The Layman's Answers to Everything

The meaning of life according to some guy who likes TV and stuff.

If nothing else, this episode certainly proved that the writers are still at the top of their game, using creative use of flashbacks and flash-forwards to offer an intriguing twist. I also think it gave a lot of weight to The Myth of Lost simulation theory, and some of the sub-theories related to it.

First of all, Sayid and Desmond get a note from Michael, AKA, Kevin Johnson—who we learn is Ben’s spy—advising them not to trust the captain. The captain paints Ben as an evildoer who had enough power to stage a fake plane crash and get 324 dead bodies to put on the plane. While I do believe that the plane crash may have been staged (since The Myth of Lost claims it never really happened) I’m still not so sure that Ben is that evil or powerful to pull it off. If it did happen at all, more likely, DHARMA is responsible. I do believe the captain though when he says that the boat belongs to Charles Widmore—a theory I stated in the book.

As for Regina, the woman who jumps off the boat with chains and kills herself, I think her actions fit right in with the simulation theory. Remember, one theory about Naomi’s bracelet stated in these updates was that it was from Regina since the initials were RG. Perhaps they are lovers and now that Regina knows Naomi is dead, she’s killed herself. While this might seen a bit over-the-top from a real-world perspective, according to the simulation theory, it makes much more sense. Since Naomi is no longer in the simulation, Regina could’ve simply wanted out of it too. While outside the glitch of the island, I still think the ship is within the simulation program. For that reason, dying on the ship will pull you out of it. That’s why the captain didn’t want to risk other crewmembers to save her, nor was he particularly surprised or upset. In reality, Regina isn’t dead; she just ejected herself from the program to be with Naomi.

As far as Sun giving birth, yes, it’s odd that she could’ve given birth if she only had sex within the simulation. But there are a couple of ways to explain this. First of all, in the book I claim that Juliet lied and that Sun got pregnant off the island (from her affair). I believe Juliet did this to save her own ass and make it look like she saved the baby. The real reason Juliet didn’t want Sun to go with Locke then, was because Sun would NOT die from having the child and yet, Juliet wouldn’t be able to take credit for it as she had planned. Ben may then know that she lied. So if Sun got pregnant before the simulation, she still could have a baby once she got out of it. The other possibility is that she got out of the simulation, had sex with Jin, and then he died. In other words, Ji Yeon is not the same baby as her island pregnancy. Possible, but I doubt it. While either of these are par for the course for Lost, I’m sticking with my first possibility—that Juliet lied. As I’ve mentioned in other updates, it is also possible that the off-island flash-forwards are all either still a part of the simulation, or just in the minds of the Oceanic Six who are all in comas. In other words, the flash-forwards of getting off the island are just wishful thinking.

When we see Jin’s tombstone at the end of this episode, the date looks like 9/22/04 when he died. This leads us to assume that he didn’t make it off the island and the Oceanic Six said he died in the crash. So, based on this episode, there’s no way of knowing whether Jin is alive or not. Perhaps he died on the island, or perhaps he couldn’t make it off. Using the simulation theory though, a pretty cool possibility is that Jin was dead even before Sun ever went into the simulation, and she went in to come to some kind of closure with him. In other words, he was a complete simulation all along. When at the end, Hurley says that the baby looks like Jin, Sun agrees, but is obviously hiding something. Perhaps the comment was just a reminder of Jin’s death, or, was awkward because the baby really isn’t Jin’s. After all, Jin was supposedly sterile. As I’ve said above, I believe that the baby was not his. That would mean that Sun lied when she told him in the tent that the baby was his, but being in the simulation, she may not have known the truth herself.

Another part of this episode helped a simulation sub-theory, which is that Jack’s father is still alive. Remember when Sun was about to give birth and she shouts out for Jin? She later claims that the meds were making her delusional, and that does seem to be the case. But are the writers then going to use the same cheap trick to explain why Jack mentioned that his dad is alive to the physician in the third season finale flash-forward? If the father does turn out to be really dead, as the writers have claimed, then the explanation to that scene will have to be that Jack was also delusional from drugs or alcohol. Pretty lame. I think that the writers are just trying to throw us off and that Jack’s dad is really alive, at least on some level, and that he put Jack and possibly Claire into the simulation.

Based on a 3/12/08 interview with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, responding to a question about whether we will see flash-forwards taking place on the island, Damon says “who’s to say you haven’t already?” I believe this refers to the idea that the whole island is actually in the future, explaining how Jack and Kate can return in present time (or the past) and become the skeletons. Then, responding to a question about when they began story lines that related to time travel, Damon admits that Adam and Eve require non-traditional narrative. (So they could very well be the bodies of someone who was alive on the island at the time they were discovered.) Also, supposedly JJ Abrams said that the show doesn’t have to do with time travel when those theories first began coming out when the show first aired. Cuse now says it obviously does, and the flashbacks and flash-forwards have been hinting at that all along.

So, if JJ can lie about that, what else do the creators lie about? Damon then says that you can’t always rely on what they say about the show because what they say is irrelevant. The show is only about what has existed on the show itself. However, he did add that the show is not a dream, that it is happening in the real world (note, he didn’t say the island, he specifically said “the show,” and he didn’t say that everything that was happening was real, just that it was happening in the “real world”) and there are actual stakes and that should diffuse an amount of wacky theories. Not mine though. Simulation theory is also not a dream, it is taking place in the real world, and there are real stakes. Now if he’d said that the island is a real place and that everything that’s going on in the show is real and actually happening, that would be trickier to get around.

On the Jay and Jack Lost Podcast, Jack believed that Ben, possibly really being a 12-year-old but having aged rapidly due to the effects of the island, faked his tumor to get Juliet’s attention, similar to how a kid acts out to get his parent’s attention. Jack believes that Ben asked Jacob or the island to give him a fake tumor. He then sent off Eli to spy on the Losties knowing that he’d die and Juliet would watch over him during the surgery. Of course, according to the simulation theory, he could’ve easily given himself a tumor to fool Jack, as is stated in the book, for the purpose of testing him. Jack was not supposed to fix Ben. It was a test that Jack failed. Add this to the possibility that Ben is really a 12-year-old kid, and you have a twist that works really well with the simulation theory, and is very worthy of Lost.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.