TUMTUM :: HOLLA ::


It's been a while, one month TWO MONTHS (fml) in fact, since LOST drew its curtains and withdrew from popular culture as an evolving, living story.

We've all had time to reflect, leave rage-filled comments on ontd_lost (sorry person on that one post) and come to terms with what we were given.

And if you are like me, in this meditated pause, you have thought and thought each storyline and character through and decided:



I could have done this shit better.

Yes. I have become that fan. You know the sort- common in Harry Potter tribes- "I personally know Snape better than JK."

Ok, perhaps that's a bit strong, I never would say that I know characters better, because obviously I don't. They aren't mine. And I couldn't really do better because I could never write a character like Benjamin Linus or John Locke in the first place. But I can look at all the cards on the table and analyze and point out what I think would have worked better for me in Season Six.

So, the goal here is to take the pieces we were given and tweak them to show how we totally had all the pieces to have a kick ass season- YES, even with the Alt and the magic light vagina and man-children gods. I'll hit up a couple general plotty points first, then we'll have a section for each character. This post is long as HALE but feel free to comment a bit at a time but know sometimes I don't cover everything about a character in their section. For example, Widmore has a plotty stub, but he gets brought up again in Sun, Desmond, Richard and Ben's write ups to cover his full story. Likewise, I'm sure there will be holes missed where you go, "but if we switch that, what becomes of this" and the mythology is more me trying to make sense of things based off my readings- but, dammit Jim, I'm a neckbeard with no life, not a paid writer and this is already too long- so just allow those and TRUST if I was really writing this show, they would been taken care of (though feel free to ask still, I spent so much time on this I probably did cover it in my mind at some point).

TO SPICE THINGS UP, I also have embedded music for each section. Every character gets their leitmotif as accompaniment (though Kate and Claire get a special song) and the more general notes just get some apropros mood tunes. I think they are all calm enough to read to, save for the battle one which is kind of an intense live rehearsal piece I couldn't resist. You've been warned.

Anyhoodles.

LET US BEGIN THIS JOURNEY I'D LIKE TO CALL:

WHAT WOULD LOSTSAILORS DO?


GRAND GENERAL NOTES:

STAKES: YOU NEED 'EM.



If I was allowed only ONE change for this season, ONE, I would say stakes had to be solidified. By stakes I mean consequences. By solidified I mean more than "evil/hell/bad" and "that's what he said/she said."

When I go to war, I want to know what I am fighting for. The Nazis are killing millions. They are taking over Europe. They will take us over and kill us if we don't react. If someone tells me, "it's bad" I will go, "why." LOST told us it was bad, we asked why and LOST replied: CUZ IT IS.

Doesn't cut it.

You guys have heard me wax on about this- but stakes need to be established up front so we know what we are going to lose and what we are going to save. Otherwise, why the hell do I care if Damon's self-insert dies in a cork tub of glow, right? Right.

Like my sister-in-arms Bees believes and since I am pretty sure it's what the show was referencing, let's go with the Island is the Axis Mundi:



A sort of pathway between the natural and supernatural, with a plug or stopper separating the realms. It's the point where "heaven" and "Earth" meet. If the Island, the stopper, is destroyed all balance in the universe is shot. There would be no life or death anymore. Just chaos. People wouldn't be ripped from each other, they would vanish from reality. If the "cork" of the Island was opened, it's not a physical battle that could be overcome. The metaphysical damage would be beyond any sort of real understanding. It's like the Nothing in "Neverending Story." Just this abstract, existence destroying energy. The producers act like saying something this concrete requires an instructional manual that would destroy all elements of imagination but we don't need to get the logistics. Maybe just a name. Like the Nothing, we don't know the mechanics, we just understand: "it is eating reality." Or like the Force, a favourite referential point of LOST's. We don't need midi-chlorians. We just need to know it flows through everything and special individuals can tune into it and use it for good or ill. These ARE "magical" concepts (sorry scientists), but their infrastructures are REAL for the characters. That's the important thing. It's not, "the light in mindkind will go out." Not... wine. Actual terms that we SEE and hear, which AFFECT our characters and their world.

So this is what Island is. The nexus of the universe. A sort of umbilical cord tying together all matters of life and death, time and space. Sickness doesn't exist here. Time doesn't sync with the rest of the world. The pool which holds the cork is a veritable Well of Souls. Eons later, a Temple would be built over this place and its people, under the non-guidance of an absentee god, would use the pooled water to cheat death. Usher a soul back into a body before it escapes to wander free or go into the beyond. The Well of Souls might also explain why we can hear the whispers of the dead and why spirits tend to walk among the living in this place.



Since we mentioned a removed god: the Island always needs a guardian to make sure no one tries to break the fabric of reality. This guardian is the physical embodiment of the balance the Island has to maintain. They are caught somewhere between life and death, and are both light and dark. This doesn't mean they embody both good and evil- more just two forces, like a yin and yang. Likewise, there are two forms the guardian can take. They are a corporeal being when things are good, but when the Island needs defending, that's when the incorporeal smoke form comes in handy. Gods and monsters.

The smoke creature was not invented by MiB or Jacob. The show supports this with the snake-monster hieroglyphics all over the place, which predate the Roman twins. There has always been a guardian and always been a "monster." Neither form is inherently bad, that only happens if the guardian is of such temperament. Again, these are just opposite, interacting forces, which, when in balance, create harmony. Discord only arises when there is imbalance or if the guardian's all too human emotions get in the way and become cruel intentions- but we'll get into that stuff later.

So if you're catchin' what I'm tossin' out there: the Island is a mythological place, caught between the physical and metaphysical, ruled by balance and guarded by a chosen individual in a process that's eternal. If the Island is harmed, or destroyed, the very backbone of existence will crumble away.


MYTHOLOGY: SERVED WITHOUT A SPOON BUT IN DIGESTIBLE BITS
Explaining Things in Metaphor Is Not Allowed.



MANTRA: Confusion is the enemy of drama.

So, you need someone to explain these crazy ideas set forth above. A mysterious figure. Ages old. A stand-in for Creation or- oh yeah. Mother is the perfect character vehicle to bring us all this insane information. She's the earliest guardian we know of, and by her explaining to the boys their future, we learn how the Island is the navel of the universe where all things meet and how one day, only after she dies, will one of them take her job. We also learn the light can't be harnessed as people like MiB and the Dharma Initiative naively believe. And it's not like, "they want the light and it'll go out" either. It's: How can you harness the energy that binds and connects us all to the beyond and the now? You can't. Not effectively. You can move the Island, but it scratches the record of time. You can pool water from the Well of Souls, but that's how spirits get lose. And that stuff is peanuts! If anyone figured out how to get down there, into cave, into the light, and mess with ANYTHING? The results would be catastrophic, not just for the Island, but the world and everything thereafter. NO ONE goes into the light. No one. Not even the guardian. That's why way later, MiB can't just destroy the Island himself and why Desmond is oh-so-special.

It's still jibberish, but it's quantifiable jibberish.

We'll outline more in later sections, but Mother doesn't have to be the only one explaining things. Richard has idea of what's going on. Dogen, a sort of religious figure can explain what the Island means to us tilde spiritually tilde. We'll have Widmore's Troupe of Science Folk explain the same concepts but using language like: "electromagnetic anomaly" and "exotic mass pockets" so the Scullies can look at the Mulders and say, "See, there was a scientific answer." - Oh, and you know who else could have helped with this way back in the day? Charlotte. She could have seen a hieroglyph Indiana Jonesed up something for us: "The columna cerulu... do you know what this is? This symbol is ubiquitous across all human cultures on the planet..."

Telling us is only half the job though. We have to SEE things too. For the role of the guardian, back with Mother now, show how she is the embodiment of both forces on the Island. The protector and the judge. The light and the dark. Everything we just said. It was hinted at in the show- but in our version, we'll make it clear. We've seen how she's the Jacob. How her words become law. She says the boys will never be able to kill each other- and so it is. I have no problem with her explaining this either, perhaps when she is teaching her young sons about being the guardian, she says your beliefs become reality until you are replaced. Explains the nature of Jacob's rules later. But then, exciting, I would show exactly how she is the monster too- when MiB's poor little well is ripped apart.



Showing how she embodies both these forces, is like the meta version of the balance theme seen throughout the entire show. She proves the Island is a place where balance must be maintained, because the world depends on it and that the HUGE ISSUE with the Island now, is that its balance is cleft and completely out of whack. Mother unwittingly planted the seed of imbalance when she favoured one brother over the other and when they both vied for her affection. Instead of one man becoming One with the Island's power- they both became one half. One the light and the order of life and the other dark and the chaos of death. The show has been about balance. Greys. No absolutes. This metaphysical battle shouldn't have been about Good vs Evil, because they failed on that front, it should have been about flawed people recapturing balance, not just within themselves, but on this mystical isle as well.


NEW CHARACTERS: MAKE THEM MATTER OR DON'T MAKE THEM AT ALL



Remember in Tropic Thunder- how even the agent evolves and ends up choosing his friend and getting the Tivo and turning down the G5?

A CHARACTER IS A CHARACTER NO MATTER HOW SMALL.

Every character worth a name, should evolve and have their own arc, no matter how minute the journey.

Tally Me Ilana

Ilana. Oh, how I have waxed on about this character. She's been hand-picked to guard Jacob's candidates. Why? How does she know Jacob? Why was she injured? Why is he like her father? Is this not important? No. Because let me tell you what apparently was important this season: Miles and Hurley playing tic-tack-toe. Miles and Frank playing cards.

Four hundred times.

We had the time to flesh her out and didn't. In fact, the actress herself was led to believe there was more to Ilana, as she came into the part believing she was Jacob's child, which confirms a bunch of early spoilers. The storyline is rumored to have been rewritten in medias res, but consider for a moment what an epic waste of a twist that is. Imagine the daughter who lost a father talking to the father who lost a daughter. Think about how this ties into the relentless Bad Father theme.

"No hope in the air, no hope in the water, not even for me, your life serving daughter"

Waste.

Moving forward:

Her history could have been handled in a comment. To Ben maybe, after they have come to terms with each other. Both knowing they had lost someone they loved. Both knowing they gave their all to serve Jacob. Give me a person to care about. Have her talk about Jacob finding her as a child, because that's how he worked. Have her say she took the ashes, not for phoenix reasons, but because she wanted something to hold and remember him. Have her say Jacob saved her in the hospital that day when she thought all was lost. Make me feel there's someone there to miss later. She's in the last goddamn season and taking up air from characters I've followed for six years, make her worth my while.

When it comes time for her to die, instead of her whole fecking purpose being to forgive Ben and deepen his character, let her have her own arc, separate from all other characters, with its own resolution and purpose and gravitas.

When we reach Ilana's death, don't use a cheap throw back to Arzt's big bang theory. Arzt was a comedic character, a comedic death was appropriate. When that death happened, you KNEW something was going to blow but you didn't know when, so it was full of suspense. Ilana had none of this going for her AND we already knew what was coming. When you do cyclical writing, it's to make a point. A parallel. To say, this is like that. When Jack and Locke both wake in the jungle and sequences are shot for shot the same? That means something. Jack's eye opening, then closing? This has happened and will again. That means something. Ilana blowing up like Arzt- what does that mean?

WAS THAT A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING I JUST HEARD IN RESPONSE?

Exactly.

Remember the outriggers from season 5? While time-jumping, Juliet and Co. get caught on open water in an outrigger canoe when out of nowhere people in another outrigger start firing ammo straight at them. Juliet fires back and takes out someone on the rival canoe. The scene was total set up for pay off later, so of course it was dropped and never referred to again.

This is where and when Ilana should meet her demise.

Ilana leads the charge, it's her death sequence, let her drive the scene. She has a reason to go out onto the water, stemming from her true purpose of protecting the candidates. Perhaps Widmore has been spotted. Ben and Richard think this is bad news, but Ilana (like Bram before her) can confirm he's on the "wrong side" of this war. Or maybe it's simpler, they find one of the outriggers missing. Ilana fears what enemy might be near and wants to investigate. Whatever the initial reason, she bans the candidates from participating in the little expedition because she doesn't want to put them at risk, but she asks the other men to join her: her fellow Jacobians Ben and Richard, Miles.

The motley crew piles into one of the outriggers and makes haste out onto the open waves. Catching up and looking out, our outrigger team mistakes still-Locke in the other canoe for MiB (weird how that might happen). Ilana chucks her head. Cock those weapons, boys. They shoot relentlessly. The bullets whiz past Miles' head when he makes a crack about it just being a boat, guys.

Then something clicks.

"I think they want their boat back."

Miles realizes they are shooting at their own friends from the past... or future... or whatever it was. WAIT. Says Miles. They aren't the only ones with guns, Juliet--

BAM. Ilana takes a shot to the chest, Ben catches her as she collapses backward. Richard squints out over the water. The other outrigger. It's gone.

Ilana's little bag of ashes spills all over as she bleeds. Ben wads up his shirt, still all stained with Jacob's death, to sop up her wound.

Richard still scans the sea. Where did it go? It's a long story- Miles launches into who is who out there and where/when they went.

Meanwhile, Ben is losing Ilana. She's dying. Fast. She grabs his collar and pulls him in close, literally out his passive stupor. She can barely talk for all the bleeding but she imparts onto him her charges. Guard the candidates. Follow Richard. For Jacob. For her. He owes her.

Ben nods, he will.

Such gives Ben something to do as he finds his feet and there'll instant conflict within the group, because the survivors won't want to trust their old enemy and he won't want to guard those he envies. Most importantly though: this scene gives Ilana a meaningful death that relates to her character and her story as a whole. Even dying, she is taking care of those she protects. A sequence like this gives hers death meaning. Affect. It activates another character who has been lost for half a season. It wraps up a little dangling mystery. It does what all good scenes should do: works double time.

The other men stop sorting out time-travel and try to help Ilana but it's too late. She's gone. They lift her body and let it go into the ocean, there's no time for funerals anymore. As they paddle back Ben notices the bloody ashes and makes his ominous comment: "... hand-picked by Jacob. The Island was done with her. Makes you wonder what happens when it's done with us." This line has a little more impact now though, because we just saw a woman bleed out over the ashes of a dead god. Really, what IS the point of all this suffering?


Zoë It Means Life, I'm Important Except When I'm Not.

Zoë, if she has to exist and remember we're working with what we are given, should mean something to the story. When she is killed and MiB says, "she is pointless" that's insult to all viewers. I guess we had a laugh, but in the 12th hour of a show I have invested a great deal of time in, do I want to spend any moment away from characters who DO matter to be with someone who is POINTLESS? I don't think that's worth even the laugh, personally.

Again, a character is a character, no matter how small. If she's pointless, then she shouldn't even be in the script, let alone be given a name, let alone the season itself.

People will freak out when I write this, but bear with me- it's just an example, but I would have considered making her Annie. She's a fan favourite mystery. You need a scientist to explain PLOTZ, why not stone two birds with one pebble?

But yes, if Zoë were Annie, we have her connected to the Island and the story we've been following. Automatically better than pointless. It's a cheeky nod to Annie's roots: the girl with an interest in geology and volcanoes in elementary school grows up to become a geophysicist. Her ties to Dharma make sense for Widmore to have sought her out, just like he had with Charlotte and Miles. Hell, I think it would be fun if Widmore's band of scientists represent a sort of Dharma Part II. It's the final hour, bring back all your players for one last epic romp.

Say their plan is to tap the anomaly, try to harness the energy for SCIENCE. It had been attempted in 70s, but with disastrous results. Now with technology to match the task, Dharma is back to pick up where they left off (or so they are led to believe, like everyone these folks are just pawns in the game). From here, Zoë-Annie can explain how they might try to channel the exotic matter (seen later with MiB in the well). She also explains the real-world repercussions of releasing that energy, which would be like the Hatch but times 10,000. She makes it clear the MAGICAL LIGHT is the same as the ELECTROMAGNETIC ANOMALY we've been dealing with the entire show. Give scientific jargon to the mythical jargon. We know there are metaphysical ramifications to destroying the Island, but she solidifies there physical ones as well. Literally the Earth will destroy itself if the anomaly is cut off or broken or released completely. It'll be like a geomagnetic storm on Earth. It could collapse the core of our planet. This sort of thing. She thinks they are there to make sure it doesn't happen and that the power is used for good.

She doesn't know any better.

You don't have to explore much else, I don't even think Ben has to know who she is. Just in theory it's nice. At the end of his journey, he has gone from a boy who is all alone without a friend, to a father, powerful leader, murderer, chosen one, back to a broken man who is all alone without a friend. How fitting for her to find him in that hour. What's her face when she hears that name, "Ben" when they are in the closet? Shock? Happiness? Doesn't matter. She's never able to say anything because MiB still slits her throat as a threat to Widmore.

It's a Sweeney Todd scene. "Don't I know you, she says." WE KNOW she is Annie, but Ben never finds out. It breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.

Anyway, you see my point. The problem isn't the actress, it isn't her stupid interviews, it's the writing. Zoë was pointless and didn't have to be. They could have made her something and didn't. I used Annie because she was my big Unanswered Question, but it could have been Penelope's mom for all I care. Just someone who was something in the story. So it doesn't feel like a NEW character in the last chapter. Otherwise if her whole purpose is to randomly be killed in a secret closet, without having done anything, informed anything, learned anything, moved anything- she should have been cut out completely.*

*I would like to take this moment to also say, like I added that bit about Charlotte, I would go back in time to Season 5 and have Annie come and visit Ben in the 70s. He's dying and she's being evacuated with her family. Juliet comes to check on Ben, only to find this young girl with him and OH. Sees not only was Ben once a young innocent kid, someone loved him too. We can also infer later if she comes back, like Ben who wondered what happened to her, Annie always wondered what happened to her little sad friend from the swings.

Dogen and the Templetons

Cut them. Cut them all.

Just kidding, but I would downplay them big time and put the Temple into Richard's care instead. You don't need to bring in new characters for every reveal. Instead maximize the time we have with those we love.

Putting Richard in charge of the Temple gives him things to do, keeps him at the top of the Otherly pyramid of power and steeped the deepest in secret knowledge. Dogen still exists, but he's just treated and seen more like a priest of instead of the Pope. It's important to keep the pyramid of responsibility intact because it keeps everything clean cut and clear. Richard is always over everyone. Like he manages Ben who sees to the front line of defense, Richard also manages Dogen. If it's that simple, people can focus on the important things at hand and not waste time wondering if Dogen is immortal or any other nurgle of plot nothings. The time for that sort of wondering is over with. Dogen should be there to CLARIFY not confuse. The Temple gives Richard more to do because he's the one preparing for battle against MiB, but Dogen is our spiritual shaman, there reinforce the themes of what is to come. Explain the pool, how it works, how souls get freed and fractured. And not in BS "claimed" terms either, but real and actual. Have him point out to Kate and Sawyer this is what was done to Ben. Call things what you want them to be called; if it's supposed to be like the Well of Souls- then call it the Well of Souls. If it's a baseball- well, you get the idea.

Dogen is the counterpoint to Zoë-Annie.

Zoë-Annie is there going: "There is this electromagnetic anomaly, it glows. If we can tap it, we can do this. If we mess up, it means this for the Earth."

But Dogen is there going: "There is this light. It binds existence. If it is ever tampered with, our souls are lost."

