Cliff hangers have become overly common on television, but for the most part I question whether they make much difference. For the most part, people who enjoyed a series one season will watch the next, and those who didn’t watch are not likely to start watching because of a cliff hanger. There are occasional exceptions. The mystery over who shot JR on Dallas started the cliff hanger craze, and the publicity over the cliff hanger helped build the series. Similarly, the cliff hanger of Best of Both Worlds created far more buzz over Star Trek: The Next Generation, increasing its success. This season’s finale of Lost may have a similar ability to turn around a series which had been declining in both quality and the ratings.
The surprising ending of Lost will result in discussions between now and next winter as fans try to figure out what it all means. I’ve given some initial ideas on this in SciFi Friday, but since then have had further thoughts.
I speculated that the obituary was for Juliette based upon the rumors that enlarging the scene reveals a name beginning with a J, the possibility that Juliette’s death could have a more profound impact on Jack than that of others, and that it was someone Kate did not have the same feelings about. I’ll need to review the episode to verify, but I have seen comments that the person was referred to with male pronouns during the show. If this is true, my next guess would be John Locke. The two might be closer after leaving the island considering Jack’s change of heart in thinking it was a mistake to leave, making the two finally agree. The circumstances of Locke’s death might also be significant, assuming that Locke would have stayed behind or also been searching for a way to return. Locke’s death might have indicated a decreased possiblity of Jack being able to return.
If we exclude the theory that the name begins with a J, then Desmond becomes another possibilty. I’m suggesting Desmond only if alternate futures is significant here, as Jack might also see Desmond’s death as closing the door on other possibilities to return to a preferred time line.
I’m keeping the possibility of alternative time lines open, especially after seeing the Desmond “flash back” episode, due to a couple of contradictions. These could be explained by other means, but might indicate alternative futures. I’ve already commented on Jack referring to his father as being alive, but this might simply be a consequence of him being drunk. Jack was taking advantage of a card for Oceanic Airlines for unlimited free travel, but the faux web site for Oceanic developed for the show reported that the airline went bankrupt as a consequence of the crash. This contradiction could indicate an alternative future, or might simply mean that the web site is not cannon for the show.
Jack’s strategy of flying and hoping for another crash was also far fetched, but a poor decision could be explained by his drinking and drug use. It would seem that there are a number of far better ways to attempt to return to the island. We know that, even though the original members from Dharma were killed by the Others, Dharma (or someone using their name) is still dropping supplies on the island. We also know that the Others had some contact with the outside world (possibly ending with Locke destroying the sub) but there does appear to be people on the outside who know more about the island. Who ever is behind Naomi’s ship is another party, and even Penelope might have found out more. Following up on any of these would provide a better chance than hoping for a plane crash to return him to the island, and perhaps such attempts will be shown in future episodes if they continue to flash forward.
The finale revealed a little, but left many mysteries which should provide plenty of publicity for Lost until it returns.
Good analysis. Here are my thoughts on the matter – Who’s in the Coffin? … By the way, I pretty much predicted the flip from flashbacks to flashforwards in my review of the Greatest Hits episode the week before. Details in Flashforwards…
I don’t know if you also read the first part of my comments on Lost, but I also raised the possibility of showing events post-rescue in place of flashbacks in the past.
Since the finale there have been rumors that both flash forwards and flash backs would be used in the future, but who knows how reliable such talk is.
My guess is that there will likely be at least a few flasbacks in the years ahead – if only to perhaps work out further the inexplicable coincidences in the backstories, which I think are one of the keys to understanding Lost…
I’m glad to hear you also thought of the flashforwards earlier than the finale – people have been asking me if maybe I wasn’t really Desmond, and I was starting to get worried…:)
But, seriously, I realized when I was watching Charlie’s Greatest Hits episode that, except for the excellent conceit of Charlie’s list, the flashbacks were really looking tired…
Good to be in touch with another keen thinker about Lost, by the way…
Read both reviews, Ron’s and Paul’s, excellent. 🙂
My husband is keen for the clues, although I am happy to just flow along with the narrative. However, we also both thought the flashes had to be Jack in the future, as there was no indication he was ever *this* tortured a soul before landing on the Island. Re: his father being alive, just another question mark. Who is alive, who is dead, is too fluid a concept to grasp just yet, I think. Also, did you notice that Rousseau mentioned she was still carrying Alex when she created her tape? That means she was preggers and yet still lived, as did Alex, after Alex’s birth. Hmmmmm.
