Thank you. I shall have a listen!

Thank you :) I'm really pleased that you like the video and have found its perspective enriching.

Beautifully articulated, dude! This is exactly what I’ve always thought of the flash sideways, too; that it’s symbolic of our own experiences with the show as much as it is the character’s.

This was always my thought as well, and fits in with the theme of eyes opening throughout the show. Perspective. It's why the last shot of the show is Jack's eye closing; because that's the last thing we see, therefore the show is over.

I'm late but i really like your take on this !

@@ptitepeluche05 Thanks! :)

That really means a lot. Thank you for the kind comment.

I agree. This fits well with the spiritual/philosophical idea of 'soul groups'; that the Lost characters were cosmically linked together as a group of 'soul mates', as the narrator of this video put it.

He's the main person in 13 reasons why

This is a really beautiful take on the "David as Jack and Kate's real son" theory.

Great theory!

I agree this is an excellent take. It makes me wonder as the video asks why he isn't Kate's son in the flash-sideways. What I came up with is: David seems to fulfill simultaneously Jack's needs to experience being a father and getting to know his son, AND Juliet's needs to experience being a mother AND amiably divorcing the father of her child in order to get past her own parents' divorce when she was a child, presumably around the same age as David (as a side note, I always found it hilarious that Juliet stands in as Jack's ex-wife in the flash-sideways after Ben's line in S3 about how much Juliet resembles Jack's real-world ex). Also, because Kate was seeking to reunite with the other Losties, one of whom and perhaps the most prominent being Jack, she needed to return to her pre-mother fugitive state on 815 in order to truly find and reconnect with them. And finally, David's need would be to get to know his father whom he never met, so it was not important who stood in as his mother.

One more thing: When Jack tells David that in his eyes he can never fail, David likely awakens to his former life, as his behavior toward Jack shifts dramatically from that point on.

@@carbrock.2854 I love your take on Jack/Juliet/David in the sideways. Some really thoughtful readings there.

Lol, well I have episode plans up to and including 23. Not sure if I will reach 42 though!

I think that Lindelof is pulling a bit of a retcon with some of this, especially with those comments in the The Storm podcast. It's like JK Rowling changing the context of her Harry Potter characters to suit changing attitudes, even though it's not in the actual text. There is better wriggle room for Damon though, since the sideways is essentially a dream-like universe in which the rules of reality no longer apply. So, he can change its meaning/intention in the postscript and it not be totally impossible to make work. My problem with his comment is that by saying Sayid ended up with Nadia in some version of the sideways is a complete contradiction to what Sayid's sideways story was about in Season Six. I think Lindelof said this because he was concerned about criticism regarding insensitivity to religion, culture and race, which I know some people do cite as an issue. Although I'm personally glad Sayid ended up with Shannon and not Nadia because Shannon represented change and redemption to Sayid, and it made sense that he would be with her to move on from his old life. I think it's worth elaborating -- for posterity -- that Lindelof wasn't claiming the entire flash sideways of Season Six was Jack's bardo exclusively. He was talking about the final scenes in the church at the end when Jack goes in. That we are seeing this part from his POV. This is *his* bardo, and I actually mention this in the video. How we are seeing the final scenes from Jack's POV exclusively. Everyone else in the church might be seeing other things in that room, or that there are different levels to the sideways that they are experiencing simultaneously. That's a fair way to interpret that ending sequence. But I don't think Lindelof was making the argument that everything every other character experienced in the sideways throughout the season was simply part of Jack's afterlife experience. The other characters are clearly having their own stories and experiences and awakenings independent of Jack. We have to take statements from the creators with a pinch of salt sometimes. Trust the tale, not the teller.

I always assumed he didn’t end up with Nadia because Sayid and Nadia were ultimately bad for one another.

Couldn't have happened to a better man lol

I'm assuming you have seen the movie 'The Number 23'?

Thank you, I really appreciate that.

I honestly think it was named the flash sideways by the writers mainly to throw us off. Because it makes it sound like a parallel dimension or alternate timeline, which they wanted us to believe it was. And so the "sideways" name has just stuck, even after we discovered that the sideways is indeed beyond time.

Thank you. There are certainly some more videos in the works.

Thank you!

I agree 100% that there is an argument to be made about the subjectivity of the flash sideways. We definitely see the church scene at the end through Jack's eyes, which is a critical distinction to make. I also agree that there is overlap/influence from Titanic's final scene. Very familiar imagery, right down to the light consuming the frame.

Thank you, Alexandra! Comments like this are what keep me working on more content 😊

Everything that's shown in the church is a representation of Jack's POV and in Jack's POV - Aaron is still a baby. If the scene was different and in Aaron's perspective, it may have been a whole different group of people there at the church.

