Oceanic Six Redux

The Dharma Blog returns! Happy Tax Day! Hopefully your returns have been meticulously completed, your checks have been written and your annual greivances of Uncle Sam and his “guv’ment crooks” have been aired. If so, your mind is clear, free and open. A perfect state in which to prepare for LOST’s Season 4 outro. In the days (only 10 of them!) leading up to the return, we’ll be recapping what we’ve learned thus far and at “The Shape of Things To Come” (that’s the fitting title of LOST’s return episode). Today, we’ll recap the Oceanic Six. But first…

News Flash
Get this. LOST Gods Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are in talks to add a 14th hour to LOST’s 13-episode Season 4! It’s still not finalized, but apparently Lindelof and Cuse feel they could use one more hour to tell this story. Here’s how it would break down:

Episode 9 - 4/24 10pm-11pm – The Shape of Things to Come

Episode 10 5/1 10pm-11pm – Something Nice Back Home

Episode 11 5/8th 10pm-11pm – Cabin Fever

Episode 12 5/15 (Finale Part 1) 10pm-11pm – TBA

Episode 13 - 5/29th (Finale Part 2 and 3) 9pm-11pm – TBA

(Thanks for the scoop, Maggie). Side note: “Cabin Fever”? Excuse me whilst I change my shorts. Also, note the time change. LOST will now air at 10/9c, not 9/8c as it has this season.

Okay, back to business.

The Oceanic Six: What We Know
Back to today’s topic: The Oceanic Six. Before this season, we anticipated the unveiling of the O6, knowing only that they consisted of Jack, Kate and four other 815 survivors. Three months later, we know a whole lot more. And as per LOST norms, we’re left with a lot more questions.

“So who exactly are the O6?” Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re an “Aaron isn’t really an O6 because he wasn’t technically on the Oceanic 815 manifest!” conspiracy theorist. Let it go. It’s been confirmed by pretty much every source known to man, including Maggie and Charlie’s LOST Sherpa, Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly.

With that unpleasantness put to bed, we can confirm that the O6 is:
Jack
Kate
Hurley
Sayid
Aaron
Sun

It’s an interesting mix, to be sure. I’ll admit, I wish Scott (or was it Steve?) had made it. But alas, our O6 provide us with a lot to chew on. To recap, let’s look at the progression of our Six.

Jack made it off the Island, was crowned “815 hero” and slowly assimilated back into life as a surgeon. Eventually though, doubt crept in. Jack felt like the Island wanted him to return (as foretold by Hurley during Jack’s visit to the nut house). Jack’s mental condition deteriorated as he made repeated trips across the Pacific, hoping for his plane to crash and return him to the Island. After one “unsuccessful” flight, a newspaper obituary sends Jack over the ledge, almost literally. While contemplating a suicidal bridge leap, a car crash distracts Jack and thrusts him back into “I’ve got to fix you” mode. Once again, he’s a hero. But this time, his newfound status doesn’t fulfill him the way it always has.

For comfort, Dr. Shepherd turns to Kate. Once his Island ally, Kate now sees Jack as a sad shell of his former self. She also doesn’t need him as much anymore, as she has Aaron (Clarie’s baby boy) to look after. And because Jack won’t even come see Aaron (his own nephew, whether he knows it or not), Kate can’t bring herself to respect him as she did on the Island.

And then there’s Hurley. Good thing the Island cured his bad case of the crazies. Oh wait. Hurley saw a vision of dead rocker Charlie in a gas station, then went nuts and drove through a fruit stand. Committed to the insane asylum, Hurley feels safe. And perhaps it clears his mind. Because after a few weeks in there, another visit from Ghost Charlie elucidates to Hurley the need to go back to the Island. Why? Because “they need him,” according to Charlie. “They,” of course, being the rest of the 815 survivors the O6 left behind. Though exactly why they did, we’re still not sure.

Sun Kwon got off the Island, and gave birth to her presumably healthy child, Ji Yeon. While Papa Jin may not really be dead, he does have a grave in order to further the O6 lie. And who was there to accompany Sun and Ji Yeon on their visit to Papa Jin’s “grave”? Good ole, fun-time Hurley, in what was one of LOST’s best scenes of Season 4 so far.

As for Sayid, well, this is where “shit gets crazy” as they like to say (Okay, I like to say that). Sayid is working as a hit man for Ben Linus. No need to adjust your sets, you read that right (“sets?” What am I 80?). For some reason, Sayid is beholden to the Bug-Eyed One, and must do his bidding in the war against Charles Widmore for Total Island Domination. There’s so much we don’t know about this situation, but we’ve been promised answers by the end of the season. So stay tuned.

