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.

Top Lost Season 5 Moments

The second to last chapter in my favorite moments of Lost. We arrive at season 5, where we follow two groups: there are those fateful six who escaped the Island as destiny comes knocking for them to return three years later, and in the past those left behind on the Island suffer problems far beyond ordinary. Here we go again.

SPOILERS

Hurley's Explanation

"Now this bad stuff is happening because we shouldn't have lied." - Hurley

After the six escaped the Island and took Locke's advice to lie about everything that had happened, the only one who was against this plan was Hurley. He just didn't think it was right to lie and leave everyone else behind. Cut to three years later, after Hurley is wanted for murders that Sayid committed while rescuing him, he has a tearful moment with his concerned mother. Hurley tells her about the lie and then, in a moment that is supposed to be emotional and funny I assume, he summarizes everything that happened on The Island from his perspective. He describes it all the way Hurley usually does things: like a real person. Seriously, all along Hurley has been the most metafictional character in the show; just about everything he says in season 6 is a little wink and giggle to the audience. He tells his mother every crazy thing worth mentioning (except maybe the polar bears) and she tells him: "I believe you. I don't understand you, but I believe you." I thought this was just a great scene, and early on in the season too.

9. Kate says goodbye

"Bye bye, baby!" - Kate

After leaving the Island with Claire's baby, Aaron, Kate took it upon herself to raise the child. Over the next three years she gets used to being a stay-at-home mom and loves Aaron like he was her own. But during Ben's mission to get those who left back to The Island, Kate found many forces trying to pull her and Aaron apart and expose their lie. Kate soon realized that despite everything, she was not Aaron's mother. A friend points out that she took responsibility for him out of grief when Sawyer stayed behind on the Island. And so, she gave Aaron to Claire's mother and told her the truth about what happened to Claire and also her intention of going back to the Island to get Claire back. After this, Kate has one of her most emotional moments ever over the sleeping boy. In tears and pain, she gently took notice of every detail of him and said goodbye. This scene was just heartbreaking. One of Kate's best scenes.

8. Ben's judgement

"Oh Alex, I'm so sorry." - Ben

Ben lies to the "resurrected" John Locke on the Island and tells him he came back to be judged. Ben in actuality was coming back to reassume power, but Locke was insistant on helping Ben in his quest for judgement. They found the temple wall, and the two went underneath. Ben fell through a hole in the floor and Locke claimed to be going to find a way to get him out. Ben continued on down below. He found a large room, fully of writing and drawings on the wall. He summoned The Monster it would seem, the judge in this situation. The Monster engulfed Ben in the smoke and showed him images from his life with Alex, the girl he raised as a daughter. From the moment he took responsibility for her as an infant to the moment he watched her get gunned down. Ben was racked with anguish over the selfish sacrifices he made for power. The smoke vanishes soon enough. Then, when he is totally vulnerable, an apparition of Alex appears before Ben. She is calm at first as he tries to beg for forgiveness, then on a dime she attacks him. She states her knowledge of his plan to kill Locke again and tells him to instead follow his every word if he enjoys living. He agrees, she disappears, and he breaks down in tears of horror and sadness. Finding Locke later (wonder where he was?), Ben states simply: "It let me live." This was another rare and powerful moment where Ben was at his lowest and out of his shell. A point where he can't hide what a small and sad man he is. We felt like Ben in this scene, saddened and terrified all at once.

