Were you an original LOST devotee? I was. From the very first aired episode to the semi-bitter end. That doesn’t make me more in touch with The Island or anything, but I do recall the special devotion–the special faith–that was required of fans over the course of years. At best, we were given one episode per week. During the bad times there were excruciating network hiatuses and union strikes. Like young Ben Linus, we had to be patient.
For those that didn’t have this faith or patience, which was plenty of viewers, the episodes were skimmed and skipped as the mythology and paradoxes got too cute by half. By the time the finale aired, the show’s legacy had a thick tarnish over it as a series that was full of crap and never got where it was going. (Kinda like the Oceanic passengers, amiright? Zzzzzing!)
Even for the newcomers who have the amazing fortune to binge the whole series, the notoriety of the conclusion has likely seemed deserved. This show makes you work for it in order to understand the answers, riddles, and mysteries. But they are there. They really are.
If you’re still a Jack-the Doubter, let’s dive into some hatches and take a look at the show’s timeline and answer your toughest questions. It all starts with an ancient tale that, ultimately, is the root of every single plotline and mystery on the Island–from the Smoke Monster to the hatches.
Once upon a time, about 2,000 years ago…
The Tale of the Island
A lady named Allison Janney watched over a mysterious Island with a magical Light at its core–a Light that was said to be the source of all good in humanity. Her role was to protect the Light and the Island from outside invaders.
One such invader showed up all those thousands of years ago pregnant. She popped out twin boys and was then immediately murdered by Allison Janney, who became the mother of the twins. One of these twin boys, Mib (short for Man-in-Black), was clever but also devious and overly curious about the power of the Light. The other boy, Jacob (always clad in white) was much more loyal, but simple-minded and reactionary. She loved them and used the Light to protect them. In fact, she used the Light Magic to bless them that they may never kill each other. Like any mother would do with a magical job perk.
Then Mib grew into adolescence and decided he wanted to see lands beyond the Island and Mother said no. So he told his mom and brother to fuck off and went to live with some normal humans in their camp on the other side of the Island and join them in their crusade to leave that place.
But he was too damn successful. He and the normal human camp dudes were digging wells and getting close to harnessing the Light and getting the fuck off the Island. And that’s not cool. No OnE LeAvEs. Mama Allison Janney got worried.
So Mama Allison Janney murdered the entire human camp and destroyed their wells and projects. She then rushed back to aloof Jacob to force-feed him a cup of wine that made him the new Island Protector (I guess). The she warned him: Never to go into the Magic Awesome Light Well at the heart of the Island–for it would mean a FAtE WoRsE ThAn DeAtH. Which makes me think that there have been lots of other Smoke Monsters…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Aghast at her actions, Mib murdered Mama Allison Janney. This riled Jacob, who flung his brother into the Magic Light Cave (the exact thing his Mama just warned him not to do–com’on, man!), turning Mib into an undead eternal shape-shifting Smoke Monster with a grudge and escape fetish. Stupid Jacob.
Through the millennia the immortal twin brothers, Jacob and Mib, inhabited the Island together and hated each other. All Mib wanted was to leave. All Jacob wanted was to keep him in place and protect the Light.
During their tenure they saw additional ancient invaders arrive on the Island. Some of the invaders worshipped the Mib Smoke Monster as a deity and sought to summon him. Mostly though, Mib just killed them all and slept under the temple they built to him.
The pair also had an ongoing tedious philosophical debate about whether man is inherently good or bad. This prompts Jacob to lure people to the Island to test their character–or so he says. But really, he’s looking for his replacement so he can get his white ass off the Island finally.
Mib mostly just messes with and then kills all visitors, hoping that one day he can find a way to kill Jacob and escape. (And, I guess, spread his darkness to the entire world, ruining all that is good…maybe?)
That is the entire show.
Two twin brothers–one wants to leave, one says no way. And a mysterious fucking Light Well with a plug. Everything else is a by-product of this tale.