The Oceanic Six: What We Don’t Know
What don’t we know? For starters, everything. Here are my 3 most pressing O6 questions, with my crackpot guesses at some answers.

Why does Hurley (and eventually Jack) feel as if the Island wants them to return?
A lot of this show is about “unfinished business” (visions of ’95 Huskers dance in my head). Demons haunt many of our characters, and the Island affords them opportunities to deal with those. I could list dozens of examples, but suffice it to say if there’s an internal issue that plagues a character, chances are you’ll see it manifest on the Island. Often, dealing with that issue opens our characters up for death. For Boone, his demise came only after comprehending his feelings for Shannon. For Eko, only by dealing with the unfinished business between he and his brother could he be released to a long-awaited reunion with his God. You get the picture.

Major character flaws continually hamstring Jack and Hurley. With Jack, it’s the need to “fix people” and the lifelong fight to satisfy his father. For Hurley, proving that he’s not crazy and allowing himself to be the fun, happy-go-lucky guy he wants to be will let him to forgive himself for contributing to the deaths of 23 people who were perched on a shaky porch.

Ironically, Jack and Hurley may have fallen just short of finishing that business on the Island, the "unfinished business proving ground." They were constantly tested, and in leaving the Island, they may have abandoned their opportunity to make peace with themselves. It was a fight or flight situation, and they flew. That’s why the Island won’t let people like Jack (and Michael) kill themselves. It wants them to return, to finish their business. Then, and only then, can they exit their flawed lives by dying.

It’s a grim reality. But that’s the way I see it.


Why is Sayid working for Ben?
As alluded to in the episode, Ben was able to manipulate Sayid (shocking, right?) into becoming his minion of evil. But how? Let’s remember this exchange between Mr. Linus and Mr. Jarrah:

BEN: These people don’t deserve our sympathies. Need I remind you what they did the last time you thought with your heart instead of your gun?

SAYID: You used that to recruit me into killing for you.

So there. The only question is what happened the last time Sayid thought with his heart instead of his gun? My guess: Nadia. Sayid’s long, lost (pun!) love. Ben has the file on Sayid, and it wouldn’t take much digging to learn that the path to controlling Sayid goes directly through Nadia. I think we’re going to get the answer to this one yet in Season 4, and I’ll be interested to see exactly how Ben uses Nadia to get to Sayid.

Why are the Oceanic Six forced to lie?
The O6 has their story straight, to say the least. We saw the level of detail that required in “Eggtown,” a Kate-centric episode where Jack took the witness stand to defend Kate. We learned that the world believes 8 people survived the crash, and that Kate was the hero who tried to save them all. She failed with two of them, leaving us with our O6. Now, that doesn’t really answer the Aaron question (Are they saying he was alive on the plane? Or did they salvage him from Claire? Was Claire one of the two they are saying died in Kate’s care?).

Either way, it appears the O6 made a bargain. They got to go home, but they couldn’t tell anyone (and I mean anyone) about the reality of their experience. And whatever it is that’s keeping them quiet is pretty powerful. Remember Jack’s ghost-white face when he asked Hurley if he “had told?”

This secret is also wracking the survivors with guilt. I think that’s part of why Jack and Hurley think they should go back.

But why do they have to lie? I think it has to do with the question of whose intentions are to be trusted - Ben Linus' or Charles Widmore's. My thoughts? Well, Widmore sent the ship. And I think escape via the freighter requires his sign-off. For some reason, the world knowing that 40+ people survived on this Island would jeopardize whatever he wants to do to exploit it. Once LOST added Widmore into this equation, this whole storyline got a lot more interesting. I hope we get the answer this season. And while we might, don't hold your breath for an end-all be-all explanation. We must always remember, LOST never closes a door without opening a window. Blasphemy? Nah. It's a good enough show.


Until later this week, when Maggie returns! Oh, and if you haven't filled out our little survey, please do so! It's quick! Here's the link.

Namaste.
.charlie

PS: Side note - A quick thanks to all of our readers who wrote in with kind words for my sister's family and their latest addition, Leila (My Chinese Niece, or Chiniece if you will). I guess a lot of people clicked over to their blog from The Dharma Blog and I got many nice little notes about their journey. They are all back in the states and doing great now, and we are so excited to finally have her :) Thanks again for all the kind words.