7. Jack vs. Sawyer

"You think you can do whatever you want?!" - Sawyer

When Jack is about to change the lives of everyone by detenonating a nuclear bomb at the Hatch construction site of 1977, Sawyer takes Jack aside and has a talk with him. Sawyer has made a life for himself in the '70s Dharma Initiative and is happy. He doesn't want Jack to ruin that and everything else. Sawyer tries to reason with Jack that what's done is done and asks him what he wants out of all of this. Jack claims that his failure at making a life with Kate is the main reason, and that it is too late to do anything about it accept set off the change the past thereby altering the future (er, I mean present. Confusing!) Realizing Jack has "gone Locke" and won't listen to reason, Sawyer proceeds to knock him silly. They have a pretty good fist fight that gets them both bloody and bashed real bad. Sawyer finally gets the upperhand and demands that Jack stop. He won't, so Sawyer proceeds to tearfully pummell Jack senseless. He is only saved when Juliet comes along and stops the fight. I loves me some fights on Lost, be it with guns or fists. This is one of the best by far. I also loved the turn around here. Sawyer and Jack here are almost totally different than when they first met: Jack was the man of reason who resorted to violence when all else failed, and Sawyer was the rebel troublemaker who wouldn't give up. It's a great scene.

6. The end of John Locke

"I don't understand." - Locke's last thought, apparently

John Locke used Jacob's magic wheel in the ground to get off of the Island three years into the future. He found himself in the Tunisian desert with a broken leg and a camera monitor staring him down. He was later picked up by locals who treated his wound. Locke is approached by then enemy Charles Widmore who claims that he is on Locke's side, that Locke is very crucial to what will soon happen on the Island, and that he will help Locke bring the ones who left the Island back. Locke is chauffered all across the world by Matthew Abbadon, Widmore's employee who is also the same who told Locke to go on a walkabout in the past. Locke finds just about everyone and tries to convince them to come back but they won't listen to him. He even meets Walt, whom he doesn't ask to come back. Walt says he had a dream where Locke was on the Island surrounded by people who wanted to hurt him. Locke also tries to find Helen, the woman he loved and lost. She died of cancer however awhile a few years prior, however. After his failure to get anyone to come back with him, Locke decides to commit suicide in a last ditch effort to unite the former castaways. Ben shows up just in time though. He claims Widmore manipulated him and asks Locke to let him help. Locke listens and does stop. Ben says Jack was convinced by what Locke told him and that he has started flying planes. The two begin discussing how they are going to get everyone back. Once Ben has enough information about Locke's mission, he strangles him violently and then manipulates the murder to look like a suicide. As he leaves, Ben says he will miss him. This was not quite the epic death I had predicted Locke to have: being choked to death in a cheap Los Angeles motel, but I guess I should have seen it coming. It's fitting I guess that Ben would be the one to kill him. They were always rivals, maybe even moreso than with Jack. This was sad seeing. John was my favorite character and this was the last time we see him, I mean really see him in all of his Locke-ness.

5. The merry adventures of Sayid and Little Ben

"You're a killer, Sayid." - Ben

A little boy in 1970s Iraq was asked to kill a chicken to feed his family. He couldn't do it, so his little brother quickly killed the chicken to help him. The father praised his other, stronger son. The brother's name was Sayid Jarrah. Sayid spent most of his time off the Island as Ben's personal assassin, killing employees of Charles Widmore apparently. He did this out of debt for Ben's help in finding the man who killed Sayid's true love Nadia. Eventually after god knows how many murders, Ben claimed there were no more people to kill, he had done well, and said goodbye and have a nice life. But there was no life to go back to really. Ben showed up again later, asking Sayid to kill an operative spying on Hurley. When Sayid declines, sly Ben remarks on the fact that all of the violent things Sayid has done in his life were in his nature to begin with. Sayid can't argue with it seems, as he does kill the man watching Hurley. When he is brought back to the Island of the 1970s, Sayid is captured by the Dharma Initiative and mistaken for one of The Others. Sayid doesn't know what to do until he meets a little boy who brings him food. A boy named Ben Linus. Sayid comforts young Ben as his father verbally and physically abuses him. He convinces the sly kid to release him so they can run away and join The Others. Once they are in the jungle, Sayid gets a hold of a gun. He stares at morosely. He tells unsuspecting litle Ben future Ben was right about him. "I am a killer." Sayid says right before he shoots the 12 year old boy in the chest. Overcome with horror and sadness (even if it was Ben it was still a kid), Sayid runs off into the night. Though I kind of knew this would happen the moment Ben introduced himself to his future self's enemy, I was still shocked. I remember I thought it was ballsy when they shot sixteen-year-old Alex in the back of the head last scene, but this was quite a step further. I mean, sheesh!

