- After averaging twenty-four episodes a season over the first three seasons the last two seasons of Lost (season 4 and season 5) have only averaged 15.5 episodes a season.
Lost Season 5 Plot
- Explanation of what happened to the people that stayed behind on the island
- Oceanic 6 return to the island
- Time travel on the island - can the past be changed or has it already been written
- Island History - possibly dating back to Biblical Times
- Leadership amongst the Others: Jacob, Widmore, Eloise, Ben, Richard, Locke, etc.
- DHARMA's back story
- Death and resurrection
Season 5 begins with an explanation of what occurred after Ben turned the frozen donkey wheel that moved the island and caused it to disappear right in front of the eyes of the Oceanic 6 onlookers in the season 4 finale.
The explanation of the events that transpired is largely predicated on a unique view of time travel that operates under specific rules and constraints that are increasingly better understood as the season progresses.
At the instant Ben turns the wheel beneath the Orchid station the island immediately bounces around through time and space while the world continues to seem "normal" to the islands inhabitants. Those on the island at the time of the initial shift continue to live normal existences in between time shifts. Every time the island jumps to another time period the physical surroundings age around the inhabitants appropriately depending on how far into the future or the past the island shifts. Each shift in time is preempted with a bright light that engulfs the island.
The shifts in time are extremely disorienting to the Survivors and Science Team stranded from the freighter. While people near one another maintain their spacial relationship with each other with through each time shift the surroundings change appropriately with the physical alterations that have occurred on the island over time.
Faraday, the principal member of the science team, does his best to explain scientific time travel theories to the Survivors and introduces the idea of "whatever happened, happened" - a theory stating that events of the past can't be altered.
Chaos ensues as the Survivors and Science Team are unwillingly hurled through time and space. Some time shifts leave the group in a spot on the islands time line for only a few seconds while other stretches between time shifts may go on for hours. The time shifts are somewhat analogous to coming to grips with earthquakes in that there's no telling when or how often they'll happen or even how long they'll last.
Some time shifts result in characters finding themselves in very meaningful positions in the islands history while other shifts leave them at a loss for any significance whatsoever.
At one point in the time shifting chaos that dominates the first few episodes of the season omnipotent Richard Alpert has a chance meeting with John Locke in an unspecified year and tells Locke to bring back the ones who left (meaning the Oceanic 6) and furthermore that in order to accomplish this Locke has to die. Before Locke can question or properly process Richard's strange statements Locke vanishes in another untimely (pun intended) shift.
Faraday begins to notice members of the group having poor physical reactions to the constant time travel. Nose bleeds and confusion are precursors that he's seen before that indicate frequent time travel is causing mental complications that can quickly result in brain damage or death. Faraday does everything he can to lessen the detrimental effects and has moderate success in doing so.
At one point during the constant time jumping (approximately 1950's or 1960's) the group encounters hostiles (precursors to Others) in unidentifiable military outfits that take them captive and believe them to be American soldiers sent to retrieve the "bomb." The bomb turns out to be a highly unstable/damaged Hydrogen bomb capable of destroying the entire island. Faraday instructs the hostiles to immediately encase the bomb in concrete and bury it in order to prevent a disaster of cataclysmic proportions.
It's discovered that one of the rifle wielding young hostiles in military garb is a young Charles Widmore, the very same man that approximately fifty years later will send the freighter that's ultimately responsible for the time shifts the Survivors and Science Team are currently experiencing.
Time shifts continue to move the characters through different stories in the island's history, including some of their own past when they first crashed on the island. Keep in mind that only those on the island at the time Ben moved the frozen wheel incur the time leaping. Normal inhabitants of the island (like the aforementioned soldiers watching the bomb) remain in a completely linear/traditional time progression.
Jin is discovered to have survived the freighter explosion and finds himself flashing through time alone (at the same rate as the Survivors and Science Team) and eventually meets up with the other Survivors.
Despite Faraday's best efforts Charlotte (member of the Science Team) succumbs to the nauseating effects that sporadic time travel causes her body. Charlotte passes away but not before privately confiding in Faraday that she met him when she was a child [Faraday and Charlotte are about the same age (early thirties)]. It's becoming increasingly evident to the characters as well as the audience that this eclectic group of strangers from around the world are not nearly as random as they initially seemed. Intelligent design may very well have a hand in all of the "coincidences" that the island seems to foster.
