The flashforward is set-in-stone. It's not a possible future or an alternate reality. Carlton mentions that the flashforwards would be less exciting if they never really happened (I agree). However, we will continue to see more weird time stuff, a la Desmond's time travel. Damon says that "Flashes Before Your Eyes" laid all the ground rules on how time travel works on the series. (Yes, Damon said "time travel." There is time travel on LOST. I hope people start believing this).Interesting, eh? In my review of Through the Looking Glass, I laid out three possible scenarios the flash forward represented. According to the podcast, it seems that scenario #1 (future set in stone, we get to see how it happens) seems the most plausible now. But the fact that they specifically say time travel is possible (and more importantly that Desmond laid the ground rules) gives a glimmer of hope that scenario #2 is also possible (the future really happened, but they can go back in time and alter it).
So what are the ground rules?
1) If you're going to die sometime in the near future, you can't escape that fate
Charlie and Red Shoe Guy proved this one
2) Altering small things in Desmond's visions may change the whole future
Would Desmond have found Penny hanging from the tree had he not saved Charlie? We don't know that yet. But clearly Desmond does have the free will to alter things. Which brings me to the big one...
3) Desmond had a choice in the past. He could have stayed with Penny and everyone would have died.
The big thing here is that Mrs. Hawking didn't tell Desmond that no matter what he does he was going to end up on the island. On the contrary, she had to convince him not to stay with Penny and that pushing the button was more important. Yes, if Desmond had stayed it would have been catastrophically bad, but the point here is he had a choice to stay. And if Desmond has choices when he travels in time, who's to say that he can't go back in time and do it again.
Desmond sacrificed himself when he went back, sacrificed a life of happiness with Penny to save the world. I think he (or maybe Jack) is going to be presented with a similar choice towards the end of show.
Whatcha think? Yea or Nay? :)
4 comments:
Interesting thoughts here. I like having ground rules to go by also. I hope that maybe TPTB throw out some more, like the FF/time thing, before S4 starts. It's difficult to connect to a story when your mind keeps thinking that it doesn't matter what happens because it could all change at any minute, and null everything else out that happened before.
Hmm. To me then this contradicts people's theories about fate and the island. If Desmond clearly had a choice about what to do, I mean if it was his own choice, then really it can't be said that things are "supposed to happen" because there are obviously choices. That actually makes things for more interesting and appealing to me.
I think one thing about this that's important is that Mrs. Hawking's rules and the way she views events is NOT the same way Desmond's flashes worked. Mrs. Hawking seemed to be able to see much more clearly what it would mean if red shoes didn't die then and there. Obviously every time Desmond saved Charlie, things changes, or as the brainwashing video said "Everything changes." Maybe that's what that video meant. Was the background of that caption a butterfly flapping its wings?
I think one thing about this that's important is that Mrs. Hawking's rules and the way she views events is NOT the same way Desmond's flashes worked. Mrs. Hawking seemed to be able to see much more clearly what it would mean if red shoes didn't die then and there.
You're right in that Ms. Hawking seemed to see things much more clearly than Desmond. The difference between the two is that Desmond can only see one version of events while Ms. Hawking seemed to be able to see more than one - i.e. she could see what was supposed to happen and what would happen if Desmond didn't do things as they were fated. It's easy to make a choice if you can see all the possible outcomes. Desmond couldn't see what would happen if he saved Charlie - he just knew that things from that point on would change.
The thing about what this says to me - and I may very well be wrong about this - is that Ms. Hawking is also able to make choices, but she has a lot more information to make them with. I think people on the island do have specific fates, but maybe - for those with bad fates - with enough information they'll be able to change them.
Now the one obvious exception to this rule is people who are fated to die. If you're fated to die, nothing can stop it. But if you're fated to, say, put the powers of the island into the hands of a greedy multinational corporation with plans for world domination, well maybe our resident Scot can just do something about that. :)
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