3.07.2010

WALLACE, 108 - THE 'DANIEL' OF LOST?

An investigative journalist I like, Larisa Alexandrovna, writes on her blog at-Largely the most compelling theory I've read so far (other than my own) about what the LOST story is about and where it's going. She's linked on this latest post to her overall theory which is dense with science. As we found out with RDM's Battlestar Galactica reboot, so much of what seemed carefully crafted story threads during a show's run do not necessarily ever get woven together into an elegant tapestry which creates a stunning and fully realized picture of what we are supposed to understand.

I think Alexandrovna is giving the
show's creators/writers too much credit. In television you never know how many years you'll get to tell your story nor if certain actors will leave the show, etc ... it is a fluid process making a television show and such a dense and richly complex theory as she has laid out seems to me to be beyond the original vision of the show's creators. If they end up there, I think it will be more through creative mental gymnastics to tie the loose threads together masterfully with what they've dangled up to now than by design. The number sequence and the importance of the Valenzetti Equation are at the heart of the mystery and Alexdrovna has come around to my way of thinking that the key is Jacob seeking his replacement.

Alexandrovna discovered through TiVo rewinds that there is a name which corresponds to one of the shows key numbers, 108. Lighthouse reflector glass rotated around a marked circumference - and at numerical marks it showed reflected images of the pasts of various show characters. Mark 108's name is Wallace ... which gave me a knot in my stomach. Remember when Daniel was referenced on BSG at the end of Season 4? Daniel turned out to be merely a word - a writer's trick used to provide backstory - a really really cheap out. We never saw Daniel, he didn't matter, we only know he was "sensitive" because we were told that, and that's all we knew. Introducing a pivotal character late in Act III is a cardinal no-no in screenwriting. If this Wallace appears and is important then LOST is taking the easy way.

The cave markings and lighthouse let us know
which numbers belong to which characters and the lower the number, the seemingly more important. The numbers are also Hurley's winning lottery ticket numbers, so clearly he is a fulcrum upon which the story pivots. He's remained alive, fat, and healthy and can see Jacob.

4: Locke
8: Hurley
15: Sawyer
16: Sayid

23: Jack
42: Sun /Jin ?


There is only one prime number among them, and that is Jack's number 23. Not only because he's the ostensible star of the show but also because of the prime (as I guessed earlier) of course Jack is Jacob's replacement. Other logical conclusions we can draw is that odd numbered people get killed first or are do not cut it as candidates, as only Jack's number and Sawyer's number are odd and not yet crossed out. This new realization causes me to amend my earlier view that Kate would be the last candidate, now I think it is Sawyer - for the dark side with Smoke Monster/Locke. If the show is to be about a balance of power between good/evil - dark/light - black rock/white rock ... then probably Sawyer will be Jack's counterpart at the end.

Why the island has its strange properties presents the chicken-or-the-egg conundrum for the writers: did human endeavor alter reality and manifest at the island or was the island always a living thing that drew its desired humans to it for its own ends? That now is the more interesting question for me.

7 comments:

Potiphar Breen said...

OK radii...here goes:

I also had believed that Jack will most likely become Jacob and Sawyer will be the Nemesis so far, with one big exception that I will address last.

The Nemesis (in a great but all-to-brief role for the actor Titus Welliver) wants to kill Jacob so very, very much,

and

Sawyer wants to kill Jack so very, very much for getting Juliet killed.

Didn't they both love/frak both Juliet and Kate anyways, not to mention display their love and affection for the girls at various times?


But this might merely be a crafted distraction.


I first thought Ben would be the Nemesis not too long ago but he is considered too insignificant a character to be either a major black/bad or white/good piece in the greater scheme of things (as Jacob so rhetorically declared to Ben: "...what about you?")

There's an exception for that too, radii.

To create a great ending that is satisfying to we Viewers, there needs to be two ingredients:

Redemption

and

Balance, meaning

Putting things back into the normal world's scheme of things with as few exceptions (deaths, having only four toes) as possible.

The exceptions are for Jack vs. Sawyer; we Viewers really like Sawyer so very much that it would be a crime to have him become the dark bloodthirsty Nemesis for the rest of eternity.

Someone will have to SACRIFICE himself or herself in the end - be a bigger person, atone for his sins, etc. - to become the Nemesis and let Sawyer offa the hook.

Perhaps Sawyer will commit his last unselfish great act to become the last hero standing (i.e. Jacob), so that Jack will be free to capture Kate's heart in an unblemished future-forward world, and the Nemesis will never be free, staying essentially the same identity and stuck in the John Locke persona forever.

