Déjà vu

WHAT KATE DOES, THE SUBSTITUTE, LIGHTHOUSE. Honestly I haven't written about Lost since my initial post of this season because I am not sure I have really figured anything out of note yet. Instead what you will get from me is a somewhat general observation and what I think it means for the show.

I mentioned in my earlier post how much certain moments in the first episode reminded me of season 1 and, if anything, the one strong sentiment I have taken from the last few episodes is the continuation of this trend and how much of a connection I feel to those early days. The people we see in the sideways timeline are much like our season 1 friends and there are little reminders of days past, like the Adam and Eve skeletons. Those reminders, however, are only part of the connection as plot elements themselves seem to circle back, creating that sense of déjà vu mentioned in the title of this post. For instance from last week's episode, we have the return of Danielle Rousseau -- not as herself, but the idea of her in the somewhat-unconvincing body of Claire. Down to the bear traps and search for a missing baby, we have the reincarnation of everyone's favorite Croatian/French/Amazon lady. We also had our pal Hurley -- often the voice of the audience -- mention to Jack how walking through the jungle again felt like old times. It is not just the characters that are in a way returning, but the whole heart of the show and nothing bears this out more than the structure of the season itself.

As anyone can notice, we have returned to a "flash" style of episode that has been absent completely for the last year of the show. If one looks specifically at what we are flashing to, however, the connection is uncanny. Sure the first season comprised of flashbacks and our current season goes with the less-clear "flash-sideways" as they call it, but the similarities abound. Much like the pilot, the first episode of this season was a bid of a hodgepodge. The next episode of both seasons was a Kate episode, then a Locke story, then Jack's turn. To take it further, the Kate episodes involved Kate on the run from the law, the Locke episodes revolved around his work, and the Jack episodes dealt with father-son issues (look back, "The White Rabbit" -- remember seeing one of those in "Lighthouse"? -- features Jack at roughly the same age as David). The next episode of season 1 followed Sun. The name of our next episode of season 6: "Sundown" (an ominous title). So expect to see more of her asking questions.

The writers have said that the flashes are not an "alternate" timeline and insist on the term sideways because both scenarios are truly realities -- and not mutually exclusive. It seems to me, though, that they are not as much sideways to what is happening now but what happened when the plane first crashed. It seems to be the case not just because that would make them contemporaneous, but also because their connection to the first episodes of the series are so strong - almost like déjà vu all over again. As you mentioned, Claire's quick decision of Aaron for the name and then later Jack questioning of his appendix scar, lead us to believe that there is some sort of déjà vu for the characters as well: a connection to what has already happened -- similar to the time travel scenarios of last season where what happens in the future has formed what one does in "the past" because it is not the past for that person. Just when we thought we were done with that!

So perhaps that does lead me to the more philosophical question of where this all might be heading. I do not know where the plot will go, but I know this is feeling more and more like it truly is the end. Somewhere during the run of the show it dawned on everyone that the show was called Lost more because of the characters themselves being lost than because they crashed on an island. There is a question as to whether Juliet's attempt at a reset "worked" when she detonated the bomb and caused The Incident. In true Lost fashion, I think the answer is not really yes or no. The LA timeline has everyone living what I would imagine they would have thought of as a more fulfilling life, but it does not quite work out as I'm sure they would have hoped such a life would end up. Jack is still a doctor and has a kid, but his kid has the same relationship with him as he had with his own dad. John is engaged to be married to Helen, but still finds himself lying to her and unable to find work that can make him happy. Kate is not in custody (Evangeline Lilly said in an interview she thinks the difference in the sideways Kate is that she enjoys being on the run), but reminded by Claire of her inability to form her own relationships. Toss into the fold Hurley being lucky and Sun being unmarried to Jin, both of which I imagine their season 1 selves might have wanted and I imagine, and there is much that we will soon find out about the non-crash versions. Perhaps it is because "what is done is done" and one cannot escape one's destiny, but no matter how one sees The Incident as working, it did not heal everyone at either timeline and is therefore, it seems to me, at best incomplete. This is both pushing our characters back to that fateful event of the crash and setting up our own confrontation over free will that Jacob and Loophole alluded to at the end of last season.

Other than that I will say I am starting to enjoy the sideways timeline -- I agree that Ben as a complaining teacher was one of my favorite moments. The idea of Jack as a failed father also intrigued me -- I wonder if he will be as bad of a shepherd as he is a father -- in the further development of his character as the center of where this story is going. Jacob seemed to make pretty clear that whatever is left to happen will go directly through Jack. There's a reason why it was his eye that began the series.

I'm not quite sure what to think about everything else that is going on so far. Loophole-Locke seems to be progressing about how I expected and the stuff with the numbers and the previous attempts for candidates seems more to remind and expand on the idea of the list and chosen people that we were already exposed to as far back as season 2. One of the first things we found out about Jacob was that he chose people so it is somewhat gratifying to get confirmation of this and see more of the mechanism by which he chooses. What I want to see is how the people not on the list -- the most prominent being Kate -- will fare.

So that's pretty much what I have observed thus far. Perhaps I'll try and drop back in for more individual episode analysis, but this seemed about a fair time to check back in. Oh, by the way, it seems to me the everyone-is-unstuck-in-time-theory is one that will go the way of the Penelope-Sarah theory (can't help teasing about that one every chance I get). Desmond was aware that he was changing and remembered both periods as he jumped between them. I also think they were along the same timeline, just at different points in them. These are two distinct timelines with, as we have now seen, quite different scenarios. But it never hurts to throw a few darts at the old Lost theory board -- bound to hit something someday. And why not shoot for the stars -- go big or go home, right?

If anything, the audience is kind of unstuck in time. Chew on that one. And now I want to watch "The Constant" again. That episode still gives me goosebumps.