I am now four episodes into the second season. I’ve had to totally rethink my ideas about the island. Although there may still be a mystical element, I’m thinking the explanation is mostly scientific. I’m thinking most of the weird things can be explained by Dharma projects, either ongoing, or gone awry.
To me the smoke monsters SOUND very mechanical, and Locke did say it’s a device to protect the island.
I took Locke’s advice and watched the film again (and again!). According to the film, we know the following. Dharma started in 1970. The film was copyrighted in 1980. There were at least three Dharma stations, probably more, and several areas of communoresearch (whatever that is), including meteorology, electromagnetism, psychology, parapsychology, zoology (mispronounced in the film, btw), and eutopian social (garbled). The whole thing seems very creepy, and I’m guessing its ultimate goal is something nefarious, like development of new super weapons (Honso is an arms magnate.), mind control, eugenics….
Here are some ideas:
The polar bears escaped from the zoological research station. The film did show polar bears!
The Others are remnants or descendants of the research on eutopian social whatever. (Keep in mind I haven’t actually met the Others yet, except Ethan, and I’m not positive he was an Other.)
Station 3 was originally designed to study electromagnetism, but was then switched to a psychology study: How would people handle the idea that they control the end of the world? How would they handle the stress of being essentially tied to a place and a strict schedule, possibly with a screwed up sleep cycle.) Or perhaps it was a psychological study all along.
The island is undetectable due to a powerful, probably artificial, magnetic field. That’s why compasses are slightly off. The project is clearly being kept secret.
The island itself may be artificial, designed specifically for Dharma.
Walt was taken due to his latent parapsychological talents. (Was Brian in on it? Did he kill Walt’s mother?) If so, obviously at least some of the research is ongoing.
What about Locke?
I’m wondering if Locke might be a product of Dharma, with or without his knowledge. He seems to have a wonderful relationship with the island, and an innate understanding of it. He did predict the rain, and Dharma did study meteorology. Locke said Boone had to be sacrificed. He also railed against the hatch, screaming “I did everything you asked of me.” To me Honso’s grainy picture in the film looks a lot like Locke’s father (if indeed he is his father). Here’s a crazy idea: if Locke had been somehow created by Dharma, maybe he really did have a virgin birth! How did his legs get fixed in or after the crash? Perhaps Dharma somehow “fixed” him. Or he was never really broken, but something was implanted that could be easily reversed on the island. And whatever is implanted can be switched on and off, thus explaining why his legs suddenly stopped working before he and Boone discovered the plane, but worked just fine thereafter. (I have not yet seen how he became disabled in the first place.) As you can probably tell, I’m thinking off the top of my head now. It also just occurred to me that Jack somehow miraculously fixed his future wife, and he had no idea how! Hmmmmmmmm. I still have no insight into how Locke would have known about Boone’s nurse’s death by falling down the stairs.
What about the numbers?
The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 (which add up to 108) have two separate history-streams. The WWII listening station heard them being broadcast in the 40’s, which lead Sam Toomey to use them, which lead to Leonard, then to Hurley. On a seemingly unrelated stream, they are seen etched into the hatch, and constitute the code. If Dharma started in 1970, they must have gotten the numbers from the other history stream, unless there is a temporal shift and the WWII listeners heard them from Dharma. The question is: who was broadcasting them during WWII, and why? What’s so special about those particular numbers? And are they really jinxed? (I don’t think so.)
Enough for now….
I'm glad to see that you've reached the real turning point for LOST fans -- full frantic theorizing! It really does become an all-consuming exercise to try to complete such a complicated puzzle when information is revealed in such small and ambiguous parts. Some good thoughts here.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to see how you (a man of science) analytically try to make sense of it all even down to small details. More literary types like myself tend to focus on theme, metaphor and deeper meaning (man of faith).
That is interesting, isn't it? I was thinking about how I would handle the dilemma of the 108 minutes. Like Jack I would be very very skeptical. It really makes NO sense that those particular numbers would have to be entered every 108 minutes. If for some reason they did, it would have been so much easier to program the computer to do it automatically. On the other hand, I know I would have gone ahead and done it, just in case. I read the situation as a metaphor for some religious faith. We don't really believe it, but we go through the rituals, just in case. But for Locke, it seems to be real faith: he is insistant that Jack push the button, almost as if he is trying to save Jack from his disbelief. And Jack must have an itch of faith (or doubt in his logic) because he did come back, and supplied the final number (which I'm sure Locke knew perfectly well, but was testing Jack).
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