He is the faith to the science- but they are all talking about the same thing. Likewise, as he is the first one to explain the water and light, Dogen is the first to suffer from it being corrupted when Sayid murders him and breaks free.

I think that's really all I have to say about Dogen and his friends. Their time should be dramatically cut down as they don't really play that big a role in the finale anyhow. Keep people focused on the important stuff, reveal and educate in the downtime.

BRINGING BACK OLD FAVOURITES: DO IT BETTER

The longer the wait, the better the pay off better be- if it doesn't deliver the disappointment is 10-fold.

Please Sir, I Want Some Widmore



Widmore. Shit man. Was it really worth waiting all those years to find out he had "errs" and felt bad about his daughter (he has no son)? Kind of? But would still use Desmond... for... some... why did he want Desmond magnetized again? Jacob told him some Plan B plot, but what did Jacob want Desmond to do? Unplug the Island? Sit on the cork? Do the same thing MiB wanted? What were the scientists for? Why couldn't he come back to the Island until now? Huh?

Yeah, this one wasn't thunk through.

I can tell you first off this Widmore with Jacob magiccharacterhistoryglossover thing, just is a huge no. It makes no sense. Every scene of Widmore EVER, puts him in direct conflict with Jacob's inner circle. From Richard when Chaz is 17 to Ben later on. Even Jacob's bodyguards think he's "on the wrong side of this war." I know Jacob didn't communicate everything to everyone, but having all his people consider him an enemy when he isn't comes off sloppy and disappointing when there is no reveal to show why people came to consider him this way or why he had to be kept secret.

THUSLY:

In our version, Widmore is with MiB. The plan with Desmond is to uncork the Island. MiB needs the Island destroyed after all, because without it, he's free and that's what he wants. Widmore doesn't get the whole destruction part, he just thinks he'll be granted access to the exotic mass/magic light core which powers the Island. That's what he wants.

Backing up though, Widmore was once a loyal leader to the Others- he just crossed over. MiB is always after Jacob's mortal leaders. With Ben he is tricksy, because above all else Ben worships Jacob. With Widmore, it isn't as hard to persuade him to join the Dark Side. Widmore sees the Island as a thing to possess and feels it's his. He knows it's a special place and knows he can use it for things. He is exactly the type of man Mother warns against. Widmore is power hungry. Different from Ben, who likes power because it means he isn't the abused little boy anymore- but power hungry in the most basic sense: Widmore wants make the Island his so he owns all its unique properties. This is what MiB offers to him. MiB also offers Ben the Island, furthering the ties those two characters share, but Ben is a religious zealot, whereas Widmore is more a industrial pragmatist. Ben wants the Island because it gives him purpose. Makes him Most Special. Widmore just wants the Island to exploit it.

Richard sees Widmore's fall coming and knows who's pulling the strings. He has never liked Widmore and is displeased with his ruthless rulings so he's more than happy to replace him. Richard sees promise and loyalty in Ben. As such he helps him oust Widmore thinking he's nipped the situation in the bud. He hasn't. Widmore made promises. The Island and all its powers are his if he helps MiB get free. Enter Desmond. Widmore is the clever character who figures out how to use Desmond's unique abilities in this war. He's the one who has the drive to find MiB again and present him with an opportunity. He just has to wait for Jacob to die so he can return. For, only Jacob is keeping the Island veiled from Widmore's discovery.

The basic story stays the same. Widmore is there. He's dubious. He's mean to Des. Science. But now it plays into all the parallels made with he and Ben: Ben plays the quiet manipulating Jacob to Widmore's hot-blooded MiB. It's uncomplicated. Active. Gives Widmore goals, desires, plans. Gives us a good, clean showdown to look forward to.

From there, you keep Widmore's last-minute angst over Penny. Take the edge off, prove once again no one is a Big Bad on this show. You know the phrase, play with fire and you're gonna get burned? Same goes for Smoke. When Widmore gets cold feet about what's happening, MiB lords Penny over him. We see that- THOUGH A DOUCHE- Widmore loves his daughter, if just in his own corporate megalomaniac manner. We also see, despite all their damned arguing and differences, he and Ben are remarkably similar.

However it goes, Ben still kills him. Not just as retribution for Alex, but to interrupt MiB's progress and put a covert plan into action. But why don't you meet me in Richard's section in a few hundred pages for the rest that though, hmm?


THE FINAL BATTLE: MAKE IT BIG AND LOUD



The final battle needs some serious work. MiB was made out to be phenomenal cosmic evil and this unstoppable force, but then was taken down in a fisticuffs that could have happened in season 2 and shot by Deus ex Katechina.

Not cool.

The big end sequence should have involved everyone. Every character arc should have climaxed. Every character should have paid off.

Period.

Let's go back to that time, shall we?

Desmond is on that quest with the cork. He doesn't care about MiB or Jacob, he just thinks, like Jack before with the bomb, that he's going to erase the Island from existence and be with his Penny again. Thanks to Zoë-Annie covering the scientific ramifications of destroying the Island and Dogen/Richard filling in the metaphysical details, the audience is thinking: DESMOND- DON'T DO IT.

Bootless cries though! Desmond finds the cave in the river (which for kicks, let's put by the Temple, to tie all this shit together, right?), he cinches up a rope- because why put a lull in the action when Desmond can drive his own destiny? Desmond tests the rope. Sturdy. He looks over the waterfall, into the light and climbs down, down, down...

MEANWHILE:

Ben has a Richard-implemented plan with Miles, because thanks to a cold corpse read of Widmore's body, people actually know what's happening: Desmond is being used to release the energy of the Island and he doesn't know what that means for the universe.

Our scattered characters converge and share knowledge, there's no time for petty arguments anymore when everything is at stake. Ben tells Jack he has to finish something he started, but someone needs to stop Desmond. Jack agrees and our friends rush to head off blue-shirted Jesus- well, all except Miles, he's out like trout, but he'll serve a purpose too you'll just have to wait to see what it is.

MiB is two steps ahead of everyone though, because by the time Jack reaches the Cave of Wonders, he's stationed out front like a guard dog. Nobody is going to stop Desmond. Not nobody, not no how. The survivors call to the Great Scot, but he's too far away, deep into the cave of sparkling light.

Desmond's feet hit the floor of a chamber with a reverb. No one has been down here before. No skeletons. Only Desmond could simply walk into this Mordor.

MiB torments Jack. Verbal pissing contest. Just as the argument gets heated though?

Hideous slicing noise.

A pugio bursts through MiB's chest. Everyone else falls back. It's a mirror scene to Jacob's murder- and someone else's we've added so remember this bit. MiB turns and reveals Ben, who, like he does, moved quietly about while no one was watching sticking to a plan. Then, because this scene isn't with Sayid anymore, MiB reaches around- staring at Ben the entire time, while the survivors watch in horror, and pulls the blade right out from his back.

Shit guys, this is going to be a lot harder than they thought.

Desmond is in the pool and at the cork. He's so close to a life free with Penny. He twists the plug.

The Island groans. MiB smiles. He can sense his freedom. Jack, however, sees an opening. His enemy is distracted still facing Ben. Jack tackles. He doesn't care if MiB is impervious, he has to be stopped. MiB crashes into the ground face first.

Desmond twists the plug one more time and breaks the Axis Mundi. The light goes out and the Island rumbles from deep, deep within.

Outside, land shifts. MiB sits up, his lip bleeds.

Mortality.

With the Axis Mundi collapsing in on itself, its mysticism dies. No immortality. No protection. No rules.

Jack knows this.

MiB knows this.

We know this.

IT IS ON.

KERCHOW, the Island sounds like it's splitting in half.

Sawyer takes Kate's hand, he has to get her out of here. He lost his new love, he isn't about to lose his old one. Jack! She cries, as Sawyer pulls her away.

Like the science we actually set up before, and not using pathetic fallacy, some tremendous storm mounts. Rain. Torrents of rain. The characters slip and slide, trying to help, trying to get away. The Island roars, cliffs falling into the sea. God, the sky is so, so dark.

The fight with Jack intensifies. Hurley calls to him, so focused on helping he doesn't hear the giant tree behind him crack and give way- but Ben does. He pushes Hurley to safety but pins himself underneath it instead. Hurley hastens to help Ben, sinking into the mud under girth of bark.

Jack and MiB fight like mad. Lose the Christ parallels. Lose the jump shot. This is mano-a-mano. Jack actually manages to wrest the dagger and get the first stab in, this time it takes- but it only fuels MiB's fury. With a swift backhand Jack is sent swirling down into the rocks the dagger sliding down the hill.

Sawyer draws Kate along through the trees but she stops, pulls her hand away. This time Kate doesn't want to run.

Hurley shoulders the trunk. Ben is being crushed and the rocks around him can't support the tree much longer. He keeps trying to tell Hurley what he can about what he knows- because he's the only human left with a lifetime of Island knowledge. Dude, though, Hurley says. Save it for Jack. Ben tells Hurley to leave him, he'll go out this way, then find his daughter. Please. There's a beat where Hurley sees the real Ben there, because what's the point in hiding your vulnerabilities anymore? A chord is struck. A bond is made. And Hurley isn't gonna give up. In one last heave of super human strength we never knew the big guy was capable of, because he was never given the chance, the log shifts. Move, move, move! Ben slips away just as Hurley loses his grip and the tree crashes back into the ground.

MiB's fingers pull up the dagger and carry it at his side swathed in blood. Jack dizzily lifts his head, only to roll out of the way before MiB plunges the blade into his chest. The pugio instead catches his side. The blade goes deep, but instead of it being a forced martyr reference, it's more these two men with mirror wounds, bleeding out, battling to the death.

Jack finally collapses under MiB's relentless assault. MiB may be bloodied. He may be dying. But his desperation, his concentrated centuries-old want of freedom, gives him the upper hand. Jack is pinned, MiB has the dagger to his throat, pressing the blade in, slitting the skin. ALL HOPE SEEMS LOST. When--

Kate.

She attacks MiB, sending him and his weapon flying with sheer physical force. She pins him to the rocks to give Jack a reprieve- because sometimes even heroes need saving.

And now we know she made a choice, turned away from safety and Sawyer, to return to Jack. It says something about her and who she is and what she wants deep inside. The scene is something more than a random, "LOOK WE CAN WRITE BADASS GIRLS, STOP COMPLAINING" non-point. It's about Kate finally realizing, at the end of all things, she loves Jack. For Kate, stopping MiB is almost besides the point, this is about saving the love of her life.

She holds MiB down as best she can in a frightening exchange of hand-to-hand combat. MiB gets in another good hit though and Kate falls aside. MiB pulls up the pugio again. He's going to finish this. Kate claws to hold him back. Not as long as she is there. But when she can't stop MiB, she moves to Jack, holds him. MiB will have to get through her, before he hurts him.

Bish, please. Like MiB cares. He raises the dagger one last time--

Kachursh.

A shot. Right through the back. Smoke rises from a hot wound.

MiB's legs give way and as he collapses we see crazy Claire, the one we all forgot about, back to reclaim her life, sanity and finally, finally join her friends.

She is the survivor who personally lost the most because of MiB, she deserves this retribution.

Jack finally able to move, sits up and gives dying MiB a final push- casting his body off the rocks, down the cliff crags and waves below. We'll cover how MiB feels about such later.

Sawyer catches up. Claire still hasn't lowered the shotgun. He touches her shoulder, looking to Kate and Jack. Something in her breaks. Softens. She bursts into tears and Sawyer holds her. Claire is back.

But now what? The storm -NOT JUST RANDOMLY EDITED AWAY- still churns in the sky and Jack isn't looking good.

This is when Ben, newly saved by Hurley, finds our survivors. They can't reach Desmond in the cave. Debate. How are they going to get Desmond out on top of all of this. Is it even worth it? The ocean is swallowing up the Island. They are all dead.

Suddenly, Ben's walkie crackles. Who even remembers he still has it? "Linus," says Miles' voice. "Lapidus fixed the plane."

Hope.

Hope. Hope. Hope.

It's time for choices. Sawyer will leave. Ben will stay. Jack isn't going anywhere. Kate is unsure.

Jack begs Kate to leave. Looks to Sawyer, still shielding Claire. Protect her. Get them all off the Island, because Jack can't do it. Another violent quake. Huge chunks of land are collapsing into a grey and spitting sea. The storm explodes over the sky and it's like The Nothing is eating away at the universe. Killing MiB is only half of this battle.

Still, Kate hesitates. Jack, so drenched in blood- urges her:

RUN KATE!

Jack and Kate share a tearful goodbye kiss, then she joins Sawyer and Claire to escape. Ben leads Jack back to the cave. Hurley is working on rescuing Desmond, but there's still no response. Jack says he'll go in for him, but Hurley is terrified he won't make it back out. Jack promises Hurley he'll try to make it, but IF he doesn't. If. Will Hurley be the guardian for him? He believes in him. Hurley thinks. If. The "if" makes him feel better. He agrees. Only IF Jack doesn't make it. Jack looks at Ben. Jack know there's no if. So does Ben. But they're not going to let on to Hurley.

Jack is lowered into the cave, because he can't climb down with all his injuries and it gives our dynamic duo their first job as a team. Jack rescues Desmond, replaces the cork and it's all finally over. The light is back. Balance restored. And there's a new Guardian- Hurley- who is the first whole Guardian since time can remember and probably the first Good Human Being® to stumble into the role in an even longer time. We sit back and take a breath and know, for all his insecurities, fears and tears- Hurley has a new friend at his side and they're going to be ok. The Island is going to be ok. We're going to be ok.



And that's the battle. It's less a random action sequence and more about every interaction revealing, AT THE VERY END OF THINGS, what each character is about and wraps up the parallels played out in the Alt. Jack, not suffering from first world problems, thinks of everyone but himself and includes everyone in his trials. Hurley is the leading hero he didn't think he could be. Sawyer is no longer a ruthless survivor, but a protector. Ben gets a chance to save an innocent life. Kate stops running and lets love in. Claire reclaims herself and finally does something. MiB will have closure too, reminding us of his humanity.

Every character plays a role in MiB's demise and saving the Island. LOST was never about ONE hero, after all. It's about PEOPLE, all walks of life, coming together for a single purpose. And an ensemble show should end with an ensemble effort.


THE ENDING: THE CHURCH OF LAX



This, like most of this write up really, is something I have talked about at length a thousand times. Take the church out of the end. The imagery is too loaded. You know they were worried about offending because they had the catch-all, nondenominational window there to let us know it was all OK- everyone could play. Well, everyone but Thor fans. Sorry, suckas. Mainly you, BigBetterIrish.

It's supposed to be a message about faith, but is too on the nose. You don't need a house of god to convey faith. Having someone named Christian Shephard lead people into the light probably isn't helping matters either.

Instead, the coffin is at LAX, have them pick it up there. Airports have much more personal resonance to the characters of this story. You immediately don't have to worry about the unintended religious message, because there is none. The focus isn't on religion, it's on people finally finding each other. They started this journey in an airport where they knew nothing about each other, and here, in death, the story ends with them knowing and loving each other deeply in an airport.

Instead of the weird sense of self-congratulations the characters seemed to exercise, I would broaden the emotional spectrum. Last you saw this person, he was murdered. This person blew himself up decades ago. There is love, yes, but maybe some tears? Some, "oh my god, it's you, you, you, again." The longing, the missing. I think this is why Ben and Eloise were appealing in The End. They actually had complex emotions. Not completely ready to move on, sad, contemplative. I believe their emotions. Not sure I believe Sun and Jin laughing, "OH THAT'S RIGHT, WE DIED AND LEFT JI YEON AN ORPHAN." Likewise, all that pat-on-back, JOB WELL DONE SELVES, behavior in the church was off-putting.

Everything otherwise, could have played exactly the same- we could have enjoyed some modern irony with Christian even opening the door there- the big windows of the airport filling with light to white. So what if the meaning derived is they are going on another trip together- isn't that exactly what the point is?


ACTIVE CHARACTERS: THE PHRASE IS LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION



This was my sticking point all season long and maybe that's just because I was harangued in school about keeping characters active, but I do believe this is such rudimentary writing 101. I am not even that GOOD a writer and I know this. You don't have episodes upon episodes of people sitting or having stuff done to them because, despite MiB's snarky quip, there IS no difference between waiting and doing nothing in cinematic drama. Really? Even if it was just them WAITING. That's basically saying all your characters are passive.

Now when I say "passive" I don't mean as a character trait- say, reserved and quiet. I mean in terms of action within a story. A passive character doesn't make decisions. Things are done FOR THEM. Things happen TO THEM. No one likes to watch passive characters, because even if they don't know the AFI Schooling® name to put to it, they're boring. When everything is given to a character and there're no consequences for their decisions, what does it matter and why are we watching? People like to root for characters who fight HARD to do something, WANT something, STRIVE- even if they fail in the end. It's why Locke is popular. Certainly why Ben is popular. Both are really active characters.

In blocking out scripts, I always run through a scene and check the "active level" of my scene lead. "Sun approaches Widmore. She has a plan." "Sun usurps her father. She is in control." It doesn't even have to be HUGE like that, "Sun undoes her top button." Those decisions TELL US something about Sun. "MiB tells everyone what to do. Sun is quiet with no English." "Sun sits. Jack protects her feelings with a tomato." See how while she's present in those second examples, there are no decisions happening? We're told nothing more about her character. And gee, was Sun's everyone's favourite character this season?

NO.

Why? Because she was passive to the point of ridicule. Sayid is another one- is he more engaging trying to escape from Rousseau and fixing radios and breaking necks with his ankles and shooting children? Or is he better when he just follows MiB around, not even a line of protest?

Active versus passive.

Characters are defined by the decisions they make. What is it Gandalf says? "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Nothing reveals more about a character than a choice. If they choose good over evil. Kindness or cruelty. Revenge or sympathy. Survival or death. Self or others. By making choices, a character is automatically active. They can't just be told, led, taken, tied up, or forced to do things. That tells us nothing about them. It's not exciting when there's no moment of, "What will he do? What would I do? I hope he does this. Please don't let him do that."

Active versus passive.

This goes across the board for every. Single. Character. This season.


ALTERED STATES: THE UNBEARABLE LIKENESS OF BEING



Just a brief bit about the Alt before I launch into a symposium on the characters themselves- I think the Alt worked best when it served the Island story. Back when LOST was just flashbacks this is how the two narrative lines worked- the flashes served to flesh out, back up and deepen our understanding of the characters. The stories supported and embraced each other, you couldn't have one without the other. What would Sawyer be without his marred history and the death of his family? And does it make young Sawyer even more tragic knowing the man he grew up to be? In LOST the dual narratives are always intrinsic to each other, but the weight is always given to the "now," the Island story, because that's where WE are, that's where the suspense is. The best Alts did this, reflected and supported what was happening on the Island (Locke's, Ben's, lesser degree, Jack's). The worst Alts (Kate's, Sawyer's) meandered pointlessly, throwing their characters too far back in evolution with no twist on the theme. You can't DO that. Even if a character is struggling with the same problems, the outcome and responses have to be new. Every single scene until the end of a story should be revealing more about a character. You are ALWAYS learning, not just seeing someone go through the motions again.

Ask: Did the "What Kate Does" deepen your understanding of her character at all? Did you learn something new?

Like Alice Sebold says of her book The Lovely Bones:

"To me, the idea of heaven would give you certain pleasures, certain joys - but it's very important to have an intellectual understanding of why you want those things. It's also about discovery, and being able to come to the conclusions that elude you in life."

