Jump to content

Lost Season 4 Part Deux


Werthead

Recommended Posts

A good episode, if a bit of a mindfuck. We got final confirmation of time advancing at the same rate on and off the Island (the date is 24 December 2004 off the Island as well) but again confirmation of a differential effect (the helicopter vanishing for a day).

Who left the door open?

SPOILER: Lost
Frank or Michael, whom I think is now very likely to be on the boat?

And Penny knows about the Island. We knew that from the Season 2 finale (when she had those two guys in the Arctic looking for the magnetic anomaly), but it's good to have it confirmed. I like the love story between the two of them, although I had a sudden premonition that someone was going to burst in and shoot Desmond whilst he was on the phone.

And Minkowski only lasted one episode? They had a quasi-big actor playing him (Fisher Stevens), I thought he'd stick around for a few eps at least.

Ok, now for a question. I still haven't seen the first two seasons of Lost, so maybe this was explained somewhere. Was there ever an explanation of what caused 815 to crash? I thought it was something having to do with the hatch with the numbers and an EM pulse, but maybe I imagined that somewhere?

As explained earlier, yep, there was some kind of magnetic anomaly on the Island that built up to dangerous levels every 108 minutes and had to vented by a guy pressing a button on a computer inside the Swan Station (aka 'the hatch'). When Desmond crashed on the Island in 2001 that's what he ended up doing for three years, until Locke and Jack opened the hatch and ended up pressing the button themselves. The guy who taught Desmond how to press the button, a DHARMA operative named Inman, also showed Desmond a failsafe button which would vent the entire magnetic anomaly in one go, but DHARMA had no idea what would happen if this took place, so it was only to be used as a matter of last resort.

In the Season 2 finale, Locke went a bit stir-crazy after having to press the button continuously (for about a month - wimp) and smashed up the computer. When the venting didn't happen, the anomaly went crazy and started sucking everything metallic into it. According to the producers, if it hadn't been stopped the Island at least would have been destroyed. With no choice, Desmond activated the failsafe and vented the anomaly in a titanic blast which destroyed the Swan Station. It's not clear how but the three people in the station - Locke, Eko and Desmond - all survived. Desmond started having his weird flashes of the future at that time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And Penny knows about the Island. We knew that from the Season 2 finale (when she had those two guys in the Arctic looking for the magnetic anomaly), but it's good to have it confirmed. I like the love story between the two of them, although I had a sudden premonition that someone was going to burst in and shoot Desmond whilst he was on the phone.

And Minkowski only lasted one episode? They had a quasi-big actor playing him (Fisher Stevens), I thought he'd stick around for a few eps at least.

I was also dreading a rather sudden death for Desmond while he was on the phone with Penny. Is he now 'safe' - because he found his anchor in time in time (if you see what I mean)?

As to Fisher Stevens' character - with a series playing with time and flashbacks, he most certainly could make another appearance.

Aratan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot to take in from this episode.

Besides the time fuck stuff.... There was the whole tidbit about Penny's father getting the journal from the Black Rock. Previously owned by Hanto! And whose ship is this? It might not be Penny's boat, but it may be her fathers. OR was that a Darma tattoo on that guys arm? I never got a good look at it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may have been in the previous thread, but did anyone else notice what Faraday told Desmond to tell him in the past? Set the device to 2.342 at 11 hz? Weren't the first numbers in the magic sequence 2 3 42 11? What were the others? I don't even remember.

ETA: Wow. Just looked it up on the internets. Not even close.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And Minkowski only lasted one episode? They had a quasi-big actor playing him (Fisher Stevens), I thought he'd stick around for a few eps at least.

I didn't know he was a big actor, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of him in future episodes. I want to know who he is and where he went exactly when he faceplanted every 31 minutes like Desmond.

Besides the time fuck stuff.... There was the whole tidbit about Penny's father getting the journal from the Black Rock. Previously owned by Hanto!

Probably already an obvious theory, but I think Penny's dad is the big behind-the-scenes villain behind this whole thing and is who Sayid and Ben were going after a few episodes back.

I liked Sayid's line when Minkowski fell flat on his face in mid-sentence: "Someone needs to tell me precisely what is going on." lol

Very touching scene when Penny and Desmond finally got in touch. It was like watching a Korean soap opera, everyone in the room was in tears. I'll even admit to getting a little dust in my eye...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought this was one of the best episodes I've seen so far. It didn't wander all over the place; it was tight, suspenseful, and included most of my favorite characters (Desmond, Sayid, and now Dan). The ending was a tad predictable, but touching nevertheless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember was he buried? Bernard is the only tailie left isn't he?

He was buried by Locke, who saw on Eko's prayer-stick something about the answers being to the North, leading him to the Others' barracks. He wasn't buried with the other dead castaways, but buried in the jungle where he was killed.