"Locke" and Ben discuss killing Jacob

Once he is "alive" on the Island, John Locke was just as confident and mysterious as he was at the series' beginning. He eventually found The Others, assumed leadership, and set out to find Jacob with everyone else. He says intends to find out why they are being led by Jacob and get questions answered. However, Locke tells Ben that he is going to kill Jacob. Not only that, but he wants Ben to do it for him. Ben is especially shocked at this. When he asks Locke why he wants him to do it, Locke unsympathetically reminds Ben of all he endured in his service to Jacob: getting cancer, watching his daughter die, his banishment from the Island. And then asks "Why the hell wouldn't you want to kill Jacob." Ben is left with a lot to think about. Maybe there were a lot more epic and interesting things going on in the 1977 timeline, but I found the 2007 timeline to be much more intriguing after this. I was dying of anticipation.

3. Jack's wrinkle in time/the battle for change

"This is our destiny." - Jack

Jack made a transition here in season 5 from being the man of science we've known and loved throughout the series to being the man of faith he has opposed and rebelled against for so long. After Daniel Faraday lays down the knowledge on what they have to do, Jack is all for it. The plan is dig up an old nuke buried on the Island in the '50s, bring it to the site of the Swan Hatch where the intense pocket electromagnetism lies dorment, drop the bomb in, it goes off, and everything that happened to them will be erased and flight 815 of 2004 will land safely in Los Angeles and never crash on the Island. Jack sees it as a way out. A way to negate all of the terrible things that have happened since they crashed on the Island. A way to save all of those he couldn't save. He believed he would make things right. That this was his true destiny. After some arguement with his friends, Jack was finally allowed to make his way to the hatch construction site where he faces armed Dharma folks. Just when he is about to be shot down, his friends (Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, and Miles) show up and go to war with the DI of the past. After all the security team is dead or captured, Jack drops the bomb down the shaft to the EM pocket. The castaways wait to be erased and the new future to flourish. AND THEN.....nothing happens. Then all of a sudden the pocket is struck and everything metal starts to be dragged down the hatch. Jack gets knocked out with a toolbox (tee hee.) Juliet gets caught in a bunch of chains and pulled the hatch with everything else. Sawyer, her lover for three years, tries to save her but it is too late. After her body is almost completely broken at the bottom of the shaft, Juliet sees the bomb. She grabs a rock and desperately tries to smash it open. The series ends with one last knock on the bomb, a boom, and a bright flash. Then only the title card: LOST. Nuff said.

2. All of Jacob's flashbacks

"It only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress." - Jacob

I couldn't possibly pick one of these flashbacks because they were all golden in my opinion. Except Ilana's flashback, I didn't think there was much to that. Here he is at last. The man behind the curtain. Jacob. He is the mysterious unseen Island deity.

JACOB AND SOME GUY

We see at first munching on a roasting fish on the Island beach. He watches as an 1800s ship (The Black Rock?) draws close a few miles off in the water. A man dressed in black comes along and sits with him. He doesn't seem too happy about Jacob bringing people to the Island. Apparently there is a disagreement between the two as The Man in Black believes that all outsiders do is destroy and corrupt, while Jacob believes they can be good. After hearing just a little bit of Jacob's philosophy (something we sense he has had to hear for a long time), The Man in Black states his intention of killing Jacob, he can't do it himself, and he will find a "loophole" someday. Jacob doesn't seemed too fazed by this. The Man in Black leaves as we see they were sat beside the foot statue, but there was more than a foot there this time.

