NEXUS: May 2010

Martin Gardner, 1914 – 2010

It's sad when the world loses one of the good guys. Martin Gardner exemplified rationality and the ability to explore competing alternatives to choose the best option and answer. Unfortunately this is exactly the kind of thinking that is quickly disappearing. Between the ridiculous amount of ghost-hunting shows, UFO watchers (You do know that there are alien fish-people living off the coast of California right?) and religious nonsense (I just learned from the radio the other night that the universe is only a few thousand years old), the world of the 21st century is quickly devolving into a state of superstitious, gullible Neanderthals.

Known for his mathematical ability, Gardner also excelled when he pursued knowledge beyond his strict intellectual studies. His avid interest in magic allowed him to debunk the work of many psychics and magicians. Religiously, he transcended Christianity, and rejected (at least technically) atheism and pantheism. His position of philosophical theism may contain the only compelling arguments for that direction of thinking. Socially, he had a good grasp on politics and economics and defended Democratic Socialism over anything else, including Liberalism, believing this was simply the best for everyone. I have much to say about Gardner's ideas that I just haven't had time to comment on. I hope to in the future, and hope the world will continue to be exposed to his ideas to help them stay out of the dark world of anti-rationality.

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I expect this will be my penultimate posting about Lost, now that all the pieces are in place for the grand finale. First of all we have come the part of the mythology where explanation has to stop, and a kind of magic takes over. The light, the heart of the island, is what's important, and hopefully we will get a little more explanation, but ultimately there is an underlying magic here, and that mystique must be preserved. We have immortality, magic incantations, omniscient observation, etc. Just as in Highlander, the best explanation is to never get to the source.

Most interesting at this point is that six years have led us to the Jacob / brother conflict. The writers have stated that the show isn't about them, but they seem just as important in the scheme of this story. Jacob continues in the Christ archetype, baptising and turning water into wine. Furthermore, a Gnostic theme has entered the show with "the light." MIB continues to fulfill the satanic archetype, deceiving and manipulating people. The most striking elements of these characters are their internal contradictions. MIB wants to leave the island but can't. Jacob doesn't want to leave, but as protector he can. As the monster, the MIB acts as protector, as "the security system" of the island, even though he doesn't care about it and may be the main thing it needs protection from. Jacob protects the island, yet he's the one who brings people to it. MIB embraces the human culture, yet despises them and disagrees with bringing them to the island (although some of that may come from trauma of the death of "his people" and he claims to try to help them.)

As for all of the chraracters, what seems relevant is their complete fall into despair. All of the characters have hit bottom, starting with Juliet who was desperate enough to beat on a nuclear bomb (without any kind of Young Ones humor involved). Jack, the leader, reached the point of giving up trying to do anything. Richard the immortal became suicidal. Ben reached the point of not be able to forgive himself. Desmond already hit bottom in season 2, and Locke had his problem in season 1 and 4, the latter being terminal. The writers have been dropping some existential hints this season, with copies of Fear and Trembling and Notes from Underground laying around. Richard reaches the point of Camus's only important philosophical question - is it worth living? Jack takes a life threatening chance and a Kierkegaardian leap of faith, and both of them emerge much stronger than before, motivated by the power of choice and the conviciton of action. And Desmond has now transcended a Nietzschian "that which does not destroy me makes me stronger" moment and in the Alt timeline has replaced Jacob as the mastermind.