That isn't to say, EVERYTHING gets wrapped up after death. No. Characters have to reach certain conclusions during their lives when it matters. The afterlife then, is about honing what they have learned and getting it all right. Every Alt is like a little psychoanalysis of the characters. Their needs, wants, failings, yearnings. All of them are there to learn something about themselves- but not alone. The Alt is about this group of people, reconnecting with themselves and then reconnecting with each other.

Likewise, all of this should feel REAL. There is a certain surreal quality to the Alt where you find yourself thinking, "this would never happen." That works when you give it the, "OH THAT'S BECAUSE IT ISN'T REAL" explanation at the end, but the inconsistent details took too many people out of the story along the way. Instead of arresting the audience in the moment, the coincidences, people acting out of character, nonsensical timelines came across as amateur writing, instead of in Six Sense where you go, "Omg, he never changed his clothes or moved the chair."

Distractions.

The Alt also puts too much emphasis on romantic, heterosexual love. The nature of LOST has always been about human connection. Humans of all walks of life influencing each other's existence, sometimes without even knowing they are doing such. Connecting, not just through love- but through human experience. Remember way back when you'd have an episode where Sawyer would hit Christian's car window and suddenly you realize, my god, that's James Ford- he has all this history and here to Ana and Christian he's just an angry guy in the street. Later, Christian would end up talking with Sawyer, having no idea they already crossed paths, telling him about his son- the self-same man Sawyer would lock horns with on the Island.

Wow.

Human connection should have been the emphasis. Whoever has a deep impact on a person's life should be enough to wake that person from their stasis. Some of them might do this through true love, that's what their most profound connection is- but we have parents. Friends. Heroes. Villains. Tragic figures. People learning to take the another path. Gaining confidence. Accepting themselves. To simplify everything down to just romantic love is to cheapen concept of the Alt.

If Season One is about how we are all connected in the most mundane of ways, the Alt is about how we are all connected in the deepest sense. We start this series with everyone's lives intertwined but no one realizing it- and we end it with everyone knowing how connected we all are and how our connections are the most, most important thing we as people have.


THAT BRINGS US TOOOOOO:



CHARACTERS: AND ALT THAT IMPLIES

Since this is a SHOW ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS™ and I have some more notes what I would have done with people and their centrics, let's go character by character and discuss!

Jumping Jack Flash



Jack is a character I want to like. Theoretically, I understand and appreciate his journey. Staunch man of science to this ultimate faith believer. Such never really worked on the show for me though, because after spending seasons stuck in place, vehemently self-involved, suddenly in the matter of a week Jack jet sets to enlightenment and is made out to be the greatest, most selfless hero of our time AND I NEVER GOT HOW OR WHY.

I do know, though, that the show wants me to get what a great guy Jack is. Never mind all his past actions that got people killed or the fact he's still there for himself, not others. By the time we get to Jack being stabbed with the roman spear because apparently we won't GET that he's self-sacrificing UNLESS he is JUST LIKE JESUS, it's insufferable. It also seems to me all other characters had to be completely benched to make Jack the big hero. The thing is, he was always going to be the hero. There was no need to bore everyone else up just so we could bask in the adulating glow beaming from the jacuzzi of sacrifice.

Back to his arc though- the physical time of Season Five and Six is two weeks. Two. Dos. A pay cycle. Four days since denying care to dying young Ben. Only TWO. DAYS. between Jack dropping the bomb and the lighthouse. One since Juliet's death. And we're supposed to believe, after all of this, all the suffering, finding the lighthouse, smashing the hell out of it and staring at the ocean is what finally gives Jack his purpose? Do the writers really want us to believe this is his big moment of change? Yes. Were we really shown why this change happens? No.

First of all, remove the lighthouse. It's incongruous being discovered this late in the game. Keep the cave, it works for Sawyer, why not Jack? It's not like they would deal with the mirrors that show all time and space anyways. The lighthouse is just vexatious because it confuses the message. Are both lists Jacob's? Is one MiB's? What's the deal with candidate 108? All a ruse? Why can the mirrors see things? Bueller? Why does seeing his name on a wheel motivate Jack to wake up and take up the charge?

I've read it was the culmination of things but in particular: losing Juliet. Do we really see Jack responding to her death? Beyond finally saying it's his fault? Kind of? I don't really see how her death factors into any of his motivations following the lighthouse. I mean, when he takes the cup from Jacob, do you really think he's all, "This one's for you, Jules."

Honestly he seems more angry someone has been watching him his entire life than unnecessarily killing a completely innocent woman.

When you get down to it- Jack himself says why he comes back. To fix himself. It's about him. It's not about the glorious saving of others. Even Jacob says Jack has to see how important he is to do what he needs to do. Nice to know. It's about Jack. All about Jack.

I do think Juliet is a factor, she is part of his self-imposed purgatory after all. Obviously some grief over her connects them in death- just why can't we feel it more in life then? Jacket is a plot bunny that died back in Season Three, it wasn't enough to carry through the once-married-plus-child world they created for themselves. Don't depend on audience apologists going, "Well, obviously Juliet motivated everything, because that's how I interpret it." If you want Juliet to be a big motivator? Jack has to feel it and show it.

Locke as motivation is more successful. We see Jack come to understand Locke when he gets back to L.A. Jack, like Locke, feels unhappy. Feels purposeless. His life is supposed to MEAN. MORE. We see, feel, get, that parallel. If Locke had seen his name on the wheel (or cave, because we're cutting the lighthouse) it would have meant EVERYTHING to him. Jack gets excited having a destiny, but it rings false for him in particular, because it's only part of his journey, becoming a better Locke- someone who BELIEVES. The other part of Jack's journey is that he has to learn to stop thinking only of himself. Thinking he is the ONLY one who knows what's good for everyone. He has to stop being the guy who brings the freighter which kills people because he thinks it's the right thing to do. He has to stop being the guy who drops the H-bomb which kills people because he thinks it's the right thing to do. Jack, when he has an issue to fix, it's like he loses all perspective of how his FIXINS might affect other people. Sometimes, even when he knows different, he goes ahead anyhow, because he wants to. It's. About. Him. Fixing. Himself. Being. Right.

THAT'S what Jack has to learn: how to play well with others. Listen. Include.

After the lighthouse, he fumbles. Sometimes he leads, but sometimes he gives leadership over to Hurley when convenient. When we hit the BIG MOMENT OF DECISION THOUGH? When Jacob is there to pass the torch- does Jack consider his friends at all? Does he even talk to them? Turn to include them in the decision? No. It's the same old Jack, barreling ahead with what he thinks is right instead of considering anyone else's opinion in the moment. Has he learned anything?

In some ways, I would like to see Jack's last great gift being his tutelage of Hurley. Instead of having a follower launch into leading people around, play up that relationship. I don't just mean Jack going, "I believe you. It's your turn now" or whatever, but actually schooling Hurley on the shit he got wrong. Don't put your issues first, when it can hurt so many others. Play it out. Really have Jack believe in someone else. Have FAITH in someone when they are RIGHT THERE. Then at the end, Hurley might try to take the role from Jacob, but Jack stops the ceremony and takes the it instead. Hurley still has friends and family. Jack helped Hurley get his confidence, believed in him when it mattered, but he doesn't want him losing his life to this task.

This story? Believing in Hurley and finding his way wrapped through an entire season, would work perfectly with Jack's Alt.

I feel somehow, that permutation of Jack's character, Alt Jack, hit all the right notes. I love that version of him. He still has his self-involved issues (don't we all?) but he thinks outside of himself with his son. Living Jack, when he FIXates on a problem, it becomes about him doing stuff to fix himself, it's never really about other people. That scene with David truly accomplishes more with Jack's character, more succinctly, than five and a half seasons of jears.

All this said: I do wish David was someone. Something. It seems to negate a journey when a character resolves all his issues from life in death with a figment. If David is the ONE imaginary figure, I can suppose I can accept such, but I need Jack to deal with the same problems in actuality. On the Island. While we have the father-son tale of Jack and David: Jack learning to think about someone else first. Their needs. Realizing he ISN'T the most important. That others have lives around him. Jack having FAITH in someone while they are right there beside him. Parallel that with a story on the Island. Show Jack suffering over Juliet. Show him not caring it's his name on the wheel/cave wall. Show Jack realizing he has been a selfish leader.

Then- we have Hurley. By sheer wonderment, he's more in tune with the Island than anyone else and people are looking to him for guidance, but he's too afraid to move on his own. This is where Jack comes in. Hurley is the surrogate son figure on the Island he believes in, supports and guides.

It makes Jack's emotional journey clear. It's less about him being The Martyr and more about a guy who always wanted to be a hero, but finally sees he has to think outside of himself to really, really be one.

It's also a fun parallel, having he and Hurley come together, because they are the only two characters who need imaginary Daves to help them through their issues.

In sum: Cut the lighthouse. Cut the mirrors. They are weird. Instead of STARING. AT. THE. OCEAN. Give us one solid scene, one that packs the PUNCH of the David scene with LIVING Jack coming to terms with his faults. Remember Ben with Ilana? Imagine cutting that scene and having Ben just look at the ocean and change. That's what Jack is missing. His "I'll have you" scene. Instead of the lighthouse smashy- perhaps transpose the scene with Richard and the dynamite. You'll read way later why I don't think we need to see Richard there but it's a good scene for Jack. It doesn't have to be in the Black Rock anymore, but should function the same. Jack stares down death and learns something about his fate. Give Jack that moment of despair, where he would literally rather die because he's lost Locke and Juliet and ruined so many people's lives he wanted to save- and then he finds he can't kill himself. I think that's a real, actual, tangible scene, we can believe would give him pause. Couple that with his name being on an ancient cave wall? I think I would think I was meant to be there too.

I think this is what they were going for, the journey outlined above, it just got mislaid along the way. Most of Jack's epiphanies, the ones we SEE and FEEL, happen after death. I know we can say Jack is a flawed hero and not everyone need conquer their issues in life- but it doesn't cut it. Jack has to evolve and change when he has things to lose. In life he is still obsessed with himself and even in the end doesn't include anyone when he decides to go forward with a plan. Every step along the way, instead of remembering any of his faults, or embracing him as a broken sort of man at all- we're inundated with musical and visual cues TELLING us how great and selfless he is supposed to be, when really? He isn't perfect. He isn't always selfless. He certainly hasn't always been the best guy around. And, you know what? That's ok. Because he's trying his damndest to be a better version of himself and learn from the past. LOST was supposed to be the show that showed us, even if you weren't JESUS, you could make the right decision, FOR THE RIGHT REASONS, when came the time.


Hurley Burley



Hurley is another character this season who suffers from these random SERVE THE PLOT arc spikes. Hurley has always, always, always been an unassertive character. For 99% of the show, he is only the comic relief, always paired off with someone: Charlie, Sawyer, Jack, Miles- because he doesn't stand on his own two feet. He's a follower. He notoriously does NOT like being in charge, even when it's just watching the food like in season whatever it was. He's afraid of hurting people and isn't always sure what to do. He doesn't like secrets. Sucks at lying.

- Yet, out of no where, all this season, there is Hurley, leading the charge doing all these things.

Hurley leads everyone to the Temple for Sayid. Hurley leads Jack to the lighthouse. At one point, Hurley lies about Jacob telling him to lead everyone to MiB. Where did this Hurley come from? Did he ever want this? It's jarring to have this very laid-back character just BURST into that leader role. You think if he was going to go that route, he'd toe the water of leadership before jumping in. But instead of a gradual change- here it was more like:

normalhurley -- KNOWSTHINGSHURLEY -- normalhurley -- LEADERHURLEY -- normalhurley -- normalhurley -- LYINGMISTAKEHURLEY -- normalhurley

I don't like his character spikes because they are just there to move the plot along, not to show Hurley's working through who he needs to be. If the growth really mattered, if it was really about Hurley's evolution, then the second we had all the character exposition we needed, everything wouldn't revert back tic-tac-toe Hurley. Hurley's dragging people to places is a deliberate, and convenient, way to get people from point A to point B. Have a random ghost tell Hurley everything we/he needs to know and where to go and what to do, because god forbid, we have the character actively think for themselves and not just follow instructions.

All this is weird too though, because like I said: Hurley doesn't LIKE being in charge. So why on Earth is a guy who never wanted to lead, suddenly be moving everyone around? Enter Jacob, stage left. It's Jacob's prodding and nudging which makes Hurley feel like he has to do it this way.

Jacob uses Hurley like a puppet. Getting him to act in ways Hurley normally wouldn't. Telling him what to do, where to be, but no whyfor. When Hurley finally calls Jacob on this, saying he doesn't like secrets- I thought we were at a turning point. Hurley is the first of the survivors to see how Jacob manipulates and works through people. But again the ball is dropped and there is no follow-through. Hurley listens to Jacob through the end.

I would like, if after that first, "no more secrets, dude," Hurley doesn't feel the need to talk and listen to Jacob every time he shows up. Or at least begins to question what is going on and why he and his friends are being used. It shows independence on Hurley's part. Growth. Whatever he learns through Jacob gives him additional foresight he can bring to Jack, who will help him parse through the information. Because in this, our version of LOST, Jacob is not suited to the task of Island anything. Why are we letting our heroes continue to take instruction from him? Like the Others, Richard and Ben, at first it's understandable: they don't know any better. But as they learn how Jacob works, they need to pull away and use their own hearts and minds. It's not just MiB they have to stop, it's Jacob they have to stop listening to.

I outlined above, but I really think we could play with relationship between Jack and Hurley. Have them learn from each other what it really means to "lead." Jack is a born leader. Hurley is a born caregiver. Those aren't the same thing. Both characters could have, should have, learned some very important lessons from each other. I don't mean we need to see Jack acquiesce to Hurley going, "Your turn, Ima just here," but actively taking from one another. Hurley needs to learn to avoid the pitfalls Jack makes when he thinks too much of himself and considers other people too little. Jack needs to learn to be a little like Hurley, think about everyone around him and show faith in others and what they can do.

We have some of this in Hurley's centric- but I guess I just want that relationship dynamic to permeate all of Season Six. I want it to be about both of them growing with each other at the same time. Not just have them do something wildly different from normal, without real reason, then just revert back to their normal selves once the task is done, seemingly learning nothing from the venture.

Hurley's character crisis point comes when he lies to Richard about speaking with Jacob. It defies everything he stands for. That act, and going to MiB, lands everyone in really hot water. There should have been emotional consequences for it. Hurley needs to figure out then and there, he is not a leader. And he messed up. And now his friends, the one thing he wanted to protect, are in danger because he tried to act like a Jack or a Ben or a Jacob. One of those leaders- plotters, thinkers. His heart was in the right place, but he was trying to be a brain, and that's wherein lies the problem. In the end, when they are on the beach after losing all their friends, in addition to general angst, Hurley needs to feel his mistake. He isn't the one that killed anyone, but he sure blames himself and he just got a HUGE lesson in what Jack has been dealing with for seasons.

Moving to Hurley's Alt: if we play up that, "Being Who I Am Not" angle with Hurley, we can bounce it off his afterlife story and make that yarn more believable. As it stands, there are some weird character inconsistencies. With Hurley's first appearances (notably with Locke) he's large and in charge. Confident and smart. Total control. Yet, that version of Hurley disappears completely when we get to his centric. Suddenly he's back to the slightly schlubby guy stuffing his face because he is depressed. Why do this? Ben never fully reverts to being a manipulative mastermind in his Alt. Locke never reverts back to screaming about destiny. Why does Hurley revert?

Likewise, Libby comes off as the biggest eye-roll, because though Hurley has had countless meaningful relationships in his life, shared in huge impacting moments and become an Island god, we're supposed to believe the crush he never dates is The Thing of his lifetime. Not to say unrequited love isn't soul shattering, but did he even GET to that point with Libby? Love? They knew each other for about two days and she was gone. If we had even FELT Hurley thinking about her through the seasons, I mean, really thinking about her, I would believe she was IT for him- but I didn't even get that. In Season Four and Five, did you have the feeling he was still thinking about her, the missing piece of his life? They have to remind us Libby existed by having him at her graveside in Season Six. What is Hurley even overcoming by finding her again? Is it literally about getting "lucky" in every sense of the word?

Well, if you play it off an Island arc of Hurley trying to be this leader when he really isn't that type of leader- maybe all the LikeaBoss stuff in the Alt isn't what that Hurley is all about either. He doesn't want to admit he is just The Nice Guy or feels he has to play up the confident boss image because that's what everyone seems to want to see. Instead of making Hibby out to be the CRUSH THAT DEFIES DEATH, the scene should be about acceptance. Have Libby like Hurley when he isn't playing the big suit. Confidence is also important for Hurley to have, but it doesn't mean he has to pretend to be someone else in the process. Have her represent him accepting himself. Like on the Island, he comes to find he isn't the Fearless Leader type, but accepts who he is- have Libby help him achieve that selfsame feeling in the Alt. Make it about acceptance instead of love, the difference is subtle, but I think important. Because that's what Hurley's journey is- accepting himself- even though in Season Six it's kind of lost in a haze of plot nothings. Hurley has to learn it's not about trying to be like someone else or being ashamed of who he is. Ok, he isn't a leader like Jack, but that doesn't mean he can't do the job. His trust and openness allows for everyone, even people like Ben, to help with the logistical stuff. Hurley has to embrace himself. Believe his best abilities are just as worthy and capable as anyone else's. All he has to do, like his #2 says, is take care of people. Because that's what he does best. And that's ok.


Ben Waiting for This One



From number 1 to 2. I actually, remarkably, have less to say about Ben because I think of most the characters, he has one of the best arcs. His evolution, even though he is completely sidelined this season, is clear. You always know what he is working to overcome, what he wants, what he regrets. Though I think the "The Substitute" might be some of my favourite writing of the season, "Dr. Linus" probably has the best Alt/Island narrative relationship. Both stories are ABOUT the same thing. The same choice. The stories wrap through each other and make a point about the character. I love the people in Ben's Alt and what each says about him: keeping his father alive, protecting his murder victim, sheltering his daughter from maliciousness and even showing kindness to his daughter's mother. It's interesting to see who is important to that enigma, after all life has passed.

Sometimes I wonder if I would swap out players. Like why do Arzt and Ben have any connection in the afterlife, if even just bumbling around a fake school? If we want to use Arzt as the "is this real?" fake out, that's fine, but I totally would swap him out for Tom in friendship role. First of all, because I love Mr. Friendly. Secondly, he and Ben have more of a connection anyhow. Hell, Arzt can STILL be there as the computer guy who hacks into the principal's files, but with Mr. Friendly present (obviously the drama teacher, btw) can you imagine those two teachers talking in hushed voices about Principal Skinner, when a tap comes at the door from a certain Mr. Dawson. "I'm here to talk about my boy?" Tom rolls his eyes. Parent teacher conference. Go ask Leslie, Ben, he'll help you. EL OH EL. It's cheeky, but I like it because it implies Michael is working through his life issues, as is Tom and shows that the show actually remembers Walt.

In this vein, I am of two minds with this next one. If the Alt is about the people who mean the most to us in life, by whom we are most impacted, I wonder if Ben should have any sort of showdown with Keamy again instead of just a random bit character. It might be too cloying, but I can see how it could work. Ben ended Keamy's life, so obviously, there's Keamy's connection. But then, Keamy stole Ben's life by killing Alex. Hello, unfinished business.

