Putting Together the “Missing Pieces” #13
Have they saved the best for last? The thirteenth and final Lost mobisode was released this week, and it’s absolutely fantastic. The episode is entitled "So It Begins," and gives us a dog’s eye view of the island just a few moments before the beginning of the pilot episode. Yes, all of us who have wanted to see more of Vincent’s experiences on the island have finally gotten our wish. This final missing piece was written by Drew Goddard, and it’s a great way to lead us into the premiere of season 4.
The mobisode kicks off with Vincent’s point of view as he wanders through the jungle. He walks past an open suitcase and some scattered clothes, and is then called over by the last person you may expect: Christian Shephard. Jack’s dad is dressed in a suit and white tennis shoes, and tells Vincent, "I need you to go find my son. He’s over there in that bamboo forest, unconscious. I need you to go wake him up."
As Vincent runs off to find Jack and the music swells, Christian says to himself, "He has work to do." We then cut to the first moment of the pilot episode, with the close up of Jack’s eye and Vincent walking up to him. That iconic scene marks not only the end of this mobisode, but the end of the entire "Missing Pieces" series.
There’s a lot to chew on here. Considering all of the circular time theories that surround Lost mythology, it’s nice that these clips end right where the series began. It also reminds me of the title of the upcoming season 4 premiere, "The Beginning of the End." This mobisode marks both a beginning and an ending, which is a concept that the brilliant minds behind Lost seem to be obsessed with.
This mobisode also shows us that Jack wasn’t the only person to see Christian walking around the island. Well, maybe he was the only person to see his dad, but not the only male with a heartbeat. What does this mean? Viewers who have studied the promos for the season 4 premiere will recall that there’s a moment where Hurley seems to lay eyes on Christian Shephard. Is he somehow still alive? Is he stuck in time on the island? Is he a manifestation of the smoke monster? No one can say for sure.
Finally, Christian saying that his son "has work to do" is rather telling. Christian already seems to know that Jack has a destiny on the island, which leads me to believe that maybe he is somehow removed from time. Or maybe he’s really the smoke monster, or Jacob, or something else entirely. It’s nice that the last of these mobisodes leaves us with so many interesting questions.
If you want to watch the clip for yourself, check it out here, and be sure to chime in with all your thoughts and crazy theories below.
It feels like the moment where Locke see’s Walt in the S3 finale. Doesn’t he tell John that he has work to do? It looks more and more that these manifestations of people’s loved ones are different forms of the monster or of Jacob. The manifestations are never someone new and they definitely have an agenda.
Comment by PaulSmack — January 29, 2008 @ 9:46 am
I thought that Cuse and Lindelof had said that dead meant “dead” and that Christian was definatley “dead”. Maybe he is a figure like Yemi and the island is using his body. Either way, it is very cool.
Comment by Thom — January 29, 2008 @ 9:51 am
I liked the Vincent POV. Nice ending to the series of Mobisodes. While I wish that they were better or added more insight…something is better than nothing.
Here’s a song I did that is LOST inspired..
Enjoy!
Enter The Numbers
Comment by downthehatch — January 29, 2008 @ 10:00 am
What a great way to end the Mobisode run! As soon as it hit the internet my friends and I were sharing crazy theories back and forth. Now, I have no idea what the deal is with Christian and how he relates to the story as a whole. But somehow I do not think he is the same as Smokey/apparition theory.
Here is why: Although originally thought to be an apparition by most when the first season started, remember that Jack never found his dads body in the casket. Now in “The Cost of Living” Eko was all “Where’s my bro?!” and when he went to the plane, the body was missing (although it had been burned soooooo maybe he’s just a pile of ash and Eko is still all brain-crazy from the “anomaly”). Either way, when confronted in that field of beautiful red foliage, Yemi says “You speak to me as if I were your brother.” Inferring that it’s not Yemi but some other force able to project what is in Eko’s mind (perhaps from when he confronted Smokey in The 23rd Psalm). Now in the mobisode Christian says “…my son jack…” which really stood out to me. Vincent nor Jack had ever seen Smokey at that point, so if Christian was an apparition/Smokey manipulation, how could he appear when Smokey hadn’t encountered our Losties yet? And why would he refer to Jack as “his” son, unless it WAS really Christian, especially to a dog? I don’t know, just throwing it out there. I love how the producers keep throwing these curve balls, whether the show is on the air or not!
