The problem I see with Lost is, unfortunately, the same problem that most every good show runs into eventually: it has outlived itself. Just like Alias and X-Files and all the other shows that I’ve really liked when they started, they ran out of runway, but tried to carry on anyway. Let’s go back to the beginning of Lost and view the overall sources of tension that made the show fun to watch. First, they crashed and there was something weird on the island that was killing them; the tension was trying to survive and get rescued. Second, the others came into play, and this was the height of the show. The island was still really mysterious, and now there was this group of very dangerous “others.” Still the survivors were trying to escape the island. The Dharma thing was interesting too. Now a bunch of them have finally escaped, the others are kind of a non-factor, half the original and most interesting cast members have died…so now what? Now they HAVE to get back to the island. Why? I’ll grant that some of these answers are forthcoming, but why are the six going back? The only one with a compelling reason is Sun, and maybe Hurley. Jack’s just a mess and has to fix things. Who knows what’s driving him back.

My point is that I think the writers are as Lost as MrHattyHat originally asserted, and to be perfectly frank, I think Atticusser’s lengthy justification has given way more thought to the current predicament of the show than any of the actual writers have. I know Atticusser is a big fan, as I have been, and props for loyalty and hoping for that kind of intelligence that the show originally showed potential for, but I’m afraid I’m calling BS on the theory. I just don’t think the writers have that level of control over their own beast anymore. That’s right, I think the show has gotten away from them, and they’re just scrambling to keep their audience.

It all feels too reminiscent of the period of Mulder’s disappearance when Robert Patrick came on the X-Files, or that portion of Alias when Sydney was gone for two years and came back to find Vaughan married to some other chick and all that. They want to make big leaps to keep the show alive, but they don’t follow the thread to see where those leaps will take them, so when they realize they’ve made a bad jump, they try to undo it.

Lost is still interesting to me, but nowhere in sight of the way it used to be. It’s a shame too, because there were so many interesting questions being raised before that have fallen by the wayside. Remember the numbers? Remember Walt? Remember Claire surviving giving birth when no one else could? Remember everything before the time travel gimmick?

Yeah, it’s kinda hard to keep all that stuff in mind and still care that the six have magically come back to the island.

I’ll tell you one thing, though: if you turn out to be correct, and the whole thing is a load of hooey, I’m going to be pissed. Well, I guess that kind of depends on why they have gone to such great deceptive lengths. If it’s just another big non-supernatural, non-scientific conspiracy of men, boy will I feel ripped off.

Now to your point… I agree that it sounds pretty ridiculous. I was not terribly impressed with the method by which the 6 returned. It did feel a bit unimaginative. The time jumping thing in general is all too convenient a plot device for my taste. Thank goodness it looks to be over now. However, I have been happy enough with the show that I am willing to give them a pass now and then (e.g. the first half of season 2). Heck, I even overlooked it (albeit with some difficulty) when, in the previous episode, Faraday made the unfathomable statement that (referring to the time jumps) “It does make empirical sense that if this started at The Orchid, then that’s where it’s got to stop.” Huh? How exactly does that make any kind of sense at all, much less empirical? Oh well. Just swallow hard and pretend you didn’t hear it.

I would be bothered more by the “science” of the show if it weren’t for 2 things: 1) I really don’t know enough about time travel and such to be an informed skeptic. 2) I gave up any connection to scientific reality in my mind the moment that Ben spun the wheel of fortune to move the island. The good news is that now I don’t have to believe that smoky is really a swarm of sentient nanobots anymore. Phew!

All that said, now I’m going to throw the writers some rope. I still have enough faith in the show (foreshadowing) to believe that they know exactly what they’re doing. They are manipulating us. We’re like Jack. We don’t really buy any of the BS that we’re being served but we keep going along with it, because we’re invested. Now the writers are asking us to believe something even more unbelievable. They’re pushing us to accept a truth that defies all logic, which for us (Jack) is particularly difficult. Here’s the kicker, none of it is true. They’re building up our faith on purpose so that when they pull the rug out, the collapse will be all the more dramatic. It really is all BS. Look at all the manipulators on this show: Ben, Christian, Widmore, Richard, Jacob, Eloise, etc. Basically everyone at some point has manipulated circumstances to their benefit. The entire show is about belief vs. fact and how both can be manipulated against each other. So when Eloise Hawking tells them that they must recreate the original flight, it’s just a smokescreen for her real motives (TBD). The fact that it sounds ridiculous makes it all the more convincing to those who are blinded by their own desire to get back to the island. They’ll believe anything. Which is why we find ourselves (Jack) putting our daddy’s shoes on Locke’s dead feet (eew, btw) without really believing that it means anything. That it does actually work is tangential to the real reason. Does that make it a fact? We certainly believe it does. And now we have the empirical evidence to back it up. So from our (Jack’s) point of view, the fact is proven. Truth (or rather, scientific truth) is really just a matter of perspective. It can all be manipulated. That’s the power that the writers have over us. So watch your step, because eventually that rug is coming out.

It’s a theory anyway. Though a pretty dang good one, if I do say so myself. And I think somewhat proven by the fact (HA! did I just fall into my own trap?) that the importance of having everyone on the plane seemed to diminish when it was apparent that it wasn’t going to happen, even though it ultimately did. If it was really that important, I doubt Eloise would have caved so easily. Plus she just looks like she’s up to something.

Now here’s a question: if Locke was proxy to Jack’s dad (rather than acting for himself, which seems like it would have made more sense), why did they not simply plan to use proxies for Kate and Sayid? Is it because you can only proxy for the dead? Hmmm. Of course, that would only matter if it wasn’t just a bunch of BS anyway, which it is.