LT192: Watchmen

THE BOOK

If you follow any of the message boards you know that when it became clear that LOST was pulling its material from literary works, that any book seen, mentioned, or talked about would get scrutinized for content an clues. I was even silly enough to think I could read some during the off-season, but had to settle on Cliff Notes and Wiki summaries.

Well, one book that got a lot of chatter was “Watchmen”. So, I ordered it. I was sort of in the dark about this book and only when it arrived that I realized it is a graphic novel comic book. Who knew? Obviously, not me. I simply ordered it because it always hung around in my brain and would come up time to time in discussions.


THE MOVIE

FedEx drops it off one night and I start in on the book. A few days later I see this commercial for the movie version of the book. Talk about timing…or FATE!?!?

My mind starts to ponder how JJ Abrams loves to throw Dharma symbols into his movies like Cloverfield and Mission Impossible 3. Hmmm…could LOST be so clever as to time this out? Don’t know, but it sure seems like I have to double my efforts to read this book.


THE PLAN

After getting just a couple of chapters into the book, it becomes clear: this is something I have to blog about! Now, I’m not pretending the end will give us the entire secret to LOST, but it seems obvious that someone at LOST central is familiar with the book.

So the plan is to read it and share with you anything that comes across as LOST-ish (is that a word? Well, it is now!). I’m not going to re-read the book for you, but just highlight those things that click as relevant.


THE COVER

On the front cover it says, “One of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels” and “Winner of the Hugo Award”. The author is Alan Moore.

The illustrator is Dave Gibbons. On the back cover it says he got his first job drawing The Green Lantern. To jog your memory, this is the comic book that Hurley brought on the plane and Walt later found to look at.

There are few quotes like “The greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced” and stuff like that. This particular quote was provided by a guy named Damon Lindelof, co-creator of LOST.

Now do you see why we should take a closer look at this?


CHARACTERS

The first character – indeed, the first word of the novel - that we are introduced to is a guy name Rorschach. This is the same name of those famous inkblots. There is a thing called apophenia which is the perception of patterns where in fact none exist. Some fans have claimed to have seen shapes in the patter of letters in the water after Dave jumps. Others claim to see “Execute” formed in the clouds. And still others believe they saw a Swan symbol shaved into Ben’s neck.

The next main character is Edward Blake. BLAKE is the last name of The Lost Experience summer game hero, Rachel Blake, who we learn is the daughter of Alvar Hanso. Her alias was Persephone of Greek mythology fame. The most famous real Edward Blake is a lawyer who became prime minister of Canada and is most known for his DUAL mandate. The book’s character lived a DOUBLE identity.

The third character is named DANIEL.


CLOCKS AND WATCHES

Each chapter of the book has an outline drawing of a clock.

A newspaper lies on a desk with the headlines including the term “DOOMSDAY CLOCK”.

A man on the street continuously checks his WATCH.

The original name of the group of crime fighters was MINUTEMEN.


THE STARS

One of the nicknames of a character is Jupiter.


FLASHBACKS

In chapter 2, we are introduced to a very LOST-like technique of flashbacks.


A SHIP AND AN ISLAND

In chapter 3, we have a story of a man whose black ship with black sails crashed on an island. The person says, “All’s LOST!”. The person then gathers the dead bodies, and buries them in a pit.

In another part of the story a character uses the phrase, “Razzle-Dazzle” – just like Corvette does in Expose on the show within LOST.


CHAPTER QUOTES

At the end of each chapter is a quote that applies to the storyline. The book leans heavily on music and literary types.

“At midnight, all the agent and superhuman crew, go out and round up everyone who knows more than they do.”

- Bob Dylan

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“And I’m up while the dawn is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians.”

- Elvis Costello

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“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

- Genesis 18:25

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WHAT WATCHMEN MIGHT GIVE US

After just three chapters the feeling of LOST was so impressed on me, that it had to be shared. I’m not sure if the story will give any clues as to how LOST is shaped or will end, but it will be good reading at a minimum. Again, my objective is not to share the story of Watchmen. But where we get some possible insight to LOST, I’ll pass it along in the next posting of Watchmen.

The immediate impact on me will be that the Enlightened Ones – the term I used last post – will now be known as the Watchers. This includes Ms. Hawking, Ben and Jill, the butcher.


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And thanks for reading!

Enjoy,
KC

LT191: And Now A Word From Our Readers

We have had a lot of comments and emails lately and they deserve a response. I hope sharing these will help elaborate points that others may have wondered as well as provide more questions and comments. So here goes…

SARA WRITES

First, I have to mention that Sara is the name, if not spelling, of Jack’s wife. And another favorite commenter is Ben. The person who emails me the most of TIDBITS readers is a Michael. Is something going on here?