Yes, Ben's Alt is good, but I just want to just reach in and tweak some of the scenes to make it great. Namely everything with Alex. I never would have her show up at his home. Ever. In Southern California in 2004? At night? No. How any woman in the writer's room didn't argue the hell out of that scene, and win, I'll never know.

Move that bit to the school. The principal tells Ben he has to man detention hall and cancel his history club. Ben quietly gives his, "Actually, it's Dr. Linus" line and then we cut to him packing up in class. Alex shows up for the club meeting and Ben has to tell her it's been canceled until further notice. When Alex looks unhappy, we really feel Ben's disappointment over having to let down his favourite student and the only person who thinks he's worth anything. From there, go to him serving his father dinner, talking about how feckless he feels about caring so much.

See how much more organic that small change feels?

Also with Alex- that scene in the library. It plays too much like, "Tee hee! Bffs, Dr. Linus!" which, with today's audience especially, reads as a come-on half the time. We need to step back and imagine a TEEN GIRL telling her CONSERVATIVE FATHER she heard someone having really loud sex in the room next to her at school. There's no, "TEE HEE SEKRITS" with most girls because it's awkward as HELL to tell your dad that sort of stuff. Rousseau says Alex looks to Ben as a father- have her act like a daughter. She's a bookish history girl, she's upset about what she hears. When Ben notices her being out of sorts- she asks him for help with what to do. She has to ask the principal for a recommendation, but now all she can think of is this. Will she get into trouble because she knows? Should she tell? With her so vulnerable, looking to him for guidance, Ben finally gets a chance to comfort Alex, like he so. Often. Missed out on doing in real life.

This makes the relationship sweeter. It's less Dr. Linus just being ~*~omgthebestteachereverrrrr~*~ and more something truly special. He's giving his all to help Alex get everything she wants from school, but he's also there when she needs help and doesn't know who else to ask. She has no father but him, this humble, invisible history teacher no one else even notices. Make it simple. Kind. Subtle.

My other big point in Ben's Alt is: SHOW. HIM. REMEMBERING. We get a hint of it, when Desmond pounds in his face- but we never see when the full weight of his life crushing him. Ben led the cruelest and most violent life of any of the Alt party goers. His remembering would have been complex, emotional and so worth tuning in for. We should have seen the sensitive Dr. Linus give way as he remembered Benjamin Linus. Remembering Alex be shot all over again. Killing his father. Killing Locke. Can you imagine that reality sinking in? His face? In a show that's ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS™, why deny your most complicated one this moment? Why don't we cut Charlie remembering TWICE and let Ben remember once. Likewise, memories can't come through a beating. Everyone else has a positive human interaction to spark remembrance. I've heard the producers wax on about how love is this amazing binding force through all people, yet, just because it's fun and convenient, somehow such doesn't apply to this character.

The moment should have come through Alex in an extension of that dinner scene. He's told he is a father to that young girl and that's when he has his first flash, he chokes up, but can't explain to Danielle. Then give him one last interaction with Alex, maybe just a touch of the hand, "Thank you for being there for me, Dr. Linus," she says as he's walking out the door, something simple, but it opens the floodgates. Benjamin Linus comes crashing down on Dr. Linus. Images of Alex fill his memory and he suddenly knows there's no time, no place and no life where he did right by her. She's dead. She has always been dead. He always allowed her to die. In the dark, on some suburban street, Ben crumbles under the weight of memory.

The Alt is about the good that holds people together. Ben may have led a complicated and dark existence, but he's welcome in the Alt, there's a place held for him in the church. His memories need to follow thematic suit. He's also there to learn. Get a precious moment to relive. Get right. Fix. And realize what it means.

On the Island, Ben is criminally underutilized, judging from the EXPLOSIVE APPLAUSE I heard at LOST: Live, I would say I'm not the only one who thought so either. I think a lot of characters were sidelined this last chapter, to make way for the True Heroes, but they never needed to be. It just made the last season really boring and painful to watch most of the time.

I've outlined a lot up top about what Ben can do throughout the season. I'd like Ilana to give Ben her job. It creates drama in the group and conflict within Ben- now he is guarding those who have the role he thought was his as the chosen. It's also a great opportunity to explore his rapport with Hurley, who's learning to lead alongside Jack. Ben can surmise Hurley is speaking to Jacob and warn against the dangers of acting upon everything he asks. Hurley can be the first survivor to really see another side of Ben, and get beyond being afraid of him. And all this, of course, eventually leads to them saving each other from being crushed by a tree.

Ben needs one final plan. I think there was one forming, but like most of Season Six, it fizzled out and went nowhere. We'll go over what this plan is in EVEN MORE EXCRUCIATING DETAIL (and 3-D) in Richard's section- but briefly, since in this, our version of LOST, Widmore is with MiB and has sweet deets to spill as a corpse... have Miles learn something for Ben, perhaps what Desmond is expected to do and where. With this knowledge, Ben starts pulling strings around MiB trying to get players in place. It gives Miles something to do and lets Ben shine doing what he does best. He doesn't need to be the one that saves ALL, but he does get to be his ultimate self before the end, just like all good characters should be allowed to be.


Locke and Key



For legit real, this is a short one, since he doesn't even exist on the Island anymore.

Locke's Alt is one of the strongest. It feels like a love letter to his character. His goals and desires are clear: accept himself even with his limitations and be happy, realizing when he has love, and letting go of his angst. I appreciate, also, very much his moment of awakening is learning he can feel his legs again. Not true love. Giving and receiving love is important for Locke to learn because he misses his chance in life- but regaining the ability to walk is the defining moment of his existence.

Everything with Helen is pitch-perfect. People ask why she isn't in the church/LAX at the end, but it's because she had a life outside of Locke. Finally fulfilling their promise to each other, agreeing to wed, is what they never got to do together. They worked through that. Locke has other issues he needs to get over, so does Helen. They weren't meant to move on together.

The only beat missing from Locke's story is a moment explaining why he is ok with his father, Anthony Cooper- since apparently Cooper is still the asshole who cons Sawyer's parents. Later in this write-up we have Helen play exposition mistress about him- but I think we need just a line from Locke. Something to suggest, while still essentially a screw up, Cooper has evolved somewhat, so his son isn't punishing himself over hurting a cruel thief. I have seen Locke suffer through that once, I want a twist on the theme this time. Something to say it's ok Locke likes his father.

I think Locke's Alt suffers the most from that "surreal" feeling we brought up earlier. I loathe how Desmond mows Locke down, sends him flying 900 ft in the air, only have him back at work in 48 hours. Honestly, cut all of that. It makes Desmond too unpleasant (and we have a different plan for him anyways). It's not that I mind the cruelty, it's just too extreme with these particular characters. And it takes out the believably of Locke's narrative- to be hit that violently and back to normal so soon. The Alt needs to play as realistically as possible. You can't look back and be like, "Oh they were all dead" and think that that covers it. No. That's just an excuse for needlessly shoddy writing.

Locke doesn't need to be hit. In the end, what purpose does it serve? Is it just to get Locke to the hospital? Either way, I think Desmond can finagle that result in a smarter manner, similar to how he works with Hurley. Guiding not cruelly instigating. We'll find another reason for Locke to be at the hospital which doesn't have to do with defying death. If Desmond needs to conjure up a feeling of, "there's more to this" in Locke, he should do it through some means that is more symbolic to a big moment from Locke's life. Not literally falling down 500 stories again, but something to do with a breaking window. Something like that, coupled with hearing the message "let go" over and over, is enough to get Locke to check back in with the doctor who gave him a card at LAX.

The only remaining thing with Mr. Locke, right there at the end when he finds Ben, I would give him a MOMENT. Something. With a bit more gravitas. It's the first time they are seeing each other. Both knowing. The murderer and the victim. The way the scene plays, Locke is all, "Hey Ben" - wheel wheel wheel - and then Ben stops him to apologize. I think Locke should have had more weight in that moment. Imagine meeting your murderer. I know the finale is all about skipping the hard parts and cutting to forgiveness and love. And I know there is nothing to lose or win anymore, because everyone is dead- but what do you say to the man who murdered you? What do you say to the man you killed out of selfishness?

I think it would be a nice segue if Ben asks Locke if his last thought really was, "I don't understand." Showing Ben always remembered that phrase from MiB. Bringing Locke back to that horrible moment. Tie back to something you set up and go from there. That line tells you something about Ben, how the death affected him. But how Locke follows up that question, also reveals more about him. It could have been really moving, to see two men work through one of the darkest moments in their lives and come to regret and forgiveness instead of just cutting to the quick. Never, ever turn away from people working towards a conclusion. The difficult moments, and what the characters do in such times, are what tell us the most about them.


Klairebear



Yes, I am collapsing these two into one section. "What Kate Does" is the thinnest Alt story of all our characters. She is on the run. Again. Maybe innocent? Who knows, it's never followed up. What does this reveal about Kate? That she is still on the run? There are Claire and Aaron, but those scenes are so hackneyed with no character acting like a rational human being in a world that's behaving just as nonsensical- nothing seems to matter.

I THINK the point of Kate's Alt is to show she learns to stop running for something, in this case Claire and Aaron, but the decision is so spread out though, ditching Claire, the mechanic, finding Claire, going to the adoptive parents' home-- and Kate isn't even caught between a rock and a hard place, so her choice loses all its potency. Watered down. When a character decides to do something, they are giving up doing something else. If that something else is REALLY important to them, and they still go the other way, that tells you something about that character.

Kate carjacks the cab, shoves the cabbie right out. He doesn't mean anything to us and we want a concentrated chemistry between Kate and who she is about to find in the seat behind her:

Claire.

Kate tears from the airport, police in hot pursuit. Her eyes scan the crowded LAX traffic. Swerve, left, right- with her cuffs still on manning the wheel is next to impossible. Claire pleads- don't hurt Aaron.

Aaron?

Kate gives side eye.

Shit. The girl is pregnant.

The cab careens out from the mini highway of LAX into Los Angeles proper, tires burning. Claire screams out the exposition we need. Drop all the weird visiting the adoptive-parent stuff. Just have Claire cry for her baby, cry about no one picking her up, begging to be released because she's found parents for her son. Kate doesn't care about all this though, she needs to GET AWAY! Screeching turn. Red light. Claire slams into her door. At least a half dozen cop cars are tailing the fugitive cab. Kate looks to the rear view mirror, has her weird moment of reflection, before a pained cry brings her back to focus.

Claire clutches her rounded belly.

Labour.

Let's take a break from that story and go back the Island. As the episode was, we had Kate tailing Sawyer annoyingly. We probably could have cut most of this, just have her find him on the dock with the ring. Kate sees Sawyer has lost something, someone, just like she has. They always had their similarities, but now they are two lost ships on a stormy sea with no one else at all with them.

With all that time we just saved, let's introduce Claire earlier. To fill in where the story is thin with Kate, let's pump it up with a robust B story about Claire. What happened to her since everyone left. We learn it through her, as she finds Jin. But we learn a little through Jack with Dogen, who explains, in more exact terms, how being "claimed" works. How the pool plays a part. How death plays a part.

Something about that blast back in 2004, perhaps a slow bleed on the brain, threatens Claire's life, even though she doesn't realize it at the time. Seriously, anywhere else she would be dead, but since this is the Island- and the dead work in mysterious ways, she's just, "wobbly." She is on that cusp, teetering on the tightrope of life, making her vulnerable to the dead part of the island which MiB seems to share a connection. MiB draws her out from her people, but it isn't until after the Island move- the Others find her abandoned in the jungle, nearly dead. She is brought to the pool, powered by the heart of the Island- but that raw energy is formidable, dangerous. Full exposure to it can rip the wrath from a man and confine it a sentient pillar of smoke, so even using water tempered by that energy is a risky business. Ben loses his innocence to it, but pulls through because both Jacob and Richard are vying for him to make it and the yin and yang of the Island hasn't been cleft. Sayid gets a raw deal, because he's put into the pool when there is no Jacob. The energy source of the Island is threatened because its balance was not just torn asunder, but half gone. For that's what it's about: keeping the soul connected to the body long enough to let it heal and not lose the spirit into the Well of Souls. If the soul reconnects with the body, the person is safe- just with a taste of death. That's Ben. If you lose the soul, into the Well, the person is dead. Sometimes though, if you're not careful, the soul is caught in a sort of rift between things. The person who is healing, their bodies are fine- but they aren't themselves. Likewise, they aren't soulless, it's just, half out- say. When this happens, they can go either way. Be pulled back to the life side of the balance (made whole with themselves), or lost over the death side (loses who they were in life). Not Evil or Good. If they are closer to death, they are MiB's - the connection to death/darkness/whispers/underworldliness- not Jacob's. He only gets the live ones.

This is what happens to Claire. A pool session that doesn't work. We learn about her and SEE it happen to Sayid at the same time. Who knows why it doesn't work for Claire. Maybe because MiB bonds with her, maybe because she is too far past death's threshold, to be pulled completely back. But there she is. Inbetween. Alone. Ripe to be taken in by MiB, when she is turned out by the Others who don't want her back three years ago.

Back to L.A.!

Claire SCREAMS. Kate is near tears- it's a horrible sound to hear. Kate is a fugitive- but this is a baby in danger. A baby. The cab veers wildly down one of those little swirling Angelino back ways. The cop cars fly past, sirens wailing into the distance.

Kate has her advantage. The cab screeches into a dumpster. Kate flies out the door, ditching a sobbing Claire.

And Kate runs- but not too far, because Claire is still in earshot. Dragging herself from the cab, screaming bloody murder for help. Something makes Kate look back. She has a choice.

Run.

Or do the right thing.

And of course you know what she chooses.

Kate runs back to Claire, kneels down. Claire struggles to backward, but Kate captures her face. "Are you having this baby?" Claire pulls away, "No."

Kate hears something and stands. Oh god, are those sirens? She has to run. This is too dangerous. Claire winces with a particularly bad pain.

"Don't leave me" - Claire says, knowing this woman who came back for her might be her only help- and she did come back, right? She can't be that bad. Kate bends back down to Claire.

"I won't. I'm not going anywhere."

Claire realizes Kate is holding her hand. A fuzzy sense of deja vu. She trusts this woman... why? How? Does she know her from somewhere?

And so Kate gets Claire into the car and the perceptive viewer realizes we just heard a variation on the dialogue Kate and Claire shared when Aaron was born the first time.

The cab is back out on the streets, Kate scanning the sidewalks madly for one of those little Mayo Clinics that litter the urban neighborhoods of Southern California. Every moment she is out driving like this she is exposed. Kate sees what she is looking for and swings the car up to the walkway and leads Claire in, always looking over her shoulder. A Dr. Goodspeed takes Claire in a wheelchair- Kate, seeing Claire in safe hands, starts to walk away through the office. Claire calls to her just as she passes. Kate looks down at the young mother-to-be. The doctors are busy getting things for Claire and the waiting room is filled with people, so no one notices these two women, so different from each other, sharing a bond over the life of an unborn child- "Thanks" says Claire. Kate nods. "You should keep him," is all she says back, before carrying on. She walks through the waiting room, nabbing a jacket from a chair and running right out the back door. No one even notices the cuffs.

When we close out the story on the Island, Kate has found out Claire is alive- just about the same time Claire tells Jin she's going to kill Kate for taking Aaron.

BOOM.

See, Kate episodes don't have to suck.

The situation, though dramatic, is real enough for both characters. Claire doesn't give her credit card away. Or wait for her kidnapper. Or invite her kidnaper to stalk Aaron's adoptive parents. Kate doesn't leisurely drive around in a stolen, numbered cab. Visit a mechanic. Go back, no pressure! -Looking for this random girl.

We know what Kate values here because decisions made in a pressure-cooker situation reveal she cares the safety of this mother and child more than her own freedom.

Likewise, we are able to flesh out Claire's lost time. Give a metaphysical reason for her horror-show level of madness.

From here we now know what Claire's Island battle is. She has to restore balance in herself. Be brought back over "from the Dark Side" but it's a difficult battle because she's so, so far gone. Kate's goals are tied to her- she has to be the one there for Claire, doing what she can to save her and get her back to Aaron (though note, in the end, Claire has to save herself).

In the Alt, things carry on almost as is, but with a new tonality. Claire still finds her new American family and we learn through her things are patched up better with Christian. She wasn't just abandoned all those years. The music box is something she remembers. It gives us a little hope Christian isn't still a totally amoral asshole leading people into the light at the end. Kate ends up in jail, but finally just cops to her crime because she is always, always getting off scot-free. It's time for her to learn to be responsible for her actions. Doesn't matter if a murder was justified. It's still a murder. Desmond will find her around this time, and guide her to where she needs to be, but you'll read about him and what he does later.

Kate and Claire's stories culminate in the Alt with Aaron's birth. That moment, the son they share, is what ties them together in life, death and beyond.


See Sawyer



Sawyer, in case you wanted to know, is the last character I have to write. That's right. After MiB, after Jacob. You'll read about me talking about avoiding Sawyer when you get to Richard's section. I plowed my way through the mythology before tackling this rogue, for crying out loud!

But here we are.

Let's do this thing.

That's what Kate said.

Sawyer's story on Island, I am surprisingly ok with. He's active, trying to con MiB and Widmore to get the submarine. He uses Old Sawyer's skill set but with La Fleur's purpose in heart. It isn't about conning to get ahead for himself or save his own neck, now he cons to save all the people he cares about. It's a nice sort of full circle arc for him to exercise. Really, my only note about his Island narrative is to keep the grief over Juliet close to the surface. We only really see him work through her death for an episode. She died less than a week ago. That pain has not had time to heal. It never gets a chance to get over being raw and vulnerable. We should feel that loss more and through every last moment with Sawyer.

The Alt is where Sawyer is tricksy. When you boil down his character, what things define James Ford? When I think about him, three arcs come to mind:

1. Learning to stop being that ruthless survivor figure and protect and care for others.

2. To get past his searing need for vengeance.

3. Finding love and acceptance.

Officer Ford is the perfect mirror for Sawyer. Gives him a chance to work through his crime-related issues and is an extension of the life he built for himself as the sheriff of Dharmaville. Sawyer likes those positions of power. They earn him respect, stability. Being head of security or a cop, also allows him to do what he really wants to be doing: protecting innocents from hurt, so no one else has to grow up as he did.

Number 1? Check.

2 and 3...

Sawyer's romantic arc in his centric had the right idea, but missed the boat by connecting him with Charlotte with whom he shared no life experience.

Cut Charlotte. I like her, but her hooking up with Sawyer is nothing more than a cheap shock. She can still make appearances at the museum concert benefit and live vicariously through Daniel's mentions of her. But I would like to make his tryst with Ana Lucia, since they actually did have a sexual non-romantic romp in real life and they're both cops.

Open the episode the same, with Sawyer in bed with a woman but instead of being this bizarre under cover (punny) operation just have the reveals of the scene be that it's not Kate or Juliet Sawyer is with but Ana Lucia and that he's an on-duty cop. They are lying there, his walkie goes off and you realize it's Miles asking where the hell his partner is. Sawyer flips around on the bed and grabs a badge. He's a cop and kind of a risque one at that, because he should have been in that squad car- and who's the annoyed lady friend who rolls up in the blankets? No one but our favourite Officer Cortez!

