the Locke of season 1 and then say “hah! gotcha! Locke is dead and this guy is evil!”
That’s agrivating… and I would say the worst woment of the season for me (besides the Jack did it all for love or silly Juliet and her mood swings). I mean… Locke’s character was so involved in everything the island did that for his fate to be this…
I was sure there was something bigger in store than just a pawn.
I wouldn’t care if he’s perminantly dead and being used as a meat puppet for the badguy at all if they just took the time to show us AJ’s plan…or maybe give us a glimpse into locke’s life again to show some purpose to it.
For a man who had a purpose and was saved by Jacob…he really had a crappy life.

Now for the questions that are driving me crazy:

10. What happened to Cindy and the kids?

9. What is the point of children on the island…more specifically Aaron and Walt… I want answers!

8. CLAIRE?!?!?

7. What’s the Black Rock Story?

6. Is Christian Shepard AJ or something else?

5. Why do pregnant women die?

4. WHAT THE HELL IS THE PLAGUE OR DISEASE THAT THEY TALKED ABOUT SO MUCH THE FIRST 2 SEASONS?!?! CLAIRE EVEN HAD TO VACCINATED!

3. What the hell was the dharma airdrop is season 2…. are they around still?

2. SMOKE MONSTER ANSWERS!!!

1. Who are Jacob and AJ?

This is the best tv show ever. And you know what… Almost no answered are given!
So Lost might still be one of the best tv shows ever even if they don’t answer the questions they rose in seasons 1 and 2 (Dirty others walking silently through the jungle with teddies on a string, the vaccine/quarantine, 4815162342, is Dave an illusion Hugo had and the AJ tried to use on him to kill him because he is dangerous to him (but the last 2 will be addressed I guess), Walt, the weather, the whispers, what about pregnancy and children, why was the computer on the Swan able to comunicate but the info cut on the film, Dharma droped food, the pearl purpuse and why tubes go nowhere, eyeglass and fake beard in the Arrow, why hieroglyphs in case of system failure of the Swan and what did they said, DeGroots and Hanso, who marked the sharks with Dharma logos, pillar of smoke but no footprints…)

Rich – great point about Miles, Daniel and Charlotte, I hadn’t really thought of it that way, probably since it wasn’t revealed till later that they all had a connection and season four was all about their being there to help capture Ben.

Sarah- I agree, the first couple of seasons to me were so much better, characters we came to really care about, rich storylines and some mythology. Then characters started dying and some with false purposes (Charlie, Daniel), now it seems to be mythology based with some character development thrown in to support the mythology. I for one do not like that all this is because of the egos of two men, Jacob and fake locke. Plus Jack doing it all for Kate, seems to be thrown in at the last minute. He seemed to be racked with guilt over leaving the island and that is what drove him to drinking and drugs, and I thought that guilt was his motivation in returning, not to make things right with Kate. (which he couldn’t have known about till Daniel told him about his jughead theory).

Even though the show has changed it still is my favorite show because it is the one show that really makes a viewer think. It is a lot of fun to come up with theories, how many shows do that?

This is my first season with this board and Ryan and Jen, so for me that has really opened up a whole different kind of enjoyment. Thanks Ryan and Jen. I have a non-lost viewing family so I enjoy discussing the show with all of you.

But the same with desmond.
He got penny, he got his kid, he called him Charlie, he went to Faraday’s mom with hands in his pocket saying daniel he needed help.
no reason why. no solution. He said that and he left.
Thats it.
I think the storyline of desomnd is over with the hospital scene.

But also the storyline fo them having to go back to the island was quite cheap.

question: Sawyer and Juliet have been together for three years.
In those years why didnt sawyer ask her: why were you Others chasing us? why were you making experiments on pregnant wemen?” Thats the first thing I would ask. Its quite not belivable.
Like its not belivable that Ben has been hanging out with jack nad some flight 815 memebers and none asked him whats the deal with the whole thing…

I think my least favourite aspect of Season 5 has been Jack. As a character, he doesn’t seem to have been himself, especially in all those episodes where we were waiting for him to be activated. When he was, it was on some headstrong mission to wipe out his relationship with Kate. I’ve come to expect more from a character that was set up to be the central protagonist of the whole show.

However, Sawyer this season has been excellent. When I look back at how Sawyers character has progressed from season 1, he has drastically changed, yet is totally believable, and still the same Sawyer at heart. I think he makes a much better central character than the current Jack.

I just felt for both season 4 and 5 (more in season 5) that everything got sort of a “staged” feeling. Few extras, really low budget off-island scenes, poor props…
The incident itself was so disappointing. Try to watch again the season finale of S 2 and this one and you really see what i mean.
and a lot, to many, mistakes…and errors.
Sayid sees the foot of the statue in season 2 and it’s the left one. Now it’s the…right one?
Is that an error or are they going to justify that with the supernatural thing: left, right, light darkness thing?
The whole Desmond flashback in Live together die alone, was really well done.
And the whole 70s science fiction feeling, the halo of mistery …

i got now a really bad feeling that the whole plot was not planned from the beginning…the ideas of season 2 have been adapted to another storyline.

the whole dharma thing is now secondary…
and ben?
and why the others were so so hostiles towards jack & co? killing, the lies, the camouflage with other clothes (pretending to live in savages camps)…

What happened with all that?
the kidnapping of kids, the experiments on pregnant women, the old science thing…it’s all gone forgotten.
From season 2 and part season 3, DHARMA seemed so hi tech, mysterious …
From season 4 and 5 they seem a bounch of hippies, the DHARMA village looks like a joke, 3 wooden houses, the same 10 people living there…

It will all turn out like a chess game between two gods/supernatural beings.
White and black, dark and like.
The key is in the loke/ Walt discussion in the pilot of season 1.
So poor and cheap to justify all with that….

The characters we followed for 5 seasons are nothing but pieces of a game between gods…

I’m a huge LOST fan, and i loved/love the serie. That’s why Im so disappointed…

I’m going with Anti-Jacob being the smoke monster, aka Smokie. I think the smoke monster took out people that couldn’t be used or manipulated. The pilot could have caused trouble, etc. I think Mr. Eko was taken out once he refused to be manipulated (by being penitent).

I also think that the monster of light that Locke saw in season one was Jacob. Granted I still think there’s always the possibility that Jacob is the bad guy and Smokie is the good guy… for twist sake.

Oh, and having naked Juliet running through the jungle to be found by Hurley is a great idea.

