Wednesday, February 3, 2010

LA X: Parts 1&2


Alright, kids, here we have the season opener. The two parts to this episode focused on two timelines: the original timeline, on the island following the detonation of the hydrogen bomb and an alternate timeline, where everyone is still on the plane and land successfully in LAX. (note: did you notice that the title of this ep is not "LAX" but rather "LA X" with a space?) Let's talk about the alternate timeline first:

A few things happen: Jack , with the help of Sayid, saves Charlie's life; Locke befriends Boone; Kate has an elevator ride with Sawyer, escapes her Marshal and jumps in a cab with Claire; Shannon isn't on the plane; Jin gets taken away at customs, while Sun pretends to not know English; Hurley is the luckiest guy ever, yet Sawyer tells him not to tell people he's won the lotto; Desmond sits next to Jack, but then disappears after one of Jack's 12 billion trips to the bathroom (also: Jack recognizes him -- is it from meeting him when they were both running up and down the stairs of the stadium?); Christian Sheppard's coffin goes missing; Charlie is arrested for posession. Most importantly, the whole island, including the statue and Dharma barracks are under water. Thank you weird underwater scene.

Here are the questions:
-what's up with the sore on Jack's neck?
-where did Desmond go?
-where is the coffin?
-where is the box of knives?
-what does Jack mean when tells Locke "nothing is irreversible"? How does this play into both of their characters philosophies? can Jack "fix" Locke?
-are Walt and Michael on the flight?
-why was Desmond on the flight when he wasn't originally on it?

Let's go to the original timeline. Juliet does set off the bomb and the gang is transported to some other time. In this time the Swan had been blown up. Yet! Juliet is still dying underneath it. So, they manage to pull her out and Sawyer has some dying words with her (she says they can get coffee and go dutch). Juliet dies. Meanwhile, Sayid is dying and Jacob visits Hurley. He tells Hurley that they have to go to the temple and that he has died. So, as Sawyer and Miles bury Juliet (so that Sawyer can have Miles talk to Juliet - she meant to say "it worked"), Jack, Kate, Hurley and Jin take Sayid to the temple. The end up with the others, who seem to drown Sayid in a temple bath, yet he still dies, in a very Christ-like fashion. When they learn that Jacob is dead, they start to protect the temple, spreading ash around. Miles and Sawyer end up there too. Sayid wakes up.

On the other side of the island, smoke moster-turned Locke-turned smoke monster is killing "Jacob's bodyguards". Ben realizes that Locke is dead. No one knows what's going on. Fake Locke grabs Richard and knocks him out, dragging him away and telling the Others that he's disappointed in them. He wants to go home.

Questions:
-Where is the smoke monsters home?
-Is the temple bath the fountain of youth?
-Was Sayid reborn?
-Did Jacob know that all of this was going to happen? How did he know to tell Hurley to bring the guitar case to the Island in the first place?
-Why was it essential to Jacob that Sayid lives?
-Where is the Locke, the Smoke Monster taking Richard? To the Temple?

You all have your theories, some of which are in the last post. Let's hear 'em.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

in the alternate timeline, does Juliet (who would be alive) want to meet Sawyer for coffee? Is that what that was about?

How will the find each other?

The Armeniac said...

Julliete and Sawyer meet in the alternate timeline, Juliette somehow 'remembers' this when talking to Sawyer in the pit (I believe MH or the Head said this last night).
Locke/Smoky/Essau wants to go home, ie; the Temple, which Jacob has taken from him or at least won't let him go back to. This is why they spread collected dead Jacob dust to stop Smoky ( the dust is the remains of past burnt Jacobs). I think Sayid id still Sayid just like Ben was still Ben when he got saved. Maybe he'll be more a warrior for the Isaland now? I picture a fight between the Locke/Richard crew and the Bad-Ass Leather Nehru Jacket/Temple crew.
Straight out'a my ass bitch!!!!

nortagemdar said...

A point I found curious was why, as soon as Temple Guardian found out from Hurley that Jacob was dead, did dude panic and try to kick Sayid out of their protection-circle? Maybe evil can only inhabit the body of a do-gooder (Locke) and good can only inhabit the body of an evil-doer (Sayid). So Jacob wouldn't want Sayid to die because then he would inhabit his body? But then this blows my whole idea on Locke getting to be Sayid. Sigh. I love this show.

beckler said...