Why is the show so confusing?
In order to enthral us with suspense and puzzles and drama (not to mention some sexy bodies), the writers employed two basic strategies:
1.) The show is almost entirely told in reverse chronological order.
We had to wait 6 seasons to get all the way back to Jacob and Mib.
It took 3 seasons to even reach the 1970s & 1980s Dharma era.
The whole show’s flow more or less goes:
2004 > 1990s-2000s > 1970s-1980s > 2005 > 100 AD > 2005 again.
With a sprinkling of 1950s and 1860s thrown in.
So when Oceanic 815 crashes, we’re actually seeing the end of a story (well, nearly).
2.) Sloppy writing.
I’ll admit how disheartened I was to discover that the writers never had a clear plan carved out from the start. They were pretty much winging it (airplane pun!) and stretching and chopping episodes and seasons depending on network needs.
So to help sort things out, let’s get the Island’s timeline correct:
The Lost Timeline in the Right Order
Pre-Jacob & Mib: Unknown Egyptians inhabiting the Island build the Statue of Taweret.
c.100 AD: Jacob and Mib are born on the Island. Allison Janney is the current Island Protector. Within 30 years, Allison Janney is killed, Jacob becomes the new Island Protector. Mib becomes the Smoke Monster, determined to escape and spread his darkness across the world. Or something. Maybe guy just wants a hot dog.
100-1867: Unknown crazy fanatics construct the Temple to worship Mib the Smoke Monster. Countless people are brought to the Island over these centuries, most do not survive. If they don’t kill each other, Smokey Mib kills them.
1867: The Black Rock, a slave ship, is swept up in a storm and crashes into the middle of the Island. The same storm destroys the Statue of Tawaret.
Richard Alpert, a mortal human slave aboard the Black Rock, is saved first by Mib, who attempts to recruit him to kill Jacob. When Richard hesitates, Jacob offers him a liaison role with humans in return for immortality. This intercession by Jacob into mortal affairs is the emanation of the “Others”–Jacob disciples–mortal humans who survive on the Island through Jacob’s guidance, via Richard.
1954: The U.S. army discovers the Island and delivers a hydrogen bomb called “Jughead” for unstated purposes. The Others kill the U.S. soldiers cuz, get off their effing Island with that destructive shit.
Weeks later, the Others discover strange visitors on the beach and kill several of them with flaming arrows. Frogurt is among those killed. The Others take several newcomers prisoner, including Daniel, Locke, Juliet, Sawyer, Miles, and Charlotte. John Locke, in particular, makes an impression on Richard Alpert. The newcomers reveal that the bomb has a cracked casing and must be sealed and buried for everyone’s safety. The surviving newcomers then disappear without warning. The Others presumably then follow the advice regarding the bomb.
1961: Jacob sends Richard off the Island to scout young child John Locke and determine if he’s “ready” to join the Others. He is deemed not ready.
1969-1974: Penelope Widmore is born to Charles Widmore and an unknown mother. Whether her conception or birth are related to the Island is unknown.
1970: After years of research based on stories and legends, the university-based Dharma Initiative successfully pins down the location of the Island and is able to start ferrying its team to begin scientific research and build a commune. The Jacob worshippers (aka “Others”) on the Island are opposed to this research team. Dharma people start referring to them as the “Hostiles”. The two groups develop a peace treaty that divides the Island.
1973: Roger Linus and his young son, Benjamin, arrive on the Island to join the Dharma Initiative. Benjamin begins to dream of joining The Others to escape his abusive father.
Jacob once again sends Richard Alpert to recruit (teenager) John Locke to join the Others, but Locke refuses. He is still not ready.
1974: Locke descends down a well to fix the skipping Donkey Wheel that is causing time travel chaos (see 2005 Island relocation). Locke disappears, while Sawyer, Jin, Juliet, Miles, and Daniel realize that their time traveling has come to an end. The small group, 31 years out of date, arrives at the Dharma Initiative compound, covertly join the commune, and settle into a mostly peaceful life. Sawyer and Juliet fall in love and eventually he makes plans to propose.
