(NOTE: This post was originally written on Wednesday, April 7, 2010. For whatever reason, I forgot to post it. Oops)
WARNING: I’m going heavily into SPOILER territory and will be discussing episodes that haven’t aired yet. Read at your own risk.
Last night’s Desmond Hume-centric episode of Lost, entitled “Happily Ever After,” finally did what I’ve been waiting for all season. You see, Lost was famous for its flashbacks in the first three seasons, but then turned the table on everyone in the Season Three finale where the “flashback” was revealed to be a “flashforward.” Season Four continued that trend and then Season Five flashed between half of the cast in “the present” and half of the cast in 1977. This season introduced the “flash-sideways,” and showed what appeared to be an alternate universe where Oceanic 815 never crashed. However, there have been inconsistancies in this alternate reality: Shannon never boarded the plane with Boone, Desmond was on the plane when he originally hadn’t been, Locke was happily engaged, Sawyer was a cop instead of a con man, Jack had a son, etc. It became apparent that something was going on with this side story and it was more than just a glance at “what could have been…”
My initial thoughts were that the flash-sideways were a glimpse into the epilogue of Lost. That the Losties we’ve been following since the beginning of the series would do something that would prevent the plane from crashing in the past and we were seeing their “happy ending.” As the differences have played out, it seemed that whatever they did would have had to have occured far in their past in order for those differences to exist. That got me thinking that perhaps whoever the new Jacob was to be (as it’s been revealed to us that this is all a game by a higher being to prove to another higher being that mankind can evolve to a higher state), that they were going to be the one responsible for sinking the Island (as seen in the Season Six premiere) and change the present.
After “Happily Ever After,” I no longer believe that to be the case.
In the episode, Desmond’s consciousness is directly transported to the alternate universe and he begins to become aware of the previous universe in which the Island existed. He’s also directly told by the former Eloise Hawking, now married to Charles Widmore, that he needs to give up the pursuit to understand the truth because in this reality, he has everything that he ever wanted. Obviously, Eloise knows something is up and this knowledge leads me to believe that someone else is pulling the strings in the alternate universe and giving at least some of our Losties (Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, and Desmond) better lives. Or if there isn’t one pulling the strings, then she at least believes it is a better universe, possibly because she doesn’t kill her son in this world. Actually, the more I think about it, the more likely I think that second option is and that the split in timelines occured after the original Daniel Faraday was killed by his mother in the past and that she may have used his notebook to figure things out once the timelines split. Then again, she shouldn’t have knowledge of Desmond’s previous life, so it might be a bit of both.
Anyway, the former Daniel Faraday, now Daniel Widmore, flat out tells Desmond that he detonated a nuclear bomb that created this alternate reality and that it isn’t right. He tells Desmond where to find Penny - who alternate Desmond has been looking for without knowing why (we as the audience should know that Penny is Desmond’s constant that keeps him rooted in time, as shown in previous episodes). Upon touching Penny, Desmond’s consciousness is transported back to the Island universe and he suddenly knows exactly what it is he has to do there. Meanwhile, alternate reality Desmond also knows what he has to do and makes a plan to start assembling the passengers of Flight 815.
So, what does all of this mean if the alternate reality isn’t the epilogue to the series? Well, frankly, I believe what’s going to happen is this: alternate Desmond knows they shouldn’t exist. And he’s going to play Morpheus and reveal the Matrix to our alternate Losties. But what does that mean for them? Well, I think they’re going to be the ones who reset the past and set reality “right.”
There’s a number of possibilities here. One of them is that the Island segments are the flashbacks, showing what happened after the alternate Losties set things right. Which is an interesting idea, but kind of bland. What I prefer is a little more dramatic and extreme.
There’s really only a couple of questions left for Lost to answer when it comes down to it. Who are Jacob and the Smoke Monster? And will the Smoke Monster/Locke succeed? It’s the second question I’m going to answer by saying “Yes and no.” Frankly, I think Smokie will initially win in the Island universe. I think he’ll escape the Island by killing all the candidates (or tricking them into sacrificing themselves) and that will create some dark times for the Island universe. But what I don’t think he’s counted on is the alternate universe in which Desmond will wake up the remaining candidates, who will then do something in their universe that will set things right. Frankly, I see them somehow crossing into the Island universe, either physically or with their consciousness, and basically resurrecting their fallen selves. Afterall, the second to last episode is entitle “What They All Died For,” which leads me to believe everyone is going to die before the finale. I could see the finale, named “The End,” being the resurrection story with the alternate Losties saving the day and setting everything right. Or at least recapturing the Smoke Monster, who will remain trapped in Locke form. I don’t know, there’s just something greatly poetic about the image Brad Ellis put in my mind of the final scene of Lost being Jack as the new Jacob and Locke as the new Smoke Monster sitting on the beach as Jack brings in yet another group of castaways to try to prove the Smoke Monster wrong about humanity, thus continuing the game that Jacob started thousands of years earlier.
Will I be right? And what does that mean about who’s controlling the alternate universe, if anyone (I like the idea of the Smoke Monster succeeding in the Island world and thus controlling the alternate world and trying to keep everyone happy to keep them from turning on him), but who knows? There’s only five episodes left, and “Happily Ever After” was the episode I’ve been waiting for all season. It’s got me thinking something really epic is happening on the show and that the finale may be more complicated than just “Good vs. Evil” like I originally thought. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks. Until then, I reserve the right to change my theory based on any new info that’s present between now and the end.