JACOB TRAVELS FOR BUSINESS NOT PLEASURE

We see Jacob in many different points in time all over the world it would seem. At each of these points he is meeting a few of the castaways before they were castaways. He finds Kate Austin as a little girl in Iowa stealing a New Kids on the Block lunchbox and pays for it so she won't get in trouble. He taps her nose cheerfully and leaves. He finds eight-year-old James Ford at his parents funeral in Alabama and gives him a pen to help him write a revenge letter to "Mr. Sawyer." He brushes his fingers as he hands the pen over, gives his condolences, and leaves. He shows up at Jin and Sun's wedding in Korea, wishing them well in their marriage, while laying a hand on their arms. He finds Sayid Jarrah with his wife Nadia. He taps on his shoulder asking for directions as Nadia is struck by a car and killed. He shows up outside of Hugo Reyes' prison awhile before the Oceanic Six returned to the Island. Jacob says he should think of his ability to commune with the dead as a gift and not a curse, tapping his chest while speaking. He leaves, giving Hurley a mysterious guitarcase. He shows up and helps Jack retrieve an Apollo bar from a hospital vending machine, brushing his hand as he gives it to him. Jacob is then seen reading a Flannery O'Conner book on a bench when a man falls from a window eight stories up. The man is of course John Locke, who lies unconscious or dead. Jacob walks over, grips his shoulder and John awakens shocked. Jacob reassures him that everything will be alright, and that he is sorry this happened. He leaves.

Quite simply this was all just very unique and gave me a lot to think about. For an episode that introduces the most mysterious character on the show and kills him almost immediately, we get a lot to wrap our heads around.

1. The death of Jacob/The rise of The Man in Black

"I guess you found your loophole." - Jacob

Anyone who is anyone knew right off when he returned to life on the Island that there was something wrong with John Locke. He was more confident, too confident. I felt what Sawyer says later on, "Locke was scared, even when he was pretending he wasn't." The thought occured that maybe he had some kind of knowledge from whatever afterlife awaited in him and total confidence in every action he took. But when he revealed his plan to kill Jacob, I knew he was way too different. Locke and Ben arrive at what's left of the Egyptian Statue and enter it to meet and Jacob and kill him, unbeknownest to Richard and The Others. Outside, a group of Jacob's bodyguards arrive and open up a box they've hauled around for awhile. Inside is revealed to be a body. John Locke's body. While everyone outside just looks in horror. Ben and the man posing as Locke greet a disappointed looking Jacob. "Locke" and Jacob makes it pretty clear they know each other. It becomes apparent that this man is actually The Man in Black from Jacob's first flashback. He has taken the appearance of John Locke to get to him and used Locke to manipulate everyone, especially the very confused Ben. Jacob tries to persuade Ben to leave and let them talk. Then Ben gives a very emotional speech of how he spent the majority of his life on the Island doing Jacob's bidding and was never allowed to see him. He demands to know why Locke was so much more special, he asks: "What about me?!" Jacob, sadly fatalistic, asks back, almost as if to test him: "What about you?" After the shock wears off, Ben furiously stabs him. Jacob falls over dying and whispers to The Man in Black: "They're coming." After a moment of alarm, The Man in Black kicks Jacob into the fire and watches him burn. Now that is a great cliffhanger. I'm still not quite sure "who" is coming, maybe the castaways from the past. This whole thing here just gave me a lot to look forward to. Especially some elaboration on the new antagonist, the man evil enough to take the shape of my fav character. The Man in Black.

But that's a story for the next chapter in my top Lost moments. Thanks for reading.

Lost: Stephen King connection

"Things fall apart. The center does not hold." - William Butler Yeats

You know who loves Lost? Stephen King. The master of horror himself is a die hard fan. And I bet he gets a chuckle every time he and his work are mentioned on it (Juliet's favorite book: Carrie; "Henry Gale" asks for King instead of Dostoevsky.) Another thing about Lost that many have found is that it takes a lot of the same elements as King's two biggest epics: The Stand and The Dark Tower. These connections are no more clear than they are now in the Sixth season. Now I won't go into too much detail about either seeing as how I only saw the TV-movie version of The Stand (I plan on reading the book) and am in the middle of the reading the Dark Tower series. But what I do know about each I will elaborate on.