Rose, Bernard, and dog Vincent also arrive in 1974 as part of the same time shift. They elect to “retire” to the beach and avoid the Dharma Initiative.
1976: Eight year-old Sawyer witnesses the violent death of his parents after they are victims of a conman (John Locke’s father). Jacob visits young Sawyer.
1977: Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid appear on the Island (an unanticipated side effect of a planned 2007 plane crash). While Jack, Kate, and Hurley are spirited into the Dharma Initiative by Sawyer, Sayid goes rogue. He ultimately shoots young Ben Linus (in an attempt to thwart the boy’s future), launching several days of chaos and violence. Ben is only saved after he is brought to Jacob’s people who dip him in Magical Water and “change” him forever. Ben is sent back to live his normal life with the Dharma people.
Eloise Hawking shoots and kills her son, Daniel Faraday (without knowing his identity) when he approaches the Hostiles to speak to her. From here on, she knows she will bear a son who she will ultimately shoot and kill.
Jack spearheads a plan to blow up Jughead (the atomic bomb) in order to undo the entire show. I guess. I mean, it’s also stupid. The Lostees help him do it though for mostly emotional reasons (love, regret, stupidity, etc.) The detonation seemingly does not actually explode the Island or the people on it. Instead, the time travellers all disappear. The detonation does, however, act as the catalyst for The Incident.
THE INCIDENT: An electromagnetic “Incident” takes place at the Dharma Orchid station. Though the trigger was officially the atomic bomb detonation, the root cause was hubris-fuelled experimentation by Dharma scientists. This creates (worse) ongoing electromagnetic issues on the Island and ultimately leads to (among other problems) pregnant women not living into their third trimester and a button that has to be pressed to discharge energy every to prevent a catastrophic further incident.
1978: Eloise Hawking, who had served as the Others leader for some time, leaves the Island forever and gives birth to her son, Daniel (the very same boy she knowingly shot and killed a year prior). Presumably, her lover Charles Widmore takes over as leader.
1987: THE PURGE. The Hostiles become fed up with The Dharma Initiative and use poison gas to exterminate every member, save for Benjamin Linus, who willingly joins the Others. Ethan Goodspeed also survives after making a deal with The Others. He changes his surname to Rom. We don’t know how or why.
A young Kate, living in Iowa, is visited by Jacob as she attempts to steal a lunchbox from a shop.
1988: Rousseau and her science team crash on the Island. They soon rescue confused time traveller and explosion victim, Jin, who witnesses as Mib begins to target and kill the science team. Jin is nearly shot by Rousseau, but escapes and then disappears into time.
Rousseau, the only survivor of her team, gives birth to a daughter, Alex. Soon after, Benjamin Linus kidnaps Alex at the behest of Others Leader Charles Widmore (okay, he was supposed to murder the baby, but he just couldn’t do it). Rousseau escapes and begins hiding out in the jungle.
1990s: Charles Widmore, long-reigning Leader of the Others, is permanently exiled off the Island by Ben Linus for political reasons. He will spend the next 10-15 years building an empire of wealth in a bid to find and return to the Island (and presumably exact revenge on Ben).
1994: Desmond Hume joins a monastery, but is quickly fired. This leads to him meeting Penelope Widmore. The two fall in love.
1996: Desmond Hume asks Charles Widmore for Penny’s hand in marriage but is rejected on the basis that he isn’t worthy. Desmond takes this criticism to heart, breaks up with Penny, and runs off to join the Royal Scots Regiment (military). During his training he begins to have disturbing and mysterious dream-like flashes where he is actually in a helicopter crisis in some far-away place. During the flashes he is instructed to visit Dr. Daniel Faraday at Oxford, which he does and embarks on a mission to end the flashes. Shortly after this, Desmond serves a brief prison sentence before being dishonorably discharged from the military. Though not explicitly stated, it is implied that desertion–fuelled by the flashes and ensuing adventure–is the cause.