We all did! 😆 That was an intentional red herring by the writers.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Cool!

What I love about the sideways is that aspects of it like David Shepherd can really be freely interpreted. The writers knew his existence would throw up all kinds of questions after we found out what the sideways was. Hence why I offer two likely possibilities in the video here, neither of which are the only interpretations available.

It's a hallucinogenic paste that appears to be made from natural ingredients. It can be applied to external wounds (entering the bloodstream), or it can be taken orally. Like any hallucinogenic, it can prompt deep trances, dreams and visions. Locke used it to go into a deep state of trance in which he would be open to any messages/dreams from the Island.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108Thank you. And is it native to the island?

@@shivamtiwari_141 Yes, presumably. We never see the ingredients that go into its creation but it is likely to be an extract from a plant found somewhere on the island.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Youre the best. thanx again.

I explore this very issue about the sunken island in the sideways in my latest FAQ video: "Were they dead the whole time?" There is absolutely an explanation behind this. Check it out :)

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 I’ve been binging you’re videos since I came across the last night, right now I’m on Claire’s Psychic… you definitely have the best Lost explainer videos on KZfaq… the only other reviewer that comes close is a channel now called Velodus but it used to be ReeTae Reviews, and while I didn’t agree with many of his viewpoints his editing is just unreal, every bit of voiceover has correlated video clips from the show… it had to have taken him forever

I don't think the Island was responsible for this. Jack accurately diagnoses her condition as being aphasia following the concussion. It's a temporary condition that affects the brain. I think its narrative purpose was simply to convey Sun's frustrations with her situation and, symbolically, to show her as being incomplete without her other half. She only speaks English again once she is reunited with Jin. Because the two halves have finally been made whole again.

Rose's line "You can let go now" obviously has double meaning, both literally and spiritually. And she could mean it in only one of those ways, depending on how you read the scene looking back. But Rose doesn't behave like she is awake before that line, especially seeing as Bernard isn't there yet. "Awake" Losties in the sideways no longer act as if they are participating in this sideways pageantry. They first behave like they are bemused by their surroundings then amused by the scenarios and roles everyone is playing, then finally they act like they are at peace. But they also go through a serious emotional turn before coming to the realisation of their death. We're talking full-blown tears and smiles. So, did Rose have this realisation without Bernard? Did Bernard have this realisation in the plane toilet? Lol, I don't see it that way myself. I suppose you could argue that the moment Bernard gets back and they hold hands that they remember, but they don't behave as if they have been hit by such a recent revelation. It's not until Jack meets Bernard later that we get a sense Bernard knows more than he is letting on. This does raise additional questions as to when the flash sideways actually begins. When Jack emerges from the fog of his own death, is that the objective start of the sideways reality for everyone, or is it just his subjective experience of when this otherworld commences? Did Rose and Bernard share some pre-Jack time whilst sat together in their seats and remembered their lives on the island then whilst off-screen? And then Bernard went to use a toilet that he didn't really need to use? I don't really subscribe to this. As far as I am concerned, Rose and Bernard were like everyone else on the plane in that moment. Newly arrived and unaware. They needed some time to adjust to this reality and rediscover each other, perhaps re-live some aspects of their old lives. Maybe the flashes happened once they got home or a specific event occurs that triggers their memories. I like to think it was hearing the Otis Redding song 'These Arms of Mine' that set off their recollections. Then they looked at each other and the memories of their time on the island came flooding back. They were already together when they crashed so it wasn't the other that they needed to remember. It was the island.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 - many thanks. I view it similarly, particularly because that scene on the plane happens before we dive down to see the Island on the ocean floor, which I've always viewed as a metaphor for the Island's insignificance to our LOSTies because none of them have remembered it yet, ie, it's at the bottom of their "collective sea of consciousness". I also didn't feel that Rose appeared particularly "awakened" when she later interviewed John at Hurley's employment agency, although I could be missing something there, I suppose.

The island also has no reason to exist in the world of the dead since it is all about keeping existence and life in balance. "The cork" is no longer needed because everyone is already dead and on the other side of the light. Like a mirror image. Through the looking glass, you might say! It is metaphor, yes, but it is also literal. I explore the practical reasons as to why the island is literally sunk in my video on "Were they dead the whole time?", in which I explain that it is a result of our Losties not crashing on it and, therefore, not time travelling back to 1977 within the sideways, hence nothing to stop The Incident from destroying the island. That day in 1977 is the schism point in which history within the sideways starts to alter the original history of our characters.

