The Shape of Things to Come

Or, "How I Stopped Fearing and Learned to Love Transdimensional Teleportation."

By Chris Kirkman

Well, holee majolee, what an episode. As far as episodes eager to be dissected, this ain't the biggest, and yet it gave us all a lot of material to chew on. It truly lived up to its name - "The Shape of Things to Come." Let's take a quick look at some of the highlights and things to keep in mind in the weeks to come.

And he does it completely without a Scotty ...
I guess we know how Ben and some of his Others have been so easily gallivanting around the globe - they've got transporter technology! I suppose you're all expecting some big, elaborate graphic describing exactly how this could be achieved, but I have to admit that I'm outside the loop on this one. Shifting quantum states of matter is a bit outside even my fevered threshold, unless you're talking about shifting that state along space-time. Don't ask how it's different, it just is. Still, I suppose if you could shift something along an extra dimension - in previous instances, time - I suppose you could also figure out a way to shift something along the first four dimensions and end up transporting great distances, although I would imagine the calibration needed to land exactly where you wanted would be a daunting task.

Theoretically, one could shift spatially along a rotating sphere - Earth - if you created a sort of stasis bubble around yourself that essentially froze your matter in time. Or, perhaps, it could be done much like how refracted light could be turned into a loop that turns back onto itself. But I'm talking way out of my ass here. The important thing to think about here is not really the how, it's more the what's this mean to the island? Well, if it were possible to shift a person along the curvature of the earth, couldn't it also be possible to shift another mass, as well, even if it were by miniscule amounts? Imagine, if you will, an apparatus that was designed to harness the near-magical might of electromagnetic forces on an island. Now, imagine that those forces are built up into the machine in such a way to cause a quantum phase shift on a massive scale every so often. Let's just say that every, oh, 108 minutes or so, enough energy would be built up in this apparatus to phase shift a large area, essentially rendering it outside the conventional continuum, therefore making it pretty much cease to exist except