Ok, Sara writes: “Is the difference between Clarendon and Claredon significant?”

My research indicates there is no significance in the spelling difference. For the record, Clarendon is the proper spelling, and it does house the real-life Physics department. With LOST, one always has to be on guard with visible changes. And when noticed we have to wrestle with them being prop errors or intentional clues.

I’m often inclined to lean towards intentional clues because after five years, the writers and producers are well aware of our tendency to scrutinize the show. The decision we have to make about the sign seems to be of more importance since it was featured with a camera shot.

However, my research found many fine educational sites misspelled the word quite often and sometimes on the same page. So, let’s mark this one up to prop error.

On a final note, I should point out that not only did the spelling change, but the location of the Physics department changed. For lack of a better description, in 1996 it was at the end of the walkway where in 2007 it is found in the middle of the walkway. Colleges are more than allowed to move things around over a decade, but how then did Desmond know where he was going once inside the department? The equipment inside seemed arranged in similar fashion as well as they appeared untouched from the time Faraday was probably dismissed from his post.

I can’t help but wonder if the sign and the location of the lab aren’t different for more reasons than a simple editing error. But to repeat my answer to your original question: No.


BEN WRITES ABOUT DESMOND’S CHILD

Ben sends the observation that Desmond’s child is named Charlie and it could be for Charles. I don’t see Penny in the mood to naming anyone after daddy. Nor is it common for a son to be named after the mother’s side of the family. I’m pretty sure it was a shout out to Charlie and his sacrifice.


BEN HEDGES BET ON WHO IS DANIEL’S MOTHER

Ben writes: “Okay, so Hawking could be Daniel's mum. But if she is, and she's a jewelry dealer, she's gotta be loaded enough to help Daniel with his funding, so he didn't need Widmore's help.”

It sure seems to fit more and more that Ms. Hawking is Daniel’s mother. The jewelry store does seem to contradict the need for funding, but do we know she owned the store? Could it have simply been a front? Or more likely, a temporary job she held for one day in order to course correct Desmond?

While researching the spelling of Clarendon, I stumbled on dress codes at Oxford College. It seems that it was common practice for professors to wear hooded cloaks. So while mum was in Los Angeles she seemed to adhere to the old practice of Oxford. This seems to strengthen the fact that mom and son worked at the same college, just as Daniel’s instructions to Desmond seemed to indicate.


BEN TALKS ABOUT THE COMPASS

Our faithful reader Ben writes: “There's gotta be a unique Latin label for a man-made object that never got made. The compass just goes around in time never getting made, never getting destroyed. It must be ancient! Too bad Locke never realizes how special it is.”

First, let me address the “never made” portion. In a similar vein another reader has talked to me about Locke speaking with Richard two years before he was born. It does seem to create a Rule for time travel that makes my brain hurt.

My response to both is that time is a perception of the observer. In short, if time doesn’t exist…or doesn’t exist how we think of time…then there is plenty of wiggle room to allow John and the compass to exist even prior to its creation. The best way to perhaps explain this is to point to the Great Pyramids. Scientists have studied these constructions along with other similar buildings and marveled at the advanced technology required for a certain period of time. How is it that Egyptians were able to build something ahead of the expected technology that was required?

The answer to that question can be applied to John and the compass.

To answer your original question, in Latin the term you are looking for is “ex nihilo”. The word can be translated to mean “from nothing”.


BEN CRITIQUES DANIEL

Ben also shares his feelings about Daniel’s tie. I never really paid much attention to him wearing a tie, but now that you have pointed it out, it now bugs me. Thanks a lot!

And for how he touches her hair…well, if you were in love with a person who may or may not be there tomorrow and has a severe nosebleed due to time warping…I’d be careful where and how I touched her too!


RELATIONSHIPS

Lots of comments have been received about Daniels’ mother and other relationships. MDJ offers a list of brain teasers:

“I also thought the woman holding the gun could potentially be Daniel's Mom. However, Daniel seems to have a pretty good idea of the past and I would think he would have known whether his Mother had been an "Other" in 1954. Given that, I think his reaction to her would have been different. He obviously thought she was familiar but to me he seemed truly inquizitive, as if he really wasnt' quite sure who she was. This made me think that the woman was the mother of the girl that Daniel loved and "experimented" on...the one Desmond visits and finds bed ridden and brain dead. This would help explain why Charles felt obligated to help the girl, because he used to be in "Other land" with the girls Mom.”

In other correspondence, MDJ has suggested:

“What if Annie dies in Purge due to Widmore’s future actions? It could Widmore’s revenge for not becoming the Other’s leader. This causes Widmore to become overprotective of his daughter, Penny.”

MDJ also proposes that the lady with the gun, who we now call Private Benjamin, had relations with young Charles Widmore to produce Penny…or Charlotte.