The liaison with Ana goes on through the episode- though it's clear he doesn't care about her and isn't even giving her the respect a f-buddy deserves. Sawyer is one of those dudes who is deeply, profoundly empty. He sleeps around. He has tons of women. But, in before that's what she said, none of them fill the void in him that he's trying to escape. It's empty sex. Empty relationships. All this emptiness makes Sawyer spiral into his most negative feelings. Stewing in them. Unable to let go, he can't open himself up to trust anyone- thus the cycle is self-perpetuating. I love him watching Little House because there's just nothing sadder than sitting around with leftovers and self-loathing and to see this hot player guy alone in the dark listening to his life questions be answered by Michael Landon- it's humorous, pathetic, sad and totally in character without extensive monologuing.

On yet another FWB Night, Ana starts nosing around, like the curious cop she is, looking for anything to elucidate what the hell is this guy's secretive issue is. She finds his folder of "evidence." Articles about his parents' deaths. Notes on Anthony Cooper. The letter. When Sawyer discovers what she's doing, he loses it and kicks her to the curb. He takes the letter and crams it into a pocket. That's what he gets for leaving it out.

Later when he grovels to apologize, Ana turns him down- but I think while she's standing there at her door, telling Sawyer off for being a doucheboat, some little noise from the inside of her place makes her close the door a little and lower her voice. She's a mother. She doesn't have time for people who treat her like shit. If James Ford doesn't want some saccharin romance? That's fine, she doesn't either, but no one throws her out like that.

It's a little beat, but from it we get Ana is working through her own Alt issues of losing her baby. (If we want to make clear Sawyer is working through any issues with his daughter, this is the scene to mention he understands what taking care of kids means, he pays his child support every month, don't pull that on him, etc).

With that relationship nixed, we pick up with Sawyer hitting the morning beat with his partner. Miles has heard rumors from Ana and looked into Sawyer's activities as well now. He knows that he's looking for an Anthony Cooper and tells him to stop. It's an abuse of his position. What the hell is he thinking? Sawyer promises it ain't no thang, he'll stop. Miles believes him. We almost do, because Sawyer sounds weary of the hunt himself. The cops stop for coffee, typical, and here Sawyer finds Juliet on her way to the hospital.

YES! This early.

The two connect. There's a strong sense of deja vu with Sawyer in particular. He tries to pick her up, saying he'll pay for her latte, but she quips they should go dutch, that is, "No thanks, I'll pay for my own." Not rudely, but in a spunky way that brings up a certain nostalgic feeling in Sawyer he can't quite place. He runs back to the car, but keeps an eye over his shoulder looking out for that intriguing blonde. Sawyer gets into the car and shakes his head. Miles takes his coffee and asks what's up- but before Sawyer can explain what he's feeling?

BAM.

Kate crashes back into his life. Another stolen car of hers slams into his patrol vehicle.

A little fun for all the shippers involved.

2. Romance established.

Now for his biggest issue to overcome: Sawyer needs to deal with his desire for vengeance. This was the tough bit because I really felt Sawyer needed to address this and there was no other parallel stronger than Anthony Cooper. Seeking him was Sawyer's defining character goal for seasons. Though Cooper totally got everything he deserved, I think the Alt should have given Sawyer a chance to make that choice over. Rise above his hatred and hurt and "let go."

Take out Jack finding Cooper. That was so inappropriate and shouldn't have been his scene, finding Cooper belongs to Sawyer. He deserves it. Likewise, I am such a fan of collapsing sequences- I want to bring Cooper to the hospital. Maybe instead of being derelict, he's in a persistent vegetative state. Hooked up to machines.

Sawyer is at the hospital to interview a shooting victim, Miss Sun-Hwa Paik. A nurse hands him the room assignments, he scans down the list and sees a "Cooper, Anthony." It's almost manifest destiny. He just promised his partner he would stop looking into this, and yet, there's the name.

How he finds out it's THE Anthony Cooper doesn't have to be a big deal. Perhaps he has a picture in his police file, so he knows the face. Perhaps he walks into the room and finds Helen there and he's able to talk a few more details out of her under the guise of being an officer or just using his roguish wiles. She's the one who can tell us more why there's this disconnect between Locke liking his father and Cooper still being the sociopath conman who essentially killed Sawyer's parents. She says, Mr. Cooper wasn't the nicest man when he was up and aware, though in later years he made such amends with her fiance, she can't help but feel for him. Either way, Helen excuses herself to find Locke (he's out having his own "let go" speech with Jack now, because you'll note we just gave him a reason to be at the hospital that doesn't involve being run over) and Sawyer has this moment with Cooper. Literally, all he has to do is pinch a wire on the machine. Smoother his face. And the asshole would get his. This is all Sawyer has ever wanted: to get back at this amoral monster. Now he has a chance. And it's so easy. The guy can't even fight back. Sawyer pulls out the letter, because thank god we set it up for him to have it, and he wants to read it so bad. Then he just looks at the old man. Lifeless. Weak. And thinks about the woman there visiting him. That Cooper has a son who cares about him. Sawyer wonders how he wants to take away a parent because he lost his. Cooper may deserve it, but does his innocent family? God, does James Ford really want to become "Sawyer?"

Suddenly, Sawyer's drive for revenge is as listless as the braindead body on the bed. What's the point.

Cooper ripped up the original letter, but this time, Sawyer gets to: "I'm better than you."

2, check.

He storms out of the room and nearly crashes into Juliet. After a moment of awkward apology, Sawyer realizes it's her. The blonde from the coffee shop who made him feel something in an instant.

Juliet throws out a hand, "Dr. Burke. I'm Miss Paik's doctor, the nurse said you need to speak with her?"

From here, we have the perfect set up to finish with that delightful bit at the vending machines. It's a matter of one or two extra scenes, but such gives the Sawyer and Juliet relationship a little more "oomph." We figure out, only after dealing with all their other issues, can they let each other in. Finding real love is Sawyer's reward for letting hatred go.

3, check.


Sayid in Anutha Life Brotha



Ho, boy.

Sayid's character was annihilated this season. I don't know how any writer in good conscience could allow what happened to him. A once complicated character reduced to an automaton, who only "resolves" any of his issues, after death in a scene that is so half-assed it's next to impossible to choke down.

First things first with Sayid. He never should die after being shot by Roger. Ever. Killing him the first time lessens the impact of the real time he passes away. Most people had long since stopped caring about him because the Real Sayid had been gone for almost a season. Plus, the whole zombie thing? Yeah. Didn't work. Confusing. Boring.

Rather: to complete the parallel with Ben, becoming who he wanted to destroy, Sayid is lowered into the pool with a fatal gunshot wound. Since we know a bit more from Dogen, how tricky the pool is, we know there's the risk of disaster. It's particularly tense for the characters involved because they know Jacob isn't an influence anymore, only MiB. Still, it's their only choice and they would rather try it than let Sayid die without a fight.

And it seems to work.

Sayid's wound heals- but pretty immediately, something is off. Miles is the first to notice. He can get... almost a reading off Sayid, but he shouldn't. Miles only get weird around dead stuff, remember? What does that mean?

Of course, learning about what happened to Claire, we know what's coming for Sayid. He's going to lose himself. Claire, who was pure and kind, turned into a batty mess of maternal instinct. Frighting. Dangerous. Murderous.

Sayid, though, has a much bigger vat of darkness welled up inside of him. His last thoughts before being dipped into the pool are those of damnation. He believes completely he's a natural born killer. His last big act is shooting a child. If Claire went into the water and became what she did, imagine the suspense thinking what will become of Sayid unburdened of conscience and free of guilt and remorse. You know the face Ben pulls when he sees Sayid? That should be the face EVERYONE pulls when they see Sayid after the pool.

Instead of being coy, the Templetons urge Jack to kill Sayid, cut all the pill back and forth. His friends are told, Sayid might be alive, but he wasn't saved and he has to be "taken care of, ASAP or else." From there, Sayid actively becomes a threat to everyone, just like Claire. Jack refuses to harm him, but with his soul in flux- Sayid has no problem threatening Jack with a knife after taking out Dogen.

When Sayid leaves a bloody trail from the pool room, his friends think he's a lost cause. Sayid knows he is and embraces it. He's left devoid of hope and feels nothing.

But that doesn't mean he DOES NOTHING.

Sayid seeks out MiB, he isn't sent forth to find him. He has reason to look. Maybe like with Jack just a DAY BEFORE with the bomb, Sayid still wants to destroy this place. He wants to help MiB bring the Island to ruin, because it ruined him. And drop all the dagger stuff. We're going to save that insane scene for the final battle and Sayid has his own goals to play out here.

Once teamed with Jacob's nemesis, Sayid and Claire, plot, work and get MiB onto the Temple grounds- I think this could be a fun way to explain how MiB can be in the basement of the Temple without notice. He can tell his two bodyguards how he tricks the Temple residents. Sayid and Claire also get to be active. How fun is it to see Sayid use all his militia skills, but for this darker purpose? Once inside, they lead the siege against the Temple. Not just sitting by while it happens. No. Helping in the killings totally needs to happen. It's pitting friends against friends because THAT is what happens in war.

From that horrific bloodbath of Biblical terror, we see Sayid bottom out to the coldest, cruelest part of what's in him. When you imagine the MiB camp scenes, don't imagine him sitting on a log feeling nothing, reacting to nothing, doing nothing. Imagine him acting like a soldier on the other side of the war.

It's from this bleak nothingness, we'll watch him claw out and redeem himself.

And what would help Sayid connect back to the good that's still in him? Not Desmond's scene. It's too short and we're not shown enough of Sayid's response. Instead, transpose the conversation in the Alt with Hurley. You can't skip these beats in a character's life. Even if they fail in what they are doing or trying to be, a character has to wrap up his arc and make choices when there are CONSEQUENCES for actions. Sayid having the good pulled out in the afterlife? Who cares. Nothing really matters there anymore. When he's still flesh and blood though? Means all the world, especially if he's so far gone.

I don't know how you would organize it, but perhaps, everyone gets on the sub and thinks they've made it, only to find Sayid has joined them, what's more, he has the C-4 from the plane (which Widmore rigs lest anyone tries to escape). Then it's a bit like, "Oh shit, we're stuck in the deep end with our friend who's gone off the deep end."

You know how scary it is when Jin is crippled in the tent and Claire is swinging the ax and you just DON'T KNOW what is going to happen? It's like that, but 10 times worse.

Here, put the come back to the Light Side of the Force conversation. Instead of Sayid just kind of being there on the sub, reverting to his Season One self without much notice before he explodes (also going, "It'll be you Jack" impossibly making YET ANOTHER SCENE about Jack's importance) have Sayid make a choice, when it's not just his life at stake, but everyone else's. I would probably have Hurley do the talk. It sets up who he will become later. Also give Sayid a chance to respond. Make it about him. This is his swan song. This is about how someone believing in him makes all the difference. Give Sayid the chance to divulge info. More about MiB's plan. Let him give his friends a real fighting chance, and then have him take on the bomb himself. Sayid has always been about self-preservation, getting out of fixes, surviving. He could ninja skill Macguyver out of any hyperbolic pinch. For him to completely destroy himself for the survival of others should mean a great deal more than if anyone else did it. You expect Jack to sacrifice himself. You expect Sayid to get us out of the problem. With something like this at the end, it's swift, but we SEE and FEEL Sayid make a choice. We understand what's happening and moreover, when the bomb goes off, we know we lost something in losing Sayid.

Then his Alt. It's funny, because in the Alt, Sayid is also a zombie. The quintessential man of action and here he is just... existing. He has no sense of self. No volition. What did Sayid even want in the Alt? What is he searching for? What is he coming to terms with? The Alt is all about wrapping up issues from life. What is Sayid wrapping up? What does he have to learn to move on?

Lacking a driving force to his arc (or just plain lacking an arc), Sayid doesn't even get his redemption in the Alt. Not really. Hurley basically forgives him and he wakes up. Sorry, but Sayid needs to work a little harder to move on.

It should have required a choice. With Sayid, it's always about doing whatever needs to be done, by whatever means necessary. He doesn't WANT to torture someone, but will, because he has to. Sayid should have had a decision where it was, "I can do this, maybe I should do this, but I am a good human being and I will not do this, because I don't want to. I will find another way than violence."

It's ok Sayid fails within his centric, just like his Island self initially fails. It's also nice to have such next to Ben's episode, where that character makes the right choice on the Island and in the Alt. One ends in the dark, the other in the light. But by the END, Sayid needs that choice again. And this choice can't be something like, "I will get Keamy who is putting the squeeze on my innocent true love, her children and my brother." No. Keamy is a huge asshole who everyone enjoys seeing get it time and again (likewise, what does that scene reveal about Keamy beyond a good egg joke? Seriously just put him into the Dr. Linus episode already). It has to be a Real Choice. He has to be presented with something like young Ben again. That black and white, no grey. That was a cruel, dark thing Sayid chose to do. I don't care what he thought he was doing either. It was wrong. Juliet knew it was wrong. So did Kate. Sawyer. Sayid needed to choose another way in that instant, but didn't and it nearly cost him his soul. Sayid has to be given that sort of situation and make the right choice this time. He can't just be handed salvation on a platter. I know people argue he had a sad life and deserved happiness. But uh, who had a happy life in that show? I say he has to earn it. In the Alt and on the Island, just like everyone else.

As far as love, I don't even know what to do. If Sayid was meant always to be with Shannon, then everything about him needs needs to be rewritten because Nadia is his motivation for everything. Being on 815. Joining Ben. Blowing up the Island. Going to MiB.

I could believe Sayid dreams his whole life of being with Nadia, marries her only to discover, shockingly, it isn't what he wants. He finds himself thinking of Shannon- who isn't a reminder of his past. What she means to him. How he misses her. Wants her. If they showed that, then it would make sense to find her in the Alt. As it is, Nadia dies and it's Nadia Sayid wants on the Island. It's losing Nadia that drives him to nearly lose all. With all that? It doesn't make sense for him to find Shannon.

It should have been Nadia. Remember what Arabic inscription she wrote on his photo? "You will see me in the next life, if not in this one."

Yeah.

Nadia, or his love for Shannon needs to be rewritten THROUGHOUT the entire series.

That's not to say that if you remove Shannon, suddenly Sayid's Alt works. No. Even as is the narrative with Nadia is off. Take out all the weird niece and nephew stuff. No more imaginary children. I want to say remove the brother since Sayid has no long-standing brotherly issues so it comes across as another arbitrary new conflict with no resolution (he's beaten up, taken to the hospital aaaand...?). IF Nadia is to be kept from Sayid in the afterlife- maybe she can be with his old roommate, Essam instead. Remember him? Sayid goes covert with the CIA to out his terrorist cell? Sayid convinces Essam to kill himself in a suicide bombing, only to confess at the last minute he is a spy because the CIA promises to tell him where Nadia is. In the end, Essam shoots himself right then and there and Sayid stays behind in Australia to give him a proper Muslim funeral. Essam is the reason Sayid eventually ends up on 815.

See what we have to work with there, though? A bomb. The betrayal of a friend to be with Nadia. I know no one remembers Essam, but I think think this has the seeds for a much more interesting story than the weird brother one we were given. Essam feels so betrayed Sayid chooses Nadia over him. It's almost self-flagellation in the afterlife to see him with her- but, like all the other Alts, it speaks to the sort of inner psyche nature of this time and space.

Or better yet- instead of Sayid's Alt being about love- just have it be about Sayid making the right moral choice for once. Turning away from violence and seeking another path. If we want to give Shannon a role, make her be the one to wake him up. Not by snogging in an alleyway (I refuse to even link to that scene), but maybe being the Charlie to his Desmond. Maybe instead of Hurley showing faith in the good of Sayid in the Alt, Shannon is the one who believes in him. Perhaps she plays that critical role in his moment of decision. She's the "young Ben" of a situation. Instead of the nebulous oil-expert-hitman Keamy whatever plot- maybe Sayid is still a "problem solver" for hire and wealthy Shannon is his target. Perhaps bring in Kelvin, in this season of cameos, to hire Sayid to do the job. Kelvin once coerced Sayid into doing what he didn't want to do, why not again? Either way, with Shannon in this pivotal role, when he awakes, it isn't about LOVE with them. At least, not that way. It's about Sayid making the right choice, the choice he wants. Hell, he and Shannon can still be together in the church/LAX, they do share a connection, but just as Locke and Boone don't need OTPs for the shining light, I think Sayid's greater reward is discovering he CAN be who he wants to be: a good, moral man, who isn't just a killer.


Here Comes the Sun, Let's Have a Jin and Tonic



Sun is another one of those characters who becomes passive to the point of being invisible. We almost have to go back and rewrite the last TWO seasons to make her work, because it's literally like Sun's development, growth, character, drive, everything- dies after Season Four. I know this is veering way out of Season Six, and just making up a lot of stuff, but she really needs it and I don't care. Follow me.

So, when we last saw Active Sun, she had pulled a fast one on her father, usurping his company giving her its controlling share (ALL WHILE PREGNANT, biznatches). From there we meandered into Season Five where Sun has a random vendetta against Ben, which never really matters because she forgets about it like five episodes later/for rest of her life, and they actually become practically confidants during the process.

Sun's vendetta never made much sense to me, because she doesn't really know or interact with Ben on the Island in 2004. Moreover, she knows nothing about the dead man's trigger Keamy attaches to his arm to detonate the freighter. For that matter, she never even knows Ben is the one who kills Keamy. The only person who knows all that is Locke and Ben kills HIM before he ever sees Sun. So... why does Sun blame Ben for Jin's "death?" I guess she could blame him tangentially because the freighter was only there for Ben- but if that's true, why doesn't she blame Widmore as well instead scheming with him?

Maybe it could have been something more like, Ben is off doing his own thing, finding Locke, etc. Sun continues on her path of corporate ruin. She rules Paik Industries and with that manpower in her back pocket she has her eyes on a much bigger fish in the sea. The one that sent the Kahana. Widmore. Through some brilliant Wall Street wiles, she has Widmore by the business nads. HBIC doesn't be-GIN to describe her position. Then- Widmore makes a proposition. He's planning a holiday to the Island for a visit to Club MiB, and thanks to a man with a broken leg in Tunisia, Chaz has a bit of 411 Sun might be interested in.

Sun is listening.

Jin is alive. Widmore knows where he is and if Sun helps him with something? He can get her back to her husband. Hell, let him have Jin's ring from Locke. Sun acquiesces, what does Widmore want?

Desmond.

Now, Sun doesn't have to go all evil. She'll probably go to Desmond as a friend. Honestly, this could replace out all the weird Faraday interactions- since that special-in-time plot really goes no where and this speaks more to Desmond's true love theme. Either way, Desmond knows what it's like to be apart from your soul mate, and what it's like being the son-in-law fighting to prove his honor only to be lost. But he also doesn't understand- since when does Sun support Widmore?

Oh, but twist- she doesn't. She'll still take Widmore down. Forever. For Penny and Des. But she needs to find Jin and if Widmore is the way? She'll use him. To use Widmore, she needs Desmond.

It gives Desmond's character power, to choose what's right, but what's hard. He'll have to leave Penny and go to Widmore, but if he does, his family could be free. When he makes the choice, it shows he's still that true-hearted hero. Give Desmond a heart-rending scene with Penny, the inverse of the Constant, where she is scared to death he won't come back again. A goodbye to baby Charlie, just in case.

Desmond goes with Sun, both under the impression Widmore just needs something from him. It's not until they are ambushed and Desmond restrained to be kidnapped, Sun suddenly knows they are both in deep shit and- it's her fault.

