For all you Losties out there, the Season 3 finale was huge. Everytime you watch it, it both brings tears to your eyes and blows your mind. On the eve of the premiere of Season 4 I wrote a theory of mine, and with the return of Michael in last Thursday's "Ji Yeon," as well as in nervous anticipation for "Meet Kevin Johnson," now seems as appropriate a time as every to share it with all of you. One of many, but this one is due to the airing of the Enhanced version of the S3 end. (For those of you who didn't catch it, the difference was we had pop-up narration and clues at the bottom of the screen from time to time).
I believe Michael is in the coffin...
Now, before you go and proclaim your disbelief, bear with me. Suspend it and hear me out. This theory has rationale. Plenty of it, in fact.
First off, before Season 4 began, executive producer Carlton Cuse confirmed that the person in the coffin is a character that we, the audience, have seen before (December 7, 2007). Therefore the coffin cannot contain any of the Freighties, no matter how much you want any of them to be dead already --- especially Charlotte... I can't believe how many of you want her dead already before we know how she is knowledgable about DHARMA/the Island and why an anthropologist was chosen for the "covert op" Naomi was supposed to be leading :\
Rewatching "Through the Looking Glass" and seeing the new pop-up clues onscreen, they wasted no time in mentioning the "most popular theory" about the article in the newspaper Jack reads and tears out in that first scene of him on the plane. It is the only one they talked about, and therefore I believe to be correct -- despite claims by TPTB that the prop wasn't totally canon and that they didn't figure us to be so painstaking in our examinations... I think it perhaps just wasn't fleshed out to the level of detail that the rest of the show maintains, and that where it read "Jo[hn]... Lantham" it should have had "Kevin Johnson"). Said theory: "New York man dies in Los Angeles."
New York as a residence is connected to only a select few of our Losties, but out of the group (Rose & Bernard being the only other adults) Michael is the one we've heard mention of again and again as a New Yorker... In fact, he lived in New York City proper, hence the "New York man" bit.
Also, when they pointed out that the name of funeral parlor (Hoffs / Drawlar) was an anagram for "Flash Forward" it brought attention to Jack's surroundings that I wasn't aware of before. The funeral is held in an all black neighborhood. Everyone out and about on the street, and even the funeral director (who I'd already noticed)... they're all black.
Those 2 things, when coupled with the Funeral Director and Jack's dialogue of "Nobody showed up... Friend or family?" ... "Neither," make perfect sense. Michael worked for the Others to get back Walt, shot and killed both Ana-Lucia and Libby to free Ben, and betrayed his friends so that he and his son could get off the Island. Those who get off the Island (the Oceanic 6: Jack, Kate, and the rest) would all remember that, but I think it goes even deeper.
Why did Jack show up then, you ask? Not only for the obvious reason he states in the episode: "I was hoping [Kate] you'd be there." Jack feels a connection to Michael, because he also abandoned his friends and is one of few who got to leave the Island for home. He too has betrayed his people... We know he and the rest of the O6 are "lying" to the world and telling them that only 8 survived the crash, and of those only the 6 made it till they got rescued. Due to this lie and whatever else that transpired which we've yet to see, Jack's become worn down with regret and grief. He's gotten to a point where he's so sick of it that he's becoming his dad (a drunken/pill-popping mess, particularly one who's trying to operate on people while impaired; the same bad judgement, I might add, which Jack called his dad out on, and got Christian fired from his Chief of Surgery job back in the day).* Hence the hand over the casket and his noticeable emotions.
Why didn't Kate show up, then? I'm glad you asked that too. Kate is reacting in a different way entirely than Jack. Jack's a mess and wants to go back to the Island. Kate, on the other hand, is acting like she knows they did the right thing when the few of them left. She tells Jack "Yes, we were [supposed to leave]." Also, she's pretending as if she isn't lying to anyone, presumably going about what she does best: trying to run from her past... this time the Island, all it's secrets, and all that they went thru while there. She seems to indicate that she has no contact with the rest of those who got to leave; another way to distance herself. What's the reason? We now know (thanks to the big reveal at the end of "Eggtown") that her new man she refers to is actually Aaron (Claire's turnip-head).
In addition to all of that, the writers say they'd bring Michael and Walt back to the show, and that we'd see the price(s) Michael paid for getting to leave. What better than to show he paid the ultimate price... his life? Besides, now that we know that flashforward is a mechanism they'll use it's easy to explain Walt's aging fast thru puberty. Did TPTB ever say he would return to the Island? I don't think they used that wording. In fact, I think both Damon and Carlton made it a point not to.
Speaking of the clever public musings of Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse, here's something that I feel just further vindicates me in regards to Michael being in the coffin. According to the theories page for the newspaper clipping on Lostpedia (http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Newspaper_clipping/Theories): "The notion that the casket contains the body of Michael Dawson is supported by the fact that the writers talked about Jack's Newspaper clipping at the 2007 ComiCon (as recorded in the Official Lost Podcast/August 2, 2007) calling attention to the article as indicating the deceased was from New York and is survived by a teen-aged son. The writers did this as they announced the return of Harold Perrineau to the cast of Lost."
Therefore, at least to me, all signs point to Michael being in the coffin. And most of all that which you see above stems from my eyes being opened during the rearing of "Through the Looking Glass." Up until that point I was a staunch believer that Locke was in it...
I guess you could say I had a Locke-like epiphany!
