JUGHEAD DELIVERANCE:
DUELING TIMELINES, BLOODLINES, AND FATELINES
Kudos to the entire Lost crew for another crackerjack episode, filled with tasty tidbits and multiple prizes for us fans to open and share.... Mmmmm.... where to begin....
Daniel Faraday, John Locke, a youthful Charles Widmore.... Jughead was gratifyingly populated with a range of existential choice-points, decision nodes highlighting some central fundamental tensions we share as members of the human race. Are past, present, and future storylines already written in stone by fate? Are we merely playing out our roles on the stage of life, reading lines that have already been written by some cosmic playwright? If we choose to do something, are we exercising free will, or are we simply doing something that we are destined to do anyway, something that we would observe as having already been done, were we properly equipped with the power to 'record skip' ahead in spacetime, and witness our own lives playing out on the stage of life....?
What's It All About, Charlie?
What does all of this have to do with where the show has been going, where it is now, and where it may be headed....? Let's take a step back for a moment, to identify some key notes along the journey, to date:
1. The Flight 815 survivors are stranded on an island with unique energy properties. These properties amplify human abilities (clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, etc.-- see the HEMA Science posting) and accelerate healing to such an extent that the effects appear to be 'magical'. These themes prompt healthy and vigorous discussion throughout the community of Lost aficionados regarding the nature of our existence and abilities as beings located within a universe comprised of some very strange and interesting relationships among energy, matter, and mind (nod to Gregory Bateson....) And one of the more intriguing yet-to-be-resolved puzzles involves the nature, source, and function of the 'whispering voices' in the background....
2. We witness the discovery of a hatch on the island, signaling the 'Next Logical Step' (NLS) in the progression of the storyline, introducing the importance of technology/devices as a means by which our species apprehends, mediates, and influences our existence on the planet and in the universe. Our minds create extensions of our selves, devices that amplify our 'natural' abilities to perceive, understand, and act upon the world (microscopes, telescopes, atomic bombs, etc.) These themes prompt further discussion and learning in the Lost community regarding the nature and consequences of devising and using technology to influence relationships among humans, energy, and matter.
3. We learn that various forces (groups) are vying for control of the island, its powers, and even the persons who have spent time on the island. One obvious effect of visiting the island is the opportunity to witness firsthand the 'magical' powers of the island. Hence, prior visits by Charles Widmore and others have the not-so-surprising effect of prompting a return visit. Exposure to the magic functions like a Rohrschach test, holding a mirror up to reveal the true nature and desires of each witness.... Visitors with more sinister agendas and exploitive desires (Widmore?) will of course be focused on plotting and executing plans to manipulate the island's powers for personal power and selfish gain.... Those with more noble and naturalistic leanings (Locke) will recognize that the island is an integral natural component on the planet and in the universe, and focus their energies toward protecting the island and seeing that others are not able to find and exploit the island for their own gain.....
4. The flashbacks and flashforwards, ingenius plot devices providing key backstory (and futurestory) elements, all in a valuable and entertaining manner, are replaced with ABs, a.k.a. 'actualbacks, in which viewers witness island visitors actually traveling back in time. This is yet another NLS in the progression of the show, not only in the storyline itself, but also in the storytelling approach, proper. Kudos to the Lost crew for yet another stroke of genius, a thoroughly inventive 'riff' on the Deep Flashback idea that I discussed last year as a means of filling in the island's backstory.... While some may have been displeased to learn that a previously discredited story element was now canon-- time travel-- I was very pleased to see the creative team embracing new elements at the right point in time.... While the time travel plot device would likely have been perceived by some as a 'cheat', had it been employed at an earlier point in the series, now that we have seen all the pieces from Seasons 1-4 fall into place, it is indeed the right time for the time travel theme. Now it's a natural device, as the constituent elements/components have been expertly woven throughout the series to date. Moreover, it provides one of the NLS 's in serving to advance the debate regarding free will and determinism, all framed within the broader and deeper historical context of our cutting edge knowledge regarding the nature of, and relationships among: energy, matter, and mind, with a little help from our technologies/devices, of course!
5. Where once time travel was taboo, will we next witness the revelation that it may be possible to leverage the relationships among energy, matter, people (and their devices) to actually alter timelines, i.e., to plot and pave new streets of time? Is this not a viable candidate for NLS creativity by the Lost producers/writers? Will we witness the transmutation of this, yet another discredited theory, into Lost canon? I would not be surprised to see a shift from: (1) actual backward and forward traveling in spacetime, to (2) a new/creative plotline involving the use of devices and people to not only SEE different spacetimelines, but to ENACT them, as well (dueling timelines?)
