Episode 68 Amy’s Theory or Live Together, Theorize Alone
December 18, 2009 by Donald Mikhail and Charlotte
Filed under Guest Stars, Most Recent, Specials
Join Donald, Heath and Amy of Amy’s Blog as they laugh, cry and grind their teeth at Amy’s interesting and complex theory on Lost.
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Donald, I love your lost podcast!
The music is off the chain and your impersations are great.
I just listen to Amy and all of her theories….her observations! Man you have got to get her back on your podcast SHE is GREAT. She really makes you think. I have never care about a TV show this much….LOST is the best.
Season 6 can’t get here fast enough for me!
Keep up the GREAT work, listening in Dallas!
Lost in Dallas, Pam.
HOLY MOTOR MOUTH. you know what im saying?
just random comments as im listening:
this just sounds like a Star Trek holodeck theory basically. the “characters” just engage with an artificial environment / system / ‘device’ – which means theyre engaging in nothing at all, or a “vacuum” (what she calls the green screen) – and it controls a ‘virtual’ reality. star trek, matrix (or even Tron – which some people would say Lost is just a “game”. very similar.) use this story device and a million other things. nothing new there, why repeat it?… OR it could be in Mythic / Dreamtime where they are enacting their own modern “myth”. Jack as the hero archetype.
a) her time theory is whack: they dont have to get them back at a certain time to get things done. the “system” would just bring them to that point in their present regardless if everywhere/anywhere is “green screen”. whats the urgency to get to a “place” in a “place” that doesnt exist? seems tedious. it could just zap them to that point when needed like it did out of the plane. seems fairly contrived.
b) why are some bodies still present on the island? she only uses Charlotte as an example but theres no other characters who really “disappear”.
c) the “upload” theory blows. it makes the characters non-autonomous agents. of course theyre puppets on strings from the writers but its even more corny to have some “authority” uploading their experiences and generating a phony environment for them to only ENGAGE in from what the puppet masters allow. its like watching writers write about ‘writers’ within a story. if the case is that the characters have no autonomy or agency in the story it would be a huge disappointment.
constructed worlds, or some “hive” reality just seems really boring and overdone.
Dear Death,
Thanks for listening!
I have to go on record that the “green screen” analogy is just an analogy. I assume that whatever Team LOST comes up with won’t be stupid, cliche or contrived (because I’ll be really mad if the ending sucks!). The VR thing, the dream state thing, I have no idea. I don’t know how or why this world is created, but I still think there’s plenty evidence that none of it is real, and I think assuming everything we’ve seen isn’t “real” explains things a lot better than time travel, or aliens, or magic, or whatever. Anything goes and anything’s possible if nothing takes place in the “real world.”
And I totally believe that if you die on LOST (except for Locke) you are Dead. Whatever happens in the end, none of the folks who’ve died will be around anymore. So I don’t think and I’ve never thought that our losties are interacting with a vacuum (because that would be dumb). I mean, they are interacting with an environment where a polar bear can drag you into a cave or a smoke monster can pick you up and throw you around until you’re a corpse.
As for the Ajira airlines return: I actually agree with you. Why do Ben and Mrs. Hawking make such a point of “You have 70 hours” “We’re running out of time.” Even the lady at the butcher shop wants to know if they are on schedule. What’s that about? If time travel is possible, then what’s the rush?
What I think, and what I said, was that the Oceanic 6 and our losties back in 1977 are in sync. They are moving in time at the same rate and speed. That’s the only reason I can think of that everyone would be so stressed out that they hurry up and go back.
I dunno about bodies other than Charlotte’s. There should have been a bunch of bodies on the beach after Frogurt bites it in the flaming arrow battle, but I don’t think our losties ever made it back there.
I really like your comment about puppets on a string and a hive reality because it seems to me that our losties have plenty of free will to go around. If they didn’t, the Oceanic 6 would have never left the island since they “weren’t supposed to leave.” But you have to admit, all of our losties are manipulated in all kinds of ways, like Jack coming down with appendicitis. Rose says, people don’t get sick here, so why is he sick? Or Ben having the lawyer scare Kate into running by threatening to take Aaron away.
“The island won’t let you.” “The island’s not done with you.” Weird.
I never said that there was an authority doing the memory uploading. I have no idea how it’s happening or why it’s happening at all. Although, you touch on a really good point that we didn’t get to in our chat. That is, where is the struggle? All this talk about a “war” and two sides, “light and dark” — obviously there seems to be a struggle over what our losties do or don’t do. I mean, at the same exact time Ben is hustling everyone back to the island, men armed with tranquilizer guns are hunting them down all over LA. What’s that about?
If you have any more ideas about this, please share them!
I think the thing to always remember is that someone is “LOST.” Who is it? Our losties? Jacob? The others? I’m still not really sure. And the promos for Season 6 don’t make any sense. They say “Destiny Found” which means, what exactly? Does “Destiny LOST” make any sense for seasons 1-5? With his last breath, Jacob says, “They’re coming.” Who’s coming?
Thanks so much for your comments! I’m SO ready for 2/2 to get here so we can get some questions answered!
Pam and Death, I am glad you guys like Amy (and my show) she put a lot of had work into that theory and she deserved a chance to be heard out, she is an awesome person and very smart and I hope we can get her back on sometime in season 6 to hear her thoughts. Thanks Amy!