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:JackEye.jpg

Exactly 12 seconds in is the shot of an eye, I then went to Lostpedia to look at eyes and it appears to be the exact same shot of Jack’s eye in the opening of season 1, the eye is just more of a close up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdkjrrSpAI&feature=related

Wonder what that means! They plan to have Jack in the opening shot and just haven’t shot it yet, or they plan to start the season with the same opening of the plane crashing?

Anyway, thought I would share in case anyone else wondered whose eye is in the promo for next year.

Was Miles brought to the Island because he will know who is really dead, would he have sensed Locke was not the “real” locke? Why did Widmore choose him?

How can the “island” prevent people from dying off Island, such as Michael, Jack, etc.

How did Christian and Charlie appear off island? Is Christian a spirit? What is he?

On a final note, I had tivo’d the whole season of Lost to watch this summer. I had a direct tv installer over yesterday because I got a HDTV and I had him move my tivo to another room and he broke it!! Now I can’t get it to work and I lost my whole season. Any ideas anybody how to fix a tivo?

@Tawl: yes yes and yes. Time will change. And the pseudo “freewill” that Jacob used was a way for destiny to happen. The game is not over and even if Ben killed Jacob the next moves are coming.

In other “pasts” I believe Juliet did not return to save the Island, which allowed the incident to happen without the H-bomb exploding, and thus required the button-pushing in the Hatch which brought down the plane.

Why did Eloise remember the past, yet the Losties acted as if their past was happening for the first time.

Jacob setup the “past” like a chessboard, whereas Mr Blackie has fallen into his trap. Jacob arranged for all the Losties to be at particular places at particular times with his visits, and will now prove Mr Blackie is ultimately wrong about the good/evilness of mankind.

Question, will Jacob rise again thru his own loophole?

Made another examination and perhaps the statue does represent Taweret. For some reason, I thought she had a feline head, but it’s actually that of a hippopotamus with a pronounced snout similar to the crocodile. So maybe yet another theory goes down the drain. I’m going to check out the screencaps again and the article you cited. Thanks Carol.

I’m well into free association mode right now so I hope this pans out. Of what is Sobek the patron or symbol? In his oldest form, the crocodile deity was a figure that personified the terrible power of nature, the beast that could emerge from the murky water to drag us down with sudden finality. The Egyptians offered to him out of fear and to appease the spirit that animated this constant threat. It represents the reptillian heart of darkness, the twisted, subterranean grove on Dagobah. It is an emblem of raw power rather than one of empathy or fertility. As such, it represents a past vindication for AJ. Those who worshipped him built that monument. Somehow, Jacob is consigned to its base or “shadow.” One final thought, season one soundtrack has a spooky theme for Locke called “Crocodile Locke.” Just a coincidence?

Look foward to whatever you gather us all to this summer.

One thought at the moment to share:

All those touched by Jacob received a piece of him (soul or whatever) and will be what helps reconstitute Jacob to fight Anti-Jacob in the coming battle

Even though Juliet was not ‘touched’ by Jacob in the Finale, maybe, just maybe (I Hope) Season 6 opens with a Jacob/Juliet contact and she therefore lives into S6 as a key player.

My big questions echo those above: missing kids, Why Sun in 2007 rather than 1977 and I admit that I’d love to know more about why Walt was special even though that curiousity has faded a good deal.

Bye y’all from the Peach State.

the link is http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=recap#t=162212&d=201648

What did you think of Season 5 overall?

I think 5 was a great season, but it really felt rushed…at least the DHARMA stuff did. I wish we’d have spent more time finding out about the studies being done and the true purpose of DHARMA ( at least what it’s own recruits and volunteers were told ).

I really liked the time-travel and shifting, but in a way I thought that the disclaimers “30 years ago”, etc. were annoying and I felt like it was dumbed down a bit for the newer viewers. I don’t like the idea of pandering to the rookies. People who have not seen it have told me they don’t plan to and I don’t think anyone who comes to the show new now should; I don’t think it’s a show anyone would get or appreciate without watching the entire seires. I guess I think that the time shifts could have been used to mess with us more than they did and in a little more mysterious way.

What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?

My favorite moment was realizing that we would not just hear about the DHARMA initiative or see more videos, but that we would actually get to experience it first hand through our Losties. Least favorite would be the relative information we were given as in my previous paragraph.

Top unanswered question(S) going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?

1: Walt was special. Now he’s been told he’s done enough. That’s not good enough. Ever since he left the island we have seen him appear to many people…to Locke, Shannon, and Mrs. Clue? I want to know more about him and I want to know his destiny.

2: Jack’s father and other ‘seem to be dead’ people. Does the appearance of AJ mean that either Jacob or AJ have been doing this?

3: From season 1. Charlie says : “Where the hell are we?”.

4: What is DHARMA? What is Hanso? What are Jacob / AJ?

5: Smokey

6: I think that Jacob provided the “Lists” to Ben. Why and what or who are the people in “The Temple” which has not been revealed. Why were Cindy & the kids “here to watch”.

OK – - sorry so many… I do have one other thought / theory for now.

I want to preface this with the fact that Desmond is my favorite character.. ‘ve always thought his episodes were the best, production wise, artistically, etc. but I’m not sure if his story ended.

I don’t want the rest of the story of LOST to suffer at the expense of bringing him back to the show since I don’t think that his character was meant to be the phenomenon that it became. If his coming back brings the story down or keeps many of the main questions from being answered I would just assume he stay in the world w/ Penny and Lil-Charlie.

However, I think his connections to Widmore, Hawking, Faraday, his buddy at the college who he discussed time-travel with, and was telling a colleague that “You could repeat the same experiment many time and get many different outcomes”, etc. could be the key to unlocking the story. I have also thought that the ‘flashes’ could have been his memory being triggered of things that had happened to him on a previous time-loop. Perhaps he has been looping in time over and over and this is his chance to get things right. Thus “See you in another life, brotha”. Maybe he wasn’t seeing the future as much as he was seeing images of an altternate life / loop he had already lived. But…If he just shows up without investigating or bringing some critical information to the island with him then I would hope he stays put so we can get answers. I trust the writers to get this right, as time and again they have not let us down.

Looking foward to anything you guys do over the break – - Brian in Atlanta, GA

Cheers!

Jacob does NOT look like any Egyptian I’ve ever seen.

Then we have Richard talking in Latin which we know from Juliet that they were all taught.

Illiana calls him Richardus (sp?) which doesn’t sound like an English name, which one might have if he was on the Black Rock, or an Egyptian name but more like a Latin version of Richard.