SPOILERS, SERIOUSLY!!!

THE DARK TOWER...so far:

The series begins with the main character Roland hunting his nemesis, a devilish sorceror he calls "the man in black." He hunts him in the hopes that the man in black will lead him to the legendary Dark Tower, where, as far as I can tell right now, all meaning in all the universe lies. I see Roland and the man in black can be seen as Jacob and The Man in Black. Roland and the man in black have been enemies for too long and have participated in a deadly game of tag; Jacob and The Man in Black are eternal rivals who are bound together by fate it would seem to compete in their own childlike game of "I'm right-you're wrong." There is probably a better way to find a link between these duos but I can't see it just yet. The Dark Tower itself, referred to as the nexus where all worlds meet, is somewhat similar to the Island.

In Lost, there is usually a specific group of people who go off exploring the unknown on the Island (fans call this group "The A Team." Part of the Dark Tower involves the gunslinger Roland to find companions throughout his journey, a group called a Ka-Tet (Ka meaning destiny). Roland seems like he could be a composite of Island leaders Jack and Locke, seeing as how he is battle savvy outdoorsman who can quickly react and get out of a situation fast and do what he believes is necessary. Not to mention Roland's life has been all about finding the Tower, like Locke's has been to serve the Island. Eddie Dean, the recovering drug addict, reminds me at times of Sawyer(wisecracking and smart despite appearances), Jack (no nonsense type personality), and Charlie (good humoured and recovering heroin addict.) Susannah Dean is a brave woman which I guess you could attribute to any female Lost character (I think Susannah was specifically created in the image of '70s Pam Grier, but a schizoid as well.) Then Jake Chambers, a boy who has a close relationship with the leader Roland, obviously parallels Walt and his friendship with Locke. Also Jake befriends a fictional animal, called a billy bumbler, named Oy, who is like Vincent except a bit more valiant.

In addition to the story, the characters frequently flashback to past times in their lives that have significance to their current problems. The theme of destiny or predeterminism is prevalent. In the world the characters journey through the laws of physics and many other things do not apply like they would in our world, like the Island.

I will definitely read the rest of the series and decide for myself how similar it is to Lost, but I would already recommend reading The Dark Tower if you are looking for a series.

THE STAND

The Stand takes place in an apocalyptic setting, where a biological weapon is released and kills nearly everyone on the planet. With the world in peril, the supernatural forces of good and evil make their plays = two players, two sides. Many good people are led to the side of the kind and righteous Mother Abigail Freemantle while the bad are drawn to the side of the scheming and demonic Randall Flagg. The forces of each side begin to prepare for a battle that will decide the fate of everything. Sound familiar?

The events of the book are a lot like Lost's. The good guys, who come from all walks of life, are brought together not only through the global castastrophe they survived, but also through shared dreams of Mother Abigail. This is a lot like the Lost castaways being brought together seemingly by a plane crash, but most were really led to their destination by the will of the mysterious Jacob. After they are united, the survivors make a home for themselves in a little Colorado suburb, like the castaways made their home on the Island's beach. Eventually, the group realizes that they will have to make a stand against those who have been led astray by the villain Randall Flagg. The castaways made a stand against The Others in season 3 and are more than likely drawing towards their new fight against The Man in Black in the last season. The leader of the good, Mother Abagail, soon dies like Lost's Jacob. After she dies, it is revealed that Nick Andros, a wise deaf-mute, was originally supposed to lead the stand against Flagg and his group; kind of like John Locke being murdered when he is the first in line to replace Jacob as protector of the Island. Also near the end of the story, Flagg's righthand man Lloyd is faced with the choice of doing the greater good and killing Flagg or killing Glen, one of those to make the stand for good. Under pressure due to all that's happened to him, Lloyd kills Glen. This sequence reminded me of the scene where The Man in Black has brought Ben to the statue to kill Jacob, Jacob tries to persuade Ben to not go through with it, but Ben does it in the end. Oh yeah, and the final resolution comes in the form of a nuclear explosion: a psychotic Flagg follower, Trashcan Man, brings a nuke to Las Vegas where Flagg and all of his followers have congregated. With all of this set in motion "the Hand of God" literally reaches down and detonates the bomb, killing all of the villains and sacrificing a few of the heroes. This is another parallel to the season 5 finale.

