Bernard and Rose

It looks like Jacob’s intercession wasn’t necessary to bring Bernard and Rose together. Even Bernard’s bowels behave just as they would in the Jacobless universe as they did in the Jacobful universe. Off the top of my head, the most salient changes to the flight of Oceanic 815 in a world without Jacob are the presence of Des—but he’s special, the rules don’t apply to him, blahblahblah—and Cindy’s liquor dispersal policy. Well, as a Lost blogger trying to become worthy of their salt, a post on Des is most certainly upcoming—but a post on Cindy’s liquor bottles…? I hadn’t considered it, but obviously it must be added to the list.

In retrospect, the talents of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof for creating unconventional versions of familiar characters (i.e., the rebel, the hero-doctor, the self-important rockstar) are really at a level above and beyond the writers of much of the TV I’ve seen. I haven’t ever watched ‘Alias’ or any other Abrams shows, so I can’t guess as to whose more responsible. Lesser writers might have taken Bernard, the oldest man among the survivors, and given him the default role of ‘experienced old wise man’, but JJA and DL instead do a nice inversion of expectations, and write him as a character not far removed from a guest-starring role on ‘Seinfeld’. Bernard’s a favorite character of many Losties, but I think especially of those who have become progressively more disappointed as the show’s focus shifted towards the rules of time travel and weird physics. For much of the second half of the series, I’ve come across the repeated complaint from these quarters of, “Where’s Rose and Bernard?”

Well, where are they??

We know that whatever qualifications one must have to start time traveling when the FDW begin to spin, Rose and Bernard have. And we know they found nice little house by the shore in the late 70s, and lived an idyllic 3 years, just the two of them. The final time traveling event we know of was Juliet’s detonation of Jughead right on top of the breached Swan site. Every 815er in immediate proximity was instantly ported to 2007. The question is, was the Incident of the same time traveling class as the FDW’s wobbly turns? The effective radius of the FDW extends far out to the surrounding ocean. We can only guess as to the effective radius of the Incident. If it was Island-wide, Rose, Bernard, and presumably Vincent have been scavenging mangoes and fish in some isolated corner of the Island for days.



And if the Incident only transported those in close proximity, and Rose and Bernard remained in 1977, they would have had to navigate the perhaps obliterated, perhaps not Island of immediate post-Incident times. If this is/was the case, then I hereby nominate Rose and Bernard as candidates for…the cave skeleton couple. They were both already well past 60 in 2004, so that would put them close to 100 by the time they reached 2004 again. Their cottage setup was pretty chill, so I wouldn’t be surpised if Jacob himself stopped by from time to time. Upon their death (likely together, and in their sleep) Jacob then tenderly (also a little perversely) arranged their bodies in the caves their comrades would later find.

An even cooler possibility would be for a super-ancient Bernard and Rose to amble out of the 2007 Island jungle and impart some wisdom to our Losties.

Also...hasn't like NOT A SINGLE PERSON wondered where they are in 2007 or expressed some worry on their behalf...even Sawyer or Kate, who saw them in 1977 only hours before the Incident???

I think there's a couple potential happy endings for Bernard and Rose. But however it happens, these two are not going to make it to the end of the finale—at least in the crash timeline.

THE NADLER DOSSIER: QUESTIONS:

1. Where are Bernard and Rose? Were they transported to the Island in 2007 like the rest of the 815ers? Were they left in 1977? If so, what was their eventual fate?

2. Will they be allowed to pass away together, in peace?

Miles

To get a little meta, it seems to me like the Miles of Season 6 would enjoy watching Lost. The Miles who arrived on the Island in 2004...not so much.

Ken Leung has one of the most actorly blank faces that I've seen. When Bram--fine guy, I'm sure, but not really a master of strategy and subterfuge--attempts to woo Miles to his cause by reminding him of that darn old hole in his soul, Miles just stares blankly at him for a long beat. Could he be just a second away from tearing up and falling helplessly into the comforting embrace of Bram's ample bosom? Errr, no. Miles delivers that awesome, deadpan "It's sad. Isn't it?". But he precedes his reluctant lines to Sawyer when asked to 'talk' to dead Juliet with the exact same blank-face beat. Weirdly, he sells it in both situations! Two completely different emotions, and one blank face.

I also have Miles to thank for one of my top 5 flashback episodes of the whole series, 'Some like it Hoth'. At this point (a couple days away from 'The Candidate'), I think that the major reason for Miles joining Richard and Ben is the equal distribution of deadpan comedy among the Island factions. But besides this welcome function, what might be his purpose in the remainder of Season 6? In the premiere this season, I thought that Miles would eventually 'speak' to dead Jacob, and that would be a crucial event--but that's already happened and the revelations were fairly minor (though a question of mine was answered). Really, some of Miles's greatest contributions of past seasons have been the moments when his no-bullshit observations have slowed the steps of a group of characters hell-bent on some crazy mission. I cite his 'Has it occurred to any of you that your buddy's actually gonna cause the thing he says he's trying to prevent? Perhaps that little nuke is the incident? So maybe the best thing to do... is nothing?' speech as one of his finest moments.

