Saturday, May 22, 2010

Lost: The End and Bio-Electromagneticism

As the hours count down to the end of Lost, some fans seem to be making mental lists of questions they want answered, while others cheer on for their desired final pairing for Kate ("Team Sawyer appears to have a slim lead over Team Jack heading into the final turn"). I'm just hoping there's at least a nod towards Dr. MacDougall's infamous weighing of the soul.

You see, the Island supposedly houses the source of everything (life? the universe? Douglas Adams readers can hardly wonder why the number sequence begins with 42). The pool of light we caught a glimpse of is electromagnetic energy, which actually is in each and every one of us -- bioelectromagneticism. When a human dies, thanks to laws of thermodynamics, a smattering of this energy escapes the body. Many believe this to be what some would call the soul, making it kind of the perfect marriage of science and faith. in 1907, Dr. Duncan MacDougall experimented with measuring a body immediately before and after death to see if he could measure the weight of the soul, and came up with an average of 21 grams (hey, that's a movie!). His work has never been considered solid science, but has lived on thanks to it's interesting premise. Thinking along the lines of MacDougall, though, the pool of light could be the Guf, where every human soul begins. In Jewish mysticism its believed that once the Guf is 'dry,' it signals the coming of the Messiah and, in turn, the end of days. Would Lost go there? Not implicitly, no, but it's at least something to watch for, methinks.

So between Smokey's electro sparks, the glowing pool, and our super-scot Desmond, this season has had electromagnetic energy at its core, but writers have mostly left it in the background.* How it plays out is still anyone's game, and it could be left completely unsaid, but I have a feeling we'll at least get some sort of electromagnetic-related clue, if not a small cameo for someone named cleverly named MacDougall.

What do you hope to see in these final hours of Lost?

*I suspect this has to do with wanting to leave some of the geek magic aside after last season's science class... that, and with no Faraday to pontificate on it, where would we get our exposition?
Where's Faraday when you need him?

Previously: "The Last Recruit" (6.14)

2 comments:

Arjan said...

pfft I wouldn't know where to start making a list of all the things I'd like to see...
I'll just sit back and enjoy the end of a 6 year ride.

Last year I've heard people say that they hoped they wouldn't die before they saw the final episode of Lost..that's tv addiction :P

Shawn Anderson said...

I just hope we learn more about how Jack got his tattoos.