Episode 58 Season 5 Flashback Part 2
August 26, 2009 by Donald Mikhail and Charlotte
Filed under Specials
In this second installment of the season 5 flashbacks, I explore episodes 6-10 and dive into some excellent mythology and character episodes. Season 5 is shaping up to be quite the season, and the rewatch is making that more and more apparent with each episode. Send in your season 5 favs to lost@donaldislost.com or call 206-984-1289.
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Another very nice job reviewing this group of eps. FINALLY someone who agrees that Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham is a good ep! It’s one of my top ten favs! Great job Donald. Keep up the fantastic work and inspiration to the rest of us talking in the direction of a mic.
Wait… just wait… did you say “geekgasm?”
This is some fabulously comprehensive work – well played Donald.
Sent you a voicemail about your alternate timeline rant and how I disagree. Don’t completely destroy me!
yo
Donald,
Really enjoying your Season 5 analysis – the usual Donald mix of humor and insight is what makes your show unique. No exception with this series.
I’m only about 2/3 of the way into Season 2 on my own re-watch and have, so far, resisted the urge to jump forward into the later seasons. But listening to this series of shows helps me keep my ‘Season Five Glasses’ affixed and in focus.
The main reason I’m taking the time to write this – I’m really glad you stopped and went into some further explanation about why you are rejecting the alternate timeline theories. As you probably know, I am leaning pretty heavily in favor of this as a possibility, but I like having my assumptions challenged.
That being said, I still find your arguments lacking. I know I’m not going to convince you to come over to my side – I just want to state my case a little more and address some of your points by putting forth my own bullet points.
1 – The State Of The Dharma Recruiting Center:
It’s not just that it’s apparently in a state of neglect and disrepair – three years and a fairly major conflict could account for that, but what stands out to me is the presence of all the Dharma accoutrements – the episode director had the camera operator pan left and back to make sure we see all the tables, old dharma jumpsuits and signs – “Assignments”,”Uniforms” and “Innoculations” – just like it appeard in the 1970′s. I find it unfathomable that the Others just left this building in this state from the early 1990′s post-purge up to the mid or late-2000′s.
In fact, I am 99% sure that the Recruitment Center interior set is the same interior set that we saw in Season 3 when Kate is being held by the Others in the Recreation Center (The Man From Talahassee) – check the details: the panelled walls, large-tiled floor, open rafters, double doors, interior screens over the windows. In Season 3, it appears that the Others have re-purposed this building for thier own use – in this ‘Namaste’ scene, that appears never to have happened.
2 – Alternative Timelines Vs Paradox
I absolutely agree with you that the directors have every intention of keeping Lost paradox-free. They have done a skillful job during Season of illustrating the “whatever happened happened” principle – something I was on board with and comfortable with having read and re-read Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse 5′ way back in the early 1970′s – one of my all time favorites. However, the concept of alternate timelines is not in conflict with this principle – don’t trust me ask Steven Hawking. He goes into this at some length in “A Brief History Of Time” (which, of course, has appeared in the show). This is not to say that I’ve read the book, but I have read the Cliff Notes. Without belaboring too much, whatever happened in timeline A remains constant, ditto for timeline B.
Remember when Jorge asked Darlton at ComicCon if we wouldn’t be cheated if, all of a sudden, A) winning the Lotto has made Hurley a blissful CEO/Millionaire, B) Kate did not kill her a-hole daddy, but some other dude and C) Oceanic has a record of perfect safety? Well those questions were implied, not explicitly stated, but the point is that Darlton replied, basically, ‘just trust us’. I think they are skilled and imaginative enough to handle this deftly and entertainingly if that is the path they have chosen to travel. I think that it’s quite possible that the journey that Frank and Sun need to make may be a journey across the ‘rift’. But that’s just a guess – yup, a crackpot guess I freely admit.
3 – Faraday’s Journal:
I don’t believe that you can ignore the the time/space maps shown to us in Daniel Faraday’s journal delineating routes and connections between ‘Event A’, ‘Event B’, ‘Event C’, ‘Real Time’, ‘Imaginary Time’, ‘Imaginary Space’, etc… They are shown to us deliberately and in detail. The map is shown to us in an episode and it is therefore part of canon. I do not believe that they are showing us this map just for giggles, – I believe that there is a ‘there’ there – I don’t pretend to know where or what it is, but I do believe that it’s there.
4 – ComicCon Videos Are Not Canon:
Agreed – As Darlton explain in the last official podcast of Season 5, only that which is seen in the episodes should be considered canon. However, as they explained regarding the Faraday/Dr. Chang video from ComicCon 2008, while the details of the events portrayed did not play out during season 5, the central point of the video did . Faraday time traveling to Dharma times, did, in fact, play out. The ComicCon video, in that case, was not frivolous or a case of misdirection – instead, it was an indicator of the direction the show would be taking in season 5. Why wouldn’t the 2009 videos, if not in detail, provide a similar indication regarding season 6?
5 – Those Of Us Leaning Toward This Explanation Are Crackpots Who “Want” This To Be The Explanation:
Please, dude – what I ~want~ is for the evidence I see to make some kind of sense. That said, I take the label crackpot as my own – and proudly so. And, yes, I could be entirely wrong. Likely, actually!
6 – Quote To Remember:
“Only fools are enslaved by space and time.”
Thanks again for addressing this in the detail that you have. It has prompted me to do the same. And whether of not you find these arguments persuasive, I hope you can see that I am not just taking one random fact and spinning a wild-assed theory in disregard of everything else that has been presented.
And, as always, thanks for one of the most engaging shows in all of podcast land.
Take care, Donald!
In Excelis Crackpotum,
TMGLost
Whew! Ok, now that TMGLost threw down the gauntlet, I can’t wait to hear your response in Part 3 Donald!
sprspndx – Oh, man – I never wanted this to be seen as me throwing down the gauntlet. I’m not a combative type at all, believe me!
I listen to almost all the podcasts, and Donald is the only one to address this at length – which I really appreciate.
I’m just a grumpy old fart with an unhealthy obsession with the show and an opinion in this regard that I am unable to let go of. I also have a dinky little blog of my own that gets very little traffic, so this seemed like a good place to put forth my observations and maybe someone will actually read them.
Now I’m very interested in hearing what Jed says in his vmail…
Love yer videos, btw – great stuff and cute kids.
In Excelsis Crackpotum (I took Latin in 7th grade, does that make me enlightened?),
TMGLost
Wow, what a read. Rest assure ill address as much as I can in Part 3 without making it all about Season 6 (It’s still a season 5 podcast). I already have a 16-20 min debate with Jed that I have to play but I will touch on all the major points you made. If after this, you feel I left anything out and want me to re-address it, let me know.
Thanks for the feedback! Made my day.
And that incredible 16-20 minute debate with me is allll about coining the term “geekgasm”
and the ramifications of doing so.
It will be thrilling.
Now – I have to re-read TMGLost’s post.
yo