Lost Discussion Group: Gone But Not Forgotten

Agreed Libby is the most intriguing character in the flashbacks but I would also love to know more about Nadia. Apart from when Sayid helped her escape from prison, we see her hiring Locke in LA to inspect her house and Charlie rescuing her from a mugging in the UK. Also interesting is the fact that Sayid tells Rousseau that she is dead despite the fact that the CIA mentioned to him that she was in Orange County. I wonder what made him think she was dead?

Lindeloff and Cuse have said numerous times in the podcast's that Libby's story is not over, it was just something that they couldn't fit in Season 3. Libby's one of the few character's with a back-story that we know very little about, and more importantly, that we're not sure what's true or not. I can't want to see what's revealed in the coming seasons about her.

http://www.mediaobsessed.com

@Nadir: Yes, my impression was that Sayid was lying about Nadia's being dead--but I may be forgetting some crucial bit of information that suggests otherwise. Now, why he'd do that, I don't know.

I want to see more of Cassidy and Clementine! I love the actress that played Cassidy, she was great in Deadwood, which got cancelled, so surely she has some extra time. Her story could definitely be transferred to the flash-forward format. Kate's mom, too.

We can't bring up the death topic in Lost without discussing Mikhail. What's his deal? Has he been on the island so long he's protected somehow? Have all of his "deaths" really just been close calls? Is he actually dead now having detonated a grenade, point-blank, in an effort to kill Charlie? The harpoon in the heart didn't seem to phase him. Something tells me that he could've entered 77 in The Flame and walked out of the firestorm unharmed.

Another "dead" character I'd like to revisit: Mrs. Klugh. She seemed to have an important role in the Other's community and I was hoping to hear more about where she came from.

Lastly, I really hope Tom isn't dead. I liked him.

Agree with everything Justin D said.
As for the issue of if there will still be flashbacks, I think that there will be. There is still too much in the past that hasn't been answered for some characters. For exapmle why was Desmond in military prision? Why was Libby in the mental institution? How did Hurley wind up there as well? (Someone last week said it was because he thought he was cursed but as i remember it he got the numbers he won the lottery with while he was in the institution and it was winning the lottery that started the curse so that can't be why)How did Ben assume leadership of the Others? Or adopt (sire?) Alex? What the story with Alpert? Or Jacob? All these things happened in the past so one has to assume that there will be more flashbacks, I have a hard time figuring that all these questions would be answered by those people just explaining it to some one (Esp Jacob and Libby) My guess is that after last season's finale we will now have flash forewards and flashbacks.

Libby is the most interesting, but we've been told Lost will get around to covering her. Now, the follow up question to that is just how would we see this information: no one else that we know of yet has come into contact with her in the past, so what does that leave:

1) She was a Dharma/Other (probably Dharma) agent while institutionalized, pretending to be crazy while she determined a) who Leonard has mentioned The Numbers to and b) if they take it seriously.
2) And/or as a Dharma agent, she had a minor role in my intentionally crashed 815 plot by giving Desmond the boat. Look: if she hadn't given Desmond the boat, Desmond wouldn't be on the island, and Inman wouldn't have tried to escape on the boat, so 815 wouldn't have been hit with the discharge.
3) A new psychiatrist cast member is introduced that details his treatment of Libby after she goes crazy due to the death of her husband.

Now, there are a number of other characters that I wouldn't mind seeing again. Again, I think 815 was intentionally crashed:

Susan (Walt's mom): Walt having special mental powers before the Island, Hanso being interested in those powers, and Susan getting a job in the city Hanso's headquarters are in can't be a coincidence. Did she find out why her bosses were so interested in her kid, and get killed for her trouble?

Charles Widmore: Did he decide to get rid of Desmond, for good, by using him as 815 patsy?

Mr. Paik (Sun's dad): Just what was he doing that Hanso had to force his loyalty by keeping his daughter (that would be Sun) hostage? Or was Sun indeed supposed to escape and Paik was just getting rid of her unworthy husband. Remember, Jin had to go to America that day, as he was on assignment.

