Getting lost in "Lost"

I always want to write about Lost, but as I can rarely wrap my head even halfway around it, I find it incredibly difficult to discuss. It’s a shame, particularly now when the show is finally returning to its peak Season One form (only they’re actually answering some questions now). Also, though, it’s easier for people who have tons of theories about every little minute detail to discuss the show. I’m not a minutiae kind of person, nor am I one who (in general) enjoys randomly theorizing. I’ve never been one for “What If?” Still, I love this show, and my silence about it has gone on far too long.

So I’ll break down a few things (a lot of this is just so I can get the thoughts out of my head, where they have been bouncing around excitedly and driving me mildly batty).

The flash forwards are a stroke of absolute genius: it’s a device absolutely bursting with possibility, and the writers have made the most of it thus far. It’s like they turned a 100 piece puzzle into a 1,000 piece puzzle: it’s more difficult to figure out, but more satisfying seeing piece after piece come together to make the overall picture clearer.

The Oceanic Six. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Aaron(?) and…

It’s not clear if they’re actually the only six that survived, or whether they’re just the only six thrust into the public spotlight as survivors. I can’t bear the idea of the former. Because it means that if Sawyer survived, Jin didn’t. Or if Jin survived, then Locke didn’t. Of course, it could also mean that some of them elected to stay behind (Sawyer and Locke are obvious candidates to make such a choice.) Does the person in the coffin count as the sixth survivor?

One thing seems (you have to say “seems” with this show, no matter how certain the conclusion you’re about to draw appears) clear: Claire didn’t make it off the island. She can’t be the one in the coffin because Kate’s trial took place before Jack went off the deep end and she was already Aaron’s “momma” by then. I think it’s an interesting tactic: usually they try to shock us with the deaths. We’re not supposed to see them coming and then – BAM! – someone gets shot or drowned or falls off a cliff. With Claire, we know that death is coming. Now it’s just a waiting game: when and how?

Does she die of being kind of boring and useless?

I loved the play out of Kate and her possible pregnancy. Was it Sawyer? Jack? Did she get pregnant on the island or off? What a huge, masterful fake out. I LOVED it. Stuff like this makes me want to build a huge shrine devoted to the show and bow before it every day. Fan-freakin’-tastic. It’s ALSO stuff like this that makes me worry a LOT that they won’t be able to adequately explain everything by the end of the show and pull a patented JJ Abrams cop out (a la Alias and Felicity). But we won’t get into that, or I’ll be ranting on and on for pages…

Jack loooooooooves Kate. From that exchange outside of the taxi, it feels like their relationship definitely went places that we haven’t seen yet (insert dance of joy here). As someone who wishes the island monster would eat Juliet already, this makes me very happy. However, why won’t he see Aaron? Does he feel responsible for Claire’s death? IS he actually responsible for her death? Did he ever find out (either before or after) that he and Claire were related? Granted, any of the above would be enough to make a guy with the biggest savior complex I’ve ever seen stay away. But I still think it’s slightly weird that he won’t go anywhere near the kid.

Jaters unite (to find a better nickname)!

It’s frustrating not to be able to put the flash-forward timeline together yet. It seems obvious that Jack’s flash forward is the furthest we’ve seen so far. He’s a bearded mess. Kate wants nothing to do with him. He wants to go back to the island. Hurley’s flashbacks seem to take place earlier. At that point, Jack thinks Hurley is (excuse my phrasing) nuts for suggesting that they shouldn't have left the island. Placing Sayid’s flash forward is nearly impossible because it was so contained. Kate’s flash forward also takes place before Jack’s, but whether it’s before or after Hurley’s is also difficult to decide.

I need more pieces, Damon and Carlton! Hopefully, next week will show us who the last of the Oceanic Six is. But after that – then what? I have no freakin’ clue, but I haven’t been this excited to know in more than a year. More Lost crack, please. Also, if you think this entry didn’t make much sense, blame the Lost crack.