​@LOST EXPLAINED Exactly! I find it proof because when Sawyer and Juliet meet at the vending machine in the flash sideways and he pulls the plug on the vending machine (this pulling the plug corresponds to the end of Juliet's life in real life 2007?) It is only a few seconds later that juliet says "it worked" which is exactly what Miles tells Sawyer is her last thought, which we the audience thought was about the 1977 incident. But it could be sort of a bridge moment where Juliet herself is in between worlds, so to speak. Fascinating.

Yes, I absolutely get into these questions you ask in a later video called: “Did Jughead detonate?”, in which I explain Juliet’s last line “it worked” and what it’s really referencing, and I help to unpack why Jughead going off and the sideways are initially connected by the narrative, and why it was intended to be a fake-out by the writers. Rest assured that the bomb did have a purpose in the story and had a lasting impact on events on the island. Keep watching 🙂

The past cannot be changed and is not changed by the bomb being detonated. Jughead exploding always happened. Think about it. How else did DHARMA gain access to the site to finish building The Swan if nothing stopped The Incident from growing and sucking The Island into itself? Jughead plugged the leak long enough to complete work on the hatch. The fallout from this event caused the pregnancy problem that brings Juliet to The Island in the first place. She caused the issue that she was brought there to fix. It is all part of the time loop. The sideways reality is unrelated to Jughead's detonation. It's the afterlife, not an alternate timeline. It exists within The Source and we all go there in death to reunite with our soulmates. I don't know if you watched the first videos I released in this series but I recommend you watch Chapter One on 'The Source' and Chapter Three on 'The Time Loop'. I explain all of this in detail. The reason why Juliet's last thought is "It worked" has nothing to do with changing the past. She says this exact phrase in the sideways in the series finale to Sawyer when he gets the candy bar out of the vending machine. She says: "It worked." Then she says "We should get coffee sometime. We can go dutch." As she was dying on The Island, her mind was entering the sideways and experiencing that moment with him.

I think I know who my favorite character is

Technically, that *is* what happened. Their memories from the living world did merge with their mirror selves in the flash sideways world. While it isn't a parallel timeline, it is a parallel dimension of sorts. Just rather than it being the result of our Losties having changed the timeline, it is something that has always existed within the light.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 yea i dont like it. i wanted alternate timeline/universe. that would be the happy end. now we got the bad ending with happy "ending"

But an alternative universe/timeline would essentially undo all of the adventures and experiences of the main timeline that we know and love. To me, that would have been a much worse ending. One that erases all of the struggle and love and drama of the previous five seasons. Even if they had remembered their lives from the original timeline, it wouldn’t have been the same. I much prefer the spiritual ending in which they are together into death and beyond. But to each their own.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 it 'd be created when the bomb detonates so its a result of the first universe. "Even if they had remembered their lives from the original timeline, it wouldn’t have been the same." for me it is

We have to make distinctions between levels of villainy here. Let's start with Ben. He killed people and did many awful things. But he eventually sought redemption for his actions in life and felt true remorse. We don't see the completion of his living journey, but we can assume that under Hurley he made amends and got some of his light back. However, he still has to reckon with all the people he hurt in the sideways (Alex, Danielle, Locke, Widmore, etc). He could not seek their forgiveness in life, or even as a whisper ghost, because everyone that he needed to interact with were already dead. He can only find true forgiveness and spiritual liberation from within the sideways. Men like Keamy seldom ever seek out or find much redemption in life before they die. And, when they do die, they don't really have any unfinished business to keep them around in the world as whisper ghosts. So, he enters the sideways. Just like Ben. The difference is: Ben still has light in him, and people that connect him to (and remind him of) his own light, like Alex. Therefore, he has the opportunity to move on, as long as he comes to terms with his darkness first. Keamy will struggle to come to terms with any of this because he has no connections that we know of. It is unknown if men like that can move on. Does he have an Alex or a Walt in his life? Is there someone he cares about more than himself? Finally, whisper ghosts like Michael seem to have died suddenly or unexpectedly, their journeys cut short, so they still have unfinished business with the living. In Michael's case, it's Walt. Michael can still make things right on the living plane and find closure with (and for) his son. So, he sticks around until this opportunity presents itself, which it is implied will happen after Walt returns to the Island. Once they have reconciled, whether it takes hours or years, Michael will go to the sideways and reconnect with Walt as soulmates before moving on together. Like Eko and Yemi. I also think that all ghosts that are summoned back from the dead in some way serve a purpose or function beyond mere personal stakes. And, once they have fulfilled that specific purpose, they can move on. Even if it they are sticking around simply to guide people. Such as Isabella returning to send loving words to Richard. Or Claudia guiding the young Man in Black on his path to his people in the village. Or Charlie instructing Hurley. Every ghost has a different function in the tapestry of time, and a role to play. The Island needs them to help on the living plane before they can find their own peace.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 That was a detailed, thoughtful and amazing response. Thank you. Just one more question though! Do you see Claudia, Isabella and even Charlie as whisper ghosts? Aren't they from the sideways?

