POST 11 – THE ALTERNATIVE ISLAND

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re walking around your house and suddenly you discover a bunch of new rooms, a second storey that was never there before, an entire new wing? We love those dreams; talk about extreme makeover! Our point is, doesn’t the Lost island seem to exist in just such an ever expanding universe, growing from living on the beach to huts and hatches last year to now include a leafy suburb complete with a zoo and aquarium? Wal-mart and a certain construction company must be eyeing this burgeoning island with some interest.

But we digress; which is also something Lost is very good at doing. Last week’s opening scene flashed back to the day of the crash, and later Jack flashed back to the last days of his marriage. Interesting how characters from life on the island seem to intermix so freely with characters in the flashbacks. In fact, it is the hallmark of Lost that everyone is “interconnected” in mysterious ways.

The examples of crossovers “encounters” are so numerous that they defy the confines of a list. Or do they? Hmmm? Who’s been making a little list? Wasn’t that what Ben asked Ethan to do? Find the wreckage of the plane and “make a list”?

Who knows what any of it means? Which is not to say that there hasn’t been a ton of speculation on Lost blogs and podcasts regarding the island map; the Others’ village; Ben’s list; what’s in Jack’s dossier and how the Other’s came by it, and what’s the deal with Juliet and how come she looks so much like Penelope and even Sarah and also sort of like Libby?

With that last theory, the prevailing opinion seems to be that the women are all related. Perhaps they’re all members of the Widmore clan and it’s Juliet that Penelope is searching for and not Desmond. Could be, but we sure hope not.

What we have not heard much about is speculation that the island reality is entirely manufactured: the island may be an illusion while in fact the Lost survivors are trapped far underground with images of a tropical paradise piped into their brains like Musak. The “people” may all “interconnect” because they are all playing parts in both the flashbacks and the island scenario. The women may all look similar because that’s the template the captors have to work with or because the captors are trying to hone in on some specific information locked in their captives’ brains and triggered by the image of Pen-Juliet. (Hmmm, that sounds familiar somehow? Aren’t there some magicians…with names a lot like that?)

No, we don’t know who “they” are or what purpose this uber-alternative universe might serve, but from a story-telling point of view it sure seems that it would be a lot easier to explain mind control than a mysterious ever-enlarging island plopped down into a universe populated by a mere handful of people who are all somehow related. But the blogs and podcasts don’t seem to take much stock in this view. In fact, they barely consider the possibility that nothing is as it seems. We get the feeling that if that turned out to be the case, it would be viewed as a huge and unhappy surprise.
What we all agree on is that something has got to give sooner rather than later and that the payoff for our patience will not be the end of the story but the beginning of a rip-roaring tale.

Our hope is that if, for instance, it turns out they’re all, say, robots (I thought Juliet’s question about “free-will” might be a nod in Asimov’s direction and the three laws of robotics), that the fans who’ve invested so heavily in whether Kate ends up with Jack or Sawyer, or whether Sun’s baby is her husband’s, won’t feel like you do in those dreams where you search and search and search for something wonderful, but know not what. You’re excited and in hot pursuit and thrilled to lay hands on the precious box only to open it and find … whatever…something stupid that you instantly discard in disgust.

We hate those dreams and it does seem at times that Lost is on that nightmare road, not because the audience has grown tired of the treasure hunt, but because TPTB have buried the treasure chest deeper than the Swan Hatch and that by the time it’s unearthed the prize will seem like a cheat. Maybe it needs to be more like The Lost Experience where TPTB planted hints about clues and solutions to help the fans along. In the end, TLE didn’t amount to much, didn’t even really end but just faded away. Even the tried-and-true followers seemed satisfied: Okay, TLE was what it was. Unfortunately, so far, we can’t say we know as much about Lost.