6. DUELING TIMELINES.... Here are the pieces that may indeed come together.... The island's energy amplifies psychic abilities (clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, etc....) Walt, Locke, and others (MILES!) have displayed psychic abilities. Ben used a device (ancient tech) to tap the island's energy, to move the island, resulting in Locke and other recent visitors being caught in the 'Wake' of the island's spacetimeline (a.k.a. 'songline', movements across spacetime), and they are now actually moving across time (and perhaps through space as well, per my prior posting.) Miles was shown using a device (psychic dust/ghostbuster) to communicate with an 'entity', to locate a stash.....
Why was Miles selected by Widmore to be on the team? Why is he on the island? Miles is there to bridge the HEMA relationships made possible on the island, enabling someone to SEE the timeline in such a way as to perceive how specific acts will alter (rewrite) the timeline, namely how things will ripple backward, outward, and forward across the spacetimeline, past, present, and future.... Hmmmm.... in some future episode I would not be surprised to see Miles uncovering a tech device (ancient? or ancient/modern hybrid?) and preparing it TO REMOTELY VIEW THE EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC ACTIONS ON THE TIMELINE....
I Can See For (I Am) Miles-
Now we can truly see the reference to a 'remote viewing station' (RVS) on the Swan hatch blast door for what it really is.... While we may learn that the RVS was begun as a joint CIA/military operation aimed at leveraging the island's unique energy properties to amplify the ability of psychics to remotely see locations across space, in time, per my prior pieces (esp. Soviet/DHARMA Psi Wars), here I'm proposing that the project evolved into a program aimed at understanding and exploiting ways to use the island to see across space AND time, enabling remote temporal viewing qua the ability to use psychics to see the past and the future, a literal analogue to the flashback and flashforward plot devices, except we viewers are replaced with CIA/military psychics.
Will we learn that Charles Widmore was involved in this program? If so, how? Will we learn that one key reason Daniel Faraday was on the island at the time DHARMA discovered the energy source was that Faraday was there to install temporal devices at the RVS, perhaps including the installation of a TEMPORAL REMOTE VIEWING (TRV) device, funded in part by Widmore? Were the CIA/military psychics at the RVS serving as the functional equivalent of Eloise, Faraday's rat, engaged in TRV through that soft pink glow of becoming unstuck in time? Or, were they finally able to achieve TRV through some other Faraday device, using psychics within the heightened island energy field, all without the pink glow, the nose bleeds, and the neural short-circuiting? Does Widmore have any psychic abilities, himself? If so, heaven help us all, as we'll see below....
Instead of viewing the 'Fates' in some symbolic/figurative manner, as a trio of ragged hags peering into a boiling, roiling cauldron of goo, attempting to 'see' the future through some murky, swirling fog, on Lost we may see Destiny revealed to us in far more mundane garb, clothed in the drab khaki or olive green worn by members of an elite TRV team.... How cool would this be.... Miles and crew are actually thrown back in time to the time and place at which the DESTINY Project is operating and, by so doing, they are able to see the team in action, and witness the operation of the device helping to amplify psychic powers through the island's energy field, to produce the effect of temporal remote viewing (TRV)....
THIS may be one of the primary reasons why Miles was selected by Widmore to be a member of the team.... Widmore knew about the Destiny Project (TRV), and knew he needed to send someone who would be able to provide the Human element (H; Heuristics) to complete the HEMA web of relationships among person, energy, and matter/device, to achieve the material applications of seeing backward and forward along the terran timeline, our literal and figurative song of life....
What we may learn is that among other things, Widmore has been devoting significant time and energy into charting the island's past and present spacetime line, (in part, through use of the Black Rock ledger), and identifying key acts/actions that may ripple backward/outward/forward on the spacetimeline in order to shift or alter that line in a manner that best suits his self-interests (He would be King!)
But what Widmore DOES NOT YET know is which one act (or combination of acts thereof) will produce the proper rippling cascade of effects, to produce a timeline favorable to his interests. For that, he needs the island, access to the TRV station, and a psychic present on the island at the TRV station, an operative who is working on Widmore's behalf to use the temporal remote viewing capabilities of the station to see how the timeline would be altered if one or more of the acts were achieved.... (What if X were killed, at Y time, by Z? Etc.) And yes, the development of the Destiny Project by the joint CIA/military venture is a simultaneously intriguing and frightening evolution in the concept of WAR GAMING, but this time the twist is novel and killer.... You can see-- backward, outward, and forward in time-- the effects of particular actions on the spacetimeline, made possible by the power of the island to TUNE and RETUNE spacetime.... producing dueling FATELINES....
