ABC's Lost has become a TV phenomenon since its inception in 2004. Fans worldwide have long debated the nature of the show's overall premise - internet discussion has been rife on the subjects of time travel, electromagnetism, the 'Others', the DHARMA Initiative and many more. Ahead of season six of Lost, here is a look at the questions fans are still asking going into what will surely be a thrilling final season.
Is John Locke Dead?
The season five finale of Lost featured the bombshell that, after several episodes of incredulity among fans at John Locke's apparent resurrection from the dead after returning to the island, that Locke was seemingly dead after all. The 'Fake Locke' who had just persuaded Ben Linus to kill island guardian Jacob (more on him later) appeared to be some sort of manifestation of Jacob's nemesis from the opening scene of season finale 'The Incident'.
So what has happened to Locke? His corpse was revealed to be in the hands of the survivors of Ajira Airways Flight 316, the flight that brought the Oceanic Six back to the island early in season five, confirming Locke's death following his murder by Ben in the episode titled 'The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham'. Is the 'Fake Locke' as fake as he appears? Will Richard Alpert's prediction that only Locke's death could save the lives of the remaining Oceanic survivors come true? Only time, and season six, will tell.
Who Is Jacob?
The final episode of the fifth season introduced us, at last, to the fabled 'Jacob', the man with the 'list', the man whom Locke had been seeking out all season, and the man supposedly in charge of the mysterious Island. Looking like a man in his mid-30s at the oldest, something is clearly awry in light of Jacob's appearance in a scene from 'The Incident' which appears to be set sometime in the 1800s, before the arrival on the island of the Black Rock, the boat now stranded in the middle of the jungle.
In season five finale, 'The Incident', Jacob is seen encountering each of the Oceanic 815 survivors at an earlier point in time - usually a life-changing moment of some sort. He even appears to bring Locke back from the dead after Locke is pushed out of a high window by his own father, the accident that caused his paralysis before the Island seemingly healed him. Is Jacob some sort of healer? Is he some sort of Island deity, with the power of life and death over the survivors? And does his apparent death at the end of season five signal a new era for the island?
Will Oceanic 815 Crash All Over Again?
The scintillating conclusion to season five saw Jack racing to execute physicist Daniel Faraday's plan that would see the detonation of a hydrogen bomb on the island. Despite the apparent failure of his attempts, Jack's one-time love interest, Juliet, was able to finally set off the bomb after what had appeared to be a fatal plunge down the DHARMA Initiative mine shaft.
This bomb was designed to take advantage of the Island's bizarre time-paradoxes and 'alter the future' - to prevent the 'Incident' from ever happening, that incident which was responsible for the crash of Oceanic 815 on the island, and for the changing of the lives of all the crash survivors. Faraday's logic dictated that if the hydrogen bomb could be detonated back in 1977, Oceanic 815 would never have crashed, and everyone could have continued with their lives. Will Faraday be proven right? Will Juliet's actions result in the 'resurrection' of those who had previously perished on the island?
How Will 'Lost' End?
After five action-packed seasons full of trademark twists, and after seemingly millions of unanswered questions, Lost comes to an end in 2010. The producers of the show have claimed that they intend to wrap up every loose end before the show's conclusion, going all the way back to season one - this will be some task indeed.
If they manage it, however, and in the process manage to provide long-time fans of the show with a satisfying conclusion, then Lost will surely be entered in the annals of TV history as one of few shows that have shown a genuine proclivity toward 'thinking outside the box', literally speaking. Fans of Lost are encouraged to explore the show and its mythology via literature, the internet, even music - a shift in the dynamic between a show and its fans that will be extremely tough to replicate, and one that will ensure that Lost is long remembered by fans and critics alike.
 |