I think Richard is a contemporary of Jacob. Could he be the young version of the man in black? Or maybe his son?

Besides that I loved the ending of Season 5, I too have many, many questions, and have read many of them posted here, but there is one question that has been bothering me, and not asked.

What happened to the little kids who were walking through the jungle, one of them was dragging a beat-up Teddy bear? Nobody has ever discussed who they are, and what their significance is the the story.

I hope the kids are not just another item to fall by the way. Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks Ryan and Jen for the wonderful podcasts. I am now putting you two on the top of my “who to listen to first” podcast list! Mahalo

Next year opening scene will be key: First season, Jack near the beach (the losties are on the Island). Second season, Desmond training in the Swan (there is some technology on Island by mad guys living alone to “save the world”). Third season, Juliet listining to CD cooking (there is not just some retro technology on Island… there is actual nomal “actual” life). Fourth season, Hurley driving around in the futur (there “6″ of them who have left… but who, how?). Fifth season, Pierre Chang in the 77 met Daniel Faraday (Ok… after expending the circle around the crash site in space, they did that in TIME!).

Now what is going to happen after expending space start to the whole world, they expended it to time… but now that space and time has been done. What is next?

Well I retake my theorie that time has changed, look at the last scenes from a season and the start of the other:
season 1 ends on the hatch beeing blown. season 2 opens on the hatch.
season 2 ends on the losties are taken by the others. season 3 starts by the others and how they live.
season 3 ends on Jack in the future wanting to go back to the Island. season 4 starts on Hurley mest up in the future.
season 4 ends on well… on Island: the Island desepearing, off Island: Jack and Ben wanting to go back with “him”. season 5 starts on the Island moving in time, and Jack and Ben wainting to go back with “him”.

Now… how did this season ends? The losties wants to detonate an hydrogen bomb to change time and AJ making Ben kill Jacob. So how will this start? If they can’t expend the start of this season thru space and time how can they? I think I have an answer. But it’s just a theory.

I also have thought about Cindy & the kids from the tail section. Though they will be much older, I wonder if they can bring them back in some way. There is a group that was sent to the ‘temple’ before the time travelling, and I’m not sure if we have seen them yet.

As for a quip from this season, I like the “I’m a pisces” line. And I still like Hurley’s “am I talking to a guy in a wheelchair” to the nurse when Locke showed up- then his reaction following. I love Hurley. I also want him to have a larger character role, than just being a ‘comic relief’ character!

Just think about it! We all think we can do a better job at writing the show than Darlton so why not give us a shot at it? They will record multiple scenes for each episode and at crucial points a screen will come up with ask questions like;

Should Kate continue to annoy Jack? Text KateDumb.
To have Kate accidentally fall into an abyss text FinallyKateIsGone.

Then after the live voting is tallied (you only get 10 seconds people so make it count) the show continues. This way we the viewers get to co-direct how the show ends! I’ll take my commission money how ABC!

I loved the time traveling gambit at the start of the season to give us a plot device for telling the past of the island and Dharma. I would have died if they did the traditional ‘flashbacks’ for these stories (let’s be honest they got old in S3) and I absolutley loved the finalie, but somewhere in the middle it got very by-the-numbers with answers and had very little character development. (Jack was a no-show along with Kate returning to plot device of scapegoat).

• What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?
Fav = Hurly and Miles discussion about time travel.
Least = Every single love-triangle scene, does anyone care anymore?

• Top unanswered question going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?
Question: Are they really going to leave John Locke as the ultimate ‘chump’ and leave him dead without any Charlie-like redemption story?

Answered: Jacob’s reveal as an actual person not one of our castaways from the past/future etc.

• Favorite lines, quotes, or quips?
Sun: What happened to the statue?
Ben: I don’t know, it was like that when I got here.
Sun: Am I really supposed to believe you?
Ben: …Probably not.

The second list is harder to accept, but if Lost has taught us anything, it’s that you will pay the price if you stray from the truth.

#5 Jacob Gives Jack….an Apollo Bar??
It appears Jacob visits the elected few at turning points in their lives. We see this quite clearly with young Kate and Sawyer. He meets them at a critical juncture and gives them just enough of a push so that they follow the binary branch of Fate he has chosen. He even helps them create the talismans that define their lives and that they carry with them on their quest to the island. Furthermore, he seems to grant Locke and Sayid the gift of life. So where is he in Jack’s hour of need and what boon does he bestow? Answers: nowhere to be found and a consolation candy bar. This segment would have been much improved if they took out the browbeating Christian and substituted a mysterious observer in the OR (Jacob) who offered Jack the count-to-5 trick as a suggestion along with a reassuring touch on his shoulder.

#4 The Life and Death of Caesar
“No time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.” I was just beginning to get intrigued by this Caesar character, portrayed by a fine actor who conveys this whole package of intelligence, mystery, and fierce determination. They gave him 5 minutes of screen time and then disposed of him with a shotgun blast to the chest. The shock value of this deed was greatly minimized because we never had time to get invested in the character. In contrast, the death of Frogurt, after even less screen time, was a coup de grace because of how we felt about him. Either do these characters justice or use their precious screen time for the many characters and stories that do matter.

#3 Desmond’s Message for Ms. Hawking
This visit was totally pointless. Desmond didn’t aid in bringing the O6 together or convey any essential information about how to get back. All he did was say “Faraday needs your help,” (to which Eloise practically said “D’uh) and provide Ben a perfect opportunity to murder Des’s whole family despite the ample warnings from Widmore. Stupid all around.

#2 Jack says Losing Kate is his Reason for Detonating an Atomic Bomb
In the history of self-centered overreactions, this has got to be the Jughead of them all. Jack’s willing to risk all the lives he once would have gone to any length to save because his heart aches. Unlike so many previous characters who at least appear to be permanently gone, Kate is right there for him if Jack can summon the courage to begin anew. Instead, the writers have him take an absurd leap in the service of a plot point so that they have some way to manufacture The Incident. Not believable. Maybe they could have had a visitation from Christian/AJ to sway him and that might have made more sense.

