Analysis: 4.9 The Shape Of Things To Come
+5 15 Votes
Rate it:
By AngeloComet
- Analysis: 4.9 The Shape Of Things To Come
- Created: Apr 28, 2008
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 4.9: The Shape of Things to Come
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
I think I see the game that’s being played here.
— AngeloComet
The shape of things to come is a chessboard. (Look, I know a chessboard isn’t strictly a shape but if Lost is going to start going crazy with our sense and sensibilities then then I’m taking leave to do the same!) In the grand mosaic of Lost, we can picture a chessboard and consider all the things we know to be the white squares and all the things we don’t know to be the black squares. And The Shape Of Things To Come presented us with a whole bunch of black squares we have yet to fully find out about.
We were dropped, gasping, onto a black square at the start of Ben’s flashforward. He’s in the middle of the desert, apparently appearing there out of nowhere. It’s 2005. And he’s wearing a thick coat. What’s that? The coat has a Dharma logo? And the name Halliwax? Ah, I think I see the game that’s being played here. This all started back with The Orchid Orientation film as premiered at Comic-Con. (You can watch the Orchid Orientation here: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Orchid)
In brief, The Orchid Orientation (as presented by “Edgar Halliwax” - the man whose jacket Ben appears to have swiped) suggests that, via a sort of Casimir Effect, time and space can be warped and an object (in the video, a rabbit) can be ‘shifted’. For the sake of ease (mine, not yours) I’ll call it time-space teleportation. And this is what Ben appears to have done to pop-up in the Sahara Desert. (The suggestion presented way back during Confirmed Dead in Charlotte’s flashback is that polar bears have undergone the same kind of ‘journey’, when their bones were found in the desert.)
Where and when had Ben teleported from? The steamed breath and thick jacket raises the likelihood of him having been somewhere cold. Maybe the process of time-space teleportation is just really chilly (like in Back To The Future). And if you don’t get it right you can injure yourself (Ben received a slight cut - Marvin Candle appeared to have lost his entire arm!) But we saw a Listening Station at the end of Live Together, Die Alone, where there were people who knew how to contact Penny. Maybe Ben had come from there on his hunt for Widmore’s daughter. Maybe that’s where he picked up his injury. (Note that the two men in the Listening Post were playing chess before the ‘electromagnetic anomaly’ interrupted them, to continue the game motif I’ve got going on. . .)
It’s as basic for Ben as: Keamy shot my daughter, and Widmore hired Keamy, so I blame Widmore, so I’ll kill his daughter. But it’s never simple with Lost because Alex shouldn’t have died, apparently, except for the fact that someone, somewhere cheated.
“He changed the rules,” Ben said. Seems to me he should have noticed a lot sooner and not gambled with Alex’s life so casually (his shocked expression suggested his realisation of the same thing came too late). With absolute confidence he sent Alex off with Rousseau. “Your mother will take care of you.” And then Alex, captured and at gunpoint, tells Ben that her mother has been killed. That should have sent alarm bells ringing. If the woman that’s lived alone on the Island for sixteen years can get snuffed out then all bets are off. Yet Ben just didn’t realise the ramifications. The board had been switched. The rules changed. The Keamy Bluff gambit isn’t going to work. Ben calls out “She’s a pawn, nothing more” and on this game of Island Chess that was exactly what she became.
In the high stakes game of Island-ownership, you lose your daughter. And in good old Others’ tradition of “eye for an eye” retribution, Ben promises as much to Widmore. The shape of things to come? Ben kills Penny? Well if Desmond has any say in the matter then killing Penny won’t be as easy as Ben may think. (Come to think of it, Desmond and Ben have never actually met yet! The stage is being set for quite the confrontation. . .)
So what is the deal between Ben and Widmore? The pair have history, for sure. I’ve previously speculated that somehow Ben managed to swindle a lot of money off Widmore, ‘purge’ his Dharma organisation and take the Island for himself. Maybe that’s even it. But with Widmore’s remarks of “I know who you really are, boy” and Ben’s talk of how he can’t possibly kill Widmore and they both know it… Well, it all sounds far more grand and cosmic than petty human trivialities.
