# LOST 6.11 "Happily Ever After" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170 "2010-04-06T17:47:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/101 "2010-04-07T20:09:14Z")
Has anyone considered the possibility that there was no nuclear explosion at all? Wait, hear me out. This is what we saw: Juliet was pounding on the bomb with a rock and suddenly the screen went white – much the same as it did every time the losties time-traveled during the season before. We never did see, or hear, or hear anybody mention an actual explosion, did we? What if something _else_ (Eloise?) just happened to cause the Mother of all time-jumps right then, something so powerful that it even split time into two separate realities? Hey, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing that’s happened on this show. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/102 "2010-04-07T20:46:24Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Is she…the third party that keeps the first and second parties from violating the rules? > > -Joe I got the sense that she wasn’t herself. Almost like another entity was communicating through her. It reminded me of when Locke was walking through the woods with Sawyer and that little kid appeared and told Locke that he couldn’t kill him. That it was “against the rules.” ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/103 "2010-04-07T21:01:28Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Has anyone considered the possibility that there was no nuclear explosion at all? > > Wait, hear me out. This is what we saw: Juliet was pounding on the bomb with a rock and suddenly the screen went white – much the same as it did every time the losties time-traveled during the season before. We never did see, or hear, or hear anybody mention an actual explosion, did we? > > What if something _else_ (Eloise?) just happened to cause the Mother of all time-jumps right then, something so powerful that it even split time into two separate realities? > > Hey, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing that’s happened on this show. I think this may very well be the only way to explain it. Except it may not even require another catalyst, Eloise or otherwise. Maybe the bomb technically did go off, but because of the electromagnetic anomaly, it didn’t have the results we would expect. Maybe the energy from the bomb combined with that of the anomaly, doing two things in the process: 1) launching the Losties back to where they originally came from, and 2) tearing a hole in spacetime and immediately destroying/sinking the Island in the resulting _new_ timeline. Because the energy was transferred into the new timeline, it did not not destroy the Island in the original one. It did, however, become known as “the Incident” and the reason for all the button-pushing business. The only way to confirm this would be for Jack or someone to ask Richard, “What the hell happened here back in 1977? You know, when we showed up looking exactly like we do now and got you to help us rig a nuke? Did it go boom, or did we all just disappear in a flash of light?” I’m thinking from Richard’s point of view it would have to be the latter, because obviously the Island was not destroyed, Swan station was built, Ben eventually joined the Others, etc. Holy crap, that actually kind of makes sense. I think. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/104 "2010-04-07T21:11:19Z")
> [@Sinaptics](#): > > I got the sense that she wasn’t herself. Almost like another entity was communicating through her. > > It reminded me of when Locke was walking through the woods with Sawyer and that little kid appeared and told Locke that he couldn’t kill him. That it was “against the rules.” Exactly. Somehow, Desmond has been Widmore’s #2 guy for some time. Yet in that time he has never met any of his family. Only when Charlie derails fate/the plan/the script does Desmond break out of his assigned role do things start to end up where he is “supposed” to be. He just happens to walk past someone going over the guest list as they just happen to read Penny’s name, and Daniel just happens to bump into him and tell him where she is… Eloise is trying to keep things on a certain track - whether that was actually Eloise or the third party speaking remains to be seen. Since family is such a part of this show, I have to ask…who is Penny’s mother? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/105 "2010-04-07T21:54:24Z")
Did anyone look in a mirror in this episode? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/106 "2010-04-07T21:59:12Z")
Desmond did several times. The reflection in the glass at the airport, and outside the courthouse, I think. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/107 "2010-04-07T22:19:18Z")
> [@Winston\_Bongo](#): > > I think this may very well be the only way to explain it. Except it may not even require another catalyst, Eloise or otherwise. Maybe the bomb technically did go off, but because of the electromagnetic anomaly, it didn’t have the results we would expect. Maybe the energy from the bomb combined with that of the anomaly, doing two things in the process: 1) launching the Losties back to where they originally came from, and 2) tearing a hole in spacetime and immediately destroying/sinking the Island in the resulting _new_ timeline. Because the energy was transferred into the new timeline, it did not not destroy the Island in the original one. It did, however, become known as “the Incident” and the reason for all the button-pushing business. > > The only way to confirm this would be for Jack or someone to ask Richard, “What the