(Group 1): “Deus Ex Machina”: The Best Laid Plans of Mice…
+5 7 Votes
Rate it:
By jazprof
- (Group 1): “Deus Ex Machina”: The Best Laid Plans of Mice…
- Created: Aug 7, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
maybe Locke should stop making plans, or that he should stop trying to control what’s going to happen based on his plans.
— jazprof
I may have missed a lot of visual clues in this ep ‘cause my TV links stopped loading ‘bout half way through and I couldn’t find the ep anywhere else so I just read the transcript. I think I got one main impression in this ep—which is that maybe Locke should stop making plans, or that he should stop trying to control what’s going to happen based on his plans. I notice he uses the phrase “supposed to” a lot. Here, about the trebuchet—”This was supposed to work”; later to Jack (kat’s favourite) “This isn’t what’s supposed to happen.” I got to thinking about Locke’s best laid plans, and what is/isn’t supposed to happen, and put that together with the imagery of games on the show (chess, backgammon, ping-pong, mousetrap), and the name of the episode—all of that leads me to conclude that the best laid plans are going to have very unpredictable results, results much more complex than the plans would allow one to see. Perhaps the machine/invention/plan you construct will result in something so big, so beyond one’s control—it will control/trap you the inventor (God out of the machine?).
Here are some randomly presented ideas around that main one:
Locke’s attitude—the way he sees Boone in the dream as reporting to work—it’s off. Before he’s had this much more playful, at ease attitude about what the island wants. Ego getting in the way?
The trebuchet—the top of it looked like a cow’s skull (what was it?)—ritual—Boone’s sacrifice. I still can’t decide whether Boone was a sacrifice the island demanded or whether that’s a rationalization for Locke screwing up in his thinking about what the island wants.
“Everything breaks if you apply enough force”—ehhhhh…island says, wrong answer!
Following the idea here that Locke was intended to find the Pearl Station first (see ProfO’s http://lost-theories.com/theories/2007/may/06/desmond-messed-it-all/) then I guess Boone needs to fall with the plane (to point to the Pearl station)? If Locke’s legs were working then he would probably have gone up himself? So did the island take away the feeling in his legs to keep him from climbing up there (rather than to punish him because he was off on the wrong track trying to get into the Swan)? Or both? Or was the loss of his legs from some counter-island force trying to keep him from the Beechcraft, but not counting on Boone’s having become his apprentice? (this thing makes me go in circles)
Locke calls Boone “Son” and we cut right to the flashback showing Cooper. Cooper’s sacrifice of Locke=Locke’s sacrifice of Boone?
Sawyer’s headaches are from farsightedness (Is Locke too nearsighted?)
Hurley refers to Sawyer as “Harry Potter”—hmmm, Sawyer is obsessed with an evil man who is responsible for his parent’s deaths; his mother’s love protected him from death; …He IS Harry Potter! That is another story about sacrifice, but Boone’s sacrifice isn’t voluntary.
Sawyer to Kate “Do I get a lollipop?”—She really explicitly acts as his mother in this ep.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boone | Boone Carlyle | 1.13 | 164 |
| John | John Locke | 3.3, 2.17, 1.4, 1.19, 3.13, 3.19, 4.11, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1229 |
| Sawyer | James “Sawyer” Ford | 3.4, 2.3, 2.6, 2.13, 1.16, 3.10 | 451 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.19 | Deus Ex Machina | 3-30-2005 | John | 100 |
Interesting how reading the transcript makes you pick up certain things easier… like how many times a character says a certain thing.
Spot on with your observations re: John’s changing attitude toward the island. Decidedly less playful at this juncture.
I’m still convinced that the vision he had was meant to lead him to the Pearl… and, yes, Boone’s death was part of that, so in a sense Boone truly was a sacrifice the island demanded… or whatever force is influencing John’s visions.
Deaus Ex Machina: God from the sky. Used by the Greeks in their plays when they got themselves stuck in the plot, they would drop a God from the sky in a mechanical chair to get them unstuck. Is Locke “stuck” ? Yes, he is. He can’t open the Swan. So here comes Deus (Yemi’s plane) to get Locke’s mind out of the jam.
I found it interesting that Locke had a vision from the past (Yemi’s plane crashing) and then a vision of the future (bloody Boone).
There is NO WAY Locke could have known about Theresa, Boone’s nanny. I’m still carrying a torch for telepathic implants. I agree, somebody or the island did not want Locke going up in that plane.
Emily Locke to John: “John, your special. Part of a design. A sign of GREAT things to come.” Is Emily like Mrs. Hawkings in that way?
Sawyer’s unlce died of a brain tumor. Hmmmmm…
Very important point to how manipulation is handled on Lost (at which Ben is a master): Emily Locke to John after John realized he’d been suckered for his kidney: “It had to be your idea, John or else you wouldn’t have gone for it.”
Betrayal (from his father) was a very very powerful motivator for John Locke. I sense loyalty is an attribute we will see him look for in the people he eventually aligns with if he takes over the island in S4.
BUT, in my mind, the most important detail of the episode, maybe the whole show even, is this: WHY CAN’T JOHN LOCKE FEEL A PIN PRICK OR A burning EMBER ON HIS BARE FEET? And he is conscious of the absence of pain! Its not a vision or a dream. How can someone pull out a 6 inch splinter and not be hobbled? People, this issue alone has major significance. Theories please!