2000: John Locke is thrown out of an eighth-story window by his father. Jacob is on-scene to touch and restore Locke to life. Locke is left paralyzed and wheelchair-bound from this point until he reaches the Island.
2001: Juliet is brought to the Island for reproductive medical research at the behest of Jacob and the Others. She believes she has been recruited by a (fictitious) company called Mittelos Bioscience.
Desmond Hume enters a Widmore-sponsored sailing competition to prove his worth to Penny. Just before setting sail, he randomly encounters strangers Libby and Jack separately. Desmond’s sailboat is caught in a storm and crashes into The Island, stranding Desmond there. He takes up residence in the Swan hatch with Kelvin and is taught to fear a fatal contagion that supposedly exists on the Island. This is a hoax perpetuated by Kelvin and Desmond believes it for the next three years.
2004: Desmond accidentally kills Kelvin. The incident both exposes the contagion hoax and causes Desmond to fail at discharging the electromagnetic energy at the Swan station. As a result, Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on and around the Island. It is further implied later that Jacob may have also played a role in this turn of events.
Many passengers survive the crash against all odds (thank you, Jacob?). The survivors (aka Lostees) make camp in the jungle or beach in rudimentary shelters with meager rations. After not long they discover the existence of “Others” on the Island. Kidnappings, murders, accidental deaths, paranoia, and adventures ensue.
Claire gives birth to a baby boy, who she names Aaron.
Michael and Walt are the first Lostees to escape the Island.
At the very end of the year, Charles Widmore’s freighter ship, the Kahana, arrives offshore to secure the Island and eliminate Ben Linus with extreme indiscriminatory murderous rage. In the course of this operation, newcomers Frank, Charlotte, Miles, Naomi, and Daniel take a chopper to the Island. Charlie dies while trying to open communication between the ship and the Island. This reveals that the ship’s mercenaries may not have the best intentions.
Widmore’s mercenaries kill Rousseau, Karl, and Alex.
Understanding the extreme danger that is approaching, Ben uses Mib’s old Light-harnessing Donkey Wheel to move and hide the Island from Widmore’s invading forces. It works and the Island vanishes. What happens next depends on where people were at that moment.
Ben is thrust into Tunisia, ten months in the future.
People on the Island (including locke, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Sawyer, Daniel, Charlotte, and Frogurt) were sent skipping back in time. Because it’s a Magic Light source. You never know what you’re gonna get. They eventually land in 1974.
Locke is eventually vaulted into Tunisia, present day.
Michael–secretly planted on the freighter by Ben Linus–blows up the freighter with a bomb. He does not survive.
Jin is thrown from the freighter and begins time traveling with the Island group.
Chopper passengers (Sayid, Jack, Kate, baby Aaron, Hugo, Sun, Frank, and Desmond) are not pulled into the time travelling adventure due to their lack of proximity to the Island. Shortly thereafter, they all survive after the helicopter plummets into the ocean. They are rescued by Penny Widmore’s search vessel. They return to their rightful homes in modern day. Frank and Desmond (the only ones who weren’t Oceanic passengers) discreetly re-enter life. The rest are publicized in the news media as the Oceanic Six.
2007: Benjamin Linus kills John Locke, who has been parading around in the real world under the pseudonym “Jeremy Bentham”. The Oceanic Six are manipulated and convinced (largely by Ben Linus) to return to the Island to save the people they left behind. They then do this by crashing another airplane. It works–though Jack, Jin, Kate, Hugo, and Sayid are vaulted back to 1977 for continuing adventures, while the rest are not.
Mib disguises himself as John Locke and starts walking around recruiting followers.