#1 Kate Says Finding Claire Is the Reason She Came Back
I’m just going to reiterate what I said previously. I don’t get Kate’s motivation at all. She came back to the island for….Claire??? Aaron got lost for two seconds in a supermarket and that makes her feel vulnerable enough to abandon her well-established life for a quest she doesn’t even believe in? They didn’t even play up her “running away” trait which would have at least been plausible. Her resistance to returning was dramatized so heavily that we were led to believe that something really must have rocked Kate’s world to convince her to go along and what they came up with just didn’t deliver

#5-Daniel’s Reaction to the Death of Charlotte.
Their romance built gradually and credibly over the past two seasons. They shared a love of subtle devotion that never found the time to blossom. Charlotte watched over an ill Faraday and helped nurture him back to full capacity. Daniel protected her every chance he could, especially in the flash to 54 when he offered an open declaration of his love as a surety for his actions. Unfortunately, by that time, we could already see the end coming for Charlotte. It was heartbreaking when it finally arrived, only shortly before the displaced pilgrims managed to reset the wheel. Charlotte recalled too late and Daniel vowed to defy Fate as they embraced in an emotional farewell. The stuff of tragedy.

#4 When the Smoke Monster Carried Montand Beneath the Temple.
They didn’t do the story of the French team justice (another checklist item to be hurried through), but we did get here the first presentation of the Temple and the Cerberus vents that lead to the smoke monster’s lair. We see the cognizant, passover fog sever Montand’s arm and drag him down to an uncertain fate. Was Montand deemed benign by the island’s security system so that all would be well if his companions would just kindly join him in the chamber below— or was he possessed and transformed as the distraught Rousseau perceived? The heightened action and the potent mix of revelation with new uncertainty makes this a classic Lost moment.

#3 Sayid Shoots Young Ben
This may not have surpassed the flash forward as the most surprising Lost moment ever, but in may ways it’s the most viscerally shocking. At the very same moment, it manages to both make perfect sense and cause deep revulsion. Did our Sayid, a man of charm and vast personal resources, really just gun down an innocent, victimized 12 year old boy? I can’t think of another place you could see such a twist and still dare to call it genius.

#2 When Locke Tells Jack That his Father Said Hello.
Again, you could see the anguish and shock immediately hit Jack in a far more devastating way than Sawyer’s triumph via dirty tricks ever could. What was the one, the only thing that Locke could have said to any of the 06 to bring them back? “I, too, have seen your father walking again, after death, on the island. “ Locke gave external validation to the man of science, made him believe again, and set all of them on an inexorable path back to the island. It’s definitely a true crisis or pivot point for all the dramatic action that ensues.

#1 Jacob and his Enemy Meet on the Beach
Yes, there is a great and powerful Oz. The presumed and often cited guiding force behind the island, the spinner and weaver of Fate, is more than a concoction of cynical leaders or a figment of the imagination. He does in fact exist. Not only that, but he has a mortal enemy, one who practices the dark arts with a howling anger beneath the perfect politeness of a colleague. “Pleased to meet you….” The Black Rock has just come upon the horizon, filled with the heritage of the Others, Magnus Hanso, and perhaps Richard Alpert. They represent another chance (or to us, a far earlier one) to advance the cycle toward an ultimate redemption or again prove the inherent corruption of the physical world. And then light and dark part ways to pursue their own designs. This was the pinnacle of the season.

What I’d like answered:
What’s WALT’s story? Why didn’t the others want him? When will he come full circle?

How will Aaron and Claire come back in?

Why is my nose bleeding?
How did the DI come across the island in the first place?

Where’s the Hanso foundation?

I’m sure I have some others… but I’ll have to think.

As far as a “blooper” though…..did anyone else notice the changes in the blood around Juliette’s mouth after she had fallen in the pit?

I will respond to the blog/feedback about S5 in its entirety but wanted to share these two quick thoughts.

Ryan and Jen……..LOVE the podcast. I enjoy it as MUCH as I enjoy the show and look forward to your podcast with the same enthusiasm/anticipation as I do the show “Lost.” Thanks!!!

Anyone who believes you can core out a hydrogen bomb, and carry the backpackable core, and acheive a detonation of a ‘nuclear device’ (either down a shaft or by hitting it with a rock!!?!) has gone beyond suspension of disbelief and is onto STOOPIT!

Do you think they build em the way they do just to make em hard to pack?????

What I want to do now is quickly sum what season 5 was in my mind. In a word, good, perhaps great. No previous season engendered the excitement and delight for me, and overall I am very PRO #5. What made it so was less individual parts, portions, or lines, than the incredible creativity at work. Our losties have had quite a time of it, and the writers have not hesitated to take this show way beyond anything previously attempted. It was a good season in relation to the other four, and a great season in the context of Lost vs. Television Wasteland.

I am not a TV guy, and will snidely punt on any issue involving comparison of Lost and another TV show. I didn’t watch the other TV show, whatever it was. Lost involves so many hours of exposition that it cannot be compared to movies except to note the obvious production values, acting, and writing that have set it apart on the tv platform. More on the writing shortly, though. So, as far as ‘entertainment’ is concerned, Lost only can be compared (in my mind) with literature, and it is an apt comparison in that the writers/creators are doing much the same in the creative process.

It cannot be ignored that the writers now appear influenced siginificantly by S King’s The Stand. Alas, as has been stated, for better and possibly for worse. The Stand is an epic novel that I seriously enjoyed and the parallels with Lost are too many to enumerate, and beside the point. The ending of The Stand has been mentioned here, and I share the prayer that the similarities end now, and go no further, as the book’s ending *sucked*. I am getting that hollow feeling again as I watched and rewatched ‘The Incident’. It is a ‘game-changer’, as Darleton claimed. Casts season 5 in a whole new light that demands rewatching, and possibly the entire show to this point. Wise? I agree with my community fellows (here) that the show is the show, and liking or disliking on the basis of theories or preconceived needs on the part of the viewer is unfair. BUT, no matter where the writer’s take it. HOW WELL they do it IS well open to criticism. Parts of the season (5) were poorly done, and the finale had some real weaknesses. The lack of substantial character interaction (mentioned above) is telling. Our survivors do mostly speak in plot points at this juncture, as it really stands out when they don’t. They are acting like pawns, stripped of real identities that the show spent so much time developing, and that did draw us in from the beginning. To me, that is poor writing, and I am not criticizing the direction or content of the plot or story. I reserve judgement on the whole Jacob thing. Lost excelled without it, and I do not find myself sold on the plot idea at this point. They will have to sell me, and the finale did not do a good job of that. But they have sold me in the past, and I confess to being an initial naysayer about time travel, and still loved this season.

I refuse to posit theories, as I will be wrong, and I tire of the endless fascination of guessing where the show is going. I am fascinated by where it (we) have been, and what it means to us. That we are here, doing this, speaks volumes about how well we have been treated, and I am only human in wanting it to continue for the final season. (prayer=please don’t blow it)

@ Steven in Bathurst: “Even if I’m wrong (and let’s face it, we’ve all been wrong pretty much all the time), I at least think there’s something about our assumptions that is fundamentally wrong. That’s why we’re all having so much trouble reconciling all the parts, particularly around Jacob, the Losties and Locke.”- Oh, you are so right on!