The biggest Stand connection to me, however, is Randall Flagg. Before we meet him people give him nicknames such as "The walking dude", "The man with no face or "The man in black." Randall Flagg is in fact the same Man in Black from The Dark Tower series, where he also goes by Walter O'Dim and Richard Fannin. Despite what I originally thought, Flagg is not Satan. He may not even be a demon. The most I know about him really is that he is a wizard of sorts with many dark agendas. Most of the time he, looks like an average looking man dressed in cowboy boots, a jean jacket, and wears "smiley" buttons, though in The Dark Tower he is seen in a black cloak (hence his famous nickname). Flagg is a sly, arrogant, malicious manipulator. He is a very persuasive person, and often promises what people want most to put them in his debt. He has been shown to bring people from the dead and predict the future. It is assumed that he can appear in many forms, most notably a crow or a horrific demon-like form. He is however, not all powerful and is easily hurt (he might just break down if you insult him too badly.) But when their was some more coverage on The Man in Black in season 6, Flagg was the first thing that came to my mind. They are both manipulators, with powers that are limited but still dangerous, and are banding together their own groups of people to meet their ends. The only difference is, the Lost Man in Black seems a bit more convincing (that doesn't mean I believe him) than Flagg, one look at Flagg and you know he has tricks up his sleeve. Season 6, more than anything, resembles The Stand.

All of this is not criticism. I think it is cool. People have often been able to find a connection between the show and any piece of literature that has appeared on it. This is just stuff that I have found. With The Stand/Dark Tower-esque turn for the final season, I am even more excited as it might tell me that everything that is happening is leading up to one last stand on the Island that will decide everything.

Thanks for reading.

Lost: The Confidence Game

"Everyone's scared. And the thing they're scared of most is missing an opportunity." - Sawyer

A trend I've noticed throughout the Lost series is the confidence game. One of the first stories introduced is that of Sawyer, a brilliant con artist who became such during his hunt for an even smarter confidence man. The majority of Sawyer's flashback ordeals has to do with cons so cool and smart and complex that I'd swear they were written by David Mamet. None more superb is the episode in which he pulls "a long con" in both the past and the present, and both of which catch you totally off guard. Yep, the guy who at first came off as a cocky redneck with a dark past turned out to be something different: a cocky redneck with a dark past who could outsmart us and make us feel like total fools.

But cons were essential plot points in the backstories of other characters as well. Kate frequently conned people to get what she wanted (namely that bank robbery that was all for a freakin' toy.) And then of course there's Locke. Oh god, there was Locke. He, as usual, got the short end of the stick when it came to cons. Locke's life was destroyed by his father Anthony Cooper (aka Sawyer's life long prey), who manipulated his emotions, stole his kidney, made him feel worthless, ruined any chance he had at true love, and then pushed out of an eighth story window...in the words of Sawyer, son of a bitch!

Then in the future on the Island, cons were often pulled on friend and foe alike. Of course Sawyer did his fair share, but so did Ben and the Others, and even Locke himself to orchestrate the killing of his much hated father. Then we know recently the biggest con yet. The Man in Black's century stretched planning of killing his rival Jacob finally came full circle when he conned Ben Linus into doing it for him. Cons, cons, cons, cons, cons! What does all of this mean?