Well, MDJ’s brain is in overdrive. He makes some very strong arguments against Private Benjamin being Daniel’s mother, for one would expect him to recognize mom and be aware of her past. Of course, the island might be something mommy never talks about, but it does seem odd they don’t recognize each other.

We then turn to Private B being someone else and that make the sick lady and the lady in the red vest who welcomes Desmond as strong candidates. I just can’t form a solid guess at this time.


AUNT J WRITES

Another reader posts: “I'm not speaking for Ben, but I also wondered if some of the others were jumping, since Juliette was jumping with the beach surviviors and freightor 3, is Cindy jumping somewhere and maybe others too? If not, then why? I'm not too anxious about this, just one of many curiosities! Thanks for a great post!”

I have to admit, Aunt J, that after the premier episodes, there seemed to be a chance to organize the events on the island. Then after being given 1954 in the past episode, I’m back to square one. My understanding was that in the Jump Point they find themselves that Locke saw the Nigerian drug plane engine still smoking and perched on top of the cliff. How can a 2001-ish event be happening while a 1954 event is happening? How can Ethan be there and still be pre-Dharma.

I promise to research this more this weekend and hopefully layout a better timeline of Jump Points. But for now, it seems that events are like DNA during meiosis – we’ve got some crossing-over going on here. In genetics this helps the survival of species, so maybe intermixing historical timelines helps preserve history, or the world, or everything. 42.

Speaking of Jump Points…I do not count the Halliwax-Faraday tunnel meeting as a Jump Point. It could turn out to be one, but not due to the flash of light we see now.


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Thanks for commenting. If you have questions, I will do research to find some plausible answers.


Enjoy,
KC

LT190: Mother, Do You Think They'll Drop the Bomb?

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Curios as to where Desmond was when he retrieved a doctor for Penny’s delivery: the Philippines.

Recall the room that Desmond went to view at Oxford? The Physics department sign had 8 and 42 in the numbers.
Better yet, see the changes to the sign from The Constant to Jughead:

Jughead referred to the H-bomb, but it was also the name of a character in the Archie comic books. The real name of the cartoon guy was Forsythe Pendleton Jones III…just like the name tag on our Charles Widmore youngster.

EXCUSE ME, BUT I WAS TALKING

Lately, I’ve been noticing how key conversations keep getting interrupted at the right…or wrong…times. Important stuff is about to happen and then, wham, someone or something interrupts them. The greatest example is back when Mikhail is about to meet the sonic fence and he stops to tell Kate that she is not on the list, but he doesn’t know her. Then he looks and John and says something like, “But you, John Locke, are familiar to me. But the John Locke I knew was paral…” and Danielle interrupts him! Arrgh!

This past episode, Jughead, we have John about to make an interest comment or two about the rifle one of the military men are carrying and wham, Juliet cuts him off.

John does get out the fact that it is a 30 caliber M1 Garand Rifle that looks “new”. It was standard military issue during the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. Good eye John and he probably told us enough, but let the man speak!


CHARLOTTE

Why is Charlotte the only one feeling the ill effects of the time jumps? The most popular guess is that those born on the island are the ones to feel the effects.

When Desmond introduced the concept he was on the Freighter and he and Minkowski were bleeders. This means Des, Mink, and Charlotte are children of the island…so Aaron will nose bleed too? We all know Desmond stopped the bleeding by having a constant from the time they were jumping…who do these people know for the 1940’s? Richard?


WISHFUL THINKING

Imagine if John had shot young Charles Widmore. But remember, you can’t alter the past, so the bullet would not have killed him. Sorry, Sawyer.


CLAYMORES

Did you catch the comment from the military guys that they believed the Survivors had set the land minds? From one shot you can read, “FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY”. Well, that brand of claymore was not invented until 1956…two years AFTER the given year.

We either had a proper error or in some other yet-to-be-seen Jump Point, the Survivors DO set the land minds as they have prior knowledge of events to have happened (yeah, no verb tense problem, I wrote that as I intended!).

Maybe, neither set them…making Danielle a candidate, of course.


THE FARADAY FAMILY TREE

Most are of a mind that the snotty military women keeping a gun on Daniel is his mother. From 1954 to 2004…that would make her 50 plus her current age of 20-something = 70-ish. Ms. Hawking fits.

Who are those sister’s of Faraday and why is Widmore paying the bill? This reminded me of Christian Shephard paying the tab for Claire’s mother in the hospital. And we should add in that Michael’s girlfriend paid for his bills. Hmmm…

Do notice the old pictures on the wall and the mirror.

And is it me or does the woman in the red vest remind you of Jill the Butcher a bit?


GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY

I’ve been waiting for this to happen. Who got to space first, a government entity or private company? First to the moon? So, it makes sense that a government is involved in this special island. The US Army was there according to Miles (and that Army knife found way back when).