The entire group of Lostees adventuring in the 1970s magically reappear in 2007 at the former Swan hatch site. This includes Sawyer, Miles, Sayid, Jin, Kate, Hugo, and Jack. Juliet also arrives, but is mortally wounded and dies. They join Sun, Frank, Ben, Richard, Claire, and a band of Jacob worshippers/bodyguards led by Ilana.
Now that everyone’s in one place in modern day, it’s time for the final showdown!
IT’S THE FINAL SHOWDOWN! (2007):
In one corner, we have Jacob, Charles Widmore, some bodyguards, and a submarine!
In the other corner, we have Smokey (Locke) and a wrecked Ajira Airlines airplane!
(And in a closet somewhere, Bonkers Claire is breastfeeding a dead raccoon.)
The Lostees struggle to pick a side.
Desmond enters the fray after Charles Widmore kidnapped him and brought him back to the Island as a superhero/failsafe magnetmatician, whose job is to save the Island.
The following murders take place:
- Ben Linus stabs and kills Jacob (convinced by Smokey to do so).
- Smokey murders all of the Jacob worshippers at the Temple.
- Ilana (Jacob’s bodyguard) explodes.
- Smokey explodes the submarine, killing Sun, Jin, and Sayid
- Ben shoots and kills Charles Widmore.
Jack volunteers and becomes Jacob’s replacement.
Smokey forces Jack and Desmond to the magic Light Well at the Island’s heart with the intent of sinking and destroying the Island. As commanded, Desmond uncorks the Light pool and drains it all away. As soon as the Light is drained, Smokey is shocked to realize he’s suddenly mortal.
The Island begins to falter and quake.
Jack and Smokey fight and Jack is stabbed. Kate shoots and kills a newly mortal Mib. In order to save the Island, Jack volunteers to go put the stopper back in the Light drain. Knowing he won’t survive, he taps Hugo as the next Island Protector. Jack succeeds in re-corking the Light and dies in the jungle.
Frank LaPenis repairs the Ajira plane and flies Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Miles, and (newly mortal) Richard safely off the Island, presumably forever. Wishing them loads of luck with Claire, who is seriously psychologically damaged and might even be a supernatural evil in a bad wig.
Hugo names Benjamin Linus as his adviser.
It is implied that Desmond is able to return to his family with Hugo and Ben’s help. Presumably, Bernard, Rose, and dog Vincent continued to live the retired life on the Island.
2010: With Hurley and Ben successfully managing The Island, the two recruit Walt–now grown and institutionalized–to join them on The Island.
Now Let’s Answer Some Questions
Jacob’s Cabin: Whose Was It? Who Was Living There? And What Was With the Ash Line?
The cabin was built as a private retreat by Horace Goodspeed, principle figure in the Dharma Initiative, sometime in the 1970s-1980s. If Jacob ever used the cabin, he abandoned it long before 2004. Calling it “Jacob’s Cabin” was mostly a hoax perpetrated by Benjamin Linus to project the illusion that he was able to commune with Jacob and had special connections and abilities with The Island. This was all a con. The ash line around the cabin was most likely placed there by Benjamin as part of the ruse (it’s all in the details).
However, Mib did utilize the cabin and the ongoing con to manipulate and freak out various characters (Ben, Locke, Hugo, etc.) Such a naughty little smoke monster.
What About the Pregnant Women?
We are told by multiple reliable narrators that women who conceive fetuses on the Island cannot survive to the end of the second trimester. But why? No one knows for sure, not even Benjamin or Richard. Hence, why they brought Juliette to The Island to figure it out. There are two logical assumptions we might make: The first is that the fatalities are a natural phenomenon related to the crazy electromagnetic properties of the Island that resulted from The Incident. The second assumption is more gruesome–that either Jacob or Mib won’t permit a child to be born on the Island (after seeing what the Dharma people did, ruining everything) and take out the fertile mama at the same time. Perhaps this is population control.
What Are The Numbers?
