Totally "Lost": Final thoughts on Season 5

May 24, 2009 - Ray Eckenrode

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
What might “Lost” look like when it returns in 2010?
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Well, it’s time to let go of our “Lost” obsession and get back to blogging about music, movies, sports and pop culture. But before we do, one more “Lost” blog. ;-)

As we ponder what Season 5 brought us and try to imaging the shape of things to come in Season 6, we’re left with a feeling we’ve heard many “Lost” fans express: There’s no way they can wrap this up in 17 hours. But, of course, they will. Here are some of the questions and issues on the horizon for 2010:

Will we be in a new timeline or did whatever happened happen again?
Everything we saw and sensed about Season 5 tells us that the incident we saw is the incident Dr. Marvin Candle referenced in the orientation film that seemed so mysterious so long ago. Whatever happened at the end of “The Incident,” be it a nuclear blast or another massive time flash, always happened (and likely toppled the giant statue on the island’s coast). That means the crash of Flight 815 won’t be prevented. The Swan Station will still be built. Desmond will still neglect to push the button.

So, if whatever happened happened, why is everything changing?
We have no idea, but it is. We’ve pointed out a lot of the very prominent changes (Young Ben’s bullet wound, the photos in the house where Miles was ghostbusting) and there was another one in the finale. The statue we saw in Jacob’s scene with Man #2 (roughly 1845 if that was, in fact, the Black Rock off the island’s coast) was noticeably different than the statue we saw in “LaFleur.” You can click here to see the differences. I hear you saying the differences are so small that it’s no big deal but ask yourself: If you were going to do an expensive CGI statue for a TV show, why would you do two slightly different ones, unless you intended them to be different?

Who’s coming?
Our initial thought was that it was Ilana’s “troops,” but we now think it is “the touched.” That would be Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Jin, Sun and Hurley. Sun already is there, of course, and we think the other five are flashing there as part of the incident. As the story has been doubling back on itself, it makes sense that Season 6 will see all the Losties reunited on the island.
We’re a little troubled that this leaves no time for Hurley to record The Numbers back in 1977 but we’ll just roll with it (in fact, we’re wondering if Hurley’s going to leave the guitar case in 1977 and his recording of The Numbers is inside).
We think Juliet, Miles, Rose, Bernard and Sayid are staying in 1977. We think Rose and Bernard will become the Adam and Eve skeletons. We think the other three may still be alive in 2007 as 60-somethings on the island somewhere. Wacky, we know, but this is “Lost.”

How will it end?
Honestly, after 103 hours, we have no idea. We’ve got some kind of mythological battle set up between good and evil, free will and fate. But beyond that? We have no idea what “the war” will be about or how it will be “fought.” We have no idea who the good guys really are (and we’re not convinced Jacob is one of them). We have no idea who or what The Others are. No idea why the smoke monster sometimes makes mechanical noises. No idea what happened to Claire. No idea how Desmond fits in. None. Zip. Nada.
What a show, huh?
“Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof has said that the finale of “M*A*S*H,” titled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” is his favorite series finale ever. Is that a clue? If so, here’s a reminder how that went.
With the giant ensemble cast of “Lost,” though, we’re looking for something more in line with the stunning conclusion of “Six Feet Under” (complete with ghosts and flash forwards, no less). You can click here to see what many consider the best series ending ever.

Well, that’s it for “Lost” for awhile. We’ll be back with an update on the annual series tease at Comic-Con in late July. Until then: Goodbye, farewell and Namaste.

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