Did the stewardess make an appearance way back when Kate and Sawyer were cage bangin' or was that some other 815-er kidnapped by the Others? How did she become a temple Other? Along with those two kids.

The Armeniac said...

The stewardess did see the cage bangin', which by th eway somebady needs to write a song called cage bangin'. It'll be great or horribly offensive, or both!!

sam said...

All this time i thought desmond was the christ-like figure on the show but I neglected to notice that sayid has the same jesusy hairstyle. I know it might be too obvious to happen but Sayid's got to be the newly reborn jacob, right? which is why it was so important to jacob that they save sayid, and maybe why we got sayid's deathbed concern about what will happen to him after he dies. Not to mention it's to hurley, who is one of the only people to see jacob on the island(not to mention dead people off the island), and who jacob tells how to save sayid - who he will become after sayid's resurrection? A showdown between sayid and locke would be pretty epic too; then again the man of faith and man of science should be the ones battling it out in the end.

sam said...

And now I see someone else already threw the sayid-jacob thing out there on another post so I'll just say, I agree! Then again, I always thought they might do the jack as jacob thing afterall and that hasn't happened so I don't know what to think.

Eryn said...

Where is the smoke monster's home?

Egypt and/or Tunisia.

Either that, or extraterrestrial.

Dillon said...

Clearly the smoke monster's home is in your pipe. Doooooooooood! But seriously. The smoke monster seems to be a terrific changeling. It seems to me that Ben and many others have been duped by him/it for many a year now. Let's look at who old smokey has possibly been.
Christian Shepard
Claire
Locke
Ben's Daughter
That dude on the beach with the dark shirt
Locke's Dad (maybe)
It seems that there are a lot of things on the island that Jacob and Smokey know about, but can't themselves do (turn the big wheel, kill Jacob, get Ben to follow orders, etc...). Smokey seems to manipulate people by taking different forms and Jacob likes to give cryptic gifts. Jacob can leave the island, Smokey I guess not so much. So what does this add up to, not much, but it's there.
I think Sayid is Sayid and not Jacob or Smokey or anyone else including Jesus.
I know that I did like seeing some tight kung fu being busted on Jack in the temple. That was sick.
When Juliette said "we could go dutch" I'm pretty sure she had just farted in that little cavern and thought she was really sticking it to Sawyer who seems like the kind of guy who would give his girl a dutch oven every night during their Dharma years.
-Dillon

Cody said...

My new theory: Jacob can only possess Shephards: Christian, Claire, and...here we go...AARON. The dude that calls himself Jacob that talks to Hurley and was around for everybody's childhood and stuff...Aaron! Put that in your pipe and black smoke it!

Dillon said...

So are you saying that all Jacob really needs to resolve this whole thing is a juice box?

lil' maxwell said...

I think they won't let the smoke monster go home because he's a huge bummer and is no fun. Like, a total party killer 'cause his only party trick is shape shifting into dead people.

nortagemdar said...

If I say second hand smoke monster does it make you think, "Double the danger," or, "ThriftTown bargain?"

Cody said...

Sometimes those things can be one in the same, Norty.

Anonymous said...

Good article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/tgoodman/detail?entry_id=56627

sam said...

i really haven't thought this through but i figured if it didn't work, it would be discounted quickly by people who can remember the details better than i can, but is it possible that every time Locke thought he was talking to Jacob, he was talking to the man in black? also, i still feel uncertain about who was in that cabin. on the one hand, christian, who seems to be jacob's right hand man in all other dealings, was frequently there, but on the other hand, the voice said "help me" to locke, which sounds kind of like something a man in black locked in chains and wanting to desperately kill someone he couldnt't unless he took on the body of locke? i've always been so sure of christian's part in this, but maybe he's not with jacob afterall...then again, he does wear white, which is supposedly the sign of which side he's on, right?

Rachel Eloise said...

In answer to the question about Desmond being on the plane when he was not originally on it: If this is an alternate timeline with a sunken island, this means that Desmond never made it to the island on his little boat. So he was in Australia and got on flight 815...

Also, and I'm not sure if I'm forgetting something from an earlier season, but where was Shannon? Why wasn't she with Boone on the plane?