The writers didn’t bother to explain this in the show. (‘Cuz why would they? It isn’t like this is an important plot point or anything!) However, there is some canon material from the writers that does actually lay out where they came from:
Allegedly, the Numbers originated in a (fictitious) long, crazy-ass equation created in the 1960s called the “Valenzetti Equation”, which tries to predict how much time humankind has left. The core purpose of the Dharma Initiative was to manipulate at least one number in any of the equation factors in order to give humanity longer to live. Hence, all the experiments. Just saving the world.
Plus, scientists are dorks, so they used the damn Numbers everywhere–for hatch door serial numbers, the code to discharge the electromagnetism in The Swan, etc. In fact, the Dharma dorks, apparently, broadcast the numbers across a radio frequency with the notion that once just one number changed, it would be a sign to scientists and benefactors that they had succeeded. Which sounds pretty pretentious and stupid, but hey.
This transmission was picked up by some U.S. Navy personnel in the South Pacific and Rousseau’s crew. It was one of the navy personnel who introduced the Numbers to Hugo.
Were they cursed? Probably not. But if you can have a Smoke Monster, then I suppose he could’ve cursed anyone who pays attention to the Numbers? Oh, and there’s some malarkey about Jacob also using those numbers to label his remaining candidates as part of one big coincidence. But that’s just terrible writing and makes zero sense. Delete that from your brain.
What Was With the Hieroglyphics?
Aside from the writers being far too cutesy (and not planning ahead), there were supposedly hieroglyphics in parts of the Valenzetti Equation, used as symbols. Again, me thinks the scientists were so dorky, they just had to manufacture countdown plates that had such images cuz they looked cool.
What Was Going on With Libby?
I’ll tell you what was going on with Libby–sloppy writing. From a meta standpoint, we all know that the actress portraying Libby was fired from the show after a very public DUI incident. Presumably, the writers maybe had plans for Libby’s character that never came to fruition? Or maybe not. Let us guess that Libby could have been in the mental hospital with Hugo due to some kind of stress related to her husband’s death. Or she really was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. After all, she did claim a lot of things about her past that made no sense and she never admitted to knowing Hugo. Odds are, she was a disturbed lady who was able to pass as normal when she wanted to. Nothing more.
Who Was Shooting at the Time Travelers From the Outrigger?
We don’t know conclusively, but it’s a safe bet that it’s Ilana’s crew in 2007. It’s tricky to know what their motivation is, but the show is rife with unnecessary violence, so I guess they try to kill what they can’t control?
What Was the Flash Sideways in the Final Season?
Think of it as an afterlife waiting room. Each of the Lostees experienced their lives as they might have been without the Island’s intercession and maybe in a better, happier world. During their time in this afterlife waiting room, many of the characters they interacted with (for example, Jack’s son) never existed, but were part of a sort of waking dream. I actually like to think it’s what their lives might’ve looked like if they lived their entire lives with the growth they learned during their Island adventures. They ended up being better, more loving people.
Once the Lostees were able to find each other and connect, then they were prepared to join the light of the afterlife together–the implication being that none of them could find the light until they all found each other. The lesson is, I suppose, that they each mattered so much to each other in life, that to move into the light required their bond. Or something. [Insert your own personal spiritual or religious beliefs here.]
Were They All Dead? Was the Island Purgatory?
No. Prior to the final season’s flash sideways in the afterlife, the people we watched on the Island were all alive. Okay, until we saw them die. Or unless Mib used their images to mess with peoples’ heads. Just to be clear, though, the Oceanic 815 Lostees really did survive that crash. The Island was not purgatory, though the show had fun teasing that it could be.
Would Smokey’s Escape Have Spread Evil Across the World?