“One final advice for everyone. If you want to enjoy next season, be prepared to jettison any theory that does not match the unfurling evidence. If you stick to a theory and it doesn’t pan out, then you may be disappointed with the outcome, which in itself would be a great disappointment. Perhaps for season six, we need to spend more time just going along for the ride and enjoying the stories as they unfold.”- YES. again. BUT to be uncritical of the quality of the effort is to sell the value of OUR time, OUR interest, OUR devotion, very short. I refuse to do that.

Back later.

AND please do, Stay Lost!

My favorite moments were anything scenes with Michael Emerson Jorge Garcia. Emerson because he is just so fun to watch. How this man does not have an Emmy? And I love Jorge, plus his scenes invariably have him asking all the questions we would like to ask. Plus his interactions with Miles are priceless. Have to give a nod to Josh Holloway who has really stepped up his game this season. He really deserves an Emmy nod as well.

As far as unanswered questions:

Who the hell is Richard (Ricardus) Alpert anyway and how old is he?

Is Jacob really dead (I think not)? Is Locke ( I think so)?

What do the numbers really mean? And how/why does Hurley wind up reading them on that looped message?

Why does the statue have 4 toes?

What was in that serum anyway?

I think you guys may be right when you said everyone will wind up popping back to the present after the “bomb goes off”. But I have a slightly different theory. Everyone seems to think that the bomb went off, but I’m thinking that maybe it didn’t. The flash we saw may have been the Island flashing as a result of the pocket of energy being released. We didn’t really hear an explosion so much as we saw that ubiquitous flash. So perhaps they will indeed flash forward to join up with the rest of the old gang.

I am also thinking about this from the perspective of this is a major network TV show. I think they have to figure out a way to get all their big stars back to the same place for the final season. And I’m sure their pretty fed up with dealing with all the flashbacks, flashforwards, ad nauseum as much as we’re tired of following along.

Ben told Sun (paraphrased) that the statue was like that when he got there, and Sun basically accused him of lying.

What if the destruction of the Taweret statue was more recent, and is what caused the pregnancy-related problems to arise?

I think some of the things a lot of us loved about LOST are done with.

Sorry all my post sound like I’m a hater, I’m just sad the direction LOST went this season =(

Actually let me be honest and state that Kate’s inconsistancy is… Kate through and through! But Juliette had been very logical in her choices, but as the Incident approached, she became as unpredictable as Kate can be counted on to be.

It actually makes me wonder if their actions were driven, and motivations provided, despite the “choice” that Jacob is keen on speaking of (as prevalently mentioned as Ben’s “we’re the good guys”), by our chessmasters.

I wonder if Jacob required his own personal sacrifice, and the actions of the Incident in order for the endgame to go the way he hopes.

Season 6 should be sensational – as long as the climax isn’t as disappointing as the Stand’s was, a literal deus ex machina. Given Darlton’s King influence – who knows where we are headed!

Favorite Moments: LeFleur; Terry O’Quinn & Michael Emerson’s performance in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham; Ken Leung’s performance in Some Like it Hoth; Hurley & Miles’ exchanges in Whatever Happened Happened.

Least Favorite Moments: The lack of Desmond. The writing (story arch) for the female characters. I think they are fine actresses, especially Elizabeth Mitchell (and Evangeline Lily showed much more range this year), but they are not much more than plot devices. I’m with Jen on this point.

Unanswered Question: If Jacob brought these people to the Island, why? What is it about them that will matter? Did he pick them to help them grow individually or did he pick them to help save the world or resolve the long standing conflict with AJ?

Favorite lines, quotes and quips: Anything snarky by Sawyer or Miles or Ben. The humor on the show is very clever. Loved the buddy scenes between Miles and Hurley.

I loved the season finale, I thought it did a great job of bridging the real life and the mythical eliminates of Lost. I am looking forward to season six.

What did you think of Season 5 overall?

Outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. But also incredibly flawed. I noted a couple of weeks ago that the story had outgrown the episodic format required by television so we were ending up with story threads starting and stopping and starting again a few episodes later, and whole characters appearing and disappearing for large lengths of time (Desmond being the best example but many others too at various times). So structure was a problem. There’s also the problem of melodrama in the lives and stories of some characters (you know who I mean) and the point, raised earlier or in the previous blog, that characters’ motivations are serving the plot, rather than the plot emerging from character motivations. This, I fear, will only get worse as they try to write a story that gets them to the conclusion they have already written (a problem I felt plagued the final season of Battlestar Galactica too).

But can we be critical of Carlton and Damon on this when so much of Lost is so wonderfully brilliant? They aren’t trying to write a hospital soap or a by-the-numbers cop show. They are writing a complex drama on the nature of space and time, religion and science, good and evil. I mean, the fact that we’ve had a storyline in two timeframes throughout most of this season, and the time travel elements haven’t totally collapsed in on themselves, it a testament to the great story-telling we are witnessing. You only need to see the mess that is Heroes (and even the end of Twin Peaks) to know that this stuff is hard to write. Yet here we are, five seasons in, with millions of fans nitpicking and reviewing all the details, and the worst we can find are trivialities. The lunchbox looks different. Or Charlotte’s age is wrong. If you cannot tell, I am totally in awe of what the creators of Lost have achieved with this show and I am willing to forgive the melodrama and narrative problems because Season 5 was always going to be a problem season because of the grand sweep of the story. I think we have to acknowledge that they did a fantastic job given the circumstances.

What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?

I think this had to be in LaFleur when, after Locke disappeared down the well, someone asked how long they would wait for Locke to get back, and I think Sawyer said something like “as long as it takes” and the screen faded to black and the words “three years later” appeared on screen. It was like a mini-game changer and opened up many possibilities for those characters, which we then saw played out throughout the episode, including a culmination with Sawyer and Juliet together. This was one of my favourite episodes.

My least favourite moments were the many times that the Losties in Dharma (mainly Jack, Kate, Hurley) appeared on screen and did basically nothing. It was like they were simply treading water to the finale and it would have been better if that screen time was used to tell a different story.

Top unanswered question going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?