THE BOMB

I think Faraday talks them into burying the bomb near the Swan Hatch…explaining Sayid’s observation of some very thick concrete walls. Of course, when the hatch blew…wouldn’t that have set it off?


CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK

The entire island is an alien spaceship. Need I say more?


OXFORD FILES

Surely you had the same feeling I did when the Oxford computer was showing no record of a Faraday working there. Someone had erased the files. Who? Well, here is the lady at the desk:

And here she is as the gate attendant for Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 from Season 1. Does it make your skin crawl to know how easy it is for some group to push your life in the direction THEY want it to go? I call them politicians, but that’s a whole other blog!

LATIN

Not only do the Others seems to speak Latin, but it was written on the Blast Door Map as well, remember? Hmmm… And let’s remember that Latin now is a “dead language”. How old are these people?


NEXT UP…

Each post of the week we will dig a little deeper into the details, answer some reader comments, and update some old theories!

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Hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please consider clicking the ad in the upper corner of this page. The few pennies it throws my way are appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy,
KC

LT189: Jughead Thoughts

My goal is to post an immediate response to the show. Schedules will dictate, but that is the purpose for this week, here it is...

1954

WHAT? Let's get it out on the table...in a couple of posts back a section entitled "Wrinkles in Time" the suggestion was made that the Military was traveling in time as well. Some group from the 1940's. Ok, got that wrong, it was 1954. But hey, on the right track.

In brutal honestly, I dismissed it for one simple reason...in the same Jump Point the drug plane engine was still smoking above John's head.

This leaves us with a web of criss-crossed, inter-mixed, multi-timeline, mind-boggling, Ethan is present, hydrogen bomb era headache the size that even Charlotte hasn't seen.


DESMOND

Nice to see Desmond has his courage back. But the best part of his storyline tonight was naming his kid Charlie. Nice touch.

Why would Daniel tell Desmond his mommy was at Oxford when she was actually in Los Angeles? Forgetfullness, time warp, or another mystery to unravel? This does explain how Ben got to Ms. Hawking - my guess at who is Daniel's mother still - so quickly. Some readers wondered how Ben made to England in six hours away from Jack, but now we know that Ben only needed to cross town.


NOSE BLEEDS

Charlotte looks done for, but of course, this is LOST. I mumbled during the show that Desmond had better get a move on. We all know that for Charlotte to live she needs a Constant. Don't ask me who it could be for her.


WIDMORE

Kudos to those to guessed the young military man was Charles Widmore. This is going to take some careful thought, but we now learn that Widmore was one of Richard's recruits. Dedicated at that and a strong desire to protect the island. Over time that changed it seems.

Do leaders of the island have a problem getting along with former leaders: Charles, Ben and John?


JACOB

It has to be mentioned that Richard knew the name of Jacob even in 1954. This guy is really old! And based on Juliet's testimony, so is Richard. Do you think Jacob is in physcial form in 1954?


SUMMARY

Another fine mess served up in 60 minutes in the middle of my busy week that left me LOST. But you have to admit, it does make you think! Look for more analysis, things you might have missed, and my guess to who the woman holding the gun on Daniel might be. Ok, I'll guess now: mom! She's going to feel really bad about nearly shooting her own son.


Enjoy,
KC

LT188: Show Within A Show

EXPOSE

The TV show within a TV show was observed in the premier. Hurley’s father was watching it before Hurley knocked on his door carrying Sayid over his shoulder. If you listened carefully to the show’s announcer it stated that a new character was going to join crime fighting team. That character is Tsunami who used to work for Cobra.

It seems as if the writers of LOST are determined to continue this show within a show, so it might be a good idea to pay attention to the plot of Expose.


MUSIC TO THE EARS

Word is that the Geronimo Jackson band’s music will be featured on LOST. Some people have suggested that we should listen closely to the song’s lyrics. It seems some guy discovered tracks for a second GJ album that was never produced. This guy found them and they have made their way to the folks at LOST central.

BEN HAS TO DIE

I’m not so sure this is accurate. Perhaps Locke only appears dead? Ben did seem to want to get Locke’s body in cold storage and this reminds me of Christian in the cold storage at the morgue. Perhaps refrigeration and suspended animation are at play.

Of course the cold storage angle assumes Locke’s body is going into the cooler. It was never explicitly stated that Jill the Butcher was going to place the body in cooler. Hey, wasn’t Charlie’s father also a butcher?

And if John is some sort of fake dead, would it be like Nikki and Paulo who got paralyzed by the Medusa spider and everyone thought they were dead? The scene after Ben and Jill at the butcher shop was immediately followed by Hurley’s father watching Nikki’s show, Expose.