* An interesting aside: Our new black doctor @ St. Sebastian's who Jack goes off on in TTLG is his father Christian's replacement, the Chief of Surgery that they chose presumably in Jack's planecrash-induced extended leave of absence.
--
Pax,
Jeff
Theory by Jeff
I believe Michael is in the coffin...
Now, before you go and proclaim your disbelief, bear with me. Suspend it and hear me out. This theory has rationale. Plenty of it, in fact.
First off, before Season 4 began, executive producer Carlton Cuse confirmed that the person in the coffin is a character that we, the audience, have seen before (December 7, 2007). Therefore the coffin cannot contain any of the Freighties, no matter how much you want any of them to be dead already --- especially Charlotte... I can't believe how many of you want her dead already before we know how she is knowledgable about DHARMA/the Island and why an anthropologist was chosen for the "covert op" Naomi was supposed to be leading :\
Rewatching "Through the Looking Glass" and seeing the new pop-up clues onscreen, they wasted no time in mentioning the "most popular theory" about the article in the newspaper Jack reads and tears out in that first scene of him on the plane. It is the only one they talked about, and therefore I believe to be correct -- despite claims by TPTB that the prop wasn't totally canon and that they didn't figure us to be so painstaking in our examinations... I think it perhaps just wasn't fleshed out to the level of detail that the rest of the show maintains, and that where it read "Jo[hn]... Lantham" it should have had "Kevin Johnson"). Said theory: "New York man dies in Los Angeles."
New York as a residence is connected to only a select few of our Losties, but out of the group (Rose & Bernard being the only other adults) Michael is the one we've heard mention of again and again as a New Yorker... In fact, he lived in New York City proper, hence the "New York man" bit.
Also, when they pointed out that the name of funeral parlor (Hoffs / Drawlar) was an anagram for "Flash Forward" it brought attention to Jack's surroundings that I wasn't aware of before. The funeral is held in an all black neighborhood. Everyone out and about on the street, and even the funeral director (who I'd already noticed)... they're all black.
Those 2 things, when coupled with the Funeral Director and Jack's dialogue of "Nobody showed up... Friend or family?" ... "Neither," make perfect sense. Michael worked for the Others to get back Walt, shot and killed both Ana-Lucia and Libby to free Ben, and betrayed his friends so that he and his son could get off the Island. Those who get off the Island (the Oceanic 6: Jack, Kate, and the rest) would all remember that, but I think it goes even deeper.
Why did Jack show up then, you ask? Not only for the obvious reason he states in the episode: "I was hoping [Kate] you'd be there." Jack feels a connection to Michael, because he also abandoned his friends and is one of few who got to leave the Island for home. He too has betrayed his people... We know he and the rest of the O6 are "lying" to the world and telling them that only 8 survived the crash, and of those only the 6 made it till they got rescued. Due to this lie and whatever else that transpired which we've yet to see, Jack's become worn down with regret and grief. He's gotten to a point where he's so sick of it that he's becoming his dad (a drunken/pill-popping mess, particularly one who's trying to operate on people while impaired; the same bad judgement, I might add, which Jack called his dad out on, and got Christian fired from his Chief of Surgery job back in the day).* Hence the hand over the casket and his noticeable emotions.
Why didn't Kate show up, then? I'm glad you asked that too. Kate is reacting in a different way entirely than Jack. Jack's a mess and wants to go back to the Island. Kate, on the other hand, is acting like she knows they did the right thing when the few of them left. She tells Jack "Yes, we were [supposed to leave]." Also, she's pretending as if she isn't lying to anyone, presumably going about what she does best: trying to run from her past... this time the Island, all it's secrets, and all that they went thru while there. She seems to indicate that she has no contact with the rest of those who got to leave; another way to distance herself. What's the reason? We now know (thanks to the big reveal at the end of "Eggtown") that her new man she refers to is actually Aaron (Claire's turnip-head).
In addition to all of that, the writers say they'd bring Michael and Walt back to the show, and that we'd see the price(s) Michael paid for getting to leave. What better than to show he paid the ultimate price... his life? Besides, now that we know that flashforward is a mechanism they'll use it's easy to explain Walt's aging fast thru puberty. Did TPTB ever say he would return to the Island? I don't think they used that wording. In fact, I think both Damon and Carlton made it a point not to.
Speaking of the clever public musings of Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse, here's something that I feel just further vindicates me in regards to Michael being in the coffin. According to the theories page for the newspaper clipping on Lostpedia (http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Newspaper_clipping/Theories): "The notion that the casket contains the body of Michael Dawson is supported by the fact that the writers talked about Jack's Newspaper clipping at the 2007 ComiCon (as recorded in the Official Lost Podcast/August 2, 2007) calling attention to the article as indicating the deceased was from New York and is survived by a teen-aged son. The writers did this as they announced the return of Harold Perrineau to the cast of Lost."
Therefore, at least to me, all signs point to Michael being in the coffin. And most of all that which you see above stems from my eyes being opened during the rearing of "Through the Looking Glass." Up until that point I was a staunch believer that Locke was in it...
I guess you could say I had a Locke-like epiphany!
* An interesting aside: Our new black doctor @ St. Sebastian's who Jack goes off on in TTLG is his father Christian's replacement, the Chief of Surgery that they chose presumably in Jack's planecrash-induced extended leave of absence.
--
Pax,
Jeff
Theory by Jeff
