Lost 5x14: "The Variable"

Discussion in 'Lost' started by Agent Richard07, Apr 29, 2009.

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Grade the episode...

  1. Excellent

    54.5%
  2. Above Average

    31.8%
  3. Average

    12.1%
  4. Below Average

    1.5%
  5. Poor

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Brent

    Brent Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Nice Back to the Future reference :D
     
  2. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    If this were the case, why didn't she say to Jack "by the way, could you tell Daniel not to run into the Hostile camp and put a gun on Richard Alpert so he doesn't get executed?" ;)
     
  3. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

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    I guess we now know that Ms. Hawking isn't a psychic or some mystical being.
     
  4. Mallet

    Mallet Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    But what if Eloise was lying...?

    Or what if she meant back to the island, but not back in time?
     
  5. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    You're going to stop watching because of one character (a guest star even)?

    To assume they can alter the past is to assume they weren't in the past originally. If they went back in time because they were always back in time, then they can only do what they always do. They have free will, but their free will causes what happens later. If they weren't always there, then the very fact that they're in the past alters the past (so they could alter it further).

    I think the reason people are confused is they keep mentioning "the original timeline". If there is only one timeline, there is no timeline to be altered.
     
  6. EyalM

    EyalM Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Poor Daniel! His dying thought was that his mother sent him to his death...
     
  7. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    If there's a real possibility of them changing things, then its not just their own desires that need to be considered. What about Shannon, Boone, Ecko, etc?
     
  8. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    It seems quite a bit more died if you count all the no-name characters too.
     
  9. The Evil Dead

    The Evil Dead Vice Admiral Admiral

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    On the other hand, what about Charlie Hume, Ji-Yeon Kwon or even Rose?

    Really cool questions, honestly.
     
  10. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That's not true at all. They are back in time but they have knowledge of the future. There currently is one timeline but they can force another. That's what we're talking about here, creating a new timeline. Or maybe, they enter a parrallel universe. The original universe stays intact but they effectively create a new one?

    Mr Awe
     
  11. Jenee

    Jenee Dancing Goddess Premium Member

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    Probably not.

    But, I'm still very upset.

    I tend to way too wrapped up in tv shows.

    It's not even like Daniel was a favorite character of mine or anything.

    I just feel so bad for the boy who was never able to be a boy - even if he never existed, he's just a fictional character.

    Damn those writers.
     
  12. chrisspringob

    chrisspringob Commodore Commodore

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    Yeah, I'm guessing that part of the endgame of the series may be about the losties trying to prevent their own plane from crashing in the first place, but it won't happen. As Locke said early in the season "I needed that pain, to get to where I am now". They'll eventually come to realize that they needed to crash on that island, and it would be a mistake to undo it, even if they could.

    Also, on another topic, Faraday has to already have been born by 1977 if he's a professor at Oxford in 1996, no? So did he spend his early years on the island? Was he living off-island, and Hawking went back and forth to the mainland or something?
     
  13. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    You're missing my point. How can they force another if they were always there back in time in the first? They always had knowledge of the future and always took actions with that in mind. It's not that they can cause different results to take place. They already used their free will to create the future we know. From our perspective, these events took place in the 70s, even if that isn't the case from their perspective.

    The other theory (that they can take actions to change time) is certainly a plausible one and the characters right now are proceeding with that in mind (because it makes the episodes more dramatic and suspenseful). It could be true that Farraday's original theory was wrong. But my guess is that it isn't. The past always happened and they were always part of it.
     
  14. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Errr, I can only give this one an Average - didn't realize till now the guy who plays Daniel is a fairly awful actor :wtf: - but Excellent for the plotline that this ep sets up going into the season finale stretch, and of course for the What The FRAK logo treatment. :rommie::bolian::rommie::bolian::rommie::bolian:
     
  15. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    I thought he was a great actor, what part did you think he was bad in? Well maybe he was a little off during the "memory problem" flashbacks...
     
  16. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    So obviously Team Jack is going to fail in setting off the hydrogen bomb... because that's what Desmond did at the end of season two, right?

    On a side note, what happened to Sayid? And when did Jack become a gun expert?
     
  17. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

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    Jeremy Davies is definitely a great actor in my book. I just love watching him act. :techman:

    Well, personally I'm hoping for a surprise return in a precarious situation. ;)

    Yeah, I wondered that myself. Him holding a gun somehow looks off to me.
     
  18. DeafPoet

    DeafPoet Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    True that. I've always liked the "energy" (for lack of a better term) that he brought to the show, and he was on full display last night.

    I can see why some people may not dig it though. He does make odd choices.
     
  19. Mallet

    Mallet Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I don't know, Jack's had quite a bit of experience with guns over the last few seasons. And maybe after he got off the island he realized it was a good idea to learn how to better defend himself. He might have been taking lessons. He was the one who realized right off the bat that they would have to lie about what happened on the island and that if they didn't then people might have come after them. No matter what people might think of Jack, he's always been pretty damn smart. And it would be smart of him to learn how to use guns after what he had been through.
     
  20. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

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    Excellent.

    I'm going to miss Faraday if that is indeed the last we're going to see of him.