THE COMPASS

Richard hands John Locke the compass during his first aid treatment. I loved the wit when Locke asks what it does and Richard replies, “It points north, John.” Funny stuff. It is clear now that this was the item that a younger Locke was supposed to select during the object test Richard conducted.

A reader pointed out that the Hostiles disappeared when Locke first jumped back to the past (2001-02). So where did Richard and his merry group of Hostiles go? Richard might be zooming around time trying to find Locke. This is supported by the comment that he wouldn’t recognize John the next time he saw him.

Prior to the crash, Richard only interacted with John as a baby and young child. If the jump point for Richard is after that time but before they meet after the Flight 815 crash then he may not recognize John. Thus the compass could be used for identification. At that time, Locke may explain that at their last meeting Richard was patching a gunshot wound. This then explains why Richard states that John told him he was shot.

Mind boggling stuff the leaves me in need of some direction…like North?

BITS AND PIECES

The firm trying to get the blood samples from Kate and Aaron was close to the word agonist that means “involved in struggle or competition”.

I did some searching on military uniforms and came up empty. The best clues were the hat one of them was wearing and the name tag. Believe it or not the name tag is a great clue since it can be any combination of first, middle and last names for each uniform specs. And the location over the left-hand pocket is unique to many dress codes. The biggest challenge was finding a site that allowed for searching things like that. I focused on British military since the names Cunning, Mattingly and Jones supported the accent, but no luck. Let me know if you hear anything to identify the country of origin or the time period.

The new episode is entitled, “Jughead”. I purposefully ignore promos and previews now as it can ruin an enjoyable evening. I’ll try to post some initial thoughts after the show and then as always, more in-depth detail and analysis.


Hope you enjoy the blog!

KC

LT187: The MJ Theory

THE PREMISE

A reader of TIDBITS, MJ, posts his thoughts on time travel. They were so excellent that it got me thinking about a whole new theory that goes like this:

The present is yesterday.

To explain this we need a reference point. Should we use the island’s move date of December 30, 2004? Or should we use the timeframe of the Oceanic 6 which is 2007? Or should we use one of the Jump Dates?

The answer is pick one. It doesn’t matter. All the dates of reference are in the past!


A CONSTANT

If we were giving out awards for consistency then the writers of LOST deserve the Constant Award. Repeatedly the producers have reminded us that we will see that this show was not throwing out oddities merely for the sake of distracting or misleading from the real meaning of the show’s plot.

Starting in Season 4 we started to see this consistency factor begin to appear. Now this isn’t to suggest that some things were not merely for the sake of entertainment. For example, the inspiration for this new theory, MJ, even stated his doubt about the Numbers. He said that they should drop inserting the Numbers into everything since they probably have no direct meaning to the storyline. I beg to differ and his own foundation for The MJ Theory opposes his prediction.

In fact, the Numbers are not there just to show inter-connectivity. While they do reinforce the connections between everything, they have a higher purpose. One suggestion that has been on boards for some time is that the Numbers can have a date meaning.


4 8 15 16 23 42

This sequence can be transposed into a date. April 8, 2015 (4/8/15). The time is in hours, minutes and seconds (16:23.42) or 4:23 p.m.

The suggestion has been that this is the Doomsday Date from the Valenzetti Equation. This is the exact moment that the world will end. In fact, the Dharma Initiative’s stated mission is to do as much as possible change the numbers. This means that Dharma is then attempting to change the date of our demise.

Now consider all of the odd phrases of past episodes that we have routinely dismissed. Like Desmond saying, “So I started pushing the button, too. And we saved the world together for awhile, and that was lovely.” With this MJ Theory in mind, consider how literal Desmond was being. And keep in mind that Ms. Hawking describes Desmond’s button pushing as the most important thing he will ever do.

Even the Survivors, like the viewers, scoffed at the literal meaning. Jack thinks the explanation offered by Desmond is insane, “Because the last time I saw a computer that was going to save the world, it didn't look like that.” When that line was uttered, millions of viewers dropped their attitude of “what if” and replaced with, “of course Jack is right.” Well, maybe not.


CONTRADICTIONS

My favorite author once wrote, “Whenever you have a contradiction, recheck your premise…one of them is wrong.” Let’s apply that to LOST.

Consider the Season 5 premier when Daniel gets Desmond to open the hatch door. Many viewers suggested that Daniel cheated. Daniel had just explained to Sawyer how it wouldn’t matter what he did because he couldn’t change the past. The MJ Theory agrees 100% with this.

Yet, Daniel sees Charlotte’s nose bleed and proceeds to change things by giving Desmond a psychic message via his dreams. That would be cheating according to Daniel’s own explanation.