Locke, having been united with the Survivors for some time, decides that because Ben's turning of the wheel initiated the constant time jumps then going back to the wheel is their best chance for making them stop. Finding himself in an era before the Orchid station was build Locke lowers himself into a well that stands where the Orchid will eventually be built. Upon his dissent he encounters Christian Shepard whom viewers primarily know as main character Jack Shepard's father but Locke only knows from having met Christian briefly in Jacob's cabin in the season 4 finale. Christian explains the unpredictable time jumping is the result of the all important wheel being off its axis and that Locke must correct it and find Eloise Hawking (whom he's never heard of) once he returns to the outside world
Upon turning the wheel Locke corrects the volatile time shifting on the island and finds himself instantly transported to Tunisia in 2007 or 2008. (same exact location Ben landed in the season 4 finale).
Despite constant unexplainable circumstances and illogical advice Locke perseveres as a man of faith, blindly believing that there is a purpose greater than himself behind his mission with nothing more than a gut feeling to rationalize that everything is happening for a reason.
Equipped only with the information that (1)he needs to find someone named Eloise Hawking, (2) he needs to bring back everyone who left, and (3) he must die in order to bring everyone back Lock faithfully sets out on his mission without out giving much thought to "why."
Back in the outside world Locke quickly meets up with Charles Widmore and the two agree to help each other return to the island. Locke's attempts to persuade the Oceanic 6 to go back to the island fail because as much as their lives are distraught in the outside world each member refuses to go back to the island without some sort of concrete understanding as to why they should (let alone how they would).
Frustrated to the point of desperation Locke embraces the idea that he must die in order to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island (idea Richard told him during the time leaping on the island). Locke, so steeped in faith that he is literally willing to die for a cause that he doesn't fully understand or question, prepares to hang himself in his dingy apartment. After writing a suicide note Ben serendipitously knocks on his door moments before Locke can finish what he's started.
Ben proceeds to tell Locke that he's important and need not kill himself. Upon agreeing with Ben Locke casually mentions the name Eloise Hawking (Christian Shepard told Locke to find Eloise mere seconds before he left the island). Upon hearing this piece of information Ben does a complete 180 and strangles Locke to death and then positions him in such a way that the murder actually looks like a suicide by hanging (Locke's original intention before Ben stopped him).
Sometime after Locke's funeral (2008) Jack and Ben team up to get back to the island. They both believe that in order to do so all of the Oceanic 6 members plus John Locke will have to go back together. Although to a large extend Jack, Locke, and Ben have individually tried without success to recruit the Oceanic 6 members in the past this time they aim to join forces and approach the problem with greater resolve. First step: stealing Locke's body from the funeral home.
A series of events, manipulations, and deceptions (of course orchestrated by Ben, the maestro of manipulation) lead to all of the Oceanic 6 members agreeing to find a way to return to the island together.
Ben leads the group to a nearby church (in Los Angeles) where the group meets Eloise Hawking. Eloise is "coincidentally" Daniel Faraday's mother, the woman that many years ago in London somewhat mysteriously told Desmond he needed to sail around the world (leading to his crashing on the island), and was once a teenager on the island with Charles Widmore when several time jumpers (including her grown future son) met her to discuss safely storing a volatile Hydrogen bomb. In addition to her previously mentioned involvements viewers learn that Eloise is very high up the food chain (significantly more so than Ben), has vast knowledge of the inner workings of island, and can tell the Oceanic 6 how they can return.
In a basement below the church Eloise takes the group to the Lamp Post, the only DHARMA station that exists off the island. Eloise, with the help of a pendulum chamber is able to zero in and predict the island's moving coordinates. She informs the group of a specific flight they need to be on that will intercept perfectly with the islands ever changing location. With regards to the necessity of them all traveling together Eloise simply explains that their best chance for success entails recreating the circumstances of their original flight as closely as possible.
Despite last minute complications the entire group boards the flight that's cosmically destined to place them where they belong on the island. Midway through the flight from Los Angeles to Guam turbulence is encountered and a familiar bright light engulfs the plane.
Island 1974 - 1977
When Locke put the wheel back on its axis he stopped the frequent time shifts on the island and instantly transported himself to the outside world and began the recruitment endeavor that would actually end in his murder at Ben's hands.
