A few points I just have to make about time travel and paradoxes...
- We've been given enough information now in Lost to conclude that "time travel" will not be the story element that explains everything else in the show. In fact, it might be fair to say that "time travel" isn't really part of the show at all while "time anomalies" are. The term "time travel" suggests a deliberate moving back-and-forth along the space-time continuum making time paradoxes with wild abandon. This kind of time travel has been invoked countless times by Lost theorists to explain everything from John's healing ("They crashed in the past before his accident!") to the failed pregnancies ("The time differential between the island and the outside world interferes with proper gestation!"). NONE of these theories made sense when they were suggested, but they all have been thoroughly debunked by now. There's no time differential, no wormhole, no time machine... we won't be shown some time traveler covertly causing every strange thing that happened in the first three seasons of the show. HOWEVER, what we are being shown right now is "time weirdness" of the kind often seen in Philadelphia Experiment-style stories. This is perfectly consistent with all of the phenomena we've been shown on the island so far and with comments from the producers insisting that “time travel” wouldn’t be part of the show. These "time anomalies" are just one more paranormal aspect of the island, like healing and ghosts and precognition all have been. They are merely an element of the show, not the all-encompassing principle of it.
- Related to this point: Up to now, the Lost writers really haven't been answering any questions for us. In season one we were shown the smoke monster, healings, psychic gifts, visions of the dead, and other weird things. In season two, we were distracted from any explanation of those things by the Dharma Initiative. In season three we were distracted from any explanation of the first two seasons by the Others and the freighter. In season four, we were distracted from explanations of the stuff in the first three seasons by the "flash forwards" and a state of war on the island. And now in season five, time anomalies are distracting us from getting any answers about the first four seasons. Now, we're getting plenty of answers to questions we weren't asking. Like, "Who is Faraday's mother?" and "Was Ms. Hawking ever on the island?" But we still don't know what the black smoke is. We still don't know what Christian's role is. We still don't really know who the Others are and where they came from. We still don't know what Richard is all about. We don't know where the Others got their sophisticated implant technology. I mean, the list of things we still don't know is so long, when you consider it you really start to notice how trivial are the small number of facts we DO know. I mean, Faraday and Hawking are related. So what? It's a fun fact, but it doesn't tie up any of the hundreds of loose ends that still exist in the show after four-and-a-half seasons. And keep in mind here that I'm one who doesn't think most things will be explained or SHOULD be explained. But even if we only consider the plot points that MUST be important (like certain issues pertaining to "Others" culture), it's truly amazing how utterly in the dark we still are.
- That said, the following appear to be facts: a) time paradoxes are generally not allowed; b) the ordinary timeline of human existence will terminate sooner than later unless the timeline can be altered; c) some extraordinary and unlikely event can produce a person who would be allowed to create paradoxes; d) one very specific paradox would be required to change humanity's timeline to something with more longevity, and then no other paradoxes would be desirable (for fear of nullifying the first one); e) Desmond has either been destined or designed to become that change agent; f) the most likely outcome of the paradox plot dilemma is that the paradox will be made and it will save humanity; g) according to the rules of the show, a successful paradox will produce all kinds of interesting phenomena, including drawing all relevant people and objects to it in ways that might appear supernatural to those experiencing the attraction; h) the paradox will also create strange temporal effects like visions, precognition, and perhaps thought-forms and other Philadelphia Experiment-style phenomena; i) the crash survivors may now be stuck in a pre-purge Dharma Initiative era. If we take all of these points as fact, then we have a paradox situation whose resolution could easily relate to "the incident", the taking of medication to cure "time lag", the existence of the smoke monster, the purpose of the Swan, the pregnancy problems on the island, the meaning of the numbers, and the strength of synchronicity in relation to the island. But take note here again... this would NOT be a case of all of these events being explained by "time travel". They would be explained by "time weirdness", specifically by a paradox custom made to achieve a singular purpose. Other paranormal phenomena such as the healings, visions, ghosts, and prophesies, would not be explained (at least not directly) by the "time weirdness", but would exist right along with "time weirdness" as general paranormal phenomena on a generally paranormal island. I take a good deal of time here to make these points clear because I see many people getting confused by the time stuff going on and missing completely what the show is presently saying. The time stuff is just one piece of the puzzle. It isn't a key to the whole thing. Although I'll admit that the paradox concept in particular could go a long way in explaining much.
Seasons 2-5
The way I read those seasons after the Incident as far as the structure of the plot is that much of what happened can be seen as a manipulation to:
1) Release the Man in Black from imprisonment in the Incident.
2) And manipulate the representation of Locke--his relation to Richard and Ben in particular (as well as Ben's feelings about Jacob) so that Jacob would die.
In other words to create the loophole.
I guess in one way that doesn't matter much because S6 will give us , I think, a way of seeing the game itself transcended (using Desmond).