Without wishing to tread on any four-toes, this thing between Ben and Widmore all seems a little bit… dare I say it… silly? This is still Lost, right? You know, the show about the plane crash survivors? The Island hasn’t become a playground of the immortals or something, right? Right?
(No wonder Jack was ill. Not so long ago he was the leading man. It’d make anyone sick to their stomach. Doc Shephard’s fine. Well, apart from getting into the swing of self-prescribing himself pills to pop. The other doc’s fine, too. Well, apart from having his throat cut in the Freighter future/Island past kind of way.)
Thankfully, to remind us that this was still Lost there was the classic staple on full display: The Black Smoke. Except Ben can’t keep his fingers out of this aspect either. First came the Blast Door Map for us all to analyse and ponder. Now we have the Ben Secret Door Glyph (not quite as catchy, I grant you) for us all to puzzle over.
Off went Ben through the secret door and, a little while later, he emerges dirtied but resolute. Then the shaking starts. And then arrives a madder-than-hell Smokey to give Keamy and co something to play with. Ben clearly intended this. He told everyone where to run and when. I can’t commit to the idea that Ben actually controls Smokey, but I think he understands how to push the buttons that alter the Black Smoke’s behaviour. I guess he figured if “he” (presumably Widmore) can change the rules then the security system (can we think of the Black Smoke as a referee in this match?) can be tampered with. All bets are off.
This is the shape of things to come. We’ve gone right past the point of what’s “supposed to happen” and into a new unchartered realm. So which square do we move to next in this chequered puzzle? Off to see Jacob, that’s where. The arbiter of the Island rules. We’ve got Locke who can hear Jacob (“Help me!”), and we’ve got Ben who can speak to Jacob, and we’ve got Hurley who knows how to go and see Jacob. So these three wise monkeys are off for further instructions - but since we know Flashforward Hurley regrets ever going with Locke I think it’s a fair bet to say that the shape of things to come isn’t, in the near-future, looking particularly rosy.
Game on, then!
Credit due to Ishi85 for this post that inspired my closing paragraph. http://www.lost-theories.com/theories/2008/apr/25/why-ben-hurley-and-locke-have-/
I like the way you set out your episode analysis, it looks very professional. I enjoyed reading it, plus one from me.
Yes the game, whatever it is, has moved into new territory and the stakes are raised. The rules (whatever they are) have changed, which gives Ben license to turn nasty. An accurate summary of the episode. It is interesting how Ben and Desmond haven’t met- thanks for reminding us. It does suggest there will be a showdown between them in future. Presumably over Penny.
Not bad AC not your best work though.
An observation about smokey. Whilst at this point I don’t want to go down the road of it being Bens pet to command at will, I think there is slightly more than him just knowing how to push the buttons that alter the Black Smoke’s behaviour. He had no fear of going to see Alex where smokie was rampaging, so i assume smokey at least recognises him.
Do you think he did anything with the body to stop old smokey using it?
+1 BTW
AngeloComet , Usually when you analyis an episode .. you kinda put your own opinion or , what do you think happend from your own point of view ..
but not this time , you seem really careful , am i right ? but i dont blame you , i totally agree on the metaphor you used , this episode was about revealing more of the Black Squares,anyway i guess we’r gonna have to wait and see , but i enjoyed reading this ..thanks.
LJ/Lost Viking - I think you’ve both tapped into the same point about this analysis and my response to it. Truth is, I tried to be objective and look at what the episode gave and make some sense of it all. That’s not easy because this episode, I feel, was very much a ‘bridging’ episode that sowed the seeds of plots and character threads (the shape of things to come, indeed).
And, also, despite the apparent love for this episode shared by many other Lost fans, I personally thought the whole thing was a bit of a mess. Action-packed, and delivered some cracking moments - but the tone and flow and coherence was all over the place. This is clearly, for me, one of those episodes that has suffered through the process of the ‘rushed’ nature of condensing the season since the writer’s strike.
LJ - Yeah, I suspected there was more than just saying ‘goodbye’ in Ben’s purpose to see Alex’s body. Your idea is about as a good an explanation as I can imagine at the moment.
Hi AC (this is an aside but congrats on reaching the 1000 comment mark!)
Stitch
Thank you very much, Stitch. (As ever, your thorough eye for the details staggers me.)
Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse in their latest podcast said that in episode 9 the question of “whether the smoke monster is controlled by the Island or by the Others?” will be answered to some degree. This and the way that smoky behaved (taking a certain route and kill certain people) makes me think that Ben is the one who controls our black monster. For example at one point Smoky was in front of Sawyer but Smoky got the person he wanted and changed route and also Ben went to Alex like he knew Smoky is not gonna hurt him. Let me know what u think!
Right, i wasn’t going to say it (because ultimately I don’t think it is the real answer) but your comment: “The Island hasn’t become a playground of the immortals or something, right? Right? ” just made something in me head go: it isn’t, is it? Something about your link to Highlander/Immortals/The Game… i don’t know… it was very appealing to my brain, even if my logic says the real answer will probably have nothing to do with it.
Aside these inane ramblings of mine, +1 for a nice episode analysis
SamiLost, surely the words ‘to some degree’ are important though, suggesting there’s still more to Smokey.
AC, I was eager to see your analysis of this episode as I thought it was one of the most interesting and definitely one of the most difficult to dissect. Although you kept everything a little broad without much personal theorizing, I was really hoping you would give an opinion on what the rule that was “changed” was.
Your comment on my post seemed to disagree with my theory, but the above reading suggests nearly the same opinion as me. But we have discussed this enough in the past few days. I was just wondering where you stand with the issue. Good luck w/ the debate. I’m gonna read them tonight.
Iroc - Initially I was against the “no family murder” rule. Then, considering how vehemently you and others were arguing, I wondered if I hadn’t closed my mind off too early. So I’ve opened my mind to it and am still letting it filter. That’s where I’m at with that at the mo.
Fair enough. +1.
Polonius: I strongly disagree with the quid pro quo Alex for Penny aspect of your analysis. This is 100% outside of Ben’s character. Your analysis boils down to “this time Ben is really shocked—look how shocked he looks”
This is a zero sum game Ben and Widmore are involved in, not a game of equilibrium, although equilibrium might be the final position (we dont know).
Also if anyone would like a real discussion of any chess allusions, rules and how game theory might apply to rules please see this post and the following discussion with abs here http://lost-theories.com/theories/2008/apr/25/pawn-sacrifice
Also in that British notion of discovery (sticking flags on beaches of inhabited lands), you claim to have discovered the shape of the game.
If they are playing a game, retribution is not consistent with gameplay.
Are they playing a game, or is it political?
Retro, are you addressing me? Only, ah, I’m not “Polonius”. (At first I thought you’d just posted a comment in the wrong place…!) Maybe you’re drawing some parallel with me and a Hamlet character. If you are, it went over my head.
Anyway.
The “quid pro quo” idea (actually it was “eye for an eye”, quoting The Others’ system of punishment) was merely reflective of what Ben stated in the scene to Widmore. He told him he’d kill Penny so he’d know what it was like for him to have lost Alex. I believe that’s straightforward.
I continue a game metaphor in this analysis - but that’s purely a literary technique based on this ‘game’ concept being alluded to exist between Widmore and Ben. Ask me to discuss it seriously? I hate the notion. Widmore and Ben suddenly becoming the game masters over this show? Horrible.
As such I don’t claim to have ‘discovered’ anything (the shape being a chessboard line was a screwy opening joke to reflect how absurd I thought some of this episode was), and I don’t profess deep understanding of chess allusions.
Screwy is imputing morality (unwritten or written ought /ought nots proscribing conduct and providing basis for retribution or justice) to a character whose character is without morality.
Doing so so badly misconstrues the shape of things to come.
While I agree that an overarching game concept would be horrible, ben’s character is game theorist (applied behavioralism); his character does play games; morality and shock could possibly be, and is probably, not part of his character
Not bad, Angelo, not bad’tol…
+1
AC +1 , What you said about Ben and Desmond never actually having met, was a good point. It reminded me of when Desmond thought he was sailing away from the island, only to find out when he came right back that leaving wasn’t all that simple.
When he arrived back ,it was the same day they were burying Libby,and Ana Lucia. I wonder what would have happened if he had seen Libby,would he have said something like ” I know you, you’re the one gave me the boat.” Maybe it was not just chance that he never saw Libby on the island ?…..
good analysis AC