I have a question that has bothered me since we learnt that the others were a group of civilised people who enjoyed book club meetings. My question is, why were the others so hostile to the plane crash survivors back in season 1? Considering they are all friends now (which happened too fast for my liking, considering all the killing that went on in the first three seasons), it seemed so unnecessary and resulted in the loss of many, many lives. Why not make friends with them since they are a group of random people who would respond to kindness far better than violence? It makes no sense to me. I had always thought that perhaps the others knew something about the Losties that made them suspicious or perhaps that some Losties were hiding something but neither of these seem to be the case. I would like something satisfactory on this otherwise it feels like contrived conflict.

That’s the main question for me anyway. Here are some minor questions.

How will Hurley record the numbers? And how will Richard see the Losties ‘die’? (Both these questions imply that we will see the aftermath of the incident at the beginning of Season 6 and that our Losties will still be in 1977)

How did the Dharma Initiative find the island and set up experiments? (I think that Jacob must have brought them there, just as he did the Black Rock. Perhaps Anti-Jacob used their experiments to create a time-loophole to kill Jacob)

Why did Widmore plant the fake plane near Indonesia when that was clearly well off course from the Sydney to LA flight path? Why did the world buy that explanation, or at least not query why the plane was so far from the flight path?

In Miles’s first flashback with the old lady and her grandson’s ‘ghost’, why did the photo on the wall next to the stairs change?

How does Jacob get around? We know that only about a week before Ben kills him, he is giving Hurley the guitar case outside the police station (I know, it feels longer but the plane trip, the crash and Locke visiting the temple and Richard only took a few days at the most). What does he do at home all day anyway? Loom? Is loom even a verb?

Why did they take Walt? What was he doing all that time? Why did they release him?

Lastly, favorite lines, quotes, or quips?

Any one of the lines from the Chang/Hurley exchange a couple of episodes back. Apart from the Empire Strike Back thing, it was the only time that any of the character exchanges had had fun with the whole time travel thing. “So you’re 46 then?”. And Hurley saying “there’s no such thing” when Chang asked him about the Korean War. Very, very funny.

Before finishing up, I have to get this idea out. On the season finale podcast, Jen and Ryan noted the use of “my friend” by Anti-Jacob and how this phrase had been used by Ilana’s people. Sometimes I think it’s the small clues that can be most interesting. I think there’s a chance that the Others and Ilana actually work for Anti-Jacob, and that perhaps they aren’t aware of it. Richard, for example, says that Jacob made him immortal but perhaps he means Anti-Jacob, who has been pretending to be Jacob (using his cabin and whatnot). Or maybe Anti-Jacob is also called Jacob and we are witnessing some kind of split personality, the good and evil in all of us personified in this instance as two separate people banished to an island. Perhaps there will be a third force (the Shephard family?) to resolve the conflict between the two halves of Jacob.

Even if I’m wrong (and let’s face it, we’ve all been wrong pretty much all the time), I at least think there’s something about our assumptions that is fundamentally wrong. That’s why we’re all having so much trouble reconciling all the parts, particularly around Jacob, the Losties and Locke.

One final advice for everyone. If you want to enjoy next season, be prepared to jettison any theory that does not match the unfurling evidence. If you stick to a theory and it doesn’t pan out, then you may be disappointed with the outcome, which in itself would be a great disappointment. Perhaps for season six, we need to spend more time just going along for the ride and enjoying the stories as they unfold.

And then, of course, I remember that we have 17 episodes left… anyone want to start a petition for a longer season?

Take a look at these 2 pictures:

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:The_Statue.jpg

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:5x16_Statue_ruins.png

Now you ask yourself: Brian, why are you showing me these?

All this time we have only seen the LEFT FOOT of the statue.

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Footboat.jpg

Why all of a sudden are we looking at the RIGHT FOOT?

Did anyone else notice this and what does it mean?

Heaven forbid I mention the “A” word (alternate universe).

~ THE Pemstar Initiative ~

Does anyone have thoughts about how our different factions communicate with the main characters? There has already been a lot of speculation that A.J. (Esau) may be related to the Smoke Monster, since he’s already taken on the form of a dead person.

What about the dreams on and off the island? Here are some examples in no particular order:

- Kate’s dream with the mysterious phone call “The island needs you,” and Claire saying, “Don’t you dare bring him back.”
- Locke’s dreamwalking experience in the sweat tent with Boone.
- Eko’s dream of John and Yemi at the beechcraft site.
- Claire’s dream of John and Aaron.
- Charlie’s dream about Aaron, Claire, and his mother.
- Walt’s dream about Locke on the beach.

I’ve always felt these dreams came directly from the island. Could the island itself be an entity separate from Jacob, A.J., and the smoke monster?

“So why haven’t the Others of 2004-2007 run into the Others of 1974-1977?”
-If I remember correctly, Richard and the Others weren’t time traveling with the Losties. In the first episode of season five, it was Locke who vanished in front of them. So Richard and the Others were continuing on their normal timeline. It was only Locke, Miles, Jin, Juliet, Saywer, Charlotte, Faraday, and the 815′ers that were bouncing through time.

“It may be a prop “malfunction”, but the New Kids lunch box from “Born to Run” in season one is not the same as the one from “The Incident”’.
-I thought the same thing, too. But I think we’re supposed to smile and assume they’re the same lunch box.

Although I know many enjoyed the final scene between Sawyer and Juliette but I found it to be to much of a Titanic rip off. I personally like Juliette, a whole lot more than Kate so my opinion doesn’t stem from a personal dislike of the character.

The resolution to the Locke story line was a bit disappointing. As a Locke fan I thought it was necessary for him to be special and inherit the keys to the island kingdom. What I really wanted, and I know I share this sentiment with a majority of Locke fans, was a little hope for Locke. Of all the characters his life as been the worst and if anybody deserved a sliver of happiness or peace it was John Locke.

After the episode was over I felt an overwhelming sensation of disappointment. It is my opinion that the story could easily have reached this point years ago.

All I can say is Mouse Trap. Because way back in season 1 “Deus Ex Machina”, we see Locke explaining that in Mousetrap- you start with all your pieces off the board… and bring them on one by one until the trap is set… and then POW (or something like that).

From Wikipedia:

Deus Ex Machina: literally “god from the machine” is a plot device in which a person or thing appears “out of the blue” to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.

I think we now understand that everything on the island is an elaborate game of Mousetrap between Jacob and AJ/Smoke Guy/ Man in Black… whatever we call him.

Jacob has been “trapping” AJ (via the ring around the cabin, etc) over time. AJ gets free and finally finds Lock- who for him, appears “out of the blue” to help overcome seemingly insolvable difficulty (how to kill Jacob).