hell happened here back in 1977? You know, when we showed up looking exactly like we do now and got you to help us rig a nuke? Did it go boom, or did we all just disappear in a flash of light?” > > I’m thinking from Richard’s point of view it would have to be the latter, because obviously the Island was not destroyed, Swan station was built, Ben eventually joined the Others, etc. > > Holy crap, that actually kind of makes sense. I think. Y’all may be on to something. When the time jumps happened, every person was not affected–the Others and the D.I. people all stayed in their proper timelines. Hmmm… now that I think about it, Dead Charlotte wasn’t affected, either. That’s kinda creepy. Oh, and just as an aside… in Season 4, Episode 1, at 32:04, while Locke and Jack are fighting, does Locke say, “Matthew”? I was watching it earlier, and I could swear that he did, but I didn’t find anything about it on Lostpedia’s bloopers for that episode. ---
**Author:** ![Nan\_Sequitur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Nan\_Sequitur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nan_Sequitur)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/108 "2010-04-07T22:24:48Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I wanted to like this episode, but Charlie ruins any episode that he features in. I don’t know if it’s the actor, the character, or the combination of both - but when he died the first time, I thought “good riddens” and every trip back I’ve cringed. > > The episode didn’t move forward enough for me. They’ve got more than 7 hours of story left and not enough time to tell it in; they’re wasting some of the time they’ve got. Every time I say this, everybody looks at me like I have just kicked a bunny. He’s a twerp; forwards, backwards, and sideways. Didn’t ruin it for me, though. I’m assuming they are building up to a cliffhanger before the break, but agreed. Get on with it already. Furthermore, since this has been a huge moneymaker for ABC (commercials, what, every six minutes or so?) can’t they spring for some decent CGI? I’ve been waiting and waiting to see unLocke transform into the smoke monster. Yes, I am shallow. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/109 "2010-04-08T00:27:41Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Right. You get to choose the love of your life – most of the Losties have managed to find love on the island – or you get to live in the Alt timeline, maybe happier, but no love. Sun and Jin are in love and either together or actively looking for each other in both timelines. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/110 "2010-04-08T00:32:54Z")
> [@Nan\_Sequitur](#): > > I’m assuming they are building up to a cliffhanger before the break, When is the break? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/111 "2010-04-08T00:53:11Z")
> [@Nan\_Sequitur](#): > > I’m assuming they are building up to a cliffhanger before the break… No break. They air weekly until the finale, which is on a Sunday. [Lost episodes and airdates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_episodes) ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/112 "2010-04-08T05:42:54Z")
> [@Winston\_Bongo](#): > > IMaybe the energy from the bomb combined with that of the anomaly, doing two things in the process: 1) launching the Losties back to where they originally came from, and 2) tearing a hole in spacetime and immediately destroying/sinking the Island in the resulting _new_ timeline. Tearing a hole and creating alternate realities, perhaps. But immediately destroying/sinking the island in the “new” timeline would have resulted in the immediate deaths of some people we know are still alive and well in that “new” timeline – like Ben and his father. > [@](#): > > The only way to confirm this would be for Jack or someone to ask Richard, “What the hell happened here back in 1977? You know, when we showed up looking exactly like we do now and got you to help us rig a nuke? Did it go boom, or did we all just disappear in a flash of light?” Last season, current day Richard said that he saw all of them die (back in 1977) – I think he was talking to Sun, or one of the folks who never travelled back to 1977. I’d like to know more about that statement. Obviously, island-Richard (in 2007) either saw them disappear in the time jump, or he heard about them disappearing second-hand. ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/113 "2010-04-08T06:15:07Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > So was the hitchhiker that Desmond and Charlie passed while in the car someone from an earlier episode? Seems like they lingered on him a little too long. If it’s the part I think you mean, then I didn’t see the person clearly enough to recognise them if they were anyone, but I thought that shot was more just to show that they were driving by the marina. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/114 "2010-04-08T13:47:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > No break. They air weekly until the finale, which is on a Sunday. > > [Lost episodes and airdates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_episodes) From that schedule, it does look like there’s a break. I’m not seeing an episode on the 27th. ---