I read a review (via Socialitelife.com, I think) where a poster noted the possibility that Jacob is the Island, and Ben/Henry Gale is controlling Jacob via his fear, and Ben/Henry’s fear is women dying at childbirth, like his mother. The Island/Jacob’s rescue might rest in Locke, who operates out of faith and hope. Interesting.
Hurley hurlin’ the VW van down the hill was the highlight of the episode for me. Loved it! @;-)
Thanks, Kj!
Absolutely, about Hurley – his moment was the one piece of unalloyed joy in the finale! Brilliant!
About Alex and Roussea – yes, perhaps women who conceive off the island can be ok…
Jack’s father: I think Jack was just invoking him in his desperation for the drugs.
Paul,
I’m not sure that the coincidences will be worked out in character flash backs. As far as the lives of the characters go, they just happened. If there is an explanation for why there are so many coincidences in lives of the people brought to the island, it would come with an explanation of the island itself.
The best flash backs involved explanations about the island and those behind it, such as the ones on Juliette and Ben. There’s a lot more to learn, and this may or may not be through flash backs.
I would like to see the Ben flashback continued from where it left off. So Ben helped The Others kill the people from Dharma, but why would this lead to Ben becoming their leader. I suspect this story will be told in connection to challenges to Ben’s leadership in the present.
We still know virtually nothing about the island’s “original inhabitants” who went on to become The Others. They also have connections to the outside. There’s also the Portland “coincidence” in which Ben’s father was recruited outside of Portland and Juliette wss initially recuited to work in Portland. There was also that food dropped by Dharma. Did The Others pick up Dharma’s connection with the outside world, possibly through Portland? How did Dharma react to their people being killed? Is Naomi’s ship from Dharma, or from yet another group which has an interest in the island.
Incidentally, discussion of science fiction (often branching out to regular television shows) is done every Friday here. Sometimes, such as in the case of Lost, I couldn’t wait until the following Friday and entered this follow up post.
Kj,
You’ve returned! I hope you saw the post on a possible Gilmore Girls TV movie by Amy Sherman-Palladino, and the attempt by another blogger we both know to launch a blog war. (She quickly backed off after I responded.)
The who issue of having children is obviously an on going mystery, and both Rousseau and Ben’s mother will play a part in it. We could speculate, but so far I don’t think there’s enough information to really formulate a good answer. With all the coincidences on this show, I don’t know if it will be an unexplained coincidence that Ben’s mother died in childbirth, or if that will turn out to be a key fact in creating the problem on the island.
As for Rousseau’s child, I always assumed that Ben had kidnapped Alex as they kidnap other children. It was verified in a recent interview that Ben is not Alex’s biological father.
I have no idea who or what Jacob is. We have virtually no information here. It did come out in an interview that Jabob hasn’t been cast yet, but that doesn’t answer the question of whether he ever will be cast as a human. Even if they want to show him as a character, there’s plenty of time for casting him before next season.
Having Hurley save the day was a popular scene. I had planned to mention it in the original review, but as the post centered around the mysteries it didn’t fit in well.
Ron – Good points, all. When I said the flashbacks might give us more info on the inexplicable coincidences, I was thinking of extension of the original flashback scenes – to show us Desmond with Kate’s father in Iraq, for example – to give us more context and possible explanation. But you’re quite right that the ultimate answers will reside on the island, or at least in the present.
Count me in from now on as a regular reader of your Friday SciFi – in fact, I’ll put in a link on Infinite Regress so my readers know to look here.