Amalgamblog

Today begins the final season of the television series Lost and many of us here at the Amalgamblog couldn’t be more excited (the others probably think we’re huge dorks). For a show so wrapped up in mystery, there are a lot of questions that fans want answered. Producers/Show Runners/Island Shamen Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have already said that not every question will be answered. I actually appreciate that, because in life there is mystery and some things just don’t get explained. And in the end, I care more about the stories and redemptions of the characters than the island mythology.

Even still, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday covers the ten questions I would like answered during Lost’s final chapter. I’ll go ahead and warn you that there will be spoilers for those that haven’t watched the show through the Season 5 finale. I also won’t be explaining every aspect to the uninitiated, because that would take a really, really long time. Without further ado, here’s your Top Ten.

10. What happened when Juliet nuked The Swan?
The goal in detonating a hydrogen bomb at The Swan station was to eliminate the very thing that caused Oceanic Flight 815 to crash on the island. Originally the Jack-led 1977 station sabotage (half the Losties found themselves 30 years in the past; long story) wouldn’t take until a dying Juliet detonated the bomb and thus nuked The Swan. Did the explosion destroy the station and reset the castaways’ histories? Or did they cause the very thing that brought them to the island in the first place? Or is it something slightly more complicated? I’m going with the last option. Either way, we’ll start getting our answers to this one tonight.

9. What’s so important about the kids?
It seems like eons ago, but the kiddos were once integral to the Lost narrative. There were prophecies about Claire’s baby and how no one else should raise the child (including a Season 1 dream in which Locke played an Antichrist-esque jungle babysitter). The Others were all about kidnapping, well, kids. And ultimately there was Walt with his maybe psychic, maybe polar bear-conjuring special abilities that led to him being snatched from his dad at sea. Ultimately Walt made it off the island (and hit puberty), Claire’s baby Aaron made it off the island to be raised by Kate (again a big no-no in the prophecies), and we haven’t really seen the wandering Children’s Crusade that the Others were gathering in about 3 seasons.  The kids have all but disappeared so I’m curious to see if their importance is addressed.

8. Dharma Initiative: Important Player or Red Herring By-Stander?
When we first were introduced to the Dharma Initiative and their orientation films down in the Hatch during Season 2, it seemed like these guys were really, really important. They, whoever they were, held all the answers. As time has gone on, it seems more and more like they came to the island and just royally ticked everyone – the Others and the island itself – off. Still, I wonder if there is still some pulling of the strings going on with Dharma. Are they connected with Widmore or Eloise Hawking?

7. What is Libby’s story?
Oh Libby, we hardly knew ye. Libby was one of the tail section survivor of Oceanic 815 (aka the Tailies) that spent 48 days apart from our main castaways. She and Hurley were developing somewhat of a romantic relationship. But the thing is we learned via flashback that she was in the same psych ward that Hurley spent time in. She all donated to Desmond the sailboat that he was in when he crashed on Lost Island. Things were getting interesting, but then Michael fatally shot her (allegedly because killing just Ana Lucia wouldn’t have had the same resonance) in an attempt to free Ben and trade him for the kidnapped Walt. Was Libby actually insane? Was she there to track Hurley? Was she an Other? Did she work for Widmore? The creators promised when she was killed that we would learn more about her story. But we haven’t yet.

6. The Four-Toed Statue?
There’s ruin of a four-toed statue on the island. We now know it was Jacob’s Batcave, but what’s the story behind it? Mainly I’m curious not so much about the statue itself but just how far back does the story of this island go. Are we going to see an “In the beginning” moment?

5. Where does Jack’s dad fit into the island hierarchy?
From the very first season, Jack’s deceased father – Christian Shepard -has been looming around the island. At first the dead doc dad was seemingly a vision, but he has taken on a more active role as time has gone on. He often tries to direct our Losties in certain directions and was even seen hanging out in Jacob’s cabin. But is he really on Team Jacob or is he actually playing the role of deceiver for the Man in Black? Perhaps he’s representing a third party even. So how high up does this ghost(?) dad rank for whichever side he’s on.

4. Just who are the good guys?
A list of a few of the conflicts that have transpired on Lost:
-Losties vs. Smoke Monster and/or marauding polar bears and/or general island survival
-Losties vs. the Others
-Jack vs. Sawyer
-Jack vs. Locke
-Jack vs. his beard
-Jack vs. his dad
-Virtually every male character vs. their dad
-The Others vs. the Dharma Initiative
-Losties vs. the Freighter
-Benjamin Linus vs. Charles Widmore
-Benjamin Linus vs. Locke

And then in the Season 5 finale, we learn that the ultimate (we think) conflict is a centuries spanning riff between Jacob (the mysterious dude behind the island) and the Man in Black. Now because the Man in Black is a man dressed in black, we assume that he’s the bad guy. But we could be totally wrong. And even still we have no earthly idea where Ben, Widmore, the Others, our castaways, or Vincent the Dog fit in this epic war of good and evil.

3. Who is Jacob?
Loaded question. He’s apparently the honcho behind the island. He had contact with several castaways before they crashed on the island in September 2004; making sure to touch each of them. He is mysterious and sometimes hard to contact. Only a special few can see him. And oh yeah, he’s dead. Killed by Ben who was goaded on by a loophole-finding, John Locke suit-wearing Man in Black. His final (though probably not really final) words – “They’re coming” – seemingly made Man in Blocke not happy at all.

2. What’s up with the island?
Obvious question and there will probably be many lacking answers. You would think this would be the grand, overarching, and most important question. It actually isn’t. That would be . . .

1. What is the Smoke Monster?
Because Smokey has been there from the beginning. In the pilot, it tore through the forest like a dinosaur and savagely killed the pilot of Oceanic 815. It seems that sometimes you can see faces in its billowy black smoke. It has physically picked up and individual and pummeled them into the ground (poor Mr. Eko). At one point in time, it was seemingly summoned by Ben. The question “Where are we?” might have been the question that put the question mark on the pilot episode. But the main question that has followed me through the series have been the one that has concerned Smokey: What is that?

So those are some of my questions. What are some questions that you Lost fans are wanting answered?

Tags: Lost

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 8:08 pm and is filed under Top Ten Tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.