Symbiotic Superstrung Relationships: Staying In Tune With Each Other-
What is fate? More and more, I'm convinced by where Lost is headed that the better question may instead be.... WHO is fate?
In my 1/27/09 piece, I looked back on prior Lost episodes and noted a pattern in the proceedings, a relationship among the island and its visitors that may yet help to answer the following questions, and more:
* Why is it so important for Jack and the other members of the Oceanic 6 to return to the island?
* Why is it so important who raises Aaron, and that he be kept off of the island?
* Why were Locke and other Flight 815 survivors thrown into the spacetime 'wake' of the island's song/timeline?
* Why might Ben be unable to return to the island (or, at least, find it extremely uncomfortable to return to the island?)
Why? Because once you set foot on the island, you start a symbiotic relationship that grows over time, not in a figurative sense, but rather, in a very real physical/physiological sense (energy and matter and persons; HEMA intertwining....) Seeing the effects of the island have cemented my understanding of this relationship in the following way:
1. Drawing on superstring theory, I propose that the island's existence as an actual, material entity involving unique energy properties (electromagnetism, Casimir effect, negatively-charged exotic matter, etc.) perforce must involve a unique vibrational signature expressed locally at the island's spacetime coordinates, on the planet Earth, within the larger superstrung universe.
2. The longer one stays on the island, the more in sync or 'in tune' one's mind and body becomes with the unique superstring vibrations associated with the island's energy properties, as defined by and resulting within the unique localized resonances caused by the island's presence in the superstrung universe.
3. When one leaves the island, one experiences not jet lag, but 'tune lag', a form of 'spacetime sickness' (one milder form of spacetime 'unstuckness'), as a direct function of how far (in space and in time) one is from the island.
4. Returning to the island (as in the case of the Oceanic 6) will result in a restoration, over time, of the 'lost' vibrational synchrony previously established between the island and the visitor/symbiote (via a mutual 'retuning' process).
5. Accordingly, it makes all the sense in the world that returning the Oceanic 6 to the island will not only help them to start to feel better physically, but also mentally, as the 'retuning' commences between island and person.
6. From the standpoint of the island, I propose that it too will experience similar effects upon the return of the Oceanic 6 to its shores.... In particular, I strongly suspect that the 'record skipping' effect of time travel on Locke, Faraday, and others on the island is the direct result not only of the island being moved in spacetime, but also in no small part due to the Oceanic 6 leaving the island. Once they are returned and the mutual spacetime 'retuning' begins, I suspect that the 'record skipping' effect will diminish and eventually cease. But unless and until the Oceanic 6 are returned, the 'record skipping' effect will only get worse, as the island itself is experiencing 'detuning'-related spacetime 'sickness.'
7. Why now, not before? Why the 'record skipping' now? Answer Part #1= Because Ben took the extraordinary and infrequent (apparently) step to move the island. Answer Part #2= Another element (not necessarily causal, but it certainly could be exacerbating matters) is that the island (JACOB) really likes Jack and the other members of the Oceanic 6, and after a period of having grown attached to them, now misses them and there is a 'void' of incompleteness that needs to be filled....
8. Richard Alpert and the others, Atlanteans from ye olde times immemorial, have been island symbiotes for such a long time that they are really 'in tune' with each other, and the relationship is so strong that periodic departures by the 'Mittelosians ' do not throw the island out of tune, as it knows and expects they will return (perhaps because extended stays on the mainland by Mittelosians will have significant negative effects on their minds and bodies, more so than for Jack.... )
9. Another intriguing option is that the island is able to extend its 'tuning' abilities to the entire world, enabling it to stay in tune/touch with island visitors and inhabitants alike, mitigating some of the 'Bad Vibrational' effects of spacetime sickness from going out-of-tune.... This may help to explain other phenomena, such as the gun-jamming when Michael was on the mainland and on the freighter....