I loved this episode. I listened to the Podcast beforehand, which confused me, but the episode wasn't very confusing. :P

I'm glad it wasn't just the post-baby hormones that had me teary-eyed at the end.

I think the reason they say there are no paradoxes in their universe is because they believe time is circular. As in, everything (past, present, and future) is happening at the same time. There are no alternate realities in their world, so everything has to end up the way they've deemed it (a la the O6 getting off the Island, Jack going downhill, etc.). The woman in Desmond's other flashback (Flashes Before Your Eyes?) explained that the universe has a way of righting itself, so even if he were to do something to throw the universe off-course, something else would happen to make whatever was supposed to happen happen.

I just made myself dizzy before I go to work. Awesome. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very good epsiode and pretty much redeems that irksome Desmond flashback/time travel episode from season 3. I was expecting a copy of Slaughterhouse Five to be laying around somewhere in this episode but they didn't have one anywhere. Odd since they usually have books shown that are more obscurely related to the theme of the episode. I have a major hunch that reading this book is how they resolved most of their time travel issues. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember was he buried? Bernard is the only tailie left isn't he?

As Iceman said, no. There's Cindy, the kids and about a dozen other survivors of 815 with the Others still around. But of the ones who went to the beach and joined up with Team Jack, yeah, Bernard is the only one left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very good epsiode and pretty much redeems that irksome Desmond flashback/time travel episode from season 3. I was expecting a copy of Slaughterhouse Five to be laying around somewhere in this episode but they didn't have one anywhere. Odd since they usually have books shown that are more obscurely related to the theme of the episode. I have a major hunch that reading this book is how they resolved most of their time travel issues. :)

How are the time travel issues resolved? I know that Desmond didn't physically travel through time, but his consciousness does - I don't see how that eliminates the standard paradoxes. Desmond and Faraday should have known each other on the island from meeting in 1996 at Oxford. Faraday even has Desmond's name written in his journal. 1996 Faraday got his numbers because 2004 Faraday sent them back via Desmond, but presumably 2004 Faraday only knew them because back in 1996 he had been told them by Desmond, who had got them from 2004 Faraday, etc etc. Classic paradox situation.

You guys throwing out phrases like "time is circular" need to explain that a little more. I also don't understand how the woman in Desmond's previous time traveling episode saying "the universe corrects itself" magically makes these paradoxes go away. I have not read Slaughterhouse 5. Can someone explain the relevance, and how that would mitigate the time travel issues?

We got final confirmation of time advancing at the same rate on and off the Island (the date is 24 December 2004 off the Island as well) but again confirmation of a differential effect (the helicopter vanishing for a day).

We know that it's December 24th on the freighter and in the outside world (wherever Penny is). How do we know that it's December 24th on the island? Am I just not remembering someone mentioning it on the island?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How are the time travel issues resolved? I know that Desmond didn't physically travel through time, but his consciousness does - I don't see how that eliminates the standard paradoxes. Desmond and Faraday should have known each other on the island from meeting in 1996 at Oxford. Faraday even has Desmond's name written in his journal. 1996 Faraday got his numbers because 2004 Faraday sent them back via Desmond, but presumably 2004 Faraday only knew them because back in 1996 he had been told them by Desmond, who had got them from 2004 Faraday, etc etc. Classic paradox situation.

You guys throwing out phrases like "time is circular" need to explain that a little more. I also don't understand how the woman in Desmond's previous time traveling episode saying "the universe corrects itself" magically makes these paradoxes go away. I have not read Slaughterhouse 5. Can someone explain the relevance, and how that would mitigate the time travel issues?

Maybe I'm impressing Slaughterhouse Five on Lost too much because Vonnegut's version of time travel is the only one that makes even the remotest bit of sense to me but the way I intereperted it that was that time was occurring all at once if that makes sense. In other words, thinking of time linerally isn't accurate because everything happens at once. That's the best explanation I could come up with and avoid paradoxes. As for Faraday I would assume that he either lied to Desmond or more likely forgot who Desmond was, he was having trouble memorizing those cards after all and memory loss is clearly a side effect of this condition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We know that it's December 24th on the freighter and in the outside world (wherever Penny is). How do we know that it's December 24th on the island? Am I just not remembering someone mentioning it on the island?

1) Because websites like Lostpedia have tracked the passing of every day on the show since the crash on 22 September 2004 and this episode and the last two all take place on 23/24 December 2004 by that count and,

2) Because Sayid notes the date and doesn't seem to think it's wrong.

And I suppose it could be a fake calendar put up to make the Losties think that no extra time has passed but this seems to be contradicted by the freighties not expecting Frank to bring anyone back from the Island, so why would they bother?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...