What if we are, were, and always have been all wrong? I was recently told by a pretty brilliant writer (who has one of the most comprehensive Lost theories ever, check it out at http://www.atlargely.com) to watch the film Dark City. It was suggested that there were lots of applicable ideas in the film that could be related to Lost. I had seen it years ago, and remember liking it. Coincidentally I had just visited the Amazon Blue Ray sale a week prior, and I bought Dark City on Blue Ray! So, I watched it. It was still a good film, and had stood the test of time. Alex Proyas, the writer/ director, brought us The Crow, The Surrogates, Knowing, and a cool little art film called Garage Days. I’m digressing, as I always do when talking about films I like… Dark City.

Dark City was a film about a man who woke up one day and the world around him no longer made any sense. He saw people he knew, but they no longer knew him. He was supposed to get a ‘treatment’ from a doctor that snuck into his house in the dead of night, who, through the use of an antique menacing-looking syringe, would overwrite John’s personality/ identity with a new one. The man he was would cease to exist. This doctor was working for these creepy guys with godlike powers that were studying us (humans) claiming that we hold the key to their continued existence.

Creepy god-like beings/ Men in Black...

The film is full of reality shifting wonderful goodness, as cityscapes are shifted into new configurations at the whims of gods / higher beings. The people of dark city are always in the dark, both literally and metaphorically. The sun never rises. They remember sunny days; just not the last one they actually saw. A place called Shell Beach, is a common thread in all of their pasts. They’ve all been there, but not one of them can tell you how to actually get there. That is because there is no Shell beach. There is no ‘outside.’ The city limits are the limits of the city and of their world. All of the inhabitants of Dark City are victims of a sick memetic game or joke or Petri dish experiment… No one in Dark City is who he or she appears to be. Their world is wrong. They are wrong. And there is no way to get back to the way they were all supposed to be. All of their personalities have been put into an identity blender and haphazardly handed back out. So, what do you do if you wake up one day and you realize that quite literally, everything in the world is wrong? What do you do about it? Do you tell someone? How do you get them to believe you?

It is all wrong. "We have to go back!"

I’d like to take that concept and apply it to Lost. What if it were all wrong since the start of the show? What if there were innate problems with the universe. Problems like time paradoxes, time shifting islands, teleporting polar bears, people whose minds and bodies become unstuck in time? What if you knew it was all wrong, and would you try to fix it? What if that has been Jacob’s game the whole time?

How would you (Jacob) go about fixing a broken and tainted universe? In order to fix anything you need tools. Since all tools are a part of ‘the universe,’ they are all tainted by simply being there and a part of the whole. So, you would need to create tools that are untainted, tools that exist outside ‘the universe’ proper. In this case, the right tool for the job is people. You are going to have to create people that exist outside or apart from the broken universe. You need people that were never supposed to exist, who have no grand place or purpose in the universe, so you can steer them where you need them to go and be your malleable tool. How do you create people that were never supposed to exist you wonder? That parts easy! First, you lure a boat to your island, which conveniently already exists outside time and space. You allow the survivors to settle on your pocket dimension island. Eventually they will procreate. Then, the children are variables. If these children leave the pocket dimension (the island) to join the rest of the universe, then they would be outsiders with no connection to the place in which they live, and they’ll be unaffected by the damage that has been wrought on it. They are perfect tools for fixing the universe, because they are untainted by the flaws of the universe in which they live! Then, even better, what if these people go on to have children, and they have children, and they have children, and then you have a whole hereditary line of people that were never supposed to exist, and they would all be good candidates (hmmm interesting choice of words) to be a tool for fixing the universe.

I know this needs some fleshing out, but I think I’m onto something. Before the premiere I said we just need one bit of information, and the rest of the mysteries will wall into place. “Why them?” It is pretty awesome that that is one of the primary focuses right now.

WHY THEM? That is all I want to know.

The Lighthouse-

It was a good quality episode.

I don’t have much to say about it, so I’m going to go through a quick series of like and dislikes, and leave it at that.

Likes:

– Jack and Hurley trudging through the jungle together was awesomely reminiscent of the first season.

– The Lighthouse itself was a great concept. Very interesting. I wish Hurley had sung “I’ll be Your Candle on the Water” though.

– Jack Smash! Predictable, but in a good way.

– Claire as Rambo Who Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. Awesomely scary and unpredictable, which I love.

– Sayid’s casual acceptance of Jack’s “They wanted me to poison you” conversation.

– The way that Jack’s current path seems to be equal parts Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey and AA 12 step program.

A Hero's Journey is sometimes 12 steps

A Hero's journey can be 12 steps

Dislikes:

– The island seems to be a lot smaller lately. Do you remember when they were constantly stopping to camp for the night. Now they bump into each other randomly at the waterfall, as if they all live in a small town.

– “My friend” – It could have been treated in a less obvious manner. I would have been more satisfied if it was Ethan.

– Too much magic. Come on! A magic mirror? Really?

– What is the point in having a fortress if people can come and go so easily?

That’s alllllll folks! Enjoy the New Episode tomorrow!