10. Hmmm.... Moving the island AND losing the Oceanic 6 at the same time may have hampered the ability of the island to keep the symbiotic 'tuning' going, on the mainland... Perhaps it was as simple as the superstring/vibrational tuning signal connecting the island and the Oceanic 6 was irrevocably disrupted through the jarring effect of Ben's moving the island in spacetime.... The 'call' was abruptly disconnected... And to reestablish proper spacetime tuning requires that the Oceanic 6 be returned to the island within 70 hours, or else the spacetime 'record skipping' on the island may so seriously damage the island spacetime tuner that its function in stabilizing the spacetimeline/continuum is irrevocablly damaged, throwing our entire existence into question, up and down the spacetimeline.... Too bad for Ben, as it appears that whoever throws the switch (moves the wheel) to move the island is 'detuned' from the island... I'm sure we'll find out, in a future episode, if that 'detuning' is permanent....
11. And what of Desmond....? If length of stay on the island proves to be a critical factor in determining the strength of symbiotic relationship, what other factors can influence the nature and degree of this relationship among island and visitor? As implied above, we may find there is an element of whether or not the island likes you, and wants you to stay.... Another element may turn out to be idiosyncratic; once-in-a-lifetime events like the Swan hatch explosion, may permanently alter not only one's own spacetime tuning, but also the nature of the symbiotic relationship one has with the island.... To wit, Exhibit A... Desmond Hume....
Consistent with what others have conjectured, I agree that the event likely affected in a profound and irreversible manner, Desmond's mind and body, in particular, his spacetime tuning. And yes, per Faraday's comments and myriad prior speculations by others, I would not be surprised to continue to see further evidence that he has additional 'Dr. Manhattan-like' abilities..... What remains to be seen is the extent to which this will enable Desmond to intervene in Widmore's/Miles' attempts to use the island to see and rewrite timelines, using the TRV station..... And I would not be surprised to see a Season 6 showdown for control over the direction, contents, and integrity of the spacetime continuum, between Desmond and Widmore, with the latter unleashing his greatest weapon of all time, in the form of..... Aaron!
Destiny's Child.... The Once And Future King Is.... Aaron?
But wait a minute... I still haven't answered the following compound question:
* Why is it so important who raises Aaron, and that he be kept off of the island?
And the short answer is.... Because this is where it has been heading, all the time.... From dueling TIMELINES to dueling BLOODLINES, setting up the series finale in the form of dueling FATELINES....
Bloodlines will play an increasing role as we move ever closer toward the inevitable finale of this beloved series.....
In one corner, we have Christian Shephard, who fathered Jack and Claire.
In the other corner, we have Charles Widmore, who fathered Penelope and Locke.
And yes, per my final posting from last year, I still would LOVE to see a scene in which Widmore reveals to Locke that he is Locke's father, echoing that fateful exchange between Darth Vader and Luke, at the end of the Empire Strikes Back....
WIDMORE: "Locke, I'm your father..."
LOCKE: "Nooooooo....!"
Back to the proceedings, and here's where it gets even more interesting.... What if Widmore were to have some way of obtaining advanced notice (TRV?) regarding the existence and potential impacts of Aaron on the superstrung spacetimeline? What if he found out, through TRV, that one means of leveraging the island's powers to play God/Fate so he could be King was to 'accidentally' meet up with, and impregnate, Claire?
Aaron would thus be the grandson of Christian Shephard, and the son of Charles Widmore.... Think of the intriguing implications flowing from that combination of genes and bloodlines....
Does the Shephard bloodline represent the 'light' side, and the Widmore bloodline the 'dark' side? Would Aaron not then materially embody the central struggles and fundamental dualities within us all? Is this why it is so important who raises Aaron, as trapped within him (like us) is the capacity for great good and great evil?
And, given his lineage, will we learn that Aaron's psychic abilities are such that he will have few if any equals in terms of a capacity to leverage the island to effect changes in the spacetimeline? Is this why it is so important he not return to the island?
And is this why Widmore is so actively seeking him out, through corporate lawyers, to force a blood test that will confirm he is indeed the father of Aaron, the Little Prince who will be the Once and Future King of the world's Fateline?
Don't be surprised to see Aaron (like Luke) rebel against the dark side, thwarting Widmore's plans for ascension to the throne of the world Fateline.... And what role will Desmond play in all of this....?
Dr. Todd J. Hostager
P.S. I know I'm not alone in wondering about this one, too.... I sure hope they don't opt for this angle.... Christian Shephard rolling over in bed, to pour himself a drink, while the camera pans to the other side of the bed, revealing.... Claire.... A more interesting twist would be if Desmond were somehow to link up with Claire.... Now that would be another interesting combination.... Des as Aaron's father....