I could be very wrong, but maybe this repeated use of confidence scams is a metaphor. A way of telling us that there is a much bigger con going on here. The conning of the audience. Maybe whatever has happened and is happening on the show is just something that is leading us along, something that is building up momentum and getting our hopes up only to turn around and surprise with something that we never even considered. But what could it be? Could it be the Island is the small patch of purgatory between what could be heaven and what could be hell? Could it be that it is all figments of some polar bears imagination? Could it be that John Locke will be resurrected and deemed ruler of all things Island and possibly beyond? Could it be that I am just rambling like a nerd and my speculation is pointless as the show is already past the halfway point of its last season and all of the questions that have lingered for my four years of dedication to this show are being answered even as we speak? Yeah, probably. But still, how about that confidence game. I just thought it was interesting that that whole theme has gone on for so long in this show but has never really been addressed. Oh well, time will tell WHAT IT ALL MEANS, until then I will talk about other things that are just kind of interesting but don't contain much speculation as to how the show will end.

I really want to get to bed now, so I hoped you've enjoyed and goodnight. Oh yeah, and keep watching Lost and keep reading if you please.

Lost: Ben Linus/Linus van Pelt connection

"In all this world, there is no heavier burden than a great potential." - Linus van Pelt

Okay I won't pretend that I was a dedicated Charlie Brown and Peanuts fan because I was not. I didn't read the comic strip, and I only saw snippets of the show. I did however watch I good portion of the show's Halloween episode in school recently. The character that stood out most to me in particular was Linus van Pelt. Linus, one of, if not the youngest of the characters, was highly philosophical and intelligent despite the age handicap. That doesn't mean he wasn't childish in his own way too. He carried a blanket around with him a lot and made up The Great Pumpkin, sort of the Santa Claus of Halloween.

I had already watched the then five seasons of Lost by the time I watched this particular Halloween special. I couldn't help but find some sort of connection between Linus Van Pelt and Benjamin Linus, Lost's most diabolical anti-hero. Obviously I noticed they both had the name Linus. But they are also both extremely intelligent. Often times Linus would be the one to make revealtions for his friends that would make everything clear, something Ben would have to do too. I suppose the main similarity I saw though was The Great Pumpkin thing.

You see, Linus did more than just create The Great Pumpkin for kicks. He sort of made his own theology behind it, like it was some holy thing people could worship. Ben Linus did sort of the same thing with the Island's mysterious true ruler, "a great man" named Jacob. He claimed to be the only one who Jacob speaks to and united the Island's native inhabitants through their belief in him as well. There was a reversal in how this was seen by other people in either character's case: for Linus, no one believed him except for one person, Sally Brown, who believed out of her adoration for Linus; for Ben, just about everyone believed in him except for John Locke, who was convinced that Ben was the real person behind everything. Sally and Locke are similar however as they stick with either Linus to bare witness to their supposed deity. And for each pair of believers, their journies ended in disappointment. Linus and Sally waited all Halloween Night in a pumpkin patch waiting for The Great Pumpkin. Way late into the night, after all trick r' treaters had gone home, it never came and Sally was furious. Linus stubbornly assured her and himself that The Great Pumpkin would show up. Ben and Locke trekked all the way through the jungle and arrived at a cabin. There was nothing inside that Locke could see. Ben insisted that Jacob was sitting in a chair that appeared to be empty, going so far as to talk to the chair as if someone was there. Both Linus and Ben did not stop insisting that the mystical creature they believed was real. Both Sally and Locke suffered due to their humouring of their respective Linus: Sally missed out on trick r' treating and having fun with her friends, and Locke got shot and left to die in a ditch. Both of these stubborn believers came out looking like real "blockheads."

Also about Linus and his security blanket, Ben has something like a blanket that he relies on to "protect him" in cases when he can't do it with his own intelligence. Ben is revealed at some point that he can call upon The Monster, the pillar of black smoke. Linus at times uses his blanket as a weapon and the blanket is often thought of as it's own active entity. Ben uses The Monster to attack a group of mercenaries contracted to capture him and The Monster is definitely an active entity. Hmm...

I just thought it over after awhile, and realized that the connection between these two goes deeper than their name. It was kind of interesting.

This has been the first of a few Lost analysis' I have in the works, from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.

