Jay P. Greene's Blog

This third installment of our end-of-week Lost discussion marks the end of the third week since this blog started. 

Before getting to Lost, let me review the blog’s performance to date.  Since the first post on April 19 and the first public announcement of its creation on April 21, this blog has been viewed more than 9,200 times.  That works out to more than 480 times per day, including weekends, since the announcement. 

At least 39 other blogs have linked to this one. There have been a total of 39 posts, excluding this one, and a total of 171 comments. 

Thanks to Larry Bernstein, Greg Forster, Matthew Ladner, Dan Lips, Reid Lyon, and Ryan Marsh for their posts.  Greg and Matt are regular contributors and have done a remarkable job of providing informative and provocative material.  Reid Lyon has agreed to join the group of regular contributors, with his posts appearing on Tuesdays.  Greg normally appears (at a minimum) on Wednesdays and Matt on Fridays.  Thanks to all of these posters as well as the contributors of the 171 comments and the numerous links.  I really meant the “with help from some friends” subtitle.

And now back to our show — Lost.  I retract almost everything I said last week (who says that I never change my position?).  If the plot has strayed into the supernatural from the merely paranormal or sci-fi, I don’t mind.  The plot twists and mysteries are only getting better.

The most interesting development in the most recent episode (to my mind) was the idea of people being “chosen” by the island to protect it.  Clearly Ben was once special, receiving communications in the form of dreams, visiting with Jacob, being immune from illness, having control over events, etc…  But now Locke is the chosen one.  And we see that there is a process involving Richard and Abaddon to identify, recruit, and perhaps manipulate these chosen future leaders.  It’s not clear if Richard, Abaddon, Dharma, and Widmore are all on the same team, were once together but have since split, or have always been working against each other.  At least we now know that Richard does not age.

My guess is that Widmore was once the one chosen by the island but Ben succeeded him, which is why Widmore says Ben stole everything.  And I would further guess that Aaron is the next chosen one.  It seems that the chosen one has to be raised apart from his parents, as was the case for Ben and Locke.  Perhaps this is why Claire has been separated from Aaron — to prepare him for his role.  And perhaps the psychic warned Claire that she had to raise the baby herself to prevent Aaron from assuming his chosen role.

And now for another installment in our weekly Lost discussion. (If you don’t care about Lost, just skip to the other posts).

A central theme in Lost has been the ambiguity about whether events occur as a matter of luck or as the result of a supernatural plan.  It’s true that it would have to be incredible luck, but up until the most recent episode everything (or almost everything) could be explained without resorting to the supernatural.

Now the ambiguity is dissolving and it is becoming very clear that supernatural explanations are required.  The most obvious sign of this is the introduction of dead people as characters who talk to multiple people, carry things, etc…  In other words, we can no longer hold onto the possibility that the appearance of a dead person is simply the delusion of a single living person.  The show has largely foreclosed the possibility of psychological explanations.

I think this takes some of the fun out of the show since a central mystery is being resolved.  It’s true that we still have to discover the nature and purpose of these supernatural forces, but that’s a much less interesting puzzle.  Once we get into the supernatural, the rules could be whatever they want them to be.

Eduwonk may have his Friday Fish Porn for end of week entertainment.  This blog has “Get Lost” — an end of week comment on the latest developments in the TV show Lost.

If you haven’t been following the show, just forget about it.  There are too many details to catch up on unless you are willing to sit there and watch past episodes online or scan Lostpedia.

For the rest of you fellow nerds… The main questions raised in the most recent episode, “The Shape of Things to Come,” are 1) What are the Rules and how did the murder of Alex represent a change in those rules? 2) Why can’t Ben kill Widmore? and 3) Why did the Morse code communication from the freighter say the doctor was fine when he was found dead?

Here are my best guesses.  The Rules could either be an informal understanding, like that they won’t go after each other and family members, or a more formal restraint, like Michael being unable to die because he still has work to do.  I’m inclined to believe that it is an informal understanding, not a hard constraint.  The competition between Widmore and Ben is long-standing and they may have developed understandings of the boundaries of that competition.  If it were a hard constraint, it is not clear how it would be possible to break it.

Second, Ben probably can’t kill Widmore (or vice-versa) because they are each other’s constant.  Killing the other would destroy oneself. 

Third, the mystery of why the freighter reports that the doctor is fine is probably not a time travel issue, since the only time travel we’ve seen with the freighter is of one’s consciousness, not body.  My guess is that it is Sayid controlling the radio and who is falsely saying that the doctor is fine.  We know that he is the only one who was able to get the radio on the freighter working again.  He may have been lying to cover that he attacked the doctor.

Tune in next week.