@@JHallenbeck I explain this a little bit more in my chapter on "The Whispers". Technically, there are two types of whisper ghost. The first is what we see with Michael. A soul trapped between the living plane and the afterlife, observing and waiting for their chance to change their own circumstances. The other type of whisper ghost is what we see in Claudia, Isabella, Charlie, and even Ana Lucia. They are being summoned back from The Source to help guide key people in the tapestry of time. They have already moved on into the light with their soulmates. Isabella says to Richard: "We are already together." Because time has no meaning in The Source. She and Richard are already there within it. She has simply been summoned by The Island to help Richard in the living world. Before he comes home to her in death. These whisper ghosts are not in a purgatory state. They are at peace; notice how they are portrayed as calm and all-knowing. They just have a little more work to do before they can finally rest.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 Perfect. As always, you are articulate and convincing. You have improved my enjoyment of this show immensely!

​@@JHallenbeck My main goal with this series is to (hopefully) enhance the understanding of its complicated mythology and, therefore, increase people's enjoyment of the story. I'm always sad to hear anyone hating on it because they didn't think it made sense. I've made it my mission to provide an easy online source for understanding the show. It felt like a good pandemic/lockdown project.

Yes, it’s everyone’s sideways. I’m talking about the final scene in the church. We are seeing it from Jack’s POV when he enters. The sideways is for every soul but everyone sees different things within it. The 2004 construct that they all experience is a collective shared dream of sorts, but that doesn’t mean that each Lostie sees the exact same people in the church at the end.

It’s not a parallel reality. It’s the afterlife and it operates with the logic of a dream reality. Everyone wakes up in the sideways at the same time and experiences it subjectively. For our Oceanic 815 characters, they experience the sideways as an alternate 2004 because that year had significance to all of them and that is where all of their soulmates came together in life. But for someone like Richard Alpert, he is nowhere to be seen. Most likely because he is experiencing the sideways as an alternate 1867 in which he and Isabella are together where she never died of pneumonia. It’s different for everyone. It all depends on what time you died in and who was most important to you. The sideways is a construct within The Source. A gateway to the afterlife in which all souls pass through in order to reach the next phase of existence. The one unifying factor of this reality is that it shows you what your life would have been like had the island (and Jacob) not intervened in your destiny.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 thank you for explaining, still doesn’t make complete sense to me but your explanation helps. It’s incredibly deep & complex, prob one of the most underrated aspects of the show.

Because the sideways is a construct. The rules of reality no longer apply there. Once everyone realises they have died, the trappings of a physical world start to fall away. It's like realising you are in a dream and no longer constrained by three dimensional physics. Locke could always walk in the sideways, but because his mind wasn't ready to "let go" of his life and his past just yet, he continued on in the wheelchair that once caused him significant trauma and still held power over him.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 but on the island he was healed instantly how did that happen?

Because the energy beneath the island heals injuries and ailments. The light reverses the body to a prior state of physical health, repairing any damage. This included Locke's legs. This also happened with Rose's cancer. And various other wounds and injuries throughout the show. I explore theis issue in my other videos. Have a browse of my channel and you'll most likely find a subject of interest.

@@LOSTEXPLAINED108 so when it showed Locke being healed by Jack and then Locke being able to walk right after the crash how do you explain that?

I think you’re misremembering events in the show. Jack doesn’t heal Locke after the crash. The Island heals Locke. In the flash sideways at the end of the series when they are all dead and trying to let go of their lives, Jack does surgery on Locke that “heals” him. However, since the sideways is essentially a collective dream between those who have died, this surgery is more symbolic. Jack is helping Locke to let go of his past and his trauma.

In the Flash Sideways, yes. Juliet was David's "mother". But we know Juliet didn't have a son anymore than Jack had a son in real life. Another commenter (​@carb rock) explained the theory of why Juliet was the surrogate mother to Jack's offspring. I will quote them here: "​David seems to fulfill simultaneously Jack's needs to experience being a father and getting to know his son, AND Juliet's needs to experience being a mother AND amiably divorcing the father of her child in order to get past her own parents' divorce when she was a child." I like this explanation for why Juliet was David's pseudo-mother. As to whether or not David was real or simply a construct of the sideways is entirely up to you.

No

agreed