There has been a lot of complaining about the direction of this season. Things that have long been anticipated, when finally revealed, have lost their impact, such as the Claire/Jack reveal. "Ab Aeterno", while a great episode, may have had better impact if it was shown earlier in the season. The progression of the show has led us from one group of characters to another, raising the level up each time (815> Desmond> others> Richard> Jacob), so at this point it is necessary to explore those far removed from the show's stars. The placement of "Across the Sea," has people upset that time has been taken away from our main characters. I however think this was a necessary episode, and that we still have too many characters taking up screen time (i.e. Kate, what the hell has she done?). Furthermore, we've had too many characters introduced just to be quickly removed. Ilana was a good addition, but Zoe has been a waste of time. As for ATS, it may have played better if it was made a two-part episode, alternating between current island events. Part of "What They Died For" would have fit in well , as would some of "The Candidate." In fact the whole season would have been interesting if alternating between 2007 and the backward progression of the Richard / Jacob history, but with an alternate timeline in play there is already too much going on. ATS felt rushed (or in a way it felt slow), not because it was bad, but because so much needed to be said, that the clock was always ticking. Every answer led to more questions, and I think some of that could have been avoided with a few lines of dialogue. For instance, Mother could have said that she came to the island x years ago and that there has always been a protector of the island throughout time.[1]

One problem I have noticed is that with the limited time available, scenes are put together in places where they best would have been separated. For instance, the reuniting of the Richard and Jack groups in "Dr Linus" (another highpoint of this season) would have made a more dramatic ending, but we were then shown a following scene reintroducing Widmore. The introduction of important characters has always been done the best at the start of a new episode, with the audience completely in the dark. This worked great for Desmond, Jacob and the Mothers. While it would have also worked great for introducing Richard, at least the flashback would have worked best if the episode started in 1867, rather than having the main characters discuss why Richard hasn't aged. ATS contained the Adam & Eve flashback that seemed very forced, while not a point many people might remember, it could have been emphasized in the previous episode, and the main charaters left completely out of it.

I expect many things in this show have been metaphors for the larger dimension of things. The compass, for one, has revealed an ontological paradox, just as events have shown their own causation through a loop. More significant, Desmond "pushing the button" in isolation for all those years is a micro-version of protecting the island, "just saving the world." It has been clear since day one that Jack and Locke were really the only important members of 815, the rest were just their support, but they have been joined by Desmond / Penny, Ben / Richard, and Jacob / MIB as the important characters. At least I will be vindicated knowing that Desmond is quite special, if he's not a candidate, he's just as important as a failsafe. The biggest surprise of the finale maybe the pivitol role of Penny, with Ben and MIB out to kill her. I never suspected she would play that important of a role at this point.

Finally, here are a few micellaneous observations I have.
1.The numbers seem to be meaningless in themselves, but they do seem to have a Jungian unconcious quality as synchronicity, repeating as a meaningful coincidence from the depths of the collective unconcious of the island.
2. Interestingly, our first view of MIB kiling a candidae might go back to season 3. If Nikki was indeed a candidate, as indicated by the compass and cave, she was paralyzed by MIB (as the spiders) because he couldn't kill her, and left to be buried alive by the 815ers.
3. After years of trying to figure out the Libby story (which I believe we will not get answered, even with the return of the actress) I now believe that the character who transitioned her from the Hurley story to the Desmond story was indeed Jacob, who needed her to give Desmond the boat so he could get stranded on the island. Since this rumored character was not a flight 815 passanger, it would make sense to be Jacob, and since the writers could not reveal this scene before introducing Jacob, I believe that is why they ommitted it.
4. Finally, there has been speculation that the children born on the island were actually conceived by the island. Ignoring any midichlorian controversy, this idea parallels the immortals of Highlander, who were changelings, caused by some unknown progenitor.

Damon and Carlton were recently commended by George Lucas for their planning of the entire story arc. While Star Wars turned out to be made up as it went along, Lost seems to be coming full circle, although I think that there was less planning than might be apparent. Despite the clear influence of Star Wars on Lost, it would be intesting to see a Star Wars that clearly shows a Lost influence (how's that for a mobius strip). I will commend both stories for using some elements of classic drama: starting in the middle of the story, and having the conflict revolve around a family that impacts the entire civilization.

[1] Similarly, many other things could have been dismissed simply. They could have said that all of the 815 red shirts died in the flaming arrow attack. That would have saved me years of wondering about them. Now, I see that many people of the story become casualties of Jacob's purpose.