This kind of sets up a lot of fun plotlines. Eloise knows Widmore is up to something and so she puts her pieces into motion. She finds Ben. They are going to collect the remaining survivors to go back to the Island before Widmore makes it there. We know from Bram that Widmore is on the "wrong side" of this war- let's make that TRUE. Desmond being absent, leaves Penny vulnerable to Ben, and without Des charging in after Ben lowers the gun, there's no "Ben didn't murder because Desmond stopped him" confusion. It gives more power to Ben's character when he turns and literally walks away from vengeance. AND- the cherry of this SUNdae? We avoid the Sun not-time-traveling weirdess, by putting her on the sub with Widmore to protect Desmond.

Most importantly though, through all this, Sun stays a bad ass.

I know that's a huge amount of re-imagining I said I wouldn't do here, but her character was in such desperate need of reinvigorating- I had no choice.

When we pick up in Season Six, obviously Sun is the one with Widmore, not Jin, but maybe there's some teasing. Sun is with Widmore, but Jin with Zoë-Annie. Always just a degree of separation.

After the huge electromagnetic blast test (seeing if Desmond really can do what they hope), Sun decides she has had enough. She never wanted Desmond in harm's way, so she- hell. Maybe she takes an oar to Widmore. She's the one who breaks Desmond out, not the little Mermayid. So Jin ends up with Widmore, but Sun has left! Desmond, meanwhile, with his mission in mind, wants to find MiB because that's who Widmore says has the answers. I can't say this enough. Decisions define characters. Let Desmond decide to go to MiB, don't let him be led away and tied to a tree and just found there.

Alone, searching for anyone on the Island, is when MiB finds Sun. He offers to lead her to Jin- and it's almost too good to be true, but something feels off. Something is strange about "Locke." Sun pulls away and turns down his offer. She's seen now what that blind drive to find Jin does to her and where it got Desmond. Also, she doesn't trust or believe MiB. When he tries again to get her to go with him, she's positively frightened. She runs away. She's still injured.

And that's Ben finds her, brings her back to camp.

Sun wakes, but she never loses her English. She can tell her old friends Widmore is here and Ilana, Ben and Richard know what this means. Everyone is set into motion. The war has come.

Within the group, she's the one with Widmore intel, so she's already going to play a bigger role- but there's even the opportunity for her to subtly influence the narrative around her. Once she's on the beach, helping her friends and she finds the Drive Shaft ring? Pay that off. Later, in MiB's camp, when Claire seems so lost and cruel, have Sun give that ring to her. It's Claire's flicker of life moment. She realizes, she isn't alone. Someone died for her and her baby. She is loved even though MiB helped her forget she ever was. This moment, not only pays off a beat from three seasons ago, it also helps Claire's arc along, so by the time Kate talks her back over to herself, we know it's been a long time coming. Claire has been slowly remembering and getting back in touch with her inner spirit all season long- and it all starts with receiving that ring.

Ironically, with all this happening with Sun, I don't mind Jin as he is. I think I don't mind because Jin's journey has always been about becoming the husband he promised he'd be. That promise is forgotten when he strives for respect and acceptance from Mr. Paik, but since coming to the Island, he works to overcome his mistakes and dedicate himself to Sun. By Season Six, he's ready the be that husband- he just needs to find his wife to let her know. Sun's journey, however, is always about learning to stand alone and be strong within herself. Not be the Rich Girl. Not be the Meek Wife. But a Strong Woman. Complete. A wife, a mother, a businesswoman. She's Sun-hwa who never "loses her voice."

Back to Jin though, keep the camera scene with Widmore. Keep the stuff with Claire. All that's nice.

When Sun and Jin meet- take the fence out of the equation. Distracting as hell. Never let them speak English in their moments of high emotion. When they are in the sub for example? KOREAN.

Ah, the sub. Now, since Sun has worked and fought so hard, it's ironic she's pinned passive with no escape- but Jin gets to finally fulfill his character journey and do nothing else but be by her side.

And as that vessel is fills with ocean water- they remember their baby. We know it's impossible and Jin will never get to her, we know dying with Sun is the only choice he has, but it's unnatural to have parents like these not thinking about their child as they face death. For Sun in particular. For her, Ji-Yeon isn't just a child, but a baby she was never supposed to have. The baby who reaffirmed her love and saved her marriage. The baby who she thought was the ONLY memento of her husband for three lonely years. Have Sun and Jin cling to each other in the blue and cold, shivering, whispering Korean and then we can be struck- seeing them and realizing there is nothing more beautiful and poignant, than these two parents holding to each other, knowing they will never see their baby, knowing they will never be a family, and that though they finally are together, it's almost all over.

And this can become the crux of their Alt. The Alt, for the Kwons, is about that family coming together. Jin being there to see his daughter, being the loving partner he always wanted to be. I would give him the chance to turn away from Mr. Paik's job. Jin learned long ago, Mr. Paik is a speck in the universe, who doesn't matter and he and Sun can do anything together. Sun in the Alt is confident in herself and with her lover. She's unafraid of her father. She's the one with the plan to get away. Lose the cheeky cameos. When Sun is injured make it believable. Don't have Sun half-remember Locke to just to confuse matters.

This Alt is about a couple, who against all odds, forged a way to be together and are going to be parents. Together. Free of family ties. Free of vengeance. They have each other. Their baby. They are. All. Together. And that is all that matters.


Sense of Humemor



Desmond was such a puzzle. I sat for days on this one trying to sort out what to do with him in the Alt. He is so out of character there, and not in an organic way that makes a sort of sense to the situation. Like Ben in the Alt is still Ben, just his personality quirks are in different measure. Quiet, humble, kind- but still Ben. Hurley in the Alt is confident, in charge, makes his own luck- but he's still Hurley. Desmond starts out that way- but by the time he's creepily stalking Claire and running over Locke 12,000 times- there's no semblance or permutation to Desmond there. It's just him acting crazed and being the only psychotically active character on the entire show. I also ask myself, why is he being this way? I mean you can always narrow down Desmond's actions to being related to Penneh- but what does running Locke over have to do with Penny? He finds her. Has her. Shouldn't he spend his time waking her up? When we were first presented with him in the Alt I thought there was urgency, he had to bring everyone together by any means necessary because they HAD to remember before something happened. As is revealed though- they are in a place where there is no time. There is no urgency. Time isn't running out. There is no reason for Desmond to obsessively pursue all the characters in the manner he does. I began to realize the only reason he is as he is in the Alt is because they strip the other characters of any opportunity to be active in their own stories. They need Desmond to come in and act like a plot vehicle and drive things forward because otherwise, nothing is happening- and such results in the complete and utter disillusionment of any version of Desmond we know and love.

For a good week I pondered this, when I was talking to Basalt and said something about the Alt almost should have nothing to do with Desmond waking up people, but should have everything to do he and Penny coming back together. Then I realized: that's it. Since we had been going through making all the characters active- the reason I couldn't figure out Desmond, was because he didn't NEED to play that active role anymore. The characters were doing it for themselves.

Him as instigator, never made much sense anyhow. By what rules does Desmond abide? And why he is the one to take on this job. Is he the last to die? Does he just really, really want to move to the great beyond and doesn't care if everyone else needs to sort out their own shit first? The producers say it's because he's "special." Which is basically like saying, "just cuz, that's why." Is that really why though? Desmond's specialness refers to electromagnetism and how blasts of it allow him to glimpse the future and past. It has nothing to do with motivations in the Alt. Also with Desmond's rules- I love how since Hurley is a Nice Guy, he's nudged to get a little kissu- no running him over with a bus. But Ben and Locke, our baddies? Get violence. There's no reason for that behavior beyond being shocking and because it's placating the audience: punish those bad guys! Even though here, as far as we know, they aren't bad at all and such just makes Desmond look insane!

Besides, such totally negates what we are trying to say about human connections and how love, acceptance, forgiveness and kindness are what bind us, wake us, and what we have to let in to move on.

We also spend so much time with Desmond being unsettling and pushing buttons and diverging so far out of character as to make him completely unlikable and unbelievable- we totally miss out on the ONE scene we should have had with him: Penny remembering. The episode is called, "Happily Ever After" - where is our fairy tale ending?

I think the start of Desmond's episode is great. Showing him working with Widmore, being that respected businessman. The capable son figure. Great stuff. I also have no problem with Charlie's car maneuver jump-starting Desmond's journey. The ONLY time it's ok to have someone else "drive" the action in someone's arc, is at that "call to action" moment, especially when dealing with a reluctant hero. Desmond is the preeminent reluctant hero. He's that everyday man, thrust into extreme circumstance. He's always a good man though and always tries to do right- but all he ever, ever wants is a quiet life with Penny. He's constantly pulled out of that dream though, to be the hero of his story.

Charlie coming to Desmond is the reluctant hero's call to duty. I would rework the Charlie scenes so it's more like him digging to see if Desmond knows the feeling he's talking about, because he feels a connection to Desmond. Instead of his completely on-the-nose and bizarre conversation about love in the bar, which we're supposed to believe is natural sounding:

DES: Ok, well it's 2 o'clo--
CHARLIE: So, person I don't know, do you believe in love? Let me monologue my life story.

Play up the angle of Charlie knowing things. Maybe not completely. He doesn't understand, but he's further along than anyone else we've met at this point. Even though I just wrote a novel on how Desmond's forcing people to remember bits are too violent for the character, I love the car crash with Charlie trying to make his point, because I expect that sort of volatile response from Charlie. It's in character. Dramatic. Also that scene with the hand, we're drawing from a powerful human moment, not just a romantic one, which bound those two characters in life. It's a great inciting incident for Desmond. It pulls Desmond the Reluctant Hero out from his perfect sterile life and sets him on his way to reconnect with himself.

Pretty much everything else can stay. Eloise is all-knowing. Daniel stops Desmond because he remembers him as well, but just through a haze. Instead of being so ham-fisted ("eating chocolate," "you felt love"), make that scene more about two people who are on the cusp of remembrance, both WORKING towards meaning. Faraday sees a girl and suddenly starts remembering things. Writing equations. Desmond seems familiar too. Does Desmond remember him? All Desmond has at that point is a sense of something though, no real faces beyond Charlie's, a feeling about Penny. That conversation is about two people who feel something is going on, but are not sure what. Faraday in particular is looking for someone else with that shared sense, so he's not alone. The rest of Desmond's Alt arc should be about finding Penny, playing that out- to the point she too remembers.

In Our Version of LOST, we last see Penny when Desmond chooses to leave and see Widmore- this will be the first time in a season we've seen them find each other again. As heart-wrenching as our make-believe goodbye was, that's how powerful finding your best friend, true love in death should be. This should have been our Constant the Sequel moment. Not just Desmond fainting then asking Penny out on a date and her going, "Sure" - rape whistle face. Again, a show that is ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS™, why would you deny your wayward hero's reunion with his soulmate? Why rob the audience of that moment?

From there, Desmond should be less about forcibly trying to make people remember and more- just shepherding them along. When he pretends to be Oceanic calling Jack? How he is with Hurley? That should be him with everyone. Just tapping players around, helping them get to where they need to be to remember life and find their loved ones again. He knows everyone has to let go of their issues to move on, he just wants to make sure they all do. His mission comes out of caring and empathy though, not... whatever it is. Most importantly though, he doesn't DO IT FOR THEM, doesn't force the situation, doesn't make them wake up. He just helps them get there. If someone is stuck, or languishing in their fake life- he arranges things to get them to the next step. Desmond always wants to help his friends. It makes sense with his character. In a season of WHO IS THE NEXT JACOB, this probably would play well too, because it makes you wonder if Desmond's tactics are a clue to who he is, even though in the end it proves be red herring.

I would take out the really obtuse weird scenes with Claire. Would they play out in the real world like that? No. As such, cut them. I'd believe the scenes more, say, if Desmond shows up as a lawyer to bring Claire to Jack. "Are you Miss Claire Littleton? We were told by your mother in Australia you were in Los Angeles." Something more like that. He could do the same with Kate. I would cut Hurley and Sayid out of that equation and make it only about Kate getting to where she needs to be. Kate confesses everything (to finally be responsible for her crime), totally would have her mom help her make bail and Desmond poses as a lawyer. He's like Neo in the Matrix- yeah, he's not really a lawyer, but now he knows now how to bend the system of reality. Later, he tells her to get dressed and presentable for her arraignment, picks her up and then is all: "Oh, I have to make a stop, I'll be right back" sort of thing- pulling over at the concert grounds, leaving Kate suspiciously alone until who should walk by but Claire. Kate slips from the car to follow the girl she's drawn to, and Desmond comes back oh-so pleased with how things are coming together and drives off. That sort of thing.

Likewise Desmond doesn't run over Locke. It's too cruel and too violent. Too removed from anything Desmond would do in life and it reads like he's punishing LOCKE for MIB's actions, the hell? If Locke, like Jack, is a character struggling to let go and is in need of a PUSH to get going- the "car" could be something closer related to Locke's actual life. Maybe something as simple as shattering glass can be his spark, reminding him of the time he was pushed out the window by his father. I mean, for a show that pulls all the time from pop culture, couldn't they give us something like Green Bird from Cowboy Bebop? Imagine glass, plink, plink, plink, and Locke just getting that SENSE of something. His big reveal still comes later with Jack, through a positive emotion, but getting him there could have been composed so much better and we could lose the bizarre murderous Desmond bits in the meanwhile. (Btw, Jack's death should have felt like Spike's ending, just saying). IF Desmond puts Locke into a sort of false harm's way, it's for Ben's benefit. It helps him move on to save his once-victim, speaks to his character, his issues and can be HIS first sense of something. He runs over to help Locke and has one weird flash memory of he and Locke in some other time and place. Waves of jealousy and anger and regret, which he shakes off to do the right thing. Such works so much better than his flashes coming while being beaten, which is funny (I guess) but tells us nothing about his character.

The point is, make Desmond act within character in the Alt. All our other characters should be given the chance to sort out their own issues, but Desmond is always hovering outside like a guide when they need help. He'll put things in motion, but he'll never force someone to get there. There's no need to force them if they're all active. Then when people do remember, he's there to take them away. Like how nice would it be, if, say Ben remembers his whole horrible life and is devastated and crushed, sitting in the dark outside the Rousseau home and Desmond is the first one to find him, "come with me, brotha."

There's a Desmond I would follow.

On the Island, I actually am pretty ok with how Desmond plays out. Desmond, like he always has, flashes mentally in time but instead of glimpsing a future moment in his life- he sees into the afterlife and mistakes it for reality- a reality where there is no Island, just he and Penny. He wants so badly to escape the fate of the Island, his life that's so interrupted, he doesn't care what he has to do. It isn't about which side or evil or good with Desmond. Desmond is in it for Penny. For love. He doesn't understand what he has seen, but his actions to follow are understandable and true to Desmond Hume.


Charlie in Charge



Lord all mighty. Charlie was a character I didn't think I had anything to say about. I thought perhaps I would just have him the first one to remember everything, just to cut to the chase and make sense of his maladroit conversations with Desmond. When I said that to So. Africa though, he (rightly) took issue with it. It was too weird having him remember everything from the start. But what WOULD Charlie's journey be? It took a couple of days (! this is why this is taking so long) to sort out what needed to happen with him, but with the GUIDING SUPPORT OF MY FIANCE who is annoying and points out when I am wrong, I think we came to a good conclusion for the character.

I think where I struggled the most with Charlie was him remembering everything with Claire. First off, there are just too many memory montages happening right there and then.

KATE: REMEMBER SEIZURE.
CLAIRE: REMEMBER SEIZURE.
CHARLIE: REMEMBER SEIZURE.
AARON: REMEM--
ME: OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Likewise, I asked every friend I could what they thought was Charlie's big defining life moment/human connection was and not one person said Aaron's birth. That was for Kate and Claire. Everyone across the board said Charlie sacrificing his life for Claire, Aaron, Desmond and everyone else. There is no moment more powerful for that character than the Greatest Hits "Not Penny's Boat" sequence. I mean I get what they are trying to say, that Claire is his big deal- but that scene is still about Claire, even though she isn't there. Likewise, the car scene is too strong and too good. It makes for a much bigger emotional impact than him just standing there stealing Kate's Birthing Remembrance Thunder. Charlie is NOT important in that scene, that is always about Kate and Claire.

I think the car scene should be where Charlie puts it all together, but when Desmond still isn't quite there, "Why don't you remember?" Charlie takes off, like he does in the hospital, in terror he's still the only one who knows. He rips around the corners, running like a mad man, when suddenly he sees someone he recognizes: Claire. She's at the hospital getting another ultrasound and looking better than when we last saw her. I have no problem, btw, with a certain Dr. Burke tending to her.

Charlie is overwhelmed and tries to get to her and make her remember, but it goes sour. Claire isn't ready and he scares her. Charlie is restrained, pulled from the room, screaming after Claire. We learn you can't FORCE someone to remember- in our Alt, it has to come from the person reconnecting to some powerful human moment from their life. Charlie IS important to Claire, but not the defining thing she needs to move on.

We'll really establish this rule, "they have to remember on their own," after Desmond wakes up with Penny. Charlie is despondent because Claire isn't with him (I know we're all supposed to be overjoyed when we figure out we're dead, but I would like a more varied emotional response and at this point where the audience is still thinking the Alt is some alternate reality, I think Charlie despairing, "She doesn't remember me" will play more realistically). Charlie will be Desmond's first recruit. Maybe, as much as I love George, this could be Desmond's "I have a plan" scene. He explains to Charlie, he can't make Claire remember, she has to do it herself. -But if Charlie stays with him, does what Desmond says, he knows, knows, knows Claire will be with them soon. Charlie has to trust him. Do what he says.

The next time we find Charlie is when Hurley goes to him. Since Sayid is driving his own destiny and waking up with Shannon, Hurley is freed up from having to give the epiphany pep talk. Instead, a depressed Charlie is in his motel when a tap comes at the door. When Charlie looks out he sees Hurley there, out on the walkway. Ah, great. Charlie anticipates another person not remembering, but he is surprised when the door opens and Hurley does remember him with open arms and one of those Hurley hugs. Just the sort Charlie needs. Just the sort of hug you would share with a bestie who you never got to say goodbye to before they died. Sure Hurley has seen visions of Charlie- but this time they are BOTH there. Both more real somehow.

Take out all the drugging stuff. That's just another way of making a character passive. Ok, Charlie doesn't even choose to be at the concert. Uh... what do we learn about Charlie then? You can still have Hurley tell Charlie this is the most important thing Charlie will do. Then he says he'll give Charlie a ride to the concert because he doesn't want him "driving off the dock again, dude" or something similarly cute. Charlie makes a crack about a VW bus.

It gives us the reunion scene we never got with those two. Shows again, this place isn't just about romantic love, but the love shared between all people in our lives.

At the concert, Charlie is shoved out on the stage, though he doesn't get the point of playing until he gets out there in the lights and music and sees her. Claire. Right there. Suddenly Charlie really starts playing music. Not just playing- but Playing. For her. For Claire. They kind of had this idea, but this way it's a CONSCIOUS EFFORT and that's what makes the difference. Charlie is playing to help Claire. Oh, have her notice. Oh, have her remember. Please, please, please. Claire makes eye contact with Charlie. He lights up- and suddenly something sparks for Claire. Flashes. She does remember something through Charlie! He does matter to her! She gets up from the table so she can still have her birthing scene with Kate who finds her out away from people just like in real life, but that stays a moment between those mothers and the little son they share. By the time Charlie has escaped the stage Claire remembers everything. Even him. When he runs up to her and his little turniphead, she laughs and says she found the ring, (because in our version Sun gives it to her) thank you so much, Charlie.

