Piecing together the clues of the Oceanic Six's secret

We know that Jack, Kate, Hurley, and the three mystery returnees have been hiding something from the rest of the world since they returned from the island. There was Jack's impassioned plea of "I'm sick of lying!" in the third season finale, and then, chronologically before that, Hurley asked Jack in the fourth season premiere if he came to visit him to make sure he wasn't "going to tell."

So what's the big secret? Here are the scant clues:

-Jack's lines at the end of Season 3:

"No, I'm sick of lying. We made a mistake...we were not supposed to leave."
"Yes we were. Goodbye, Jack."
We have to go back, Kate!"

-When Hurley sees the vision of Charlie in the holding cell, Charlie's hand reads: "THEY NEED YOU":

-The mysterious man who visits Hurley in the mental institution drops this little bombshell on him:

"Are they still alive?"
"What?"
"You heard me."

-And finally, for the 100% of people who couldn't make out what Charlie's hand read, his ghost (yeah, I'm sticking with my actually-a-ghost, not-a-hallucination theory) shows up to clarify:

"Now you have to do something, but you're hiding from it. That's the real reason you ran when you saw me in the store. You knew I was hear to tell you."
(Hurley starts counting to five.)
"They need you. They need you, Hugo. You know they need you!"

So to sum up: there are still people on the island. The mysterious black dude doesn't know whether they're alive or not. But according to Charlie, they need Hurley's help. And oh yeah: eventually this little issue eats away at Jack, too - in other words, keeping the secret is undoubtedly raising giant moral flags for both of them.

Since Jack wants to go back so badly - since he's decided that he "wasn't supposed to leave" in the first place - it's much more than a question of the other Oceanic 815 survivors simply being stranded on the island. And, since both Jack and Hurley made it back, the Locke/Jack divisions that the survivors broke into this past episode obviously don't last. But while ruling out possibilities is easy, coming up with one is more than a little tough. I can't seem to come up with any theories beyond "the Oceanic 815 survivors are held captive by the freighter people/Jacob/the Black Smoke...."

Here's something that could get us to the truer answer: the story of Lost is definitely being set up as an Island vs. Outside World story. The people who respect the island are ultimately the good guys, whereas the people who are careless with it are the bad guys. The people on the freighter are being portrayed as sinister because they're trying to find the island. Jack realizes too late that he wants to go back. And the island itself is capable of wonderful things - healing Locke's legs and Rose's cancer.

In other words, the island is Eden and the rest of the world is a land of sin. Jacob? A good guy. The black smoke? Just doing its job. Locke? He knew everybody should stay on the island from the beginning. Ben? Human, petty, and manipulative, but for the greater good.

So why do the people left on the island "need" the Oceanic Six so badly? How about this: for the same reason Jacob asked Locke: "help me." Because the island, while capable of great things, is itself in trouble. It itself is kidnapped, if you will, by its ties to Earth itself. And the more people who come hoping to harness its power for themselves - Dharma and the freighter people chief among them - the more trouble it's in.

I know you were reading all the way to the end of this post hoping for specific answers and not Big Idea crap, but that's all I got - just a gentle nod in, I hope, the right direction. At least until this Thursday comes and we find out the freighter people are the good guys, or something.

image source

TAGS: Season4 Premiere Freighter
POST TOOLS:

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· Charlotte: The Secret Behind the Emmy Nomination
· Rediscovering Lost
· More Michael Emerson Hubbub

[ READER COMMENTS ]

Piecing together the clues of the Oceanic Six's secret

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.