Locking the donkey wheel in place resulted in Juliet, Miles, Jin, Faraday, and Sawyer all permanently being stuck in 1974. The five members from the future soon find themselves assimilating into the culture of the early days of the DHARMA initiative. Their daily lives now consist of interacting with a young Benjamin Linus when he's about twelve years old, physically building the DHARMA stations that they themselves will someday discover thirty years in the future, and generally going about a normal existence while keeping their time traveling past (or is it future?) a secret.
Sawyer goes by the name "Jim LaFleur" and all of the time traveling members take up normal jobs within the self-sustaining community. Jim LaFleur (Sawyer) becomes head of security and the other former time travelers follow suit with equally mundane positions. Much to the surprise of most viewers Sawyer and Juliet develop a committed romantic relationship and live together.
Oceanic 6 return to the island (in 1977)
After three years of quietly mixing with the DHARMA initiative most of the Oceanic 6 suddenly appear on the island in July 1977 after having been warped back in time when the white light engulfed their flight from LA to Guam. Jack, Kate, and Hurley are found by Jin who alerts Sawyer. Sawyer finds a creative way to incorporate the newcomers into the DHARMA community without raising suspicions.
Sayid is eventually found, but without Sawyer's help Sayid finds himself in a position of being considered an enemy combatant and is subsequently jailed while DHARMA figures out what to do with him.
Sayid is emotionally tortured by the concept of interacting with a young Benjamin Linus and ultimately decides to kill the boy when the first opportunity arises. Sayid has seen the future and has seen Ben grow up into a monster that's responsible for genocide. Sayid believes that eradicating Ben while he's a young boy will make the world a better place as it will spare mankind of the atrocities Ben's destined to commit.
Even the idea of killing Ben in the 1970's prompts much discussion about how the future would unfold on the island and how it could possibly play out the way it "originally" did when Ben was a major player in everything that happens on the island.
Sayid manages to shoot young Ben and leaves him for dead but the boy is only badly injured and is found by Jin who promptly returns the badly wounded boy to the barracks for medical attention.
Despite much disagreement within the inner circle of time travelers (Jack, a surgeon, refuses to treat him) Juliet ultimately hands Ben over to the ageless Richard Alpert who looks the same in 1977 as he did in 2004. Richard is a leader within the Hostiles (later to be dubbed the Others by the Survivors of Oceanic Flight 815). The injured Ben is given to Richard because Juliet knows that the Hostiles have access to unique healing methods that may be the only chance to save Ben's life. Despite Sayid's attempt to change the future Ben has once again (is this a second playing out of history?) wound up with the Hostiles at an impressionable young age.
Daniel Faraday confides in the time travelers that he has a plan to keep Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing in 2004. Specifically, his plan is to detonate the Hydrogen bomb that they know is buried on the island. Faraday, a brilliant scientist in his own rite, has calculated that a detonation at the island's electromagnetic epicenter (where the Swan station/Hatch is being build) will result in an Earth rattling explosion that will annihilate the island in 1977 and thus ensure that the 2004 crash of Oceanic Flight 815 never occurs.
Several incidents come up while trying to execute Faraday's plan, most notably Faraday being accidentally shot and killed by his mother Eloise Hawking in 1977. In a plot twist that continued to challenge viewer's imaginations and ideas about time travel Eloise kills the grown version of her son that hasn't even been conceived yet.
After a heavy gunfight with DHARMA members Juliet is ultimately the one who detonates the bomb at the bottom of drill shaft near the core of the electromagnetic field. Upon the detonation the entire island is again engulfed in a flash of white light and viewers are left wondering what the final season will have in store.
Island 2007
When the flash of light engulfed the Los Angeles to Guam flight that the Oceanic 6 plus Locke and Ben were on most of the Oceanic 6 were transported to 1977 but the remainder of the passengers and crew (including Ben, Locke, and Sun) were transported to the island in 2007 (one year back in time) where they safely crash landed. (Remember the original Oceanic Flight 815 crash was in 2004 so by 2007 the Survivors' story has already played out.)
All the passengers are on board the crash landed plane except Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid - the group that was strangely transported back to 1977 where they reunited with Sawyer, etc.
On night two of being back on the island passengers of the crash landed plane notice a man that looks like John Locke standing in the water just off the beach. Questioning island newcomers are suspicious of the Locke character because they don't remember seeing him aboard the plane (he was stowed underneath the plane in a casket with the luggage). Locke doesn't shy away from unapologetically confiding in the strangers that he distinctly remembers Dying.
