Chris Attempts to Debunk Popular Theories for Episode 2x18: Dave
Now it’s time for everyone’s favorite game: Chris Attempts to Debunk Popular Theories. The last time I played, I argued against the theory that Henry Gale was an Other. I scored half of a point for correctly arguing that “Henry’s” Wizard of Oz-themed name didn’t prove that he was lying (there actually was a balloonist named Henry Gale who crashed on the island) but my overall argument proved false. Let’s see if I can do better this time.
Today’s first popular theory: Eko is building a church.
While certain unresolved story lines haven’t appeared for some time (i.e. has Locke abandoned his interest in Aaron?), the writers haven’t let us forget that Eko is building something. The past couple of episodes have all dedicated a few minutes to advancing Eko’s story, and they’ve all been secretive about it. From the beginning of his project when he was marking and cutting down the trees, Eko has kept mum about his purposes.
The most common theory on the internet is that Eko is constructing a church. There is some evidence to support this idea. First, Eko is the only character on the island that has shown a consistent interest in a formal religion. (Locke talks a lot about faith but doesn’t seem to know much about specific religious beliefs and Claire’s failure to mention anything vaguely spiritual after her recent baptism suggests that she’s not extremely devout.) Second, the last time there was a mystery about Eko’s activities (what was he carving on his staff) it turned out to be scripture references.
However, carving Bible verses onto a staff and building a church are very different endeavors. Eko’s staff is a personal object of significance only to him. Building a church would mean that Eko intends for other people to embrace his style of spirituality, which is a goal that he hasn’t pursued before. (He baptized Aaron and Claire, but only at Claire’s request. Also, before burning the heroin, Eko gave one of the statues to Charlie, which didn’t exactly call him to repentance.) Eko wouldn’t require a church to begin preaching, yet he has never made any effort to sermonize to anyone. It would be very surprising if he suddenly decided to start proselytizing to his fellow castaways.
However, the biggest reason that I don’t believe Eko is building a church is that it would be a stupid idea—both in terms of plot and audience expectations. Based on what we have seen of the other characters, Charlie was the most frequent churchgoer prior to the plane crash, yet he mockingly referred to Eko’s scripture engraved staff as a “Jesus Stick.” I can’t imagine him, or any of the other characters, wanting to attend church on the island. Even Jack would be volunteering for button-pushing duty to avoid attending the services. Additionally, the audience will be greatly disappointed if all of the mystery and suspense that the show has built up surrounding Eko’s activities is resolved in the way everyone was expecting. The show has invested too much time in Eko’s story to give it such a dull conclusion.
Today’s second popular theory: LOST is taking place in a character’s (or characters’ collective) mind.
In the last episode, Dave brought up some good points about how Hurley’s post-institutionalized life has strangely involved the numbers that Lenny constantly repeated. His question of how Hurley could see the numbers so often in the real world is a valid one. (Never mind that every character’s back-story has involved one or more of the numbers.) However, if Dave’s story were true, how would he—being nothing more than a figment of Hurley’s imagination—know that Hurley was still in the institution?
Although Dave’s monologue has been the most blatant suggestion that the events on the island are taking place in someone’s mind, it is not the first. Just as Locke handling Ambrose Bierce’s book, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, doesn’t prove that someone is experiencing the island adventure in the split second before he or she dies in the plane crash, neither does Dave’s story prove that everything is happening in Hurley’s comatose mind. Each castaway simply has too much complexity to represent some singular aspect of Hurley’s psyche. Dave didn’t attempt to describe the significance of any of the castaways to Hurley’s multi-personality syndrome other than Libby, which indicates that such descriptions would have proved detrimental to his cause. (I’ll have an entire post dedicated to Dave and his story soon.)
However, the biggest reason that I can say definitively that the events on LOST are not the imaginations of Hurley or some other character is that the LOST producers do not want to have to go into hiding because of an angry mob of fans. If the series finale features anything remotely similar to a character waking up and saying “Wow, what a crazy dream” then millions of LOST fans are going to storm ABC demanding recommencement for their hours of wasted time. Fortunately, I cannot believe that the creators of the show would conclude one of this generation’s great works of art with a hackneyed ending.