Further, I argued early on that Daniel changed the past merely by knocking on the Swan Station door. Imagine if Desmond was about to mix himself up a nice big milkshake. No matter how you spin it, if the first time loop Desmond finished his task and drank it all up…then this time loop, he gets interrupted by someone knocking at the door. To me, that is changing the future.

When you consider this contradiction in light of the Butterfly Effect, the calories in Desmond’s body were forever altered. The temperature of the milkshake dropped while he answered the door. The hazmat suit got one more added wear and tear to its durability.

This seems liked cheating by the writers. It seemed like an apparent contradiction.

But The MJ Theory can explain this and other contradictions. It welcomes this “course correction” and here is why:


BACK TO THE PAST

To explain the gist of The MJ Theory let’s keep the Desmond-Daniel encounter in mind. The ONLY way that Daniel’s knocking didn’t alter the past if is when this even occurred in the past, it happened just like this!

Sort of tough to wrap my mind around this, but the suggestion is that the first (and only time) this event took place…Daniel DID knock on the Swan door. The first and only time these events happened, Daniel uttered, “I hope this works.” These events only happened once and precisely as we have seen them displayed.

How can this be? Because 100% of LOST has been a review of history! These events don’t contradict because these are exactly how they played out the first and only time they occurred.


THE REFERENCE POINT

To help clarify the intent of The MJ Theory let me offer a new reference date. When the show began the date on the calendar of the walls of the writers read, “April 8, 2015”. Yes, EVERYTHING we have seen has been historical.

Ben didn’t time jump into the future ten months after turning the Dharma Wheel. Even scientific theories – which the producers admit they will allow on the show – do not really support time travel in a forward manner. So how do we explain the perceived ten month jump forward?

Easy, Ben obviously jumps in the physical sense, but not in the time sense a second time. The date of his second jump is in October 2005.

Even the Oceanic 6 events of 2007 are historical events from the LOST writer’s perspective. The entire show is a history lesson.

The REAL reference point is Doomsday, April 8, 2015. We all know the tendency for LOST to connect to literary works. It should be no surprise then that April 8, 2015, is found in a Stephen King book as a Doomsday deadline. This is where the writers got their series of numbers. It isn’t the jersey numbers of Hall of Fame Yankees, it isn’t some longitude/latitude sequence, it is the date the world ends.


THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW

If LOST was written in proper time sequence it would begin on April 5, 2015. Notice this is three days prior to the Doomsday Date.

If the show was aired in chronological order, then The MJ Theory suggests that the show would begin with Ms. Hawking doing her calculations in the basement of that church. That was 2015.

A reader of LOST TIDBITS shared with me another apparent contradiction. They noticed that Ben was in Los Angeles with Jack and making arrangements to put Locke’s body on ice at the butcher shop. Now IF, I repeat, IF Ms. Hawking is Daniel’s brother then she should be in Oxford so Desmond can go find her. So then how did Ben get from LA to Oxford (England) that quickly?

He didn’t. That final scene was not 2007 – the time when Desmond is pulling up anchor and heading to the college to find Ms. Hawking – no, that final scene was April 5, 2015. It was 70 hours away from the Doomsday date and time!

Giving kudos the writers of LOST once again, the Season 5 is about two hours old when we see the scene of Ben lighting candles in the church. Three days if often referred to as 72 hours, but being two hours into the season, I’m guessing that said, “No, we are now 70 hours away from blowing up the planet.” They get a pat on the back for at least mirroring the real time as the show unfolds with the real time in April 2015. I’m getting a little “24” déjà vu feeling now! HA!

Side note: The actor who played Yemi is the only actor to be in “LOST”, “24” and “Heroes”.

Indeed, the world does end on April 5, 2015…or in about 70 hours now. This is the proper reference point of LOST. What we see after this is everything that has led up to this point in time. LOST is a historical story in it entirety (other than the final scene in Episode 2). I expect more scenes from the “proper present” in episodes to come.


EVIDENCE FOR THE THEORY

I formulated the details of this theory from MJ’s comment about the fancy walkie-talkies that Naomi and Daniel brought to the island. The line from Sayid about not recognizing this technology had obviously sat in MJ’s mind long enough. When he pointed it out to me, a light went on. The only way to avoid time travel to the future, is for everything on LOST to be in the past already.

If we let this MJ Theory sit and stew for some time, it alerts to other possibilities. For example, we assume that Ms. Hawking is Daniel’s mother. With the show jumbling up historical events, this opens the door of possibilities. It could very well be that Ms. Hawking is Daniel’s future daughter. Of course, it isn’t the future, but the past…but when we are allowed to peek at history via the TV show…it seems to be the future for Daniel. But not so.

This means that Aaron could be someone’s grandfather. Only if we knew how to piece together the historical timeline can we then make sense of the entire show. This is like the Sixth Sense on steroids!