Mousetrap. I said it again. LOL

Love this show- love your podcast just as much as the show… and can’t wait for more of both!!

Cheers!

Frank in NYC

Hi all,
Im a huge huge fan of LOSt and i follow your podcast.

Season five was ok. I agree that season 1,2 and 3 where quite slow in the tempo of the overall season but I think Season 4 and 5 have too many elements and things happening in so few episodes.
From a story point of view I think is boring that now the whole thing is turning supernatural. I like the “a bit of supernatural with some scientific explanation” thing but now u can justify everything with supernatural and good and evil thing.
I dont like the characters turnied out to be puppets.
I dont like that there’s been a crescendo mistery about Jacob and then they show us 4 flashbacks about him all in the same episode, it’s not so believable.
They should have insert the character much before, maybe in a flashback in season 2 or 3 and than…ta-dam..the big reveal. That normal guy who bought the lunchbox to Kate was Jacob!
But like this, in this way looks like a patch, something made up last minute….
-And the Incident thing?
I can see that the show lost ratings and maybe ABC shrinked the budget cos that scene was a Xena-like mess. low cost special effects, a pitt with a coulpe of people around….everything looked so staged, so fake…

-And the Incident itself…I mean you dont talk for 30 years about a couple of metal bars flying around…

-And what about Jack running with a nuclear bomb in his backpack? Are they for real?
I know that in fiction there is some things you have to buy and accept but that unbelievable even in the LOST universe.

-And jack has been thinking about his daddy issues, find his dad thing…what happend with that?
He wants to blew the bomb cos he got dumped by kate and he screw it up?

We didnt see so many special effects in season 5. The cut the budget for real unfortunately.
I had the fear and suspect they were going to clean up the whole bunch of characters from season 2 to 5 to have a season 6 with the main cast.

so bye bye Faraday (silly the way he got killed, crazy that cuse and Lindelof cut the scene where he shows jack the differece between a small stone in a pond and a huge rock. A huge rock can make a difference. That was belivable explanation of changing time…and the cut that away…whatever), bye bye everyone who is not jack, Sawyer, kate, sahyd and Hurley.
They almost turned up to be the caricatures of themselves.

And now?
17 episodes to explain everything?
Mmmmm…..
what about the numbers?
The pregnant women?
The kidnapping of children?
Walt?
The powers of walt?
Widmore?
and the father of Sun?
And what happened to ethan? He was born then nothing…
and the mistery of Radzinsky’s death?

Are they going to fix all this with 17 episodes?

all those things were so os important and now there is no trace of those.

We have been watching a lot of things that now are useless for the whole story.
Im really disappointed and i was a bit embarassed for how bad were some scenes (i mean…how hard is to re-do a scene in the same way? locke falling with no rain of broken glasses? Faraday crying in front of the tv then ,a frame later, goes to open the door and he has long hair all of a sudden….come on….)

and the ending of the Indicent was so predictable….
Thats the classic cheap thing when there is no ideas anymore…

Im so disappointed.
But it looks like I’m the only one….

Well, I still have some things I want answered in the final season…

Assume that when Daniel, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, Bernard, Rose, Charlotte (before her fatal nose bleed) and of course Vincent were time traveling on the island, then EVERYBODY who was still on the island was also time traveling. So why haven’t the Others of 2004-2007 run into the Others of 1974-1977?

Why does Miles have the ability to communicate with the dead?

Why in 2004 do pregnant women die?

When will we discover Alvar Hanso’s role?

Since the REAL crew of Dharma Initiative are actually dead why did they still get an air-drop of supplies (season two I think)?

If Ethan was born in the Dharma Initiative how and when did he become an Other?

Where are Cindy and the kids from the tail section?

Why did only Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley go back to 1977 and not Locke’s body, or Sun…or the rest of the passengers and crew of Ajira 316?

Love the podcast.

PS. It may be a prop “malfunction”, but the New Kids lunch box from “Born to Run” in season one is not the same as the one from “The Incident”

http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-1490-24.html

http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-450-495.html

The sticker placement is different. More of the box is showing at the top of the one that was dug up. Probably just a blooper.

@Melissa : were they ? I’m not sure Quebec has ever been mentioned about Rousseau’s past. For the sake of history, I’d love to believe that, it would make their dialogue much easier to deal with !

(But trust me, it’s not only the accent, it’s the whole dialogue delivery who seemed not natural at all – but I don’t wanna focus on that for too long, it really is a minor detail compared to the rest of the show)

I loved the first half but was less thrilled with the last 4 episodes.

-What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?

Jack is willing to set off a nuke and kill a bunch of people so he can get another chance with Kate? I always thought Kate was the most selfish person alive. Now I see they are perfect for each other.

I loved the Juliet/Sawyer pairing. Too bad stupid Kate messed that up too.

-Top unanswered question going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?

How will Sayid live? Cuz he’d better!

-Favorite lines, quotes, or quips?
‘welcome to the meeting, twitchy.’
everything with Hurley & Miles

For me, season 5 was very special. But that’s probably because I only started watching the show last October – I was ill for a long time and watched all 4 seasons in a row. Story arc wise it’s hard to compare the seasons, because they are very different. Lost started out as a psychological drama with some paranormal elements and it’s come a long way. So far, S1 and S4 were my favorites, although very different. But the experience of waiting a whole week for an episode and not knowing what happens has been mind-blowing. (Because I cheated from season 2 with Lostpedia a little:P)

>What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?

Favourites – Sawyer picking a flower to give to Juliet. John Locke coming back to life (or so I thought).

Least favourites – all the romance stuff in the finale. The third episode with the introduction of Jughead – I couldn’t have cared less. Hydrogen bomb, blaah.

>Top unanswered question going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?

I’m not very curious about Walt, but there are a few things I expect from season 6:
- Seeing the real John Locke in flashbacks and somehow rehabilitating his purpose of existence. I’m really not satisfied with how it turned out.
- Seeing development in Sayid. I’ve loved his character but I was very disappointed when he started working for Ben again. So, he meets Jacob, his wife gets hit by a car and then he just becomes a hitman before accidentally returning to the Island? Kind of meeeh…
- I want to know what the numbers mean. First, Rousseau’s boat picked up the transmission of the numbers. Leonard’s pal used the numbers to guess the number of beans in a jar (and won money). I know number 23 is an important number in Kate’s life – the Australian farmer got 23 000 dollars in return of turnung her in.
- How did the Black Rock get into the middle of the Island and why?
- Some deeper history between Jacob and Anti-Jacob
- Claire, her mom and Aaron – what happened?
- I want to see Eloise Hawking again
- Does Ben remember Sayid shooting him?
- What’s up with Christian Shepard? (LOVED your idea that he’s actually alive, resurrected by Jacob)
- Smoke Monster – what is it? What kind of consciousness does it have?

