LOST and (not really) Found # 2

Let’s talk about the Oceanic 6 .

Jack
Kate
Hurley
Sayid
Aaron
Sun

First, I’ll go with something “Giantasianman” (GAM) said, which was that there are still other survivors who are alive. However, these are the ones who appear to be the “only” survivors – to the general public, at least. Hence the fake story that Jack told when he was testifying at Kate’s trial, and the fact that Mr. Abbadon found Hurley at the crazy house and asked him if there were still others alive, and where they were. Now, ignoring some of the questions that come from that encounter, let’s review what we know about each of the 6, post-island.

JACK – first one we realized to be one of the 6, from the first flash-forward at the end of last season. We find Jack has regressed back to his “I’ve never met a drink I didn’t like” days, and he’s constantly flying on Oceanic flights, hoping they’ll crash. He’s also trying to score pills again, and appears to be a hero saving a woman from a crash, but in reality, he caused the crash because she was looking at a man who was standing on the edge of bridge, presumably getting ready to jump. That man was Jack. We also find him to be the only visitor at a closed-casket funeral (don’t know who is in the casket), and he’s constantly calling someone who we later find out to be Kate. He tells Kate he wishes they never left the island and he wishes they could go back.

KATE – Aside from the involvement in Jack’s flash-forward, we find that Kate has turned herself in to face the charges of killing her step-father. We also find out that she has a kid, who is later revealed to be AARON, Claire’s kid. Although the public seems to believe that the kid is actually Kate’s, even her mother who asks to see her “grandchild”. Now, Kate makes a deal to go free, the only real stipulation is that she doesn’t leave California. This deal was made possible by the fact that the prosecution’s main witness, Kate’s mom, decides not to testify. Aside from going free, we find out that Kate, formerly the drifter with no money, drives a Volvo and a nice house. Jack wants to hang out with Kate, but she says until he decides to acknowledge Aaron, she won’t spend time with him. Remember, Aaron is actually Jack’s nephew (Claire is his half-sister), so does he not want to see Aaron because he reminds him of family problems, or because of the people they left on the island?

AARON – I previously referred to Aaron as the biggest cop-out for the show’s makers. Instead of having another adult survivor, we’ve got Aaron, who is obviously not going to remember anything about his experience on the island, and unless the producers are going to flash-forward 10 years or something, he’s not going to be involved except as a sort of sub-survivor.

HURLEY – Hurley is back in the crazy house after seeing visions of Charlie, telling him that the people he left behind need Hurley for help (another clue people that aren’t part of the 6 are still living – somewhere). Mr. Abbadon comes to visit Hurley, posing as an Oceanic lawyer, trying to get information out of him. Jack also comes to visit Hurley, and Hurley says that he wished he would’ve stayed with Jack, instead of going with Locke – and it’s important to note that in both Kate’s flash-forward and Hurley’s, Jack appears to be still more of the functioning alcoholic Jack, having maintained a decent appearance, and telling Hurley that he’s doing some “consulting”. He’s still having his morning screwdriver, but he’s not the wild-eyed Jack we saw in his own flash-forward.

SAYID – What’s awesome about Sayid’s post-island life? He’s a hitman. What’s possibly not so awesome? That he’s working for Ben. We find that Sayid worked his way into one of Widmore’s assistant’s life (and pants), but that she knew who he was, and almost killed him, but he killed her instead. When Ben was stitching Sayid up, he stated to Sayid something to the effect that Sayid had to be careful because he had to remember what happened the last time he let love/feelings overshadow his judgment – and Ben made an obscure reference to the “last time” that happened. Now, Sayid believes the people he’s killing are harmful to his friends – again, another reference to other survivors who are still alive.

SUN – Sun successfully has her baby, but only Hurley comes to visit her, and we find out that Jin is not one of the 6, and also that he may potentially be dead. I say potentially, because Sun, Hurley and the baby visit Jin’s tombstone, but the date of death they have on the tombstone is the date of the crash. So – is Jin really dead or did he just not make it off the island? If not, why not? I can’t imagine he’d leave Sun unless he had to for her and the baby’s survival.

Now that everyone knows who the 6 are, there are obviously a ton of questions. First, something else GAM said – that “Oceanic 6” is likely a name given to them by the press, to help sensationalize the reemergence of the survivors. Now, I do believe that GAM is right about the press thing, but I don’t believe that there are other survivors who are alive, AND known to be alive by the public – I think it’s just these guys who are “supposed” to be the actual survivors.

What’s also important is that they have not definitively established a timeline for the flash-forwards. Here are my guesses, earliest to latest.


1. Kate’s trial /Aaron
2. Sun
3. Hurley in crazy house
4. Drunk, bearded Jack
5. Sayid?
Now, I think Kate’s trial is first, or at least close to first, because Jack is still functioning alcoholic Jack. Sun is second, because Hurley is still out in public. (However, this could also mean that it’s at the end, if Hurley were to get out of the crazy house and then go see Sun. Hurley in the crazy house clearly comes before drunk, bearded Jack because Jack is still functioning. However, as far as Sayid’s, I’m really not sure. I didn’t catch any big external clues that would clue us in as to where that falls. However, as I noted in my first article, there are clearly things that I’ve missed before, so if someone knows of any external clues in Sayid’s flash-forward, please feel free to enlighten me.

But all of this, as with most things LOST, bring us back to one of the most basic questions – so what? Which then of course brings a whole bunch of other questions.

- Why these 6?
- What did they have to do to get off the island?
- Why are they lying about what happened on the island?
- Are they ever going to make it back to the island?
- Are there other survivors somewhere back in the US or elsewhere that people don’t know about ( a la Michael, before he returned on Widmore’s ship).
- What is the timeline for the flash-forwards?
- How did Kate explain to everyone that Aaron was actually her son?
- By working for Ben, is Sayid actually protecting his friends, or is he just killing people that would end up harming Ben?
- If Abbadon is still going after people to find out, is Widmore still alive, or Abbadon just trying to figure out what happened?
- And so on, and so on, and so on.

Now, I’m sure many of you have the same questions – I know they’re not particularly original, but I’d definitely like to hear what you all have to say.

Some random thoughts:

- I think the 6, whether it be all of them or some, will end up going back to the island, and that the last season in the series will likely be the return to the island to rescue/bring back/check on the survivors who are still left on the island.
- I think the timeline for the flash-forwards will be revealed by the end of the season, and I think that we’ll also start to see flash-forwards from other survivors who are not part of the 6.
- And finally, I still hate Abrams, Cuse and Lindelof.

Random note on Widmore Corporation – I was questioning before how Widmore could’ve found out anything about the island and all that stuff. Apparently, after some more roaming around Lostpedia, I found out that Alvar Hanso used to be on the Board of the Widmore Corporation, and was later replaced by his number two, who had imprisoned Hanso in his house. There is a ton of information on Lostpedia on this subject, so instead of running through this myself for 100 pages or so, I’ll let you all check that out if you want. You can find volumes on volumes on interesting stuff on that sight, and if you’re looking to take your fan status to the next level, this is where to do it. You can find out tons of things you wanted to know about the Hanso Foundation, the Dharma initiative – every person and every thing ever featured on that show, including a lot of things not on the show, but related, such as websites, books published and referenced on the show – all sorts of stuff. But be ready, if you take that jump, you’re going to be on that website for a long time.

-Preview.