Lost: The Rewatch Thread

[Pop Zeus]

Originally Posted by Schwartz

What makes no sense is why Dharma (or the Others) would do something as monumentally, monstrously stupid as turning an apocalypse-averting necessity into a Skinner Box experiment. But that's a question that has gone completely unraised for several seasons, so I'm not sure we'll ever get an answer.

That is true, unless the fact that the Swan was always outside the area of the truce meant that whoever pushed the button had to stay underground for extended periods of time, even before the purge wiped out everyone else with the poison gas.

[DarthLowbudget@]

Originally Posted by Feral Akodon

It was implied Dharma guys gave a shit about the reports coming from the observation.
Totally agree with Schwartz on his take about how stupid it is the device.

But it was also shown that all the reports from the observation station were being dumped out into a big field in the middle of nowhere.

[Feral Akodon]

Originally Posted by DarthLowbudget@

But it was also shown that all the reports from the observation station were being dumped out into a big field in the middle of nowhere.

I tried to make that point, that the Dharma wasn't reading them. This fact says nothing about if the Swan is a Skinner experiment or not. It just support they don't care about the fellas observing them.

[DarthLowbudget@]

Well, what's the point of the skinner experiment if no one is actually reading the reports? Defeats the point of the experiment.

[Mattioli]

Originally Posted by The Recap

Is that a cut we see under Jack’s shirt collar? Blood? That’s odd, to say the least. It’s clearly significant, but it’s unclear as to how or why.

I posted this in the Season 6 thread, but thought it was worth mentioning here, as well. Jack's cut/scrape/blood mirrors the bullet graze Daniel sustains during the Dharmaville shootout in "The Variable". Now, what that means? Who knows? Maybe Faraday and Jack are somehow bonded or linked. I suggested that AlternaJack may be receiving some ghostly visits from Faraday.

[Nabster]

You know I think the losties traveling back to 2007 wasn't caused by the bomb, but by Jacob. First of all the bomb should've killed them, but Jacob says to MIB, "They're coming." And then a white flash engulfs the losties, the white flash we've seen many times when the Losties were time traveling. It would atleast explain why they are still alive.

[Syd]

This really has nothing to do with season six and is a bit of a rant, so feel free to skip it.

In regards to the "making it up as they go along" complaint, I finally realized why exactly that was a criticism. It wasn't so much that they were making up the story as they went along (though seeing how things are tying together shows that they haven't been, and even so, as Jesse says, EVERY FUCKING SHOW "makes it up" as they go along, there's no crime there), its that they were clearly making up the back story as they went along.

Looking back at each and every character's back story, with a few exceptions (Ben being the obvious one, Hurley and his numbers might be another), I...really don't see the need to shroud it in so much mystery, so much so that even the ACTORS themselves had no idea about certain aspects of their character. Why couldn't they just sit Evangeline Lily down and say "Look, your character blew up her step-father, who was really her father, and has been on the run ever since" or "Look Terry, your father pushed you out a window and that's why you're paralyzed." I mean, did they really need to keep THESE things a secret? I understand not revealing who or what the smoke monster is or what the deal with the Others is, but when it comes to "Jack, you can NEVER ask me what happened to Aaron....because I gave him to Claire's mother." I don't see why there had to be so much mystery surrounding the back story.

Apologies for the rant, and I know I'm going to be blasted apart over it, I still love the show and the back stories themselves for the most part, I was just addressing the complaint of "making it up as they go along" and why its valid in regards to the BACK STORY, not the STORY.

[Mangy]

Syd, HOW DARE YOU?!?!

Seriously, that's a valid complaint. Stuff like the "you can never ask me about Aaron again!" moment are completely stupid in hindsight. There are several moments and reactions throughout the show that are more about goosing up the drama and suspense than anything else. This tactic often works, but when it doesn't, it's glaring.

[Feral Akodon]

Originally Posted by Syd

Apologies for the rant, and I know I'm going to be blasted apart over it...

I was speculating about an old post that talked about Vaughan input, and I assumed not long ago that the back stories is were the temporal writers have space to work along. The list is impressive http://bit.ly/afdLXI

[Syd]

Yeah, I thought I'd bring it up now since we're in the final season, and looking back, certain things, in regard to the back story, don't make sense, at least from "Character is acting like their back story is way more epic and terrifying then it actually is."

[Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Nabster

You know I think the losties traveling back to 2007 wasn't caused by the bomb, but by Jacob. First of all the bomb should've killed them, but Jacob says to MIB, "They're coming." And then a white flash engulfs the losties, the white flash we've seen many times when the Losties were time traveling. It would atleast explain why they are still alive.

Like ten other people have suggested this in the last week, but it requires overturning the established nature of the time jumps in order to answer a question that already has one. We've been told that the jumps were occurring randomly, because the wheel was off its axis. Then we're shown the wheel, off its axis, and the jumps stopping when it's fixed. There's nothing to suggest that Jacob or Smokey is directing the jumps*. Is it possible that this will eventually be revealed? I suppose, given the show's propensity for massive misdirections (the "advanced" nature of the Others, the purpose of the button and "Jacob's" cabin were all pretty extreme turnarounds from the information originally presented), but it doesn't need to be to explain why they survived. The idea was that the bomb would "negate" the energy Radzinsky released, so it's conceivable that a successful detonation would not necessarily entail a nuclear blast. It's wonky to the point it hardly qualifies as psuedoscience, but it's internally consistent.

*Except perhaps the mention that Jacob is vaguely responsible for bringing groups of people to the island. And that suggests manipulation of a generally murky sort, not anything to do with time travel. The jumps seem to be a rather unique phenomenon, judging by Richard/the Others' befuddlement.