Amy – well thought-out theory. I’m tracking w/ 50% of it but I don’t buy into any matrix “there-is-no-spoon” stuff… The Matrix came out before LOST started and the writers have to know that it will be completely underwhelming if it turns out to be some virtual reality thing. It’s been done.
It’s one of those things where it would be more fun to hear someone theorize than it would be to actually see it play out. Anyway, I have a question.
How does Ben Linus work into the theory…or any of the “others”? Who/what are they? They seem to have memories…or were they just blank slates that were uploaded at a previous date and have already had memories implanted?
Even though I disagree, it was a fun listen…and I totally agree…even if you theory is wrong, congratulations, you’re normal.
- Derek
Best. Donald Podcast. Ever. Amy, you are a star. Even if your theory is totally bunk, your analysis, conviction, and energy made for a great listen. I hope to hear more of you in the future!
Thanks Derek & Mohawk for the lovely comments!
I finally created a Q & A page: http://lostputtingitalltogether.blogspot.com/2009/12/q-with-aohora.html
If you post questions there, I’ll see them right away and answer them as best I can! You’ll be able to read previous comments, too.
Mohawk: I’m reposting your question on my Q & A page and answering it there.
Donald,
I love that you have so much energy about Lost – and now you have found a female counterpart that sounds like she has the same energy level you do.
Interesting ideas and conversation.
I am not married to any particular overarching theory, as they change all the time, but I have had one similar to hers in the back of my mind for a long time. Actually, she touched on it in a way with the mention of so many Losties having been in a prison jumpsuit at one time or another.
I always thought that this *could* be an experience like that Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall, for modifying or correcting the behavior of our major characters.
I figured if someone had the resources to do this kind of Utopian social engineering experiment, it might be used in a correction facility. Then again, the ones with the $ money behind the development of such a tool might just be too tempted to perhaps test it on people they felt could ‘benefit’ from said behavior correction of modification. Or basically, like a rehab for whatever personality trait or affliction identified.
Both Sawyer and Hurley have been institutionalized, and Kate was certainly on her way (literally) to being a part of the ’system’ as well.
Then there are the characters who have wealthy relatives that might have a vested interest in such a project and behavior modification of the Losties: Sun and Jin (her father), Boone and Shannon (his mother), Jack (his dad, although not wealthy in the way of Widmore or Paik, could have been involved on the medical side of the project), Penny and Desmond (her father)
John Locke I can’t figure out, although he has been a part of ‘the system’ when he was receiving disability benefits for his depression, perhaps this could be some type of recovery, same with Jack and Charlie’s substance abuse problems.
Anyway, just wanted to share some thoughts on one angle this theory could have.
It was a lot of fun listening to the podcast with your guest. I really appreciate how open-minded you are to other theories than your own, how refreshing.
I will also try to post this on Amy’s blog so you don’t have to worry about notifying her of a new blog comment.
Christy in TX, aka QueenoftheUniverse
My theory on why Ms Hawkins, Ben and lady in butchers shop mentioned ” time” was because perhaps John could only be dead for a certain time, so he can be reborn, brought back etc to life.
Enjoyed the theory.
Thanks also to Donald for his podcasts.
Donald, thanks for showcasing Amy’s theory on your podcast. I’ve been staying off most other blogs and forums now because I don’t want to get spoiled, and I wasn’t aware of this theory.
I also have been struck by the number of repeated elements in the show, and I too have the feeling that there is something important there that we aren’t able to understand at this point.
What I’ve been thinking about is that maybe what needs to happen for the story to resolve is for the repeated elements to be done or configured in a particular sequence, and the exact combination of elements is what will “unlock the box”, so to speak. I think that maybe this combination/sequence is the key that has been lost, and that’s what Jacob is trying to figure out. It could be that MIB has been trying to prevent him from figuring it out.
I think that flight 316 is one way the writers are trying to show us this. The idea of trying to recreate as many of the circumstances of the original flight, with people serving as stand-ins for people on flight 815, is an example of trying to get the right combination of elements together to make a specific result happen. I don’t think the repeated elements are lazy writing at all. I think they’re trying to show us that the story can’t end until the correct combination/sequence of elements is found.
In regards to Desmond, I am very interested to see how he fits into the story in Season 6. When I watched Deus Ex Machina again over the summer, I got the idea that the event the episode title refers to is Desmond being prevented from killing himself by Locke pounding on the hatch. We think at the time that the main thing is Locke seeing the light come out of the hatch, but I think that’s another way the writers are using misdirection to keep us from realizing what we should really be focusing on.
I’m not smart enough to come up with a comprehensive theory or even guess at who or what is controlling things to try to find the right sequence, and why they need to find it at all. Maybe Amy can think about this and see if any of it fits with her theory.
Thanks again, it’s a lot of fun to try to figure this stuff out!
Sorry, I forgot one more thing I was thinking about, connected to my thoughts in the previous comment.
Maybe the Comic-Con videos aren’t showing us an alternate timeline so much as they are showing us a different combination of events. (I won’t get into the specifics for the sake of spolier-free people who have stayed away from them.) Maybe we are being led think that what we saw in the Comic-Con videos is an alternate timeline or “reset”, when what they are really showing is more attempts at trying to get the combination of elements put together correctly to achieve the final result.