This theory also means that Ben knows everything that happened. His job, if you will, is to make sure history actually repeats itself exactly as it did the first and only time. This explains his tendency to know the rules, have a plan, and always be one step ahead.

This from the future approach would help explain why Richard never seems to age. For indeed some people are special and can jump through time, but he appears to be the only one we see at different times who looks the same.


SOME NAGGING ISSUES

While I was researching to assemble this theory, one thing really caught my eye and bugs me to no end. Recall that the final beach scene with the Survivors, the timeframe is 2001-2002. The camp is missing. Well, when the group was at the Swan Hatch hole, it was present time. So the Survivors on the beach should have seen their stuff re-appear, right?

Perhaps they scratched their heads in amazement, but I’ll bet when it disappeared again, they would be chattering like school children about how they would grab what they could the NEXT time and scarf down some food and stuff.

We didn’t have a visual contradiction because we were never shown the beach when the island jumped back to 2004. Visually, we didn’t see the beach until it was back to 2001-02 and Sawyer leads the group, minus Daniel who lingered at the Swan door, back to the beach. While they are making their way back, the island shifts time again.

Here is my problem…where then did Sawyer get his shirt from? It seems that only what a person has in their possession survived the time jumps. So unless Frogurt was wearing or holding both shirts at the time…see my problem?

Technically and depending on the “rules”, the Survivors should have been naked when they jumped back to 2001-02. This led me to the “if you are holding it or wearing it” rule. Think the bottle of rum that Juliet was holding on to.


SPECIAL PEOPLE

The biggest drawback to this approach is that we still need some time travel – the walkie-talkie makes it back in time (on the island), Richard makes it back (Locke’s birth), and so on. This just points to special people in my mind. This would suggest that someone brought the technology back in time and maybe not Naomi. The special ones would be Richard, Locke, Walt, Daniel, and Charles Widmore. The list might include Ben and Ms.Hawking.


SUMMARY

So there you have The MJ Theory. The writers have taken the history of the story, cut it up into little pieces, thrown them into the air, and spliced them back together as they see fit. You should be thinking about that first clue of the splicing of the Swan Orientation film. If the show is nothing else, it is consistent…a promise the producers have been repeating for some time.

This means that the purpose of LOST is to see if within the last 70, 69, 68…hours of mankind whether the Enlightened Ones can somehow change the only future that exists within LOST on April 8, 2015 at 4:23 in the afternoon.

Now it seems that Desmond was indeed pushing that button in order to save the world. And now it seems that around 2004, a man named Locke smashed the computer. In the three years after that event, Ben and other Watchers have been trying to figure out how to save the world in a different way. The next two seasons will be a history lesson on how well that succeeded. The series will end at the present, April 8, 2015, and only then will we find out how well that planned worked.


I most definitely welcome feedback on this theory!


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Enjoy,
KC

LT186: When Are They?

STARTING REFERENCE POINT

The island was moved on December 30, 2004, by Ben by turning the Dharma Wheel.

Ben jumped to October 2005 and physically to the Tunisia. In terms of time, Ben jumped forward about ten months. In terms of space he jumped about 1,400 miles.

The Oceanic 6 remained unchanged in time and space.

The island physically moved. In physical terms, the island is still in a body of water. In terms of time, I’m going to call these Jump Points.


JUMP POINT #1

When John Locke becomes aware of his surroundings he is at the makeshift campsite of the Hostiles, but all alone. It is raining. Soon, John will be bathed in sunshine and observing the crash of Yemi’s drug plane. We have no definitive date for the Nigerian plane crash. Best estimates have it between the years 1998 to 2002.

The beach Survivors are in daylight and their camp is missing.

It appears Ethan is the Other’s official recon man as he is sent out with gun to investigate the crash of Yemi’s drug plane. He has a rifle and has shot Locke in the leg.

We must note that while the camp material has disappeared people are keeping the clothing they are currently wearing although these items were on the plane. I suppose LOST couldn’t have naked people running around although…oh, never mind.

Yet, Ethan has a weapon so unless he was holding it, it shouldn’t be there. Of course, Ethan himself was present between 1998 and 2002. We know this because we first can timestamp him as a nurse for Rachel (Juliet’s sick sister) on December 19, 2001. He and Richard were soon to recruit Juliet. This makes it a fair assumption that Ethan was very familiar with the island prior to December 2001. This fits the time frame of the drug plane crashing.

However, we don’t have Nikki and Paulo walking onto the beach. Ethan and the spider couple were both dead on December 30, 2004, and yet Ethan is alive in the Jump Point #1, but not the dead, but once living survivors. We can excuse this since they were not on the island physically in 2001-ish. This gives us a hint that only living Survivors jumped through time.


JUMP POINT #2

The flash of light takes us to Jump Point #2 where is nighttime for John and the Survivors. Richard patches up John and gives him a compass.