Comment by SteveD — January 29, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Interesting theory Steve. Though if he is the real Christian Shephard, what’s up with the white tennis shoes? It’s odd that he’d be buried in a nice suit with tennis shoes on.
Comment by Don — January 29, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Don
Now that you point out the tennis shoes it does make me think, and actually it’s not so odd at all. The lower half of a body isn’t shown in a casket, so why take the time/effort of worrying about dress shoes matching a suit at a time of loss and sorrow? And often feet swell after rigor mortis sets in so that’s another reason to go with tennis shoes as that would be easier on the funeral director and/or attendees. I think that the writers/producers showed the tennis shoes on purpose, to show that the Christian we are seeing is Jack’s dad reincarnate or reborn or returned or whatever and NOT a make-believe image conjured up by a (smoke) monster.
Food for thought.
Comment by Lost in Space — January 29, 2008 @ 10:39 am
According to Damon and Carltonon more than one occasion, Christian Shepherd is dead and they’ve also said that dead is dead on LOST.
Comment by PaulSmack — January 29, 2008 @ 10:51 am
Wasn’t there a white tennis shoe stuck in a tree in Pilot part 1, when Jack is running through the bamboo forest?? Could it have belonged to Christian?
On dead being dead: I don’t doubt that Christian Shepard is/was dead, at least when he reached the Island. I just don’t think he’s an apparition from Smokey. Perhaps it has something to do with the Orchid Station? Maybe a clone/dupe/whatever-comes-from-the-Orchid Christian is walking around and the “real” Christian from the plane is rotting in the jungle?
Comment by SteveD — January 29, 2008 @ 10:59 am
Hey guys, don’t forget the Orchid video. There were 2 rabbit #15s.
There could be 2 Christian Sheppards. One may be dead and one time-traveling.
I think the parents of the Losties are connected to Dharma and the Island in ways that will be revealed in seasons to come. It would explain all the Mommy and Daddy issues the Losties have. The parents arranged for their kids to be on the island for some as yet to be revealed purpose.
Am I crazy???
Comment by BrettH — January 29, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Good point on the Orchid Video “clones”. I hadn’t taken that into account.
Comment by PaulSmack — January 29, 2008 @ 11:12 am
Best mobi yet, for sure.
Echo Thom - D & C said dead is dead. I think they are for real when they say that, which leads me to believe the Orchid-related theories seem most likely.
He could be a Doppleganger, but Dopplegangers are supposed to be evil-twins… unless of course, the evil twin was with Jack growing up and the good-twin was stuck on the Island the whole time, as it were…
Fire walk with me.
Comment by theonefin — January 29, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
Maybe DL and CC are liars! Just like Ben. Such a liar.
Comment by Charlie Lesoine — January 29, 2008 @ 6:54 pm
I thought i remember the quote from DL/CC saying “When someone dies on the island they stay dead”
Since Christian didn’t die on the island it might be a nice loophole to bring him back to life ala the healing powers of the island
Comment by KyleC — January 29, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
christian shepard is dead… people seeing things they want to see is a re-occurring theme, just like with eko seeing yemmi, locke seeing boone + walt, kate seeing the horse, hurley seeing dave. their sub-concious’ makes them see these people in there past (usually dead) to help them reach goals on the island. i think this mobisode was a dream/vision just before jack woke up. i beleive the producers when they say dead is dead, il be dissapointed if christian turns up alive and well!
Comment by stu — January 30, 2008 @ 12:35 am
On and off several characters have mentioned the word dream, or someone responding “wake up”, as if saying deal with reality. This is off the subject but while re-watching “The Envelope” I noticed that the food inside the fridge is NOT DHARMA food. Also while watching Yin getting angry as he played golf that one can notice cave dwellings on the background.Also on the DHARMA Intro with the 2 #15 rabbits something appears to jump off the shelf and towards the door and the assistant picks it up. I have a feeling that volcano is going to blow and JR will claim the oil. I cannot wait any longer, ahhhhhhhhhh!
Comment by Baila Viento — January 30, 2008 @ 12:58 am
You know, he could be referring to Vincent as “having work to do”. That dog has been behind SO many plot reveals and discoveries. He’s an agent of the island.
Comment by TC — January 30, 2008 @ 6:56 am
Maybe this isn’t the opening scene we saw in the pilot. Maybe the future Jack we saw in the finale has finally made it back to the Island. Has anyone compared this to the pilot’s opening scene?