But I still think most of S2, and much of S3 "matters" in presenting philosophical issues through character conflict and development. That's the most meaningful part of the show I think and what has begun to disappear as the meaning of the ending and the plot direction has become more central.
Dang...
... what was my problem when I posted THIS?
Not that I've changed my mind about any of it. In fact, I'm still pretty sure I'm right.
I just don't know why I was getting so indignant about it.
A rant for this season...
Mebbe the writers are getting tired or something, but this season has seemed to inspire more rantiness than any other.
And I'm ready for one after last night's episode!
I don't know where I had gotten the impression that it was going to focus on Richard Alpert so that was the first letdown.
Then there was the return of Jate in absolutely the lamest possible way--after last episode in which Kate actually didn't become the ping pong between the two guys but looked to Juliet for guidance. But this week! Her relationship with Jack is more important than people's lives! What the...
Quickly followed by the second cliched use of gun shot with "unexpected" person killed.
There seems to be no emotinal depth to the characters at all--Sayid comes back and Jack's reaction is so...flat. Hey bud, nice to see ya, tried to kill a kid, eh? Yeah, I tried to let him die...
Maybe they all are in hell this season, and maybe they all have to die.
Time travel and Paradoxes
Great synthesis on how this is all working.
I want to follow up with a few speculations on #3--but some of those contradict what you're saying in #1, I think...but things like Locke's healing (they crashed before the accident)--it still can get explained not by a kind of simple time travel but with doing things that have changed the past or created paradoxes.
Maybe this is the central question--to what extent are paradoxes going to be allowed--because I do think the fact that Dan even warns Charlotte as a little girl suggests that something happens to change his mind about the extent to which things can change.
So, on with the wild speculations :-)
Cooper brought to the island and killed--when in time did this happen and does that have to do with Locke walking?
People resurrecting if their bodies are brought onto the island--Locke and Christian. And why the bodies of the Others are sent to sea.
Whispers--the Losties have been moving around in time without being innoculated--this is causing them not to be in sync with the island time and bits of their past manifests on island in visions/whispers. Rousseau the other person not to be innoculated also hears whispers.
Healing-Rose--I disagree there 'cause I think that she is in a time period before her illness.
And then the other bizarre idea I had was that the bodies in the trench will be their own bodies--but I think that's pretty shaky and not sot sure it's at all necessary given that plane crashed don't seem like real plane crashes--though it does remind me of another question regarding this last episode (316)--before when there was a plane crash--the only one who seemed not to be part of the crash site was Jack--now Kate and Hurley also show up far from a crash site. Is there going to be an actual crash site?
OK, let's start with that point...
... if the Rose on the island is currently in a time period before her illness, what does that really mean in terms of whether or not the Rose on the island will still have the illness? I can't think of a reason for it to mean anything at all. And the healing of Rose and John has already been explained... they are both "attuned" to the island.
I think the story is going to rely on very few paradoxes actually being allowed. Things can get way out of had if they allow too many.Attuned
I don't think they'd ever have to explain it anymore than that. But attuned could mean being in sync with the time of ths island.
Overall I don't like the patchwork answer is what I'm mainly driving at--like let's have time whacky+ghosts+healing+whispers+guy who hears the dead+Walt appearing in two places+smokie+injections+room 23+ burials at sea....--and just throw it under the "paranormal." If you don't have a central device tying those things together then it kind of becomes a "weirdness of the week" thing.
Exactly...
... and doesn't that sound a lot like Fringe?
I'm with you on not liking the patchwork thing. But I do kinda think that's how it's going to be. And "patchwork" or "stretching a central device too thin" is six of one and half-dozen of the other to me. A "time paradox" device is REALLY easy to over-use.
Dominos
Prof, that was masterful. Your rant opened my eyes to how very little has been explained to us. And your point about now we know Hawking is Faraday's mother - exactly my thought! SO WHAT!
It could be possible that once "the incident" domino is tipped, everything (or many things) will fall into place.
I've always held that the incident is the single, most crucial event in the show. Once we learn what "happened", all of the actions by Dharma, Hawking, etc to fix things or save the world will make sense.
OK, so...
... I think it's going to be like I suspected... seasons 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all distractions from "the real story" that we'll start finally seeing in season six.
Sadly, the distractions kind of got cheaper as the seasons progressed. If we compare the show to a magic trick, the pledge was over in the first half of the pilot episode. We've been in the turn ever since and the prestige is long overdue.
Once again we're given some rather trivial information instead of substance. Now we know what Jacob looks like. We know he visited several of the crash survivors (and apparently touched each one of them... did anyone else notice that? Was it important?). But we still don't know anything really about who or what he is and we don't have very many clues to help us. (Or, we have tons of clues that don't help us narrow things down at all.)
I'm still fairly confident that when season six begins, the events of seasons 2 - 5 won't matter much. And that's partly why I won't suffer waiting for it.