I've been saying for more than a year that the inexplicable coincidences in Lost's backstories hold the keys to what's really going on. Desmond and Jack meeting on the steps of the stadium, Kate's father meeting Sayid in Iraq — there is just no way such intersections of lives could have happened to a group of people whose only connection is they all wind up on a crashing plane. Such inexplicable coincidences point to some other, deeper reason, some other crucial component, for which the plane crash on the island is just the piece that is visible to the survivors and us, the viewers.
But what is this deeper reality?
Tonight's episode of Lost did not really provide any answers, except to point us, again, to the significance of inexplicable coincidence by giving us perhaps the biggest coincidence so far: Locke's father, the evil guy who stole his kidney and pushed him out of a window, is also the swindler responsible for the deaths of Sawyer's parents - the con-man Saywer went to Australia to kill.
What the explanation is for this and the other coincidences we still do not know - but now, more than ever, it is clear that such coincidence is the fabric that bundles together the characters and the story and what is really happening on the island. Tonight's story about Locke's father brought the inexplicable backstory coincidence to our maximum attention by literally placing it on the island itself - that's why there was no need for flashbacks off the island tonight.
We learned some other important details in this episode, as well. Jack and Juliet are definitely in cahoots about something. And Naomi - the woman who fell from the sky - is clear that she was told that Flight 815 is at the bottom of the sea, seen there with all the bodies aboard and dead.
Locke's father clearly believes - or wanted Locke to believe - that they are all in Purgatory. I don't buy it - it's just what the producers want us to maybe think, because Purgatory has all along been the most easy, likely explanation. And that's precisely why it isn't the explanation.
The next few weeks should finally give us some, if not all, answers — starting when Locke sees what is in that room...
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Add to this that Locke's dad called Locke his "dead son," implying that he'd seen the video footage -- or at least the reports -- of flight 815, down with no survivors. So there really is a plane out there, full of bodies, or at least what look like bodies four miles down.
Then there's the story of Locke's dad's "appearance" on the island. The way he tells it, it seems supernatural. But he's skewing that way because he thought Locke was dead. He was in a car accident, and when he regained consciousness, he was on the island. Could be a month later, could be five minutes later; we don't know. He could have been drugged that whole time, or not. One of the paramedics was grinning at him. He could have been the guy who drugged him and transported him to the island.
Anyway, it's all interesting, but I wouldn't count on a lot of answers the next few weeks.
2 - Paul Levinson
Good point, and agreed.
But I'm convinced that, whenever we find out what's going on, those coincidences will be the key. I have a full-fledged essay on this - Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On - for more.
3 - TV and Film Guy
didn't Locke's dad try to convince him it was hell, not purgatory?
4 - Paul Levinson
I think he said something like "it's certainly not heaven"... but, in any case, not much difference between the two for the purposes of my analysis of last night's story: whether Hell or Purgatory are being talked about, it's still the producers playing with us about the after-life possibility, which I don't think is the case...
5 - TV and Film Guy
Nor do I, they've sworn up and down it's not Purgatory, so I think it being Hell is splitting hairs.
6 - Paul Levinson
Exactly :)
7 - Laura
I agree it's splitting hairs, but that would be like them, woudln't it? This is the same crew planting "foilers" to throw off the spoiler-hounds. I don't think the Island is hell, but I don't think the "It's not purgatory" argument precludes it, either.
8 - Paul Levinson
Yah, but whatever the producers are capable of, it would be an incredible disappointment if the island were either Hell or Purgatory... way too easy and obvious a solution...
Santayana had an irrational faith in rationality ... I have irrational faith in television....:)
9 - Phillip Winn
No, they've stated quite clearly that the castaways aren't dead. Locke's dad is just trying to make sense of what he sees: the dead come to life. Only we know they aren't dead, so we have a different view of things.
10 - Paul Levinson
Right. Not to mention the fact that if Locke's father is dead, he wouldn't need to be killed again.
11 - Guy
It's obvious that Naomi is with the others - she told Mikhail (in Portuguese) that she was not alone... So if the plane full of dead bodies is a fake, she's part of it too.
12 - James
Of course, if there are multiple time streams, they could be dead in the one Naomi came from.
13 - Paul Levinson
Yah, that's the joy of multiple timelines...
14 - Jeff
How did sawyer die?