Even if it matches the opening scene, I wonder if we have been seeing many different times on the island. We know from Desmond remembering Charlie dying at several different points that they have been on the island before. Locke’s frustrated comment that “it wasn’t supposed to happen this way” (or something like that) in S3 finale also seems to support this theory - that they’ve all been through this before.
I was struck by the fact that Christian didn’t move from the one spot he stood in. It could be smokey, but the ideas from the Smokey sound good, too. Either way, Walt did stand in one position, too, and he did say the same thing about having work to do.
The white sneakers are interesting. I agree with SteveD - in the pilot there was a white sneaker on the tree (which also makes me think this is not the same crash scene which we saw in the pilot). It also brings to mind Mrs Hawkings pointing out the man in the red sneakers to Desmond. What that has to do with anything, I don’t know. But those red sneakers were what immediately came to my mind.
Jack, Locke (waking up after the hatch imploded and in the hole filled with dead Dharma bodies) and Desmond (finding himself back in Penny’s apt covered with red paint)all were in the position associated with a police chalk drawing of a dead person. I wonder if anytime anyone has been in that position they are waking up for another “round” on the Island.
Are they all on the same cycle together? Or when “Walt” woke Locke up in the finale, did John start a new round of Island life for himself alone, or did everyone on the island change dimensions /time? Ditto with Desmond’s adventure. It seems that the “return” affected only the one person, but that would make the story even more complicated than it already is if everyone was experiencing the events from a different Lost Island experience
Still it would explain all the incongruencies with day turning to night in the middle of the same event and other such things we have all wondered about (or grumbled about). The differences were caused not by production error but by the story changing from the focus of one Lostie to another.
Or did all the Losties change dimension with each “returnee” without being consciously aware of the difference? The story would run smoother that way. Either way it would explain so many of the incongruencies and “production errors”.
Perhaps, like Roland of Gilead, they are all doomed to repeat the island adventure until some event happens or until they all get something right. What that something is…. I can’t even guess.
Comment by itsMrsB — January 30, 2008 @ 7:58 am
Perhaps, there is nothing supernatural about this. Perhaps the real christian sheapard is dead and this man who we believe is christian shepard is just posing as him and is actually someone else. In this case, the producers are not lying.
Comment by love lost — January 30, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
christian shepard is dead… people seeing things they want to see is a re-occurring theme
So why would the dog want to see Jack’s dad?
And dead may be dead, but we’ve never actually seen Christian Shepard die, nor have we seen a body.
Comment by TyphonX — January 30, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
Reply to TyphonX
We have seen Christian Shephard dead. There is a scene when Jack is claiming his body in the morgue in Australia. I cannot recall the episode but I’m certain on my memory of the show.
Comment by Dale — January 30, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
OK GUYS… I GOT A THEORY
WE LEARN IN SEASON 3 THAT PREGNANT PEOPLE DIE ON THE ISLAND, WE THEN LEARN THAT CLAIRE AND DANIELLE BOTH CONCIEVED THE BABY OFF THE ISLAND WHICH WAS WHY THEY BOTH LIVED (THATS Y EVERYONE IS LIKE NOOO SUN MIGHT DIE)… OK SO IF U CONCIEVE OFF ISLAND U LIVE, ON ISLAND U DIE… COOL
SO PRESUMABLY IF YOU DIED ON THE ISLAND YOUR DEAD FOR SURE, BUT IF YOU DIED OFF THE ISLAND AND YOU BROUGHT YOUR CORPSE OVER TO THE ISLAND YOU MIGHT WAKE UP.
I THINK THAT LOCKES FATHER WHO SAID HE WAS HIT HEAD ON BY AN SUV WAS KILLED BY BENS GUYS SO THAT THEY COULD BRING HIS BODY TO THE ISLAND WHERE HE WOULD COME BACK TO LIFE, HE EVEN SAYS HE WAS HIT, WOKE UP 4 A SECOND IN THE AMBULANCE WHERE THE GUY SMILING SAYS ‘EVERYTHING IS GONNA B FINE’ AND THEN THERE WAS DARKNESS…
THE GUY GETS KILLED, THEN GETS TAKEN TO THE MORGUE, THEN THE ISLAND, AND HE WAKES UP.
SO CHRISTIANE DIED OFF THE ISLAND, AND WOKE UP IN HIS COFFIN JUST LIKE LOCKES FATHER WOKE UP IN THE SAME WAY, THE PREGNANT PEOPLE THEORY AND THIS BOTH FIT, BUT HEY WHAT DO I KNOW, JUST THINKING OUT THE BOX… STILL I THINK I MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING HERE…
PS: LOST IS ON TONIGHT WOOOO!!!!!!!
