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stefanie_beanThere's a lot of talk about what exactly will happen if "the plane doesn't land in LA" (re: "The Incident.")
In the 1990s sci-fi series Babylon Five, those who commit murder are sentenced to "death of personality." Their minds are wiped, and they get to start over with a "clean slate." In the episode "Passing Through Gesthemene," the implications of this mind-wipe are explored in depth, when a convicted murderer-turned-monk begins to recover his memories - and the existential crisis which results.
For the past few weeks I've been deeply fearing a "return to 2004" scenario. In this two-part finale, it's horrified me that so many of the characters seem to *want* to take the actions which would (to their knowledge) return them to Flight 815 mid-ocean, heading for LAX. It seems highly uncharacteristic and unrealistic that the people directly involved would even want that outcome; unthinkable they would consider this to be the right course of action.
Others have listed all the things that would become undone were this option to follow (Kate going to jail; Sun & Jin's baby not being conceived; Charlie remaining a drug addict; Locke remaining paralysed; Rose dying of cancer, etc.) That's not my major concern here. What fundamentally offends me about this possibility even being considered is the "mind-wipe" aspect of all of it. Three years' of growth, relationships, learning, would all be eliminated in a heartbeat.
Memories are the heart and soul of personality. As those who live with Alzheimer's sufferers know, when the memory begins to unravel, so does the personality. Personality is the outward sign of who the person is, and even the risk of such a plot development shows a willingness to eradicate everything from the individuals' past three years of experience. In a sense it's worse than amnesia (because amnesiacs often recover all or part of their memories) or the "it was all a dream" slant (because even dreams have the power to haunt and shape us.) Instead, the "wake up in LAX" possibility horrifies me because it kills and negates *everything* these characters have learned and become, without even the hope of recovery.
I sincerely hope that this is not a "second future" scenario. I would be less sorry to see the characters die at the end of their time-travel time/plotlines, than to see them "wake up" with everything negated.
Further, mind-wiping always seemed like a quick-fix device to avoid the serious implications and consequences of one's plot developments.
So, at bottom, I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would even consider going along with Jack in this mad plot, much less *kill people* in order to achieve it (i.e. the Dharma "black shirts" who get mowed down when the supposed "good guys" show up to plant the bomb at the Swan drilling site.) At best they have nothing to gain except a literal death of personality for themselves (because they have all changed so much in the intervening years); at worst Jack is wrong and they all get vaporized.
In the 1990s sci-fi series Babylon Five, those who commit murder are sentenced to "death of personality." Their minds are wiped, and they get to start over with a "clean slate." In the episode "Passing Through Gesthemene," the implications of this mind-wipe are explored in depth, when a convicted murderer-turned-monk begins to recover his memories - and the existential crisis which results.
For the past few weeks I've been deeply fearing a "return to 2004" scenario. In this two-part finale, it's horrified me that so many of the characters seem to *want* to take the actions which would (to their knowledge) return them to Flight 815 mid-ocean, heading for LAX. It seems highly uncharacteristic and unrealistic that the people directly involved would even want that outcome; unthinkable they would consider this to be the right course of action.
Others have listed all the things that would become undone were this option to follow (Kate going to jail; Sun & Jin's baby not being conceived; Charlie remaining a drug addict; Locke remaining paralysed; Rose dying of cancer, etc.) That's not my major concern here. What fundamentally offends me about this possibility even being considered is the "mind-wipe" aspect of all of it. Three years' of growth, relationships, learning, would all be eliminated in a heartbeat.
Memories are the heart and soul of personality. As those who live with Alzheimer's sufferers know, when the memory begins to unravel, so does the personality. Personality is the outward sign of who the person is, and even the risk of such a plot development shows a willingness to eradicate everything from the individuals' past three years of experience. In a sense it's worse than amnesia (because amnesiacs often recover all or part of their memories) or the "it was all a dream" slant (because even dreams have the power to haunt and shape us.) Instead, the "wake up in LAX" possibility horrifies me because it kills and negates *everything* these characters have learned and become, without even the hope of recovery.
I sincerely hope that this is not a "second future" scenario. I would be less sorry to see the characters die at the end of their time-travel time/plotlines, than to see them "wake up" with everything negated.
Further, mind-wiping always seemed like a quick-fix device to avoid the serious implications and consequences of one's plot developments.
So, at bottom, I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would even consider going along with Jack in this mad plot, much less *kill people* in order to achieve it (i.e. the Dharma "black shirts" who get mowed down when the supposed "good guys" show up to plant the bomb at the Swan drilling site.) At best they have nothing to gain except a literal death of personality for themselves (because they have all changed so much in the intervening years); at worst Jack is wrong and they all get vaporized.