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/115 "2010-04-08T13:50:26Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Has anyone considered the possibility that there was no nuclear explosion at all? > > Wait, hear me out. This is what we saw: Juliet was pounding on the bomb with a rock and suddenly the screen went white – much the same as it did every time the losties time-traveled during the season before. We never did see, or hear, or hear anybody mention an actual explosion, did we? > > What if something _else_ (Eloise?) just happened to cause the Mother of all time-jumps right then, something so powerful that it even split time into two separate realities? > > Hey, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing that’s happened on this show. I always thought it was Locke turning the wheel that set the island into its current temporal position, and the question of whether the bomb went off, or had any effect thereafter, was meant to be left hanging. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/116 "2010-04-08T14:57:04Z")
The way I see it, the bomb did go off. We saw at the beginning to this season that the island was on the ocean floor. With no island, the plane never crashes and Jack, Sawyer, etc. never showed up - which sets up a paradox. If the plane never crashed, who set off the nuke and sink the island so the plane wouldn’t crash? I think the paradox would be resolved in the ATL with a massive earthquake or something on the island in 1977 that starts the island sinking slowly enough for the Dharma people to evacuate. Then we can see Ben and his Dad living in the ATL. Since Sayid was never on the island, Ben never got shot and there is no need to mention it and Ben never learned his manipulative ways. I’m not sure what would have happened with Jacob, Smokey, or the Others. Maybe Richard, losing his immortality as Jacob’s power wanes with the island sinking, commits some selfless act trying to save the Others that are with him, proves Jacob right, and both Jacob and Smokey go _POOF_ as Richard finally makes his way into a golden afterlife, arm-in-arm with his already dead wife. Sounds good to me. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/117 "2010-04-08T18:22:00Z")
I want to add one more piece of minutia that I DO need answered. What the heck is up with Dr. Chang’s last name? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/118 "2010-04-08T18:45:23Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Tearing a hole and creating alternate realities, perhaps. But immediately destroying/sinking the island in the “new” timeline would have resulted in the immediate deaths of some people we know are still alive and well in that “new” timeline – like Ben and his father. Hmm, yes . . . slight hole in the theory there. Okay then, scratch _immediately sinking_ and replace that with _gradually sinking_. In the ALT timeline, the bomb did explode, but it was at the bottom of the shaft, not in the open air, so the damage was limited to a smaller area than you’d expect. It did, however, blow a leak in the Island, and the flooding began. But the explosion was muted enough, and the progress of the flooding slow enough, that most of the Dharma people were only aware there was some kind of accidental explosion in the jungle. Dharma had plenty of time to evacuate the Island, keeping the details quiet so as not to panic anyone. Therefore, Ben and his Dad left the Island with a bunch of other low-level Dharma folks, for reasons that were never totally explained to them. As an adult, “Dr. Linus” doesn’t remember being shot (as Richard said he wouldn’t) or much of anything else that happened on the Island. How’s that? Kind of a forced/awkward explanation, but hey, it wouldn’t be the first time such was employed on this show. ---
**Author:** ![Nan\_Sequitur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Nan\_Sequitur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nan_Sequitur)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/119 "2010-04-08T19:39:35Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > From that schedule, it does look like there’s a break. I’m not seeing an episode on the 27th. I’m just happy it’s not a flappin’ huge break. I had heard otherwise, because I get my information from filthy, liarmouth back alley sources (my sister, who reads every single mofo Lost site she can get a link to). I suspend my disbelief far too easily, but that’s pretty much a requirement for enjoying this show. I assume the last ep is a 2 hour one? ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170/120 "2010-04-08T19:40:57Z")
> [@Winston\_Bongo](#): > > Hmm, yes . . . slight hole in the theory there. Okay then, scratch _immediately sinking_ and replace that with _gradually sinking_. In the ALT timeline, the bomb did explode, but it was at the bottom of the shaft, not in the open air, so the damage was limited to a smaller area than you’d expect. It did, however, blow a leak in the Island, and the flooding began. But the explosion was muted enough, and the progress of the flooding slow enough, that most of the Dharma people were only aware there was some kind of accidental explosion in the jungle. Dharma had plenty of time to evacuate the Island, keeping the details quiet so as not to panic anyone. Therefore, Ben and his Dad left the Island with a bunch of other low-level Dharma folks, for reasons that were never totally explained to them. As an adult, “Dr. Linus” doesn’t remember being shot (as Richard said he wouldn’t) or much of anything else that happened on the Island. > > How’s that? Kind of a forced/awkward explanation, but hey, it wouldn’t be the first time such was employed on this show. The only problem I see with this theory is that it doesn’t take into account how Ben was shot (if he was) if Sayid never crashed on the island. I think we’re starting to close in a what the writers will come up with, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-11-happily-ever-after/535170.md?page=7)