On Lost: "This Place is Death"

Did Jin change the future?

After hearing Rousseau's transmission at the end of the first ever episode of Lost, Charlie posed the infamous question, "Guys, where are we?" After last night's episode "This Place Is Death" I think the question has now become, "Where are we going?"

This episode contained so much information. To me, it's amazing how much was fit into 43 minutes. For starters, we got all the juicy details of Rousseau's early days on the island within the first half of the show! I was thinking for sure that we would be stuck in Rousseau's early days for at least a full episode - if not more. If you need a prerequisite to this episode, go watch "Solitary," the first season episode that first introduced us to Danielle Rousseau. It took 4 years but we finally got most of the answers posed from that episode. How did Montaund lose his arm? The Smoke Monster ripped it off. How did Rousseau's crew get sick, but not her? They were stupid enough to go down the hole after Montaund and none other than Jin himself was the one who stopped her from going down as well. We found out how Rousseau knew that the smoke monster was a security system. We got confirmation that Charlotte grew up on the Island and have been led to believe that Faraday was in the past, warning a young Charlotte not to return to the Island once she and her mom left or else she would die. We found out that Christian Shephard may be more ghostly than human, but he seems cognitively aware of who he is by telling Locke to "Say hi to my son." Why was the island skipping? The frozen donkey wheel was dislodged by the ever conniving Ben, leaving John Locke and his life of sacrifice to clean up the mess. Sun's daughter is alive and well. Speaking of Sun, while she seems on board with Jack and Ben, everyone else seems to be in opposite directions. As Eloise Hawking so eloquently said, "I suppose it will have to do for now."

Locke giving the old frozen donkey wheel a spin

The time travel was given firm ground to stand on. The major debate has been whether or not they are creating time paradoxes by going back in time. The answer after last night's episode is no. Jin's run in with Rousseau was a part of her story when we first met her in season one. The information she knew (or thought she knew), as well as her immunity to the "sickness," were both based off of her encounter with Jin. Now it's time to go back and look at all of the scenes between Rousseau and Jin.

The other big reveal was that Faraday tried to interfere with the future by telling a young Charlotte never to return to the island or else she would die. With the confirmation that Faraday was always in her history - and that even with Faraday trying to interfere with the fate of her death on the island - it still happened. So finally our minds can rest at ease. There are no time paradoxes; everything that has happened is going to happen. There is no changing it...unless maybe if you're Desmond.

With so many answers coming so fast, the question I had for myself after the episode last night was, "Where are we going?" Now I know that this has been a thought by many viewers of the show throughout its run. My question is this: Now that they are answering so many questions and getting right to the nitty griity of the story, what's left? This season is supposed to be about the O6's (Oceanic Six) return to the island. What are they going to do once they get there? We have a whole season left after this one. I want to know what you guys think. What's next?

If you crave even more Lost Talk check out my podcast, "The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack" or on iTunes.

Comments

[ScottishScript]

I think Lost will end something like this.

In the final season we will learn that the “indigenous” islanders are in fact descendents of our Losties, this caused by time travel paradox. As a result, they have been waiting for the Oceanic flight to crash, so as to meet their “ancestors­.”

The series will likely end with a battle to either preserve all the events that have come to pass, or to prevent them. I’m guessing the series will end with Oceanic Flight 815 avoiding disaster and making it to Los Angeles. All the characters will then disembark to go their separate ways; barely giving one another a glance, because in this restored timeline, all that we’ve seen in the series never occurred. Only the audience knows about the friendships and sacrifices these people made for one another.

Then Desmond bursts into the baggage area screaming; “Stop, we’ve got to go back!” Sheesh.

[greendream]

I don't think they are in hell or purgatory but at the same time I wouldn't trust what the writers have to say. During the first season they said there would be no time travel involved. Guess what?

I enjoyed the episode last night. Fast paced, sad when Charlotte died but "He's from Korea. I'm from Encino was funny.

[majormoderate]

i was most interested in the part where jack's dad tells locke "when has ben ever steered you in the right direction" (or something like that). this makes it look as though ben has never been one with the island. why did ben insist that he was the one who was supposed to move the island? i guess we'll find this out sooner than later.

also, the whole "smoke monster is protecting the temple" thing really makes you wonder if jacob is inside the temple. was richard albrook made "sick" by the smoke monster? is that why the others protect the island?

also, why didn't ben know that the woman who locates the island was faradays mother?

ahh so many answers yet so many more questions!

[ustreetdude]

LOST, for the last four seasons, has intelligently combined Stephen King, time travel stories, philosophies of life, and more elements into its amazing storyline.

I reject the simplistic answer that our Losties are in HELL. That's just too Judeo-Christian for me. LOST has a moral center, but is not specifically religious. It is rooted in deeper stories that pre-date Christianity, and also cribs many themes from 20th Century literature.

I've been watching since Season One, and to me it's just not that simple.

I have a feeling, after the final season airs, that the writers of LOST will wrap it up with a nice final episode that somehow contains the thematic equivalent of: We are in control of our own destinies and we do ourselves (and others) harm by ignoring our true selves and straying from our natural paths.

[DWHarper]

I think the title of the episode is quite self explanatory. Lost is the story of people who are dead going through some sort of shared karmic experience. The question is not "where are we going?", but "where are we?" and it seems the answer is HELL. Sorry to be the spoiler to all you Lost watchers, but it was apparent from the start of the series anyway.

[majormoderate]

the writers have denied this countless times...

[jalyn]

Trusting Ben is one problem for me; each episode I either trust him completely or lose faith in him. Most of the characters are transparent, but Ben through the whole series is very mysterious. I was believing him to be either the devil, or an alien, James Bond, or just a very manipulative dictator.

I think it's getting close to finding out "who is actually in charge". I know they're going to throw a wrench in things real soon, and get my head spinning again.

[beanhole]

to quote farraday, " "

what, you couldn't hear that?