LHC: or how I learned to worry more and question science

"Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard Dawkins

Now in 2008, scientists started going on about the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. Apparently this thing will revolutionize science itself by answering questions that have mind boggled the world's greatest physicists since ever. It was supposed to be up and running in 08 but there was some kind of hiccup and operations were on hold for awhile. But as I hear, only a few days ago the LHC's particle beams actually started colliding and I guess everything's all right. And why wouldn't everything be? Well that's what this post is about.

Your Modest Guru will talk about the greatly popularized theory that the LHC could possibly result in a black hole that would start small, but grow and than eventually engulf the world and maybe even the galaxy. Yeah, even the possibility of that two years prior put me on edge about this thing. I mean really, if there was even a chance of that happening, why would we take it. If I thought that something like that could happen, I'd dig a hole about fifty feet in the desert, drop the thing in, bury it, and never speak of it again. I know this thing could possibly answer questions some the greatest mysteries of the universe. That is enticing, but it is also very iffy. I mean on one hand we can discover so much more about life itself and perhaps go further as a species and on the other hand we could destroy everything and negate everything that happened since the beginning of the...well, everything. Hmm. Thankfully a decision of that magnitude is not in my hands. But like I said, the thing is actually working now and so far everything is fine. Hopefully it stays that way because, really, nobody wants to be stretched to longest point in the most painful way possible whilst swirling around in a freakin' black hole.

This has been a scientific discussion from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.

Lost: Season 3 Missed Moment

When going back and forth through the vast story that is Lost to choose the specific favorite moments, even the most godly of bloggers can get confused or can miss something along the way. He might miss even one of his favorite moments of the show as a whole. And that is what I did when picking out my favorite moments from season 3. So I apologize for taking us aback and I present the true # 4 Moment of Season 3:

SPOILERS!!!

Sawyer meets "Mr. Sawyer"

"Keep reading." - Sawyer

During his time with the Others, John Locke was introduced to his test. His father, Anthony Cooper. The elderly con artist who manipulated Locke, stole his kidney, paralyzed him, and destroyed his life. Ben told Locke he would have to kill Cooper in order to become an Other. Locke couldn't bring himself to do it. Richard Alpert reveals that Ben knew he wouldn't and did this just to humiliate Locke. Since Locke can't do it himself, Richard proposes someone else. Our own resident con artist and murderer, Sawyer. Locke tells him he captured Ben and kept him in the Black Rock out in the jungle. Sawyer goes along reluctantly. When they get there and Sawyer realizes the man tied up in the brig isn't Ben, Locke locks him inside. The cruel Cooper goes on to detail with a guilty grin what he did to his son. As soon as Sawyer hears the word "con" he begins to get suspicious. He then asks Cooper his name. He tells him a series of fake names and one of them is Tom Sawyer. Sawyer realizes who he is talking to. The man he thought he killed in Australia. The man who conned and destroyed his family. The man he has been hunting his whole life. Mr. Sawyer. Sawyer pulls out the letter he wrote to his nemesis as a kid and gives it to Cooper, who doesn't take it seriously and even mocks him. Sawyer demands that he finish the letter, but the bastard tears it apart. Sawyer loses it. He strangles Cooper with the chains of long dead slaves. He sends to him hell. Locke opens the door, looks down at his dead father indifferently (like a dog he has been meaning to put down), and thanks Sawyer. I loved this scene, because it is one where a mystery is solved, one that goes back since the very first episodes of the show. Many people had suspected Anthony Cooper of being 'Mr. Sawyer', myself included, but it was still a surprise here. This scene is also so great because this one death brings closure to two characters' arcs: Sawyer's dedication to revenge and Locke's inability to forget his past. I'd go so far as to call this moment bittersweet. I hated Cooper ever since he conned Locke in season 1. I won't lie, I was thanking Sawyer too when he killed him. Great scene, wish I had remembered to put it on the list.

More Lost posts to come, thanks for reading.