Comment by morty — January 31, 2008 @ 7:30 am
In last night’s episode. Jack’s dad is brought up twice, both in present tense. Jack has a script from his dad for the oxy (which could be him forging the signiture) and also when the other doc confronts Jack about being out of control. Jack says something to the effect of if I’m drunker than my father. But we don’t know if Jack’s dad is alive or if jack lost it all together.
Comment by mander — January 31, 2008 @ 8:19 am
A lot of cool theories in this thread. I especially like this one:
“He could be a Doppleganger, but Dopplegangers are supposed to be evil-twins… unless of course, the evil twin was with Jack growing up and the good-twin was stuck on the Island the whole time, as it were…”
This makes some sense to me. I have a strong feeling that Charles Widmore, Alvar Hanso and Mr. Paik are all part of some sort of Illuminati group which has used the Island in the past (via the Dharma Initiative), but lost control of it when Ben’s “purge” took place. (Naomi and her freighter team have been employed to help get it back.) This all connects with Christian Shepard because I think he was also part of that Illuminati group, and so when he talks about his regrets, he’s not just referring to how he’s handled his personal life (less-than-stellar father, two parallel families on two different continents, etc.), but also that he’s been part of some questionable activities with this group. His responsibilities with the group were partly in Australia — that’s why he was there so much, giving him time to start a second family. He went to Australia the last time to try to right some wrongs, but ended up being killed by the Illuminati folks before he messed up their plans. (Hey, he told Ana Lucia it could be a dangerous trip…)
Now that I think about it, maybe that doesn’t coincide with a doppelganger theory, but the doppelganger theory reminded me of my theory, so there you go…
Comment by Dave — January 31, 2008 @ 8:58 am
thyphonx
i dont think this mobisode was vincents flashback, i think it was a quirky camera shot to lead into the main scene. i think the moments between christian and vincent was jacks dream, leading to my original point that he was dreaming his dad was alive.
and i dont think oceanic would let a passenger travel on a plane in a coffin if they weren’t dead.
Comment by stu — January 31, 2008 @ 11:07 am
anyone else remember the season finale when walt says to locke (when he’s lying in the ditch after ben shot him): “you’ve got work to do”?
Comment by trex466 — January 31, 2008 @ 11:21 am
What’s the deal with Mrs Hawkings on the picture with the monk that “fired” Desmond from being a monk near the end of season 3 ? The picture looks so fake…superimposed, as if the monk and her are in cahoots?
Comment by cbak — February 1, 2008 @ 9:01 am
I can see that the last post on this thread was on Feb 1, so I am probably typing in vain, but I to think that because Christian was on the plane as a corpse the island revived, but in what form (physical or otherwise) I don’t know. I do know like Locke said to Sun “nothing on the island stays buried.” I think by that he meant his or anyone else’s past. The island has a way of materializing everyone’s fears or making them face demons from their past. Charlie throws away what he thinks is the last heroin he will ever see, just to find out that there is lots of heroin on a plane that contained Yemi the brother of a former drug lord in Mr. Ecko. Locke can not move with the Others to the “sacred land” until he confronts his past by killing his father, who also happens to be the demon in Sawyers past. Jack obviously has daddy issues mainly about his confidence to be his own man, which would explain Christian’s presence only Christian was actually on the plane so Jack literally brought his troulbes with him. Ben’s mother dies while given birth to him and this is the source for a lot of mental anguish in Ben’s life (note here Ben also kills his father to join the Others just like the new prohet John Locke) this is the reason I beleive that no child can be born on the island, it is Ben’s worst fear materialized. As you can see all I have right now is a bunch of loose ends and ramblings on, but there is a lot to be said about revenge and redemption on the island.
Comment by Eric Larson — February 4, 2008 @ 11:51 am
According to the blast door map, it says that the black rock was the final resting place of Magnus Hanso, its possible that his son could have also killed him (incident) and since then a trend has occured, Ben killing Roger and Locke killing Anthony, >>>!!! but wait, Locke didnt kill his dad, Sawyer did so maybe this has altered a certain fate on the island and the future?? Just thought id throw this out there, just a quick thought.
Comment by Jackofalltrades — February 6, 2008 @ 5:36 am