Mythology: Lost Season Five Finale
By Martin Felipe
December 3, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Over the course of the seeming eternity since the finale, I've come to realize that we pretty much know the secret of the Island now. Oh, there are details we still have to iron out - Richard's agelessness, Walt's specialness, Adam and Eve, even Libby's back story (I'm convinced Cuse and Lindelof will cave to fan pressure and delve into it, despite denials) - but the gist of it comes to light in the fifth season finale.
Of course, speculation as to what we discover in the finale remains, but most viewers have settled into the assumption that all of our Lost heroes are caught up in some sort of contest between the powers of Light and Dark. Jacob, the representation of Light, appears to have a positive view of humanity. His optimism plays out on his islandic chessboard, with players coming and going over the years. Looks like the enigmatic "Others" who have so plagued our Losties are just one more in a series of groups Jacob hopes will redeem mankind.
A mysterious figure representing the Dark disputes Jacob's beliefs and points to countless failures of humanity to exist in harmony. Dark resents Jacob's idealism to the point of wanting him dead. Problem is, for some unexplained reason, he can't kill Jacob himself.
Further speculation seems to indicate that everything we've seen over the course of five seasons has been manipulation between these two forces, primarily the Dark, to get all of our heroes to the point where either Jacob proves humanity's worth, or Dark kills Jacob. In fact, the Smoke Monster and the resurrected dead seem to be either manifestations of Dark, or tools at his disposal. In the end, Dark seems to have the upper hand, manipulating Ben to the point where he kills Jacob.
Or does he? Jacob puts up little fight. In fact, he seems to provoke Ben. Is he doing some chess piece (or Backgammon piece) manipulation of his own? With his dying breath, he warns Dark-in-Locke's-clothing that "they're coming," the meaning of which has kept fans abuzz all hiatus long. Whoever the supposed "they" are, it may be that Jacob's really been one step ahead of Dark the whole time.
This may or may not tie into the other big development of the season finale, and the major question with which it leaves us: have Jack and Co. altered the future by detonating Jarhead back in Dharma days, or was it always just a part of the so-called Incident we've been speculating about since we first discovered what's going on inside the Hatch back in season two? For that matter, is this all a play on Jacob's part against Dark?
I'm really hoping that it's the latter. I'm not one to question Lindelof and Cuse. They've proven to be master storytellers over and over in the past, so I'm sure they know what they're doing, but I can't imagine any way of having Jack change the future come across as anything other than a cheat.
You see, they establish over and over the idea that the timeline is a constant; it can't be changed. "Whatever happened, happened." In fact, the very mouthpiece for this rule, Daniel Faraday, has a conversion. He changes his tune, tries to change things, only to die at his mother's hand. Like he always does. Reinforcing the rule. Nothing changes. If Jack does change the future, then all we've learned about time travel has been a lie. This would be a pretty big violation of story structure. You establish the world and the rules by which the world operates in the first act. As long as the rules aren't violated, anything within that world goes. If the rules are violated, it's a cheat.
For that matter, if Jack does change the future so that Oceanic 815 doesn't crash, then all we've seen over five seasons gets wiped out. All we've invested in, no longer holds true. The stakes are lowered because we now know that, if you don't like what's going on, you have a chance at a reset. In fact, all we see in the Jacob story will no longer have happened. The parallel story of the very same episode will have been rendered null and void.
Like I said, however, Lindelof and Cuse have shown that they know what they're doing. Perhaps Jack's actions are a part of Jacob's countermove to Dark's seeming victory. Dark may have checked Jacob, but it's quite possible that Jarhead's detonation is Jacob's checkmate. Or maybe Cuse and Lindelof have something else up their sleeve that would make changing the future seem like a natural and brilliant development. I just can't figure out how that could be.
This, of course, leads me to the conclusion that Jack doesn't change the future. He just causes the past to happen as it always has. It doesn't happen in the way we think it does. The ramifications on our guys' futures will reverberate over the course of the upcoming final season, but I really think Oceanic 815 will still crash.
What if I'm wrong? I could be. I know this. Lost has been one of the most unique network shows, and a show of the highest quality. However it all plays out, whatever reveals we have left, whichever loose threads remain untied, and however many timelines we must juggle, we're in the home stretch of a show that has, in many ways, been the culmination of years of mythology show evolution. Lindelof and Cuse have delivered a work of art, one the likes of which we're unlikely to see again, on the major networks anyway. And I don't want Jack to change that.