It has been two weeks since the season finale of Lost, and my mad, murky mind is still whirring and pinwheeling with thoughts and theories and assorted tomfoolery. For example, I find myself seriously entertaining the notion that the famous Lost phrase "Don’t tell me what I can’t do!" — uttered frequently and in various forms by headstrong heroes John Locke and Jack Shephard — has all along been a coded reference to Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant. "Don’t tell me what I. Kant do!" Get it?!
Then again, such musings may be evidence that the Doc Jensen brain needs to go on a restorative, sanity-healing hiatus, too. But I promised you one more column, and I intend to deliver…very, very soon. By the end of the week. Why the delay? For starters, I want the season’s last official column to include the year’s last official episode of "Totally Lost" — and we’re still fine-tuning it.
In addition, I am still sifting through the results of my survey question: What are your top three "non-negotiables" — the mysteries Lost MUST resolve during its final season in order for you to be satisfied? I got thousands of e-mails — and I must say, rather scoldingly, that many of them didn’t quite follow the rules I laid out. For example, many of you got confused, and instead of giving me three mysteries, you gave me, like, 39. Also, some of you wrote each of your three questions in the form of 700 word mini-essays that included, like, 10 other mysteries embedded within it.
But at least I can be grateful that you took the survey seriously. To reward your patience, I’d like to share with you the top 10, in no particular order, based on the surveys I’ve tabulated so far:
Where did Claire go?
What’s the deal with The Island’s Egyptian-themed ancient history?
Where are stewardess Cindy and the kids?
What’s the deal with The Numbers?
What’s Libby’s backstory
What’s Richard Alpert’s backstory?
What is the secret of The Island’s power (time travel, healing properties, etc.)
What is The Monster?
Why could Walt do the weird things he could do?
What is Jacob’s backstory?
I’ll reveal the ranked top 20 for you when my Doc Jensen column posts.
One more thing: Have you heard that Lost has quietly announced the identity of the Four Toed Statue? Nope, it ain’t the Egyptian gods Anubis, Sobek or Set. If you wanna know, click here. I’ll have some analysis for you in the Doc Jensen to come.
Namaste!
Comments (1-30) of 198 Add your comment
I went to the link. Does this mean it’s Hurley?
So…I’m convinced more than ever that Doc is in cahoots with Lindelof and Cuse…Because Doc shot a story out right away after the ep saying that the statue had the head of a hippo…and we all said “WHAT? It’s a crocodile.” But now it’s Taweret (who knew ABC.com actually told useful information) and if you Wiki that you’ll see…*shockingly*…that she does have the head of a hippo. Hmmm…
Jessica – read the play-by-play below Hurley’s pic. Says it’s Taweret. Also, Doc – don’t care about Cindy the Stewardess, unless she’s going to bring me a drink.
I’ve got a mystery to add to the list: who was the drowning woman that lured Boone out to sea, like a siren, in Season One?
Hmm. I don’t even see one of my personal Top 3 in the Top 10! I certainly hope it makes the Top 20:
What ever happened to Annie?
obviously makes you wonder if the destruction of the statue leads to the problem with births on the island. the story of deity through time is pretty interesting and you can see it flow into the history of the island really smoothly in a variety of ways (potentially). don’t want to spoil anything before doc’s article comes out so i won’t say anymore about it right now.
cool stuff.
I agree, I don’t care about the stewardess or the Libby backstory. Doc hit the nail on the head, the same problem I encountered every week on the message boards. Most people who post are self important morons, who don’t take the time to read other posts and we get the same questions and statements thousands of times. Can’t follow simple rules.
Interesting how Taweret is described as a protector of women and children, and we’ve seen Ben balk at harming any women or child – Danielle and Alex, Penny and young Charlie – looks like old Ben is working for the island Goddess. Maybe he’s a good guy?
@aps, that’s been my theory all along, that once the statue was destroyed it angered the “gods” and thereby they punished women by not allowing them to give birth.
Jennifer: Though I have been fortunate enough in the past to have some communication with the producers, the hippo observation was not made with the benefit of inside scoop. Indeed, my episode recaps are 100% pure my own crazyness. BTW, if you had read my recap, you’d have seen that my interpretation was crocodile the whole way. I only allowed for the possibility of hippo because 1. There had been message board chatter about the hippo posibility, and I wanted to acknowledge that; and 2. I pitched the hippo idea in the context of suggesting that the statue was actually Set, who was known to transform into both crocodiles and hippos.
Funny how Taweret and Juliet rhyme.
Glad to see you’re way ahead of us all on the theories Shamrock. Here’s a cookie…
Well you see I actually concentrate on the show and not worry about what the sign says outside Cassidy’s door, or trying to figure out about Richard’s trip to the mainland to visit John, when it was all laid out for us, or what group sang what song, or correcting Doc because he spelled something wrong.
Why is the clock on this board always an hour behind? It’s 6:11pm EST right now. Guess the island is still out of sinc with the real world
I’m surprised it took you so long to notice that page. It revealed the statue’s identity a while ago.
Michael Emerson mentioned it also in an interview
i never emailed the doc with my three mysteries because i figured that everyone on the planet would( and they did) but Doc if you are still reading this… Add… What the heck is that statue is about and how and why did it get distroyed… yep thats it only one question for me..
What’s the deal with the numbers! That’s what’s killing me. Have you seen Lost bloopers?
http://hahaha-have-a-laugh.blogspot.com/
If you’re going to put in the TITLE OF THE ARTICLE that therein lies a certain nugget of information, don’t make us click on a separate link and make us sort through pages and pages of another website for it. That was officially annoying.
Doc -
Damon and Carlton have been pretty clear in the past that ABC promotional material is not to be regarded as canon. So, somebody at the ABC.com site says it’s Tawaret? Big deal. That statue is not a woman, and that ain’t a hippo head. It’s a crocodile head on a man’s body. Sobek. Pure and simple. See my blog’s recap for further discussion.
http://lostlovinglawyer.blogspot.com
Here’s my burning question, Doc: Does The Island have a name?
Dan – de nile isn’t just a river in Egypt is it? Hey! another Egypt connection…
This is the part of the wikipedia entry I thought was interesting. That she was the consort of the god of evil and “Taweret was seen as one who protected against evil by restraining it.”
I agree with Dan, the pictures I have seen of Taweret she has boobs. That is so not a hippo head.
Unless Damon and Carlton specify which god or goddess the statue is, it still remains a mystery. The people at ABC have made mistakes before during those “enhanced episodes” so I wouldn’t be surprised if they jumped the gun on this one. And why do so many people care about Libby’s backstory. She was a minor character for half a season over three years ago. I can and will (Damon has said that Cynthia Watros didn’t want to come back)live without it.
In Egyptian mythology, Taweret (also spelled Taurt, Tuat, Taueret, Tuart, Ta-weret, Tawaret, and Taueret, and in Greek, Θουέρις “Thoeris” and Toeris). Her name means (one) who is great. When paired with another deity, she became the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil. Since Apep was viewed as residing below the horizon, and only present at night, evil during the day then was envisaged as being a result of Taweret’s malfeasance.
Gee, thanks Snarf, copied directly out of wikipedia.
You don’t have to get snarky with Snarf, he’s just trying to be helpful.
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG (from wiki):
Consequently, Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women wore amulets with her name or likeness to protect their pregnancies. Her image could also be found on knives made from hippopotamus ivory, which would be used as wands in rituals to drive evil spirits away from mothers and children.
Shamrock – are Taweret’s boobs as nice as Juliet’s?