Lost: Superman's Sideways

"I don't think you are real...I don't think any of this is real." - Kal-El

Since the beginning of season 6, the new seperate story method known as flash-sideways was really interesting. With the future altering nuke of yester-season's finale I was convinced that it would either not work and things would just play out on the Island or things would work and we'd see what would happen if everyone's lives were changed forever. I was pleased they went with both; Lost is, among many things, an equal-opportunist. Flash-sideways takes place not at a different point in time exactly, but in a whole new timeline. It is an altered reality where flight 815 not only didn't crashed but the lives of the would-be castaways were significantly different. Or should I say significantly better, for most of them. It seems this is a perfect world where the flaws the Island inhabitants have had for the past five seasons could be mended. A world where Jack overcomes his own father issues by reconnecting to his sideways son; where John Locke is still madly in love with Helen and moves past his irreversible condition; where Hurley is not shunned for his wealth but revered; where Sawyer is a respected man of the law; where Ben chose love over power; where Sun and Jin's relationship has not been destroyed. A world where they have everything they may have wanted or should have gotten. It seems just like heaven, as Hurley once stated after he left the Island in the original timeline. It's too damn perfect is the problem.

Since the beginning of this season I've been reading Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly's spirited and intricate reviews and analysis' of Lost. Now he has many theories and the ones I find fascinating and believeable kind of match up with the ones I find strange and improbable. One such theory was that the sideways reality was perhaps a construction of the original timeline villain The Man in Black. A matrix type prison world where he could keep the better angels of the castaways, especially Jacob's candidates, docile, controlled, and out of his way most importantly for the sake of whatever plan he has. I don't necessarily buy it, because I think even that, complicated as it may be, is too simple. But, supposing if this theory is true, I have come up with my own connection to it. I will elaborate:

Awhile before Lost, I was a pretty decent comic book reader and enjoyed most of what I read. One I didn't read however was the one time comic book "For The Man Who Has Everything." This was a Justice League special issue of sorts written by master comic writer and literary genius Alan Moore (writer of Watchmen and V for Vendetta). I didn't read the book but I saw the TV version. The story started out kind of cheesy: Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin head down to Superman's Fortress of Solitude for his birthday. When they get there however they find Superman in a catatonic trance due to a weird thing on his chest. Mongol, an alien warlord and one of Superman's enemies, shows up and explains the thing on his chest is called "Black Mercy" and is an alien creature that when latched onto a person produces an intense and all too realistic presentation of their greatest fantasy. In short, The Black Mercy has trapped Superman inside the world he always wanted. With the only one powerful enough to stop him out of the way, Mongol prepares to kill the trio and then conquer the world. The three heroes try to fight off Mongol while also trying desperately to remove the alien from Superman's chest. Superman is living out the perfect life in his fantasy however: he is living a peaceful life under his birthname Kal-El on his homeworld of Krypton (which never blew up in this world) with a wife Lana Lane (a compound of the two women he loved the most on earth) and a son Van-El. If you know the origin of Superman, which is very tragic, you can't deny this isn't his perfect world.

There are many similarities between Lost and For The Man Who Has Everything now because of this whole "perfect world" concept both have invested in. On Lost, the people in the sideways reality often find themselves gazing into the mirror as if they are noticing something is off; in the comic, Superman begins noticing that something is wrong with his world as Batman tries to break through his fantasy. Desmond can be seen as Batman, I suppose, as both are trying to show the people living in a dream the truth. If Jeff Jensen's theory is correct, than Mongol would obviously be The Man in Black. And like the Lost dreamers, Superman's world is not totally perfect in every aspect; Superman's father Jor-El still predicted Krypton's destruction and because it didn't blow up in this world his reputation was ruined.

So if this theory of The Man in Black being the one truly behind the sideways universe, I wonder will Lost end like For the Man Who Has Everything? In that ending, the heroes found a way to pull the Black Mercy off of Superman's chest. In his crumbling fantasy, Superman's head became more and more clear until he realized what was going on. As the fantasy ends, he has a heartbreaking scene with his son where he says that: "you are everything I've ever wanted in a son. This is everything I've ever wanted in a life. But I have responsibilities and now I have to go." He hugs his son as his perfect world dissolves. Once off the Black Mercy then bonds with Batman, who experiences an equally beautiful fantasy where his parents weren't murdered and he lived a wonderful life as well before the alien is pulled off of him as well. Awoken from his dream and furious that it ended, Superman brutally attacks and almost kills Mongol. Mongol begins to get the upper hand again however, but just as he is about to kill Superman, the other bloodied heroes toss The Black Mercy onto Mongol who falls into the trance now. Maybe Lost will end with the sideways reality people waking up from that dream world into the Island world where their currently incomplete counterparts will be totally complete. And after they defeat The Man in Black, they will do like the four heroes of the comic and pick up the pieces and accept the real world as home. And in turn the Man in Black will end up like Mongol, who saw himself escaping the Black Mercy, killing the heroes, and conquering the world like he wanted; maybe MIB will imagine a world where he rid himself of Islands, candidates, humans alike, and roamed the planet alone and free.

But only time will tell. Like I said I don't really buy the idea that The Man in Black has created the sideways reality, but that idea still reminded me of probably one of the saddest comic book stories I've found. We only have five episodes left, let's see how it all goes even if I do keep presenting my ludicrous ideas. Thanks for reading.