Jaz: I must say your observation of this ep are quite insightful, This episode is riddled with symbolism. My perspective on the visions and or apparent memory glimpses Locke receives are seemingly much more than symbolic. I believe that as Stip has mentioned, Locke seeming memories of the past and of the future, have to be coming from somewhere. The future flashes are difficult to envision as memories but could be explained in the same fashion as the Des possible futures. The memories seen by Locke of Yemi’s plane crashing to the island I believe are proof that the Smoke records visions and through the implants reveal arbitriarily the memories to the viewer. Smokey records others memories and can relay them to a viewer of its choosing.
Jaz: great post. Locke is such an enigma. I still firmly believe he falls on the side of good but only time will tell.
Stip: I would say that this is the clearest sign yet that the healing we see on the island is not true healing. Its like the island has given John the power to use his legs but hasn’t actually healed him 100%.
Wow, awesome observations, jaz!
Brilliant comments and observations from all the commenter’s as well!
Mwah! Love you too Dab : )
great comments everyone and thanks for the kind words
kat, yeah Locke prevents Des’s suicide and Des’s light reinspires Locke. So they kind of are each other’s Deux (is that the right plural?), but following Prof’s idea Des wasn’t supposed to be there so wonder how Locke might have been reinspired without that light? Just realized Des’s name pretty close to Deus (probably just my punster mentality).
(Stip, Lucifer=Angel of Light=Des? a prelapsarian Lucifer though)
Maybe thinking of it as a game and Des/Locke as pieces being used by opposing sides, I’m just thinking about how in game theory the end result winds up much more complex than the simple rules of the game would suggest (also kind of like the butterfly effect). Again, like Deus Ex Machina—a resolution that seems shocking because it doesn’t follow the simple internal logic of the story.
Prof, yeah, agreed on the vision. What do you think of his changed attitude? That seems an error as does the idea of forcing the island to give up its secrets. I’m wondering what the consequences of that error are.
Stip, great point about God from the sky! Vision=future+past. I think all the times are bleeding into each other (the whispers). I also wondered that about Emily, but perhaps they are wrong (Mrs.H too) in trying to manage or control the design. Couldn’t help noticing the immaculate conception Cooper=God—another Deus. Sawyer’s uncle’s brain tumor—All I could think of was Fred’s Mom! :-)
tharde—smokie+implant excellent idea
ditto mrs re: Locke’s legs
Well, Stip, first I’ll say I never went in much for those theories that suggest John never feels pain in his legs. I think there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that he does, but for whatever reason he didn’t at that moment, nor did he seem to when he was in the pit.
But when he was in the pit, Walt tells him he CAN walk, as if it’s all in John’s head that he can’t. I think John’s issues with being unable to walk are psychological. There is some part of him that hasn’t surrendered fully to the miracle of his healing. Deep within, he harbors fear that the gift will be taken away. We already saw signs of John losing faith when he was trying to break into the hatch. I think that John’s wavering faith caused him to give the hatch undue significance, and this was what the vision was attempting to cure by pointing John to the Pearl (where he’d be able to look right into the Swan and see immediately what it was all about).
None of this is to say, though, that “the island” can’t take away whatever it gives, and this might have been happening the first time John “lost his legs”. But I wouldn’t write-off a purely psychological explanation. The frightened mind is capable of an awful lot, as the show seems to try very hard to point out (Jack following his dead father, Hugo being reunited with his imaginary friend, etc.)
jaz, I think I answer you’re question a bit in my response to Stip. John isn’t perfect in his faith.
“It’s never BEEN easy!”
Prof: that’s a very good point about Locke supposed to find the Pearl, but not the first time because someohad to get the plane out of the way. Poor Boone. The next time he visits the plane, he finds the Pearl, so he was only temporarily delayed from finding whatever the island wanted him to find.
Do you follow that thread further? I’d like to read that.
jaz: “Maybe thinking of it as a game and Des/Locke as pieces being used by opposing sides,” Exactly! Remember the 60’s movie Jason and the Argonauts? There’s a scene where Jason is trying to get thru the clashing rocks. The movie uses neat symbolism by having Zeus move his Poseidon chess piece into position to hold open the passage, just like you say Locke/Des are game pieces. I like it.
Right, Stip… I explore that theme in bit in this theory:
http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2007/may/18/psychic-teleportation-invading/
As for the “John should have found the Pearl” thread, that’s here:
http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2007/may/06/desmond-messed-it-all/
Thanks Prof - that was a good read.
Jaz: you should do all our Group 1 disection - you’re so good at it. Applause.
Thank you kind sir. I know I always find your ideas incredibly insightful and I greatly appreciate the positive feedback from you and everyone else.
I was just picturing the L-T ‘ers (after reading dab’s great post about the astral plane) as this big Venn diagram where we have this great overlap of interests but then areas of special expertise that we bring in to grow other people’s ideas/theories. I dig it.
Rewatching season one I’ve begun to sense these motifs—it’s not really like a theory, it’s more intuitive. And one of the ones that got reenforced in this episode is that knowledge, control and planning are not the right direction. I think this started for me when Sayid said that if people knew the truth it would rob them of hope.
Great insights. John is totally determined at all costs from this point on .
Thanks, Stip.
I second your motion re: jaz taking over as our resident narrative analyst. :-)
resident narrative analyst :-) heh, I like it. Maybe I’ll get a nameplate for my desk. And it works as a nice cover for my…uhm…other vital work here on L-T.