Inman: Just why was he on the Island, as an Other employee, as a Dharma employee, or by chance? Again, the Swan situation makes no sense, in any case, without exceedingly convoluted explanations (my Dharma/Other peace treaty).

Cassidy (Kate's friend/Sawyer's con-victim): Is her kid Sawyer's baby? If both Kate and Sawyer get off the Island, what will that do their relationship?

Ms. Hawking & head Monk: The only ones that can even begin to explain the Desmond weirdness.

And most of all: Christian Shephard. Opinions differ on what Jack's line meant in "Looking Glass", but to me it certainly sounded like he's alive. Was his death faked just to get Jack on 815, as the only bait that would keep Ben out in the open? Sure, Jack was having a rough time in the flashforward, but he seemed relatively lucid - and if Jack had said something impossible, wouldn't the Chief doctor have had Jack (forcibly) admitted? I have to think Christian is alive, and can't see how you can get any conclusion other than intentional 815 crash plot as a result.

Not that death is necessarily a career-ender in Lost, as the (unconfirmed) whispers
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Whispers_transcript
indicate; particularly look at the stuff in the tailie episode: what the heck does that all mean.

P.S. Yay for Titus nod- the first two seasons were great.

I have little doubt that Mikhail is alive - even as he was throwing the grenade, he was swimming away, and it took a few seconds before detonating (Charlie had time to close the hatch and what not), which in Lost physics is enough time for Mikhail to get out of lethal range.

Besides, Mikhail (along with Alpert) is one of the biggest questions on the show. He probably predates the Purge (even more evidence that Danielle's story is questionable, but we know they will get to her) - just what is his history, and has he been working both sides (Dharma and Others)? I don't think he's immortal, he's just a tough sob.

And b.i.p., Hurley was in the mental institution because he was on an overloaded deck that collapsed, and blamed himself / his weight for the collapse (even though there were 23 people on the deck rated for 8).

One comment that no one ever seems to focus on: I have always expected that Michael (maybe with Walt) will come back to the island to help his old friends.

Mike,

Define his "old friends". The Others he helped in order to get Walt or the ones he betrayed and killed in order to get Walt.

I think we will see Michael again. How he will be welcomed by the Losties will be interesting.

I was always under the impression that both Cynthia Watros and Michelle Rodriguez were removed from LOST because of their Drinking and Driving charges they received while in production of the show.

For those that have forgotten, or were not aware, here is a link to said events.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1136912,00.html?cid=redirect-articles/

Please don't take me the wrong way, I would nothing more for the Character "Libby" to return to the show so that the story line could be explained. But, I thought for sure these 2 were both released from their contracts on LOST over the incident.

- Fuel

I would like to apologize on to Ms. Watros for my previous post; after some real quick research I found that only Ms. Rodriguez was removed fromt he show as a direct result of the aforementioned charges.

So, with that being said and knowing the writers on the show. I'm sure they will tie up that story line in one way or another. My only hope is that Cynthia is available if needed and not caught up in another show as a main character which we all know she could easily do.

- Fuel

@Fuel: Though as I understand it Libby *was* an *indirect* casualty, in a way. The story the producers gave at the time was that they always intended to kill Ana Lucia. But once they realized how much fans hated her, they saw that her death alone would not create the emotional impact they wanted--someone sympathetic had to die.

Take with whatever grains of salt you reserve for such Lost explanations.

Yea James, that makes a lot more sense. I just wish there was someone else that it could have been. I just made an incorrect statement based on an assumption. Like I did myself, I hope that no one else has put her (Watros) under the same conditions for being killed off.

Some food for thought in a positive light in regards to Cynthia Watros character "Libby". There is a behind the scenes video clip in the season 2 DVD set where it shows the scene in the restaurant with Libby and Desmond. After the shoot was taken, of the writers or producers announces to the crew that it was the last scene for Cynthia Watros. After which a close up on Cynthia is done and she says something to the affect of "I'm soo sad to be leaving (she gives a half smile/grin), but I'm pretty sure I'll be back.