The Survivors discover the Swan Hatch is blown up. The Swan station was imploded on November 27, 2004, so we know this Jump Point is after that.


JUMP POINT #3

The flash of light happens again and John is still at the drug plane, in the daylight, and notices the engine is still smoking. Therefore, the timestamp is again between 1998 and 2002, but definitely the same day as Jump Point #1.

The Survivors discover the Swan Hatch is intact. Desmond is inside getting his hazmat gear on since somebody is pounding on the door. Since Desmond is convinced he still needs the safety gear we know this is prior to the Flight 815 crash. He told the Survivors that he had been in the station for three years pushing this button. That would make it approximately November 5, 2001. He was not there prior to this time, so we can adjust our first Jump Point (the drug plane crash to late 2001 to 2002).

Later that night, the Survivors are on the beach trying to start a fire when Frogurt gets lit up big time. The Survivors are under attack and run for cover. Sawyer and Juliet get caught, but then rescued by Locke.

JUMP POINT SUMMARY

Starting Reference: December 30, 2004
Jump Point #1: 2001-2002
Jump Point #2: After December 30, 2004, probably present time
Jump Point #3: 2001-2002

The evidence suggests that the only two time periods are involved. The record is truly skipping in the same place.

It should be noted that while only two dates are involved, the record does seem to progress forward for each Jump Point. The pattern might be like this: A...1...B...2...C...3... In other words, we don't jump back to 2004 and find Sawyer and Juliet back sharing a bottle of run wondering where the Freighter went.


THE FIRE ARROWS

We began the show with Dr. Halliwax (aka Candle aka Wickman aka Cheng) filming the Orientation film for the Arrow Station. He stated it was for defense and weapons. This makes Richard and his merry band of Hostiles as the prime candidates for being the shooters. The Purge was in 1992 and was executed by Richard and his Hostiles. Ben was the only survivor of the Dharma Initiative as far as we are aware. Ben must have then revealed the contents of this hatch although it is entirely possible that the Hostiles fashioned their own weapons.

If we think about the Hostiles/Others weapons of use, we observe reluctance on their part to utilize technology. While guns may seem to be taking advantage of technology, the history of firearms dates back to 1100 AD.

I propose that the Hostiles were firing upon who they believed to be the military group. This would explain the military member’s agitated stated, to say the least. We now have another group of people to contend with and I’ll use the term “Military”.

The Military caught Sawyer and Juliet and had one initial question, “What are you doing on OUR island?” This tells us that they were entrenched to some degree for they seemed to call the place home. So, let’s review some key dates:

1988 - Danielle’s research ship arrives
1992 – The Purge
2001 – Desmond crashes
2002 - The Military are present and the Nigerian drug plane crashes
2004 - Oceanic Flight 815 crashes

We have to then assume the Military got wiped out between 2002 and 2004 by Richard, Ben and the Hostiles. On a side note: Ben should be present during the Jump Point of 2002 just like Desmond was. Hmmm…


WRINKLES IN TIME

We may need to adjust our explanation above if we allow for some other rules of time jumping. This comes from Daniel’s explanation. After watching the show, I was convinced that the island was jumping time, but not the people on it. Juliet agrees with me. However, Daniel restates her proposition and says, “It is just as likely we are moving”.

Now Daniel has not seen any evidence of where they are in time yet for they are still on their way to the hatch. He knows they are in history for the “camp hasn’t been built it”. So, I’ll forgive him for wondering out loud if it is the island that is moving or the people. This is supported by his desired to see a landmark like the Swan Station. So, I could be putting too much emphasis on his suggestion that the people are moving in time instead of just the island. The Swan Station provides the proof that the island is the one moving.

But…(there is always a but with LOST)…what if both are moving. My suggestion is this: the island and people CAN move in time. While it seems clear the island is moving and the Survivors are not, it does not rule out the possibility that other people are not indeed jumping through time.

Let me just say it and get it out of the way: the Military could have moved through time. They clothing seems old-fashion. In fact, they may not even be military since the uniforms were lacking in any official design. But for now, give me the possibility that a wrinkle in time might have brought onto this island a group of military men from the 1940’s, for their hats and dress seemed to reflect that time period.

Or the Military could be a few Dharma survivors who slipped past the purge. The might have been a Dharma replacement group sent by Hanso. If Hanso lost contact with his initial group of researchers, he might have sent a military group to explore what happened during the Purge…although even that even was a decade earlier (1992).

The best explanation is that the military is Widmore’s doing. This matches his behavior with Keamy a couple of years later. And it mirrors that sentiment about it being “our island”.


ON A FINAL NOTE

I’ll close this post with a photo of a billboard that is circulating and it made me chuckle.

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Enjoy,
KC