As regular readers know, we normally try for an epic deconstruction post that pins together a few facts into a solid theory. Considering the "Widmore faked the underwater plane wreck" post being vindicated the other week, I'm reluctant to do another post until I have a theory of equal juiciness. Also this week saw some mythological slim pickings for an deconstruction, apart from Richard and his advisory role or Locke wanting to kill Jacob of course (I'll do some further research and see if I can string together coherent arguments on these topics early next week). So for today, we're gonna stick with the Jughead part of the narrative, and also analyze how Jack is suddenly willing to blow everyone up, ending with some finale theories (sans spoilers, of course!)Let's start with a bit of pointless real-world Jughead trivia as a sidebar. This isn't necessarily relevant to the Lost plot, but during research when I helped make the wiki article for the bomb, some stuff stood out as quite interesting. "Jughead" was the code name for a REAL nuclear device in the 1950's, part of Operation Castle which was a series of US nuclear tests being conducted in the Pacific. Jughead itself was part of Castle Yankee, and was a back-up device to be used if the primary one in Castle Bravo failed. Castle Bravo was successful though, and from what we can gather Jughead would have been withdrawn and dismantled like other test devices in its class. Pretty interesting, and it's quite cool how the writers have seemingly used something from real history in a way (whether deliberate or accidental).
Now getting to the real questions about Jughead - how did it get underground? And, more pressingly, when Dan said "yeah bury it!" I don't think he meant "meh, just stick it underground somewhere with lots of space". I also loved how they failed to grasp the basic notion that a bomb should really be handled with care - they probably didn't even fill it with concrete like they were told... in which case, the torches were a nice touch around a hydrogen bomb. Beginning to think Eloise's incompetency is a pattern...
But will it get detonated, or will whatever already happened happen? And why has Jack suddenly gone genocidal? One can understand his logic to an extent, erasing the misery the island has caused for him and his friends. But at the same time, secrets the characters had will not be exposed, like Jack having a sister, learning more about his own father. Psychological breakthroughs the guys have had will not be made. And also he'll be killing off all the Others, and everyone else who otherwise may have lived on the Island beyond "their present" (poorly expressed, sorry - I meant Jack is saving Flight 815, but killing everyone else on the Island). What has suddenly convinced him that this is the right strategy? Can Locke's intervention have had THAT much of an impact on him? Would the Island really send them back to the 70's to destroy the Island? The last point for me clinches it - Jack has officially lost the plot... and I have an image in my mind of the Monster charging down that tunnel to finish what it should have done in the Pilot episode, if you know your Season 1 trivia ;)
Final point: any theories on what the elusive end scene this season will be? It's been codenamed "the fork in the outlet" - I'm currently envisioning the Monster coming out of the vent, or a scene like where Desmond turned the failsafe key and causing all hell to break loose. What say you, dear Lost fans? N.B. When commenting: NO SPOILERS!