I kinda thought they wouldn't have left that clip out of the special features of the DVD, unless it held some water or possible truth. So here's hoping.

Thanks for the insight James, I look forward to any future write ups you will have on LOST.

- Fuel

Okay, how REALLY mysterious is Libby? Let's see:

1) She was in an insane asylum with Hurley.
2) She gave Desmond the boat he sailed, which was owned by her dead husband.
3) She's a "psychologist" or something who helped Claire regain her repressed memories.
4) We're pretty sure she was on the plane (I'm right on this one, aren't I?)

1 & 2 seem to be the random connections that Lost has millions of, but apparently exist for no other purpose to show that the total strangers you share a plane with might not be such total strangers.*

3 seems like a plot device to get Claire's memory back, but I still buy Libby as knowing something about regaining repressed memories from her stint in the madhouse. And so long as she was on the plane, no big weirdness there.

So maybe Libby's story is over (or as over as it gets on Lost). She lived, she was married, he died, she went temporarily crazy and happened to be housed in the same facility as Hurley, she touched back with reality, left the asylum, couldn't bear to keep her dead husband's boat, gave it to a random guy in an act of charitable karma, ended up in Australia (why?), got on Oceanic 815, crushed on Hurley, got shot by Michael, and died. The end.

I guess I'm missing the mystery here....I'm far more curious about the return of Michael and Walt, or the creepy ring lady who knew Desmond's future, etc. But then again, all of these backstories can only be resolved IF we continue with flashbacks - which is why I predict the flashbacks continue, but get intermingled with flash forwards.

* Of course, that is a HUGE "if." I mean, that is truly a big question - do the connections OFF the island in the past "mean" anything bigger than "weird - we're all connected"?

Oh yes, Libbys future is over (or is it?), but there is a lot of past (or flashbacks if you will} that need some explaining for continuity purposes.

The more I sat here and though about it(Libbys death),and the episode right after it. The more I realize what James said to me in a previous post,

James - "Libby *was* an *indirect* casualty, in a way. The story the producers gave at the time was that they always intended to kill Ana Lucia. But once they realized how much fans hated her, they saw that her death alone would not create the emotional impact they wanted--someone sympathetic had to die.".

Was correct, but in reverse.......

What I mean is; I believe now, that it was always scripted that Libby was going to be killed in this episode and scene from the word go, and that Ana Lucias was just added to the death toll for this scene as a way of getting her written off.

Why do I believe this? Well, the very next episode, at Ana and Libbys Funeral, in rolls Desomond in Libbys boat that she gave him. thus giving us (the audience) one more thing to imagine and think about after we learn that Libby did give Desmond the boat later on in another episode like " WOW, Imagine if Libby was still alive when Desmond showed up back on this island with the boat she gave him!". The same as "WOW, imagine if Desmond didn't accidentally kill Kelvin on the rocks that day on the beach, and Sayid ran into him after they got into the hatch" (Kalvin was the American spook, that trained and convinced Sayid to torture his superior Officer, thus creating Sayids future in the Republican Guard as an interrogation officer for those that may not have caught that)

Its all just consistent with the way these guys write, and i believe its all intentional.

Gosh, all this thinking and talking is just getting me more and more pumped up for the next Season to begin. Someone find me the story boards or something to read about the future episodes please =) haha.

Well, this post went a little longer than I had in visioned, and I hope I didn't confuse or put anyone to sleep. TTFN

- Fuel

@Tom Shaw,

What a delicious little theory about Walt's mom. That never occurred to me.

@Chaddog,

Do we have confirmation from flashback that Libby was on the plane? My Lost-fu is pretty strong and I can't remember ever seeing her or (as I can for most other people) pairing her with a seat neighbor pre-crash or an airport mini-adventure that most other characters had.

Wait, it's coming back. She told Hurley she saw him get on the plane, sweaty and wearing headphones. I'm sure the Other's all-knowing-eye could have told her that though, it's not a far bet to assume he'd arrive in that state.

All these could-be flashbacks have gotten me fired up. Is it February yet?