We will never know for sure, of course. Odds are, no. Obviously he has magical powers and he’s angry as hell, but let’s consider where the myth came from. We only believe that Smokey would poison the world because Jacob told us and his followers this. Jacob made his own game and his own rules–just like young Mib predicted. But he likely had no idea. His mother taught him to protect the Island and its Light source. As far as we know, there were no smoke monsters back then and no reason for her to explain that a smoke monster’s departure would uncork evil unto the world.
Because Jacob had too much time on his hands and had really arbitrary rules for how he handled mortal humans, he may very well have been nutso. Or maybe he was just manipulating everything to really piss off his brother. We don’t even know that Mib *could* leave the Island even if he tried. The entire war and the plane crash–everything–might have been horribly pointless.
Why Was Walt Special?
Because he was. That’s what the writers have stated, and it makes sense. Some people seem born with supernatural talents, or so many people believe. Walt was one. The Others found him really interesting to see what he would make of the Island and vice versa. Jacob probably wondered if the boy could be the Successor. So the Others kidnapped him, quizzed him, and eventually let him go (for reasons unknown). After Walt returned home with Michael, he most likely never did appear to anyone on the Island–not Shannon and not Locke. In each case, it was probably just Mib pretending to be Walt to mess with everyone.
Did Kate Really See a Horse on The Island?
Maybe. It could’ve been Jacob. But let’s be real, it was probably more of Mib’s mind games. Or she could’ve hallucinated the thing–maybe even before the plane crash. Listen, the horse is more about Kate having a spirit animal that watches over her. Take that literally, spiritually, or as dehydration-induced as you like.
Was There Really an Evil Illness That Took Over Rousseau’s Crew, Claire, and Sayid?
Probably not. Most of that “darkness” that they demonstrate can be easily explained by general psychosis, dehydration, and the power of suggestion. And let’s say this now–the idiots at The Temple who tried to “test” Sayid’s levels of evil were absolutely full of shit. They were so into their twisted Jacob-worshiping faith that they had lost touch with anything resembling truth or reality. And poor Sayid already believed the worst in himself, so he believed them.
Rousseau’s crew was probably driven insane by Mib, just for kicks. And Rousseau and Claire probably just went nutso from isolation, paranoia, and despair.
Or maybe Mib’s “darkness” really could infect people. ‘Cuz, why not? If that’s the case, I don’t envy Aaron. Mama Claire’s coming home very disoriented and ready to kill.
How Exactly Did It Work for Jack to Detonate a Bomb and Launch the Dharma Lostees Into the Future Without Anyone Dying?
This is the one plot hole that just absolutely makes me crazy. I mean, I’m willing to accept the Island’s crazy-ass magical Light, so the writers should’ve figuratively and literally gone back to that pool and used the Light to get back to the present. Drink it, snort it, swim in it.
Instead, Jack takes doodles from a dead (and somewhat unhinged) physicist’s journal, swirls it around with his sadness that he couldn’t hold on to Kate–which he explicitly admits–and decides he’s ready to just murder everyone on the Island.
So he does that. Fine. Then they die. The end. Whatever happened, happened. They blew up. Kablooey. Dead. I don’t want to hear about pockets of magnetism. The Dharma Initiative? Dead. The Others? Dead. Jacob? Dead. Except for Mib and Richard, who were then left alone on a glow-in-the-dark Island that keeps exploding because of unstable magnetic energy that isn’t discharged by anybody in a hatch. Rousseau’s crew turns up to get baked by radiation.
Okay, so let’s work hard to believe that Island’s Light absorbed the explosion and radiation while sending the Lostees forward in time–conveniently to the exact moment in time they desired and in the place they desired.
Or we can imagine Jack didn’t commit mass murder with a bomb. They drank from the pool of Light and *poof* they were back where they wanted to be. Except for poor Juliet. She had nothing to drink and is still at the bottom of the hole.
There you have it! All the answers to a crazy beautiful show that demanded a lot from its viewers. If there’s anything I’ve forgotten, let me know and I’ll add to the answers. Or I’ll throw a Hot Pocket at you. One or the other.
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