Charlie's story is a tiny one in the scheme of things. We're talking about a handful of scenes, but there's no reason why he can't have his own arc and drive the action of his few appearances. Plot-wise, we lay the foundations for how the Alt works. We can't force people to remember, we can only be there and wait for when they are ready to do it themselves. Character-wise, we reinforce the relationship shared by Desmond and his son's namesake. Give proper closure to the Hurley/Charlie friendship. Even Charlie's silly concert is about him WORKING to have Claire remember, not just seriously embarrassing with a second memory montage slapped onto the coattails of someone else's. These are important character beats here, let's not tune them out.


Frankly, My Dear, I Do Give a Damn



Frank is the one character I love not really having an arc or history or story. He's like the Ferris Bueller of LOST. He doesn't NEED to evolve. He just IS.

This said, that doesn't mean he doesn't get to be active in the narrative. Frank is probably the most useless character of the entire season, and that's saying something in a season full of cold, limp fish.

So let's give him something to do.

We've stripped out the plane plot from MiB and Widmore. MiB now just wants to destroy the Island and Widmore is there to make it his once more. As such, we just have a plane just sitting over there with nothing to do.

When the Island conflict starts rising, Frank is the one to say he has a way off the Island. Ajira 316. Right off the bat, just like that!

And like every single audience member watching Season Six, not one character thinks his plan is viable.

"Dude, didn't it crash?"
"There's a tree through the cockpit, in case you forgot."
"A plane that heavy? It's sinking into the sand, you'll never get enough speed for lift off."

But Frank is all, what the hell. He crash-landed the damn thing. He isn't your average pilot. He'll get it going again.

And this is Frank's mission.

As a sort of light fodder to palette cleanse from the heavy philosophical feast. Frank actively moves across the Island to get back over to his plane. He bounces from group to group, stopping to help when he can, but nonplussed and blazé as all the while. Every person he sees tells him he's lost his mind. I, for instance, would love if even MiB gives him a raised brow saying, "You'll never get that plane to take off" and Frank comes back with, "Don't tell me what I can't do, dead man."

HILARITY.

I would lose his non-death sequence because it's confusing and unbelievable and takes away from the real deaths. When the rest of the story picks up, this F-story literally just goes away. There's a ton of action to cover. Huge battles. Gods vanishing. Monster killings. We forget about Frank. The characters forget about Frank. He's literally gone for episodes. Then, how exciting is it when the Island is literally falling into the ocean and Ben's forgotten walkie goes off and it's Miles in the cockpit with a whirring engine.

Frank fixed the plane.

And it's ready for lift off.

It's fun. It's hilarious. It's in the nick of time. It's Frank.

I don't know how to describe how we feel seeing it, but it's probably not dissimilar to how the Millennium Falcon crew felt when the old girl finally made the jump to hyperspace and the stars blurred to lines.


I Can See for Miles and Miles



Miles' story is spread through out the rest of the character's write ups so there's not much more to detail here. To start, Miles in the Alt is perfect. We know he has a close relationship with his father through what he says and don't need much more. Only suggestion: if he mentions having a girlfriend, show her. Otherwise, you don't need that line.

On Island: have Miles make use of his skills. He can read the dead. That's a pretty handy thing on Craphole Island. He is the first person to have a hint Jacob is more human than god and that his connection to MiB is deeper than any of his followers even know. Miles works with Ben and Richard, carrying out a desperate plan- and is the one to get a read off Widmore's body and learn about the plot with Desmond. Things like this. The guy has an amazing unique talent. Let him use it. Not just for diamonds either.

Miles is also the one to find Frank and the plane- probably running as far away as possible from the big battle. He's tearing through the brush. Stops. Sees something. Pulls an "oh shi--" face- and we cut away. Is he hurt? What did he see? But it's not until like two episodes later, we find out the answer when he calls his friends saying Frank and the plane are good to go.

Miles is cheeky and cute, but let's make the Encino man work.


Where for Art Thou, Juliet



It should be hinted Juliet is working on her own issues from life while the other characters move around her. She isn't just an extension of the men in her life. She makes an appearance with Claire. She has more scenes with Sawyer. She has presence. I think her scene with Sun should be when we learn what Alt Juliet has been up to; when Sun and Jin are so worried about their unborn child, Juliet tells them about how direly ill her sister was, and how she pulled through and now has an amazing little boy named Julian Juliet gets to see every weekend. Juliet KNOWS Sun will be ok, because she's pulled people through worse. Again, it's just a line of dialogue but we infer Juliet finally gets to reunite with her sister and the nephew she never got to meet. We know she has tied up everything and is just waiting for Sawyer to do the same at this point.


Cops and Traitors



Not much to say that hasn't been covered above. Michael and Ana should have been in the end sequence, period. If LIBBY gets a ticket to ride. If Ben is invited. If Sayid is forgiven. These two should have been in the end sequence. Period.

They are hard characters to tie back to the main narrative because they have no strong ties to any of the remaining characters- but I think, with the little background scenes we have mentioned, we can imply that they are working through their Alts, even if we don't see them wake up. It's like in the Real Season Six, when we see Liam helping get Charlie out of jail, wrapping up issues he started back in Season One. Don't need the details. We just see he's there, finally THERE for his brother.

So, from Ana being with Sawyer, we know she has a kid and maybe she can mention her mom babysits. We know from this, that she's working out her issues. Likewise, Michael makes an appearance at Ben's school dealing with Walt and Tom.

I think there just needs to be one final small scene, which takes place when Desmond gets Kate out of jail. George is waiting for his boss and charge, and just as the towncar takes off. We see a cop car tear up to the curb the EXACT moment a gangly man steps off it.

Ana and Michael.

What the hell are you doing, yells Ana, ever hear of a crosswalk? She says, getting out of the car. Ever hear of pedestrians? Says Michael right back. And with that we know that we know these two are in for so much more than just a jaywalking ticket.


The Original Ricky Ricardo



Richard is the first of the Big Heavy Hitting characters I have left. Well, lie, as I am writing this right now, I really ought to be writing Sawyer, but I'm stuck on his Alt story and am sick of waiting for inspiration to strike when I have a lot to say about Richard. You would have never known that though, because by the time you're reading this, Sawyer's section will run right underneath Kate's.

Anyhow- Richard is another character I feel they set up for a lot, not just in the series over all, but in particular Season Six- then just let fizzle. We are given a history. A wife. Fears. Desires. -AKA: A lot of things- none of which never pan out.

Let's start with his episode. I know I'm way in the minority here, but I didn't like it. It isn't BAD, at all, I just think it could have given us more than it did.

First off, it never should have been a stand alone episode, that is one where the narrative is set entirely set in the past. That right is reserved only for the Jacob episode. Jacob and MiB are set up as these demigod figures, their backstory IS a legend. Richard is one of our characters. Ok, immortal, but his episode should have played like every other character centric, which came before. When his episode ran, the main story stopped DEAD so we could learn about his wife. It's an enchanting sort of epic poem, but you can't have something stop the main narrative from moving forward. Ever. It's not like we learn other details that deepen our understanding of present trials either. MiB wants to kill Jacob? So Season Five. Jacob is seen as good and MiB bad? Yeah, got it. Jacob made Richard immortal? Knew that too. See what I mean? We see these things play out, sure, but it's just reiterated information. We did get sweet deets like how the Black Rock brought down a 5-mile-high statue, but did even that move our main story along? Unfortunately, no.

I feel Richard's centric instead of being solely his origin story, could have been something more through-the-ages. Obviously, some flashback material will stay, just condensation needs to happen. Keep Isabella, the ship, tsunami and that first tit the tat with the knife. Just condense all of it. Open with Isabella dying and Ricardo praying over her, whispering some Spanish phrase that's special to them. The doctor is already in attendance but won't further help the couple because they can't pay. Isabella passes. Ricardo, enraged by the physician's apathy, accidentally murders him. Cut to the prison and Ricardo being sold into indentured servitude. I know we love long drawn out horse angst races in the rain, but just collapse all that to one sequence and cut the atmospheric lard. That sort of thing.

If you go with a vignettes-of-the-past structure, so many nagging mythos mysteries can be resolved. The Purge. Fertility. How Jacob works, how Richard communicates with him. Show it all.

In one vignette, round out the relationship with Ben. They've known each other longer than some of our main characters (see Sun) have been alive. They deserve a beat. As a boy, is Ben a sort of adoptive son to Richard? Does Richard feel kinship because they've both seen their dead loved ones? Does Richard know MiB can take the form of the dead, and fears he'll claim the little boy and wants to protect him? Does he realize, like himself, this little boy is tied forever to the fate of the Island? What did this mean? Show. It.

I am really, really tempted to make this flashback scene happen during one of the first Otherly mothers dying. When a young Ben sees it happen, he can ask questions- can't we help her- and whatever Richard says illuminates on the fertility problem. Is some poison still leaking out from the Swan detonation site? Or does a mysterious reply from Richard insinuate there's something more metaphysical going on? It's just one scene, but it does a lot. Plays up this relationship. Gives us something tangible about the fertility narrative. Shows how such becomes an obsession for Ben who thinks it can be fixed, but explains why Richard thinks such a goal is feckless.

Cover the Purge explanation in a scene delving further into the dynamic Richard shares with Widmore. A note comes, saying it's time for the Dharma Initiative to go away, they are too close to the secrets of the Island. Widmore takes the instructions violently literal. Richard argues, but Widmore is resolute. He seems so off, the things he says, does. Has for months. And suddenly Richard realizes, it's because Widmore has been compromised by MiB. Again, just another scene filling in the blanks. Jacob did ask for the Purge, Widmore planned it, Ben and Richard had no choice but to help execute.

I am being sloppy giving examples, but you get the idea how this episode could have functioned.

The important thing though, while rounding up those sort of non-critical but favourite mysteries- tell us something about Richard every time. Show us how Ricardo became Richard. We see him bury the cross, but what came after? Was it when he found his first group of people? Was that when Ricardo took a breath and in English introduced himself as Richard? There's a lot of interesting character stuff to explore. Richard never, ever, ever gives any hint of Spanish ancestry, let alone that he is nursing heartache. Give us the moments we didn't see. Show Richard hiding Ricardo because it's too painful. Perhaps after little Ben is upset Richard can't help the dying mother, when the Others weren't watching, Ricardo prays and asks for Isabella to come to him again, saying that little phrase they used to whisper to each other.

Btw, you know how I am so horrible and always saying to cut, cut, cut out all the religious jargon? Here's an episode where you can relish it. Why? That imagery is intrinsic to Richard and his world view. Since it's so tied to the character, it's perfectly acceptable. It's not the writers trying to shoehorn in a point over and over and over and over and over because they can't be bothered to think of their own metaphor to convey faith and sacrifice.

Yeah, so much more ground could have been covered in this episode. Fleshing out mythological details. Relationships. Most importantly though, we could have learned about Richard. Not just who he once was- but how our clean-cut nonplussed guy came from a poor Spaniard from the Canary Islands.

On Island, as you know, Richard is in charge of the Temple. He was always the de facto leader when there was no mortal figurehead for the Others, it's confusing when Dogen shows up and seems like he has so much power. Dogen is the temple keeper, but one who still answers to Richard. Also, letting Richard be in charge at the Temple, gives him more to do- since so much of his time now is just spent running around being harried. How much more engaging is it to imagine Richard man the Others, fortifying the Temple against the impending Monster attack? Much better than him just being knocked out and strung up from a tree, I'll tell you what. Also, Ilana comes in and rescues him during Sundown. I like when girls get to play with the big boys.

I would probably reveal his mortality sooner as an explanation as to why he is acting crazed. Richard's backstory reveals he fears dying because he thinks the afterlife holds damnation. In 2007, he's lost Jacob for direction and now fears he's susceptible to death. I love the scene with Jack and the dynamite, but I would probably lose it to keep Richard's fear real: he IS vulnerable now. He does have something to lose. Give that death-defying scene to Jack. Make it be his lighthouse moment. Make Life and Death real for Richard.

In lieu of those scenes, build on the relationships Richard has. He and Ben talk about Jacob. THEY NEVER DO THIS ON THE SHOW. These two gave up their whole lives for Jacob's cause, Richard brought Ben into the fold, you'd think they'd have things to discuss. Have Ilana convey her backstory to Richard. Lay it all out there.

Then- on the same train of the thought- for every flashback vignette with Widmore and Ben, have a present day counterpart. If you have a scene with Richard schooling a young Ben, pair it with Richard seeing the man Ben becomes- broken and covered with the blood of a deity. Richard is already doubting why he followed Jacob all this time, reinforce it with that sort of powerful image. If you have a scene where Richard realizes Widmore has gone over to the dark side, pair that with Richard learning for the first time in decades Widmore is returning to the Island- he knows what this means. Two story lines should always support each other.

Give Richard an actual plan. Blowing up the plane is laughable and we've taken it out of the equation anyways. Ilana's only instruction is get the candidates to Richard. Listen to what he has to say. It suggests Richard knows something, right? Give him something. Something big.

Insert 5 hours of brainstorming here.

First, give Richard the speech about the candidates. Ilana is there to protect them and she does so without question, but it's Richard who understands their greater purpose. The candidates hear that term over and over- but no one goes, "a candidate for what?" Have someone ask that damned logical question and have him explain it so we can avoid a really awkward scene with Jacob later.

I think Richard's plan stems from his first interaction with Jacob and MiB. Instead of Dogen, Richard is the one who with the notion if you stab MiB with that pugio, he'll be disabled. Since Richard runs the Temple now, he has access to that relic blade. Now, they just need to draw MiB out...

Off to Dharmaville it is! To Ben's secret room in a secret room. Ben goes to flip on the fence, but Richard tells him no- they're going to need that off for what they are about to attempt. The three, Miles is with them, cross into New Otherton, into Ben's house, into the summoning chamber. How does Richard know about this place? Who do you think showed Ben how to use it! If Miles needs a moment to ask any questions about how it works and Richard wants to give us any sort of concrete answer to clear up any (and probable) vagueness surrounding the logistics of the sewer transit system, now is the time. Likewise, Miles is totally allowed to make a plunger/toilet/outhouse jab at this junction.

When the three leave the closet to engage the rest of their plan- they come out and are met with a familiar face: Widmore. Everyone raises a gun. Widmore says he knows what they are doing and doesn't care. He's made good on his promise to MiB, he brought Desmond to the Island. Now he's after what he always wanted. The Island. He didn't care if these three idiots want to take out his old boss.

Double cross. Widmore is in it for Widmore.

Miles can't take this. He's out like trout. Ben wrests walkies from their captives and tosses one to Miles. He might need it.

Richard and Ben scuffle to contain Widmore and Zoë-Annie in the hidden closet. Time is running out. The Monster is coming. Everything is fraying at the edges and there're complications- MiB has a plot with Desmond? What! The Island and everything might still be in danger regardless of what happens here. So what are they going to do? Get to the survivors out there? Tell them? Find Desmond? What about the Monster coming? They need at least two people to carry out this plan.

Here Richard makes a choice, he'll go this alone. He'll risk himself and the assassination plot to buy time so Ben can get away to find Desmond and the others. Richard understands this could be his end. He's staring down his worst fear: death. But he has to do it.

Has to.

The scene that follows is Richard's Greatest Hits moment. He takes on the Monster, so his old friend can get help ensure the safety of all.

To no avail though, because Ben stops the moment Richard is flung far into the air. When the Smoke clears, we know Richard isn't going to live forever anymore. I know it's not a popular notion, but I promise it's the one most natural to his story. Richard dies. He dies in a scene that matters. His sacrifice is real. It's for his friends. The Island. Ben sees it all.

Richard's death will fuel The Final Plan of Benjamin Linus mentioned 6 years ago in this write up. Ben outs Widmore's double cross to MiB, in a move made to look like he's changing war sides in the 11th hour. MiB threatens Penny as retribution for Widmore's betrayal. Widmore pleads, leave his daughter alone and he'll take MiB to Desmond just over in-- BAM. Before Widmore can give up the goods, Ben kills him in a barrage of bullets. It's wild, but Ben seems to be on MiB's good side, for now. When he gets a moment though, he contacts Miles using that walkie. Miles has to come ghostbust, stat, find out what dead C Widdy knows about Desmond if he wants everyone else to live.

Miles returns to Dharmaville and finds not one, but two corpses. Richard lies by the swings, where he buried Alex.

I think instead of Miles plucking a grey and setting up Michard into eternity, we can have this scene, giving us the resolution to Richard's centric. Miles, armed with a walkie and teamed with Ben, scans Richard's last thoughts to see if there's any more to this plan they're supposed to carry on. Instead of hearing Richard though, he hears Ricardo. Miles calls Ben over the walkie. He wants to know why Richard is thinking in Spanish, but Ben has no idea. Since when does Richard know Spanish? What is he saying? Miles repeats the phrase, Richard was thinking it over and over. Ben still doesn't get it. We do though and the lingering shot on Richard's cross, because he doesn't lose it mid-season, seals the deal. He's repeating those last words he shared with his wife over a century ago again. Suddenly we know, even though he's gone, Richard isn't damned. In fact, he's blessed. He finally found his Isabella again. He's happy. At peace. And so are the thematic elements of the season as such upholds the concept of love spans even death.

Miles none-the-wiser though, closes Richard's eyes and lets him know, hey, no habla, man, but Linus says he'll be back to bury you.


Here Comes the Man in Black



Man in Black. Monster. No name. Because it isn't Samuel. No body. No resolution.

It's hard to take LOST seriously when after 6 years of showing over and over and over the shades of grey in humanity, the ultimate battle is literally so black and white. Good against Evil, with a villain lacking any nuance, or so we're told. He's Pure Ebil. The world WILL END if he gets loose because we SAY SO.

When we finally get his back story though, ah! It's revealed, like every baddie who came before him, MiB is in fact not as evil as he has been made out to be. He was a man, a boy, an infant. He's not the physical manifestation of hell. It's like a super version of Ben- we have an antagonist who springs from from this sad tale where he was once a child who never did a thing wrong besides being born.

From childhood, MiB's only desire is to get away from his life and see the world. We hear him say it many times, but I would give him some physical gesture to express this longing, so we can use it later. When young MiB gazes out to sea, imagine that little kid, with his senet game stuck in the sand, cupping his hand so it almost looks like a ship out on the water, wistful, wishful.

Let every scene with the two boys reveal their natures. Jacob is stronger, loyal, truthful, but MiB is smarter, questioning, secretive. When they are hunting boar perhaps, how does Jacob catch the animal opposed to MiB? It could be interesting if Jacob tires of chasing it and gets angry, but MiB is the one who sorts out a foothold trap- you know the sort, where the harder the animal struggles to get away, the tighter the snare pulls. Jacob doesn't like the boar's screaming and wants to go away, but MiB is willing to wait to see what happens- that is until their hunt is discovered by men who have found the Island.

I know we have that scene, but we're making it work double time. The hunting techniques tell us a little about each boy. Jacob doesn't want to watch or get involved, he's emotional. MiB is less empathic, but very clever and willing to wait for a result.