I wouldn't mind a little more specificity on how Miles acquired his talents. At this point, the explanation is simply: he was on the Island as a baby. That will suffice, but...do all Island babies have secret powers? Why that particular ability? But really, I'm just hoping my man doesn't become cannon fodder before his time. As long as Claire gets to survive...Miles at least deserves to make it that far.

Also, I could go for a completely gonzo twist to Miles story--like he becomes the new Richard to Jack's new Jacob!

THE MILES DOSSIER: QUESTIONS:

1. Why and how, exactly did Miles acquire his abilities?

Sun and Jin

In the spirit of posting questions prior to episodes in which their probable answers will be revealed (err, sorry Richard), here are some thoughts on our season and a half separated lovers, Jin-Soo Kwon and Sun-(?)Kwon.

Jin has gone through an arc of maturation and growth that really isn't too different than Sawyer's journey up until he brought Juliet's corpse out of the wreckage of the Swan Hatch. Jin and James both crashed on the island in 2004 after leading lives of criminality and deceit. Both gained sustenance while on the other side of the law--Jin could at least pay the bills for Sun's lavish habits when he was in the thick of thug life, while Sawyer assumed the liar's life so adroitly that no one would be able to play him out of his lifelong hunt. Jin nearly sacrificed his marriage because of the corrupt lengths that his desire for self-sufficiency and independence pushed him to accept as justifiable. Sawyer did sacrifice his membership in any relationship, family or otherwise, because being out for himself negated the possibility of being out even a little bit for any other single person, and he knew it.

Jin found out enough about himself to do the right thing, to make the choice about his life that Jacob claims to have brought everyone to the island to do, a bit sooner than Sawyer. He's shrugged off the toxic Korean machismo he came to the island with while the keeping the healthier side of such feelings: the veneration and protection of his wife. He's forgiven his wife for straying from their partnership by literally renouncing the man he was before coming to the island. And finally, he made the choice that Jack could never make: He renounced his desire to be with Sun again because he believed her safety was greater than any wish for reunion he might have. I believe Dr. Shephard attempted to set off a hydrogen bomb simply to have a meager chance of reunion with a woman who would no longer recognize him? Basically, there's nowhere further for Jin to go. As far as a candidate for protector of the Island...one could do worse.

But, he'd never take the job if it meant separating himself from Sun for eternity. Sun Kwon (nee Paik) has seemed a little bit lost without a garden to periodically uproot. She's been a witness to some pretty crazy sh*t since returning to the island (i.e., the dead are now walking) but she's kept it cool. Perhaps hanging out with Capt. Frank has led to a bit of his squinty eyed fatalism rubbing off on her. As we've seen, Jin's already learned to cool his desire for reuniting with Sun if the circumstances ask too much, e.g., Sun's safety. We haven't seen Sun undergo any similar test. Her desire to be with her husband is exactly the vulnerability that MiB seems to delight in using to manipulate people toward committing actions that they might often consider morally repugnant. Mark my words people, Jin and Sun's reunion will not come without cost. I don't know if she (or he) will be faced with as brutal a dilemma as Ben posed to Jack in the Season 3 finale--but the MiB won't let an opportunity to gain an upper hand on Ilana and the other candidates slip out of his grasp like this.

I suppose that's the question I'm most interested in for these two. What will they be asked to sacrifice in order to be together? Will they do it? Some Lost-watchers feel that since it's the final season, the show has a duty to begin killing off its characters. I'm not really with that. And Jin and Sun being as 'side' a character as you get these days (excepting perhaps Frank), I really hope that premature death isn't in store for either of them. Their island story is always quite a bit richer when these two actors are together, so I'm rooting for a living, breathing reunion.

UPDATE, FOLLOWING THE EVENTS OF 'THE LAST RECRUIT'

Well, they were finally reunited, and it felt so good. Actually it was kind of...unemotional. I mean, on the most recent Doc Jensen Totally Lost video they excerpt that Dez/Penny phone conversation at the end of 'The Constant' and just seeing that snippet, my heart is immediately in my throat and the tears are starting to flow. Jin and Sun deserve a reunion scene with that level of emotion. Especially after the incredibly wrenching scene of Sun watching from the helicopter as the freighter blew up with Jin on the deck. Maybe I'm just too cold...but I didn't feel it. Their reunion seemed rushed and abbreviated at the same time. They deserved better.