I don’t have any favorite answers, I love having different ones:D And then being surprised with the right answers.

>Favorite lines, quotes, or quips?

Lapidus: We’re not going to Guam, are we?
Chang: I need you. – Miles: You do?
Locke: So the real question is… why wouldn’t you want to kill Jacob?
Ben: I’m a pisces.
Jack: What about the rest of the people on the plane? – Ben: Who cares?
Jack: How can you read? – Ben: My mother taught me.

And my least favorites were delivered by Sun and Juliet:

Sun: HAVE YOU SEEN MY HUSBAND?
Juliet: Live together, die alone.

Overall, S5 have been great for me both for Lost and for Transmission. The Lost Nerd in me has Found a home:)

Ok, you guys have done it. Like Jen said after a second viewing and listening to the podcast has actually turned me around. I have come to like The Incident more although the romance stuff still put me off. I will watch some episodes again and come back in a few days with more comments, questions and/or ideas.

I prefer to write though instead of leaving a voice message, listening to my own voice made me realize why once a long time ago some Japanese friends in Tokyo left the karaoke club “-”.

Mahalo…..

> What did you think of Season 5 overall ?

A whole new experience – clearly unique compared to the 4 first season. The whole time traveling extravaganza was a very clever way to revisit and give new perspectives to the Island’s mystery.

> What was your favorite moment… or least favorite moment?

Favorite moment : Faraday’s killed by his own mother. It was sad to lose such a great character, but with this one and the Charlotte’s death scene, Jeremy Davies pulled amazing performances. And the Jacob revelation. Introducing the biggest LOST question mark in this casual yet incredibly mysterious way was just great.

Worst moment : Any lines pronounced by the hideous french-speaking-with-a-canadian-accent cast. I’m french, and it was pure torture. I’ve never been so glad to see Smokey murk a character than the one who got his arm torn out. Plus the cute french girl who play young Rousseau managed to misspronounce her own french name (“I’m Daniele. Daniele Woossaw.”). Awful.

> Top unanswered question going into Season 6 (and your favorite answer)?

Basically, how can Jack and friends come back from an H-Bomb explosion ? And who really is Jacob nemesis ? And what about dead-Locke ? And…

I have absolutely no answer. And I’m so happy with that.

> Favorite lines, quotes, or quips?

“What lies in the shadow of the statue ?”. Or : how a eight-word question can create a whole world of mystery. Pure LOST genius to me.

unanswered????
1. the whole idea of the losties’ mysterious hidden talents/powers went by the wayside after new characters with more obvious talents and powers started to show up.
2. Walt was so special that he was stolen and raved about… but then that was left alone
3. It’s still unclear what the relationship of the two islands are. Are there always two moving together? does one move and the other does not? We were focused on one island then they threw another one at us and never mentioned it’s properties. Now that it’s back in the picture I expected answers.

problems-
only Miles and Hurley come close to talking like people. ( And they are dumbed down way too much.) Most characters now speak only in plot points. So, no one has a conversation that lets you know that they are old friends, or happy, or sad. All you get is uncomfortable relaying of half information. Last episode Sawyer and Juliet show up in the woods all beat up and no one asks about that. Kate shows up to the sub to deliver the plot point of Jack having a bomb. The fact that the person whose idea it was, knows what to do and why has been killed by his mother should be important to everyone’s decision making process… unmentioned. Locke gets off of the island… no one freaks out, asks how, or says anything that reads as people that shared a scary amazing mysterious event on an Island that vanishes and you can’t escape from and made it out alive. Everyone speaks in plot points.

the last ep showed people trying to change the past and alter the future… at the same time, they bounce to the future—
in the same episode!!… •showing you• that it did not work!! You can’t do both in the same episode

Waiting 9 months for LOST and the Transmission will be brutal, but it gives me something to look forward to!

Overall I thought season 5 was the worst season for the following reasons.

Characters – in “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” no one wants to ask Locke were the island went? Kate says nothing about Sawyer but tells Locke he never loved anyone? Who wrote that episode? it was sooo bizzare (in a bad way).

Old School LOST – One season left and nothing tells me that Walt, the numbers, Dharma vids, or maybe even Aaron will play any significant role in the outcome of the show.

Time Travel and Parents – so much of the story lost its gravity when people started telling their past selves what to do and now everyone is everyone’s brother or mother or something. With all the family ties and TT you can basically say anything now.

Spoon fed info – “thirty years here”, “three years there”, “ten minutes left” . The spoon fed info is ruining this show, flashbacks and flashforwards were great because you had to try and piece it together yourself.

I still say a terribad episode of LOST is better than any show.

Have a great summer Ryan and Jen, thanks for the hard work =)

In many ways, I kind of wish that they had used the time-travel storytelling at the end of season four. The beginning of season five would pick up in the 1970′s and we would progress from there. The top of season five was so fast-paced and and all over the place, literally. And then all of a sudden, they returned to the season 1-3 narrative and everything came to a grinding halt. This made the 70′s Dharma times seem almost…boring, when I know they most certainly weren’t. We had just been spoiled at the beginning of season five with a faster narrative.

One could argue that you can’t really compare this season to any other because the narrative was drastically different. But this time last year, in the final part of season four, every episode was seriously getting better and better, the plot was picking up with faster storytelling, and they were answering a lot of questions. It seemed to be the opposite this year.

Season five was, by far, not a disappointment nor was it the best season of the series for me. If I had to pick a favorite episode, I’d go with “The Incident” or “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”. I wasn’t too particularly fond of “The Little Prince”. But I felt like I had a lot of favorite moments throughout the season, rather than a favorite episode. My absolute favorite moments were when the pieces fell into place, story-wise. Great character moments like when Kate gave away Aaron, the final scene in Locke and Ben’s episodes, and Sawyer’s relationship with Juliet were outstanding.

As for questions…what was in Hurley’s guitar case? I could have sworn we would have returned to the moment when the other outrigger was shooting at the Left Behinders, so I’m anxious to see how that piece of the puzzle falls into place. And, of course, all of the questions brought on by the finale are pretty interesting, as well.

Again, I love this show and I REALLY enjoyed season five. But, in my opinion, I felt like this entire season felt like one giant “transition episode”, as some might call it. Cheers!