Likewise you can use the snare as a metaphor for MiB as he grows.

MiB learns the disgusting truth behind Mother and runs away, but like the boar, the more MiB pulls- the tighter the hold Mother has over him. He becomes her, despite how white hot his hatred burns. Her opinions, world views, become his. But no matter how much loathing MiB bears Mother, for her murdering, lying, he still needs her approval. The second she opens her arms to him, there in the well, after ALL she has done to him, after all his anguish, he goes right to her, collapsing emotionally- at 30 some odd years old! He loathes her, but needs her because she made it so.

All the while you have the two brothers, best of friends and rivals for a mother's love. It starts with the senet board: Jacob sees it as evidence Mother loves his brother best, even though Jacob works 10 times harder to be in her favor. Later, the Island represents the ultimate gameboard prize between the boys.

This is a great story! It's what we are given. We find even our ultimate villain was once a boy, a man, robbed of any sort of life before he was murdered and his soul was trapped.

Where could this story go now after this surprising turn?

Nowhere.

Suck it up, because that's all we got. There is no resolution whatsoever. After this huge reveal, MiB goes right back to being a stock, vague source of evil.

If there's to be no follow through, what is even the point of the reveal?

MiB needed a conclusion. His arc a denouement. It's no stretch to imagine over the centuries how angry MiB became. His physical angst made metaphysical by his... condition. He became crueler. Colder. But at his core, he is still a man. And still that boy who wants to get away.

The show did give us small insights to his character: his soft spot for Claire who was almost a reinvention of Mother, for example, but I would play it up. It isn't even difficult for our characters to learn more about MiB- because we have Miles and Jacob's ashes. Usually when Miles reads a dead source, he only gets a sense of their last thoughts- but hell, Jacob isn't a normal guy. The information download could be different. Immense. After outing Ben's crime, Miles can come to him separatly, conveying his new-found knowledge of Jacob and this fake Locke guy- they're more connected then we've been led to believe. Miles doesn't know everything, but he has a sense. Going to Ben is a nice tip-the-hat to the fact they will be plotting together at the end of the season- gives him something more to do than banana checks. What Miles learns about MiB through Jacob though, is enough that when MiB finds Ben in his grave, Ben can ask pointed questions. In the same scene, MiB admits Ben is easy to play, because they are so much alike. MiB knows the buttons to push. Close up that parallel. If we want Emily Linus to be a manifestation of the Monster (as the whispers from Man Behind the Curtain imply)- how horrifying is it for MiB to ask if Ben ever saw his mother? Ben's face. Realizing, she was never there for him. I would really rather Emily be real, so this could easily be flipped around. Ben asks if MiB was that visage of Alex- MiB admits yes. Ben asks if he was ever his mother- and MiB has a moment of pause- Ben saw his mother too? Inferring both mothers are real. Either way, we get an answer.

Again, these scenes exist, we're just packing them with more information, giving characters more to do and learn.

Then when MiB finally dies, in a battle we've made much bigger and more dramatic, instead of casting the character away like a used tissue, let's have a beat. His body has been made mortal again, now remind us of his humanity. He's fallen down, down, just like Locke once did from a skyscraper window. And there he is on the rocks, the grey water beating up against their craggy surfaces, blood trickling from his nose, mouth and eyes. It's over. He's gone. But just as his melancholy theme plays once more, he moves a bent and battered arm and cups a bloodied palm. There it is again, his hand like a ship sailing a mordant sea, our physical gesture. His eyes strain, looking out, and we realize it's still a human being who lays there dying. One made cruel by life and death, but a human nonetheless. And that human is never going to achieve the one thing he wanted. The palm goes limp, the monster made man again dies, but we wonder- looking at that body all alone, perhaps this was the point of everything and MiB did achieve his goal. Only by dying could he have his freedom.


That Boy is a Ma-Ma-Monster



Yes, the Monster gets its own section. I wrote MiB's and felt this took away from what I was trying to say about his humanity. Then I wrote Jacob's section, but felt this took away from what I needed to say about that character's inner make up. This is plotty, but important, so it's getting its own little chapter between the brotherly stories, because that just seems the appropriate placement.

I struggled and struggled with this puzzle- explaining how MiB became a Monster. I didn't need the exact mechanics, but I needed to know WHY HIM. Why not Jack? Why not the dozen of other skeletons who fell into the light hole? Everyone I have talked to has interpretations- but that's all they are (even my thoughts) because I have come to the conclusion: LOST gave us an abstract mess with no real internal logic. Everything I read is supposition. Someone can go, "Well, because Jack was a leader" or "Maybe because MiB was dead when he went into the light" or "Because Jacob imagined that would be worse than death and made it so." We can't be CERTAIN though, because the show gives no sort of concrete foundation to work with. There is no, "A happened because of B" because the rules of the show's writing are broken left and right. I am beginning to understand why the producers were like, "because" - because it's like entering a mine field trying to figure out the internal framework of their mythos. I mean, not even this season's premise makes sense anymore. We unplug the Island and Monster is freed, right? No. It almost destroys the Island and makes the Monster human. Uh... someone is not doing their follow-through homework.

So this is just my stab at it. Trying really hard to work with what we were given and not making up too much insanity. As you've seen, I started with laying in the groundwork- trying to establish there has always been "a monster" and has always been "a guardian" but usually one person plays both roles, with MiB and Jacob, and borrowing a page from Dark Crystal theory, there was a fracture of power somehow.

Let's go back to the well. Against everything he was taught, MiB searches for ways to channel the power of the Island. He thinks he can use it to get away somehow.

This displeases Mother, who finds out from Jacob what her youngest son is trying to do. She goes to confront him. MiB bears his soul. Fights against everything Mother has to say. Strives to reject her. Her causes. Her beliefs.

But he can't get away.

Because the second Mother opens up her arms, MiB drops his defenses, desperate for her acceptance, as much as he abhors her. In a cruel twist though, she takes the moment to betray his lapse of mistrust and brains him against the wall of his own invention.

We already know she plays Jacob's role, we've seen it, but as MiB lies on the floor, struggling to maintain consciousness, he sees what he thinks to be smoke billowing out from his bellows...

A certain:

TICKA TICKA TICKA

- noise lets the audience know though, that's not normal smoke.

We don't see the act, but wake to the fiery aftermath. We fill in the blanks. Mother is the Monster. Mother is the Guardian. She's both.

BOTH.

In human form, she rushes back to Jacob to pass on her office, because she knows when her clever son catches up with her, she's probably dead. We cut the ritual with the cup and the words, because it's not even consistent in the show. It's more just an agreement and a touch, since that would be a nice play on what happens in the Alt. Connections remembered through touches.

We have a beat between Mother and Jacob, he despairs over being second-choice and doesn't want the position. Mother placates his worries. Says he has to do this for her. He has to agree. And he does. Because he would never let her down. And what choice does he have?

But the choice he makes? Tells us something about Jacob.

He says he'll do the job and with a light touch of her fingers she utters those words, "now we're the same." He looks to Mother, she actually almost looks... proud- then!

Horrible slicing sound.

A pugio blade bursts through her chest. God, it looks like Ben's attempted murder on MiB we wrote up for the final battle, doesn't it? Remember? She slumps forward, Jacob sees his rage-filled younger brother, standing there. Murder weapon in hand. Mother rolls to her side, reaching for MiB- "thank you."

The feelings of anger and jealousy and betrayal in Jacob know no bounds. EVEN IN THIS MOMENT, it's his brother who is loved best. Jacob just gave up his entire life for a position that terrified him, his brother MURDERS Mother- and she thanks HIM. When the haunting phrase, "WHAT ABOUT ME" is uttered here, it doubles the meaning from when we heard it before.

Jacob beats his brother. MiB was always smarter, but Jacob is stronger. He pummels MiB with a desperation only a lifetime of feeling second best and being robbed of the one moment he had to shine can inspire.

Jacob lifts his bloodied brother yelling, if he has to do this job, if he's stuck on the Island, then so is MiB. They are going to do this TOGETHER. He throws his brother into the pool of light and watches the body disappear as he repeats what Mother told: Now, they're the same too.

MiB disappears. There's a great noise and the Monster is born. The power of the Island is cleft, as Jacob commanded the splitting of the job. His dead brother takes on the form and role of everything in the dark, death, night. Jacob, still living, holds the role of the light, living, day. Two brothers. Two opposing and interacting forces.

And so it is. It's simplistic, but lends clarity to the situation. Really makes Jacob responsible. Collapses the drama into one sequence. We REALLY understand the rules the brothers abide by and why. They will never be able to pass office and will never be able to move on, because neither can kill each other. Jacob still believes this, from what Mother told him, and what he believes is law. We set that up. Balance will only be restored when both bothers are destroyed by outside means- but with Jacob loathe to mingle with the living and MiB corrupted into a shapeless cloud- this is going to take some working out, but you know that story.


Chutes and Jacob's Ladder



Big brother. So many of my points with MiB, ironically, are the same for his older brother. Like MiB is revealed to not be Pure Ebil, it's revealed Jacob isn't exactly Pure Good either. He's seen as this Wizard of Oz: great and powerful. But when the curtain is pulled back, we find he's an emotionally malnourished man-child, who is more lost than anyone who ever followed him. I know a lot of people struggle with this character reveal- but it fascinates me. I love the secondary message of how, while no faith in anything can leave you spiritually wayward- too much blind faith in something can lead you completely astray. No faith or purpose is Jack, looking for something to fix and still feeling empty. Too much faith is Ben putting the Island before Alex. You need reason to question faith, but you need faith to guide you through questioning. Jacob represented this ideology: he was the figure to prove blind faith isn't the final answer either. Balance is.

Like above, where I bemoan nothing being done to expound upon MiB's humanity, I'm pretty gutted no follow-through is given to Jacob's story. We learn all there is to know about a horrible, twisted past, show how completely arrested Jacob is in his emotional development- but when we cut back to the Island and he goes right back up on the pedestal. It's like we learn Jacob is kind of a fraud, but have to watch our characters bow to him like he is still a god both good and wise. He isn't though. Jacob, like everyone else, is a very damaged person. His back story reveals this. Our notions of good and evil were all through perspective, probably stemming from Richard who naively believes Jacob and MiB are God and the devil. There is no good and evil on the Island though, just people. Sometimes people of extraordinary circumstance- but still just people. People making choices.

I'm not even sure why the show does this. Putting him back on the pedestal. A wise, benevolent being does not stand aside and let others be hurt because of some self-imposed policy of non-interfering. I mean, put yourself in Jacob's position- you know someone is being used/lied to/hurt/made ill/beaten do you stand by and just watch without even saying anything and hope the person in the bad place "makes the right choice" even though it's impossible for them choose anything because they don't know they have options? Jacob lets the Others do terrible, terrible things in his name and instead of stepping in and going, "let's not kidnap and kill, please" he just lets them do it. Remember the danger of blind faith we just mentioned? Here it is. If he had stepped in, they would have stopped. Immediately. There is NOTHING preventing Jacob from doing so, he just didn't want to because of a fear or desire to prove something, and because he didn't step in there was pain, people suffered and people died.

Ben is a good barometer for how not suited Jacob is for the guardian role: he comes to the Others completely vulnerable, he could have been helped to grow into a good, kind person (we know it's in him, we've met Dr. Linus), but instead, he is shaped and sharpened into the cold broken human being we know so well. Pretend a dying little Ben was delivered to the Others while Hurley was in charge- do you think he would have become the same adult he did under Jacob's rule? Starved of affection, taught to kill, lie, hide and manipulate? No? Likewise, do you see Hurley out there, helping fuel a young Sawyer's need for vengeance, then years later saying he pulled him away from the real world because he had nothing else to live for? Even though, Jacob single-handedly made certain that was Sawyer's life? No? Well, that's because Hurley is emotionally sound. Jacob isn't. I think that's my point.

Our characters should call Jacob on his shit and question him, instead of blindly following him like all the waylaid Others did (you know, the ones Jacob left to die?). Richard felt wronged, so did Ben- those characters were used! Hurley has a beat, telling Jacob he wants to be told the truth. Even Sawyer questions why they all have to sacrifice their lives because of Jacob's mistakes. - But there is no follow-through to any of this. Everyone falls right back under Jacob's leadership. I feel they should have seen Jacob for what he is, realized he isn't god among men, but still accept him and understand MiB can't go through with his plan of destroying the Island. It's not about Jacob being All Good and MiB being All Evil, it's about balanced people taking the positions of power. When Jack accepts the guardian role, it's not so much about following Jacob, but more doing this for the sake of everyone else. Less the Team MiB and Team Jacob, and more Team Humans.

All this isn't saying Jacob is evil, he isn't. His story is really sad. He is never, ever given a chance in life. He's felt inadequate from birth. He longs for affection. He's emotional and scared. He only takes on the role of guardian because he thinks Mother will love him more for it. It's ironic Ben is his mortal leader, actually, because they are exactly alike, those two.

So much of Jacob, even his distance, doesn't strike me as cruel, but childish. Jacob, he's like the kid who pulls the wings off a fly, but doesn't get that it hurts. Even in killing his brother, there's an immature curiosity about him casting MiB down into the chamber he's told no one can enter. I feel his game-like rules of people never leaving the Island stem from his profound abandonment issues. Mother is gone. His true brother is gone. But Jacob can't leave, so no one else can either.

Funny though, because while Jacob pulls people in and doesn't let them go, I don't think he wants to interact with them. Look at how he is when Richard finds him. It's like he still practices the fear instilled in him by Mother: though I think he is kind of relieved to have Richard show up and eventually man the day-to-day, because with all that taken care of, he can be left alone and doesn't have to face people, and that's great, because secretly? They scare him. Even his little notes, it reminds me of a boy in a club house. With Richard doing what he should be doing, Jacob can hide away, weaving or whatever it is he does, and talk with his brother. Both still playing games, but with human lives now. These men are boys, totally stalled out in development for all perpetuity.

Speaking of children...

Like his brother, Jacob is Mother's son. MiB takes on all her most cynical views, but Jacob uses all her favored methods of coming to children to use them. Mother takes Jacob and his brother when they are literally HELPLESS and twists things so around, they have no choice but to follow the path she gives them. Jacob does the same thing. Again, I don't think Jacob gets how this was wrong, it's just the only way he knows and is exactly how his life played out. I think all the Otherly interactions with children, kidnapping them, probably stems from Jacob's issues, but were fiercely supported by leaders like Ben who shared the same problems.

Along these same lines, I would tie the Other motherly issues back to the boys. Probably in a conversation in Richard's episode (instead of rehashing, "I want to kill you"), reinforced by a flashback we've put in there. It can either be an issue manifesting through Jacob, who is still so bereft with Mother separation anxiety he lives in a FERTILITY STATUE (who has tits, Khaman), or maybe a more conscious effort on the part of MiB who won't let mothers live with children because of what happened to them and he doesn't want Jacob to have children to bring into the fold. Either way, it's mental warfare by the time it gets to Ben riddled with his own maternal angst, thinking he's being punished because mothers keep dying around him just like his did, not realizing Jacob and MiB both nurse that same wound. Little boys just need their mothers!

This sort of mythos answer is so much more fascinating than selective nonsensical radiation and- best of all!- Plays deep into the characters' most profound issues and fears.

Anyhow, all this talk about boys and kids- is an excellent segue to what I want done with Jacob at the end.

This is rather odd, but it's been bouncing around in my head and I think it would really help people understand Jacob better. After death, Jacob should only appear as a child. I really, really like that imagery. Also, like how all our survivors after death appear in the forms they want to be remembered in, it's like Jacob taking the form of when he was happiest in his life. It's like the physical representation of how young he is emotionally. I can SEE Hurley listening to a boy who appears to him. "Psst" from the leaves and this little boy gestures and tells Hurley there's a temple which might help Sayid if he so chooses to take him there. I would cut Michael out completely from his ghost role- because we have him quietly working in the Alt now. Make that young Jacob. Lose the weird ashes thing. Lose him appearing small then growing up in 2 seconds. What was that even about? Lose the bizarre time-waste, "when this fire burns out, I'll be gone" bullshit.

Instead, imagine that little kid, in the dark, explaining to the last of the survivors, he can't leave until he's found his replacement. That little kid! It breaks my heart and I don't care for Jacob! I wouldn't have him detail his reasonings - "you became a mother" - because the explanations are daft (Sun isn't? Being a father doesn't count?). Honestly he should say he picked these people, because they were flawed but he sees good in them. Period. When questioned WHY just this group- instead of making it out like these five, or whatever the number is, are the ONLY ONES EVAR ACROSS TIME OMG- it's more because Jacob died and this is the last group he picked. If our survivors didn't work out and Jacob was still alive, he would have brought more people the Island. Unfortunately, these are dire times.

I think then, like how we added the beat of MiB dying to remind us of his humanity, remind us of when Jacob was young and innocent. Have a moment- let us see the emotion he DOES have within him. Instead of keeping him stoner chill. Exemplify how he was this boy who was totally taken advantage of, robbed of a life and never really felt loved.

The survivors still push for answers, though. Just because he was young once, doesn't make his choices ok. Make it hard for Jacob. What the hell does this all mean? What the hell is Locke? The survivors have lost friends, family, lovers over this complete and utter bullshit. Think about losing your husband or your child or your mother or your best friend to death and Jacob's fireside chat, would you just GO along with what he says? I never would. Not until I knew there was a reason for all the people who were dead.

Then, right when things are getting the most heated, have young Jacob break and confess what he's done. Talk about his brother. He does a bit now, with "it's my fault he is the way he is" but make it clear. Have him say the Monster is his brother. Tearfully. Have him reveal secrets, eons old. Let him pour out his heart so the survivors and we can realize: this guy, never, ever should have been put into this position. Make us have empathy for Jacob, despite what he's done. Have him then ask for help. Help me. Help my brother. Say he doesn't want to choose who will do the job, because he wasn't ever given a choice. He wants the survivors to decide their fates. Jack turns to his friends, because he's learnt to include others before barreling ahead, and they all agree what must be done. Jacob holds out a hand and Jack is lead away to the light by this child.

Then after a fast-tracked Guardian 101 session, We have a moment saying goodbye to Jacob. Not as an enlightened being. Not as a shape-shifting spirit. But as he really was: a very literal Lost Boy. Have Jacob say one phrase, a message to his brother, simple, sad. Something lifted from their episode, probably from when they were really children playing. No one else gets it, Jack doesn't, but we do and remember Jacob too was human. Jack walks on, closer to the cave, but something makes him turn back. He looks to see the boy one last time, but instead sees nothing. Just a bamboo forest swaying to the thrum of nature. The ancient-young spirit has disappeared into what beyond, we do not know.


~*~






Hey. Psst.

Guess what, kindly reader.

You just finished this write up. You can let go and move on. Here, let me get that door for you...




Credit for images goes to:
Tumblrs: lostlunch, buongiornodaisy, schmiss, keamy, marylou, panicman, onlyechoes, endiness
Deviantart: RobD4E, MumblingIdiot
Art: Julian Callos, Dan McCarthy, Jeff Soto, Joshua Budich, Hot Meteor, Nedroid, Dr. Mikey, Ty Mattson, Gideon Slife, Jared Stumpenhorst, gravitybomb, Francesco Francavilla

Credit for music goes to: Michael Giacchino, Laura Marling, Bridget St. John, MST3K

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