But there is an even better possibility I might mention here.

The exception for Ben, since he is a tragic and pathetic character that really could use a heaping surprise dose of redemption, it might very well become HIM that becomes Jacob in a last selfless heroic act to be locked (so to speak) as the new Jacob himself in a timeless battle with John Locke/Nemesis who never leaves the Island, becomes even more pissed off because of it, and has absolutely no chance at redemption.

Ben and John are fraked together, we wind up liking Ben in the end, Sawyer and Jack are saved, and the sideways modern timeline gets to be the real actual present, with everyone restored to normalcy and alive as their plotline warrants. Sawyer might very well meet up with Juliet and Kate most likely…no, probably, for sure.

Look to see some restored dead people walking about in that new timeline too.

Now THAT would be satisfying!

Oh, and everyone will have 5 toes per foot.

radii said...

Excellent. I think you've got it. I like all of the scenarios. My hope is that the show ends how it began, with the plane ... and we in the audience know that re-set button was hit and all the trauma these characters get to avoid because Ben/Locke or another combo have taken over the roles of Jacob/Nemesis. My guess is that these characters will get to go on with their lives with no knowledge of the island. I hope they explain what the island is, if it alive and sentient or if human experiments led to its strange behaviors.

I don't see Ben finding redemption - he is too wormy for that ... and I don't know why, but I love that character (maybe it's just the terrific actor) ... I don't get why Sawyer is so popular - I'd kill him off, but he is a fan favorite so you're probably right, he'll find redemption as will Jack ... I think from a commercial standpoint it is best to leave Locke as the Nemesis because it's a great marketing hook if they do a movie or some kind of follow-up to the series ... we know he's there and what's he up to and is any of the human Locke ever going to re-emerge? I still feel like Hurley has some pivotal role and I hope they make that resonate and go pffft

radii said...

oops: NOT go pffft

radii said...

I researched the Man In Black and now I think it would be most interesting if he was tricked and remained trapped there (but as John Locke) ... I found this blurb, which states the actor you like who plays the Man In Black is coming back to reprise the role:

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/2010/tv-news/losts-mysterious-man-in-black-is-back/

Here is LostPedie's take on MIB:

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Man_in_Black

Potiphar Breen said...

Right, my friend.

I wanted to secure and share my opinions here on my fav place, radii, before I did any research on blogs and the like, so I can truthfully say these are my own thoughts, right or wrong.

The Nemesis actor Titus Welliver has been great in a series of supporting roles...he can play good or he can play bad with ease. I last saw him effectively but a tad subdued in Deadwood on HBO.

If he does come back as you say – and not through a sideways or flashback segue – his Nemesis persona then would give Locke a chance for his rightful end, with a measure of grace and dignity.

I personally believe Locke is just as popular (or should be) as Sawyer but for different reasons. Like Sawyer he had it really tough from an early age, but he has been an everyman non-hunk with basically a good heart. Nothing evil inside him that a little Nemesis couldn't conjure in there, right? Did Locke kill Naomi with that knife in the back or did he get some early manipulation from Nemesis? One wonders…

For him to die an ignominious death at Ben hands…needs to be balanced somehow.

radii said...

After tonight's ep - interesting and very good - maybe they are indeed angling on giving Ben a redemptive arc - I didn't know his off-island life had been so humble ... for the woman with the rifle not to shoot him and give him a chance to rejoin them once he did express genuine remorse and "I've no place else to go," there must be some directive from Jacob about this since she no longer wanted to avenge Jacob's death after that ... loved the dynamite scene

Potiphar Breen said...

Hey, Radii,

Wallace 108 could very well already be the Nemesis in his last known man-form portrayed by Titus Welliver (you did say he is coming back, right?)...looks like that lighthouse compass had many names that could have been past AND future candidates for either Black or White character.

And another wild thought I have been having...

Those four toes on the statue must mean something that we all are overlooking...

Has anyone seen and counted the toes on our LOSTIES, or the Hostiles/Others/etc., through all these seasons and episodes????

Most every scene I could dredge up has people with shoes/boots/sandals on where you couldn't see the toes directly...

The one photo of the Nemesis on the beach with Jacob shows Jacob's feet crossed which what looks like four toes per foot...but my software might not be the best for resolving fine details pixel by pixel.

So, in the final balanced future, how many toes will be the norm, radii?

Four per foot, or five?

And what a way to reveal the final outcome if done correctly, eh?