Much to Ben's surprise Locke appears to be walking amongst the living. Locke doesn't seem to harvest much anger towards Ben for murdering him, perhaps because Locke faithfully believes that every happenstance has all been part of a supreme master plan.
Ben confides in Locke that his motivation for coming back to the island is to be judged by the smoke monster (despite five seasons of questions little has been explained about the monster).
Carrying out Ben's stated wishes Locke leads Ben to the wall of the Temple station where Locke suspiciously knows that Ben can find the smoke monster lurking underneath the Temple. In a scene filled with supernatural effect Ben proceeds to confront the manifestation of the smoke monster one-on-one. Ultimately the monster spares Ben's life on the condition that he follow Locke faithfully and do whatever Locke asks of him.
After Ben's terrifying meeting with the monster he and Locke meet up with the Others (including Richard Alpert). Locke takes leadership over the Others and instructs them that he wants to take them all to see and meet the Jacob character that despite being allegiant to none of them have ever seen. During the trek to get to Jacob Locke casually mentions to Ben the shocking news that he intends to kill Jacob.
Later on during the hike to Jacob's Ben divulges to Locke that the smoke monster ordered him to follow Locke's direction no matter what. Locke responds by saying that he wants Ben to kill Jacob. Confusion mounts in Ben's mind as the events that have unfolded since returning to the island are beyond what even he could have imagined.
Jacob resides at the base of the mysterious four toed statue that has been very briefly shown in previous seasons. Locke gives the seemingly still unsure Ben a dagger and the two enter Jacob's chambers. While what appears to be John Locke and Ben are inside interacting with Jacob the actual body of John Locke (presumably from the cargo hold of the crash landed plane) is brought to Richard who along with the others have been patiently waiting for the conclusion of Ben, "Locke", and Jacob's private meeting.
Seemingly unbeknownst to everyone except the most perceptive viewers the "Locke form" currently in Jacob's chambers can be inferred to be Jacob's centuries old nemesis that has apparently taken the form of John Locke in order to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob. Ben will soon realize that he's found himself on an unfamiliar side of a manipulation seemingly pulled off by Jacob's mysterious nemesis. Little is known about the nemesis as he was only introduced in the introduction of the season 5 finale. One of the few things known is that the nemesis has long wanted to kill Jacob but required a "loophole" to do so [presumably having someone else (Ben) do the deed].
Jacob's final words are the foreshadowing cryptic message, "they're coming."
Lost Season 5 Closing Scene(s)
Season 5 was creatively unique even by Lost standards and fantastically innovative for television in general.
Season 5 really had duel closing scenes that may have been occurring simultaneously and in the same general physical location but in different time periods.
Essentially the two closing scenes were:
- 1977: Juliet detonating the Hydrogen bomb at the core of the electromagnetic field
- 2007: Jacob's murder and the realization of the Locke resurrection hoax.
Closing Thoughts on Lost Season 5
In arguably the most epic season to date Lost combined a brilliant blend of science, theory, imagination, and character development.
Time travel concepts introduced in season 5 are sufficiently sophisticated yet adequately explained in plain English to the point that any old school Back To The Future fan would be proud.
Season 5 created an interesting dynamic in which Jack Shepard and John Locke swapped personalities in some respects. Jack, the seemingly constant man of science and reasoning, found solace in blindly longing to fulfill his unknown destiny on the island. Locke, traditionally thought of a stoic believer in faith eventually reached his breaking point when his once blind faith could no longer sustain itself without rationale explanation.
Unfortunately, due to the stylistic formatting of the above season 5 summary enough credit wasn't given to the opening scene of the season finale where Jacob interacts with his unknown island nemesis likely centuries before the eventual crash of Oceanic Flight 815. The implications of this scene suddenly reveal that the island's mysticism is not something that simply started with the Oceanic 815 crash or a generation before with the DHARMA initiative or even a generation before that with the soldiers like Widmore and Eloise that protected the Hydrogen bomb. The island's story may in fact go back eons and may even have biblical implications. The overlying theme of good versus evil has been expanded to a cosmic scale.
If you'd like to see the opening scene of the Lost season 5 finale (again) described in the above paragraph watch the below video (it gives us chills every time):
Lost Season 5 Characters
The eighteen main characters in alphabetical order (by first name) are:
There are close to fifty supporting cast members for season 5. For simplicity's sake they will remain nameless.
0 comments:
Post a Comment