That’s all theories I have to debunk this week. I’ll be updating the blog with a few thoughts on the episode as well as publishing another essay this week so stay tuned.
Today’s first popular theory: Eko is building a church.
While certain unresolved story lines haven’t appeared for some time (i.e. has Locke abandoned his interest in Aaron?), the writers haven’t let us forget that Eko is building something. The past couple of episodes have all dedicated a few minutes to advancing Eko’s story, and they’ve all been secretive about it. From the beginning of his project when he was marking and cutting down the trees, Eko has kept mum about his purposes.
The most common theory on the internet is that Eko is constructing a church. There is some evidence to support this idea. First, Eko is the only character on the island that has shown a consistent interest in a formal religion. (Locke talks a lot about faith but doesn’t seem to know much about specific religious beliefs and Claire’s failure to mention anything vaguely spiritual after her recent baptism suggests that she’s not extremely devout.) Second, the last time there was a mystery about Eko’s activities (what was he carving on his staff) it turned out to be scripture references.
However, carving Bible verses onto a staff and building a church are very different endeavors. Eko’s staff is a personal object of significance only to him. Building a church would mean that Eko intends for other people to embrace his style of spirituality, which is a goal that he hasn’t pursued before. (He baptized Aaron and Claire, but only at Claire’s request. Also, before burning the heroin, Eko gave one of the statues to Charlie, which didn’t exactly call him to repentance.) Eko wouldn’t require a church to begin preaching, yet he has never made any effort to sermonize to anyone. It would be very surprising if he suddenly decided to start proselytizing to his fellow castaways.
However, the biggest reason that I don’t believe Eko is building a church is that it would be a stupid idea—both in terms of plot and audience expectations. Based on what we have seen of the other characters, Charlie was the most frequent churchgoer prior to the plane crash, yet he mockingly referred to Eko’s scripture engraved staff as a “Jesus Stick.” I can’t imagine him, or any of the other characters, wanting to attend church on the island. Even Jack would be volunteering for button-pushing duty to avoid attending the services. Additionally, the audience will be greatly disappointed if all of the mystery and suspense that the show has built up surrounding Eko’s activities is resolved in the way everyone was expecting. The show has invested too much time in Eko’s story to give it such a dull conclusion.
Today’s second popular theory: LOST is taking place in a character’s (or characters’ collective) mind.
In the last episode, Dave brought up some good points about how Hurley’s post-institutionalized life has strangely involved the numbers that Lenny constantly repeated. His question of how Hurley could see the numbers so often in the real world is a valid one. (Never mind that every character’s back-story has involved one or more of the numbers.) However, if Dave’s story were true, how would he—being nothing more than a figment of Hurley’s imagination—know that Hurley was still in the institution?
Although Dave’s monologue has been the most blatant suggestion that the events on the island are taking place in someone’s mind, it is not the first. Just as Locke handling Ambrose Bierce’s book, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, doesn’t prove that someone is experiencing the island adventure in the split second before he or she dies in the plane crash, neither does Dave’s story prove that everything is happening in Hurley’s comatose mind. Each castaway simply has too much complexity to represent some singular aspect of Hurley’s psyche. Dave didn’t attempt to describe the significance of any of the castaways to Hurley’s multi-personality syndrome other than Libby, which indicates that such descriptions would have proved detrimental to his cause. (I’ll have an entire post dedicated to Dave and his story soon.)
However, the biggest reason that I can say definitively that the events on LOST are not the imaginations of Hurley or some other character is that the LOST producers do not want to have to go into hiding because of an angry mob of fans. If the series finale features anything remotely similar to a character waking up and saying “Wow, what a crazy dream” then millions of LOST fans are going to storm ABC demanding recommencement for their hours of wasted time. Fortunately, I cannot believe that the creators of the show would conclude one of this generation’s great works of art with a hackneyed ending.
That’s all theories I have to debunk this week. I’ll be updating the blog with a few thoughts on the episode as well as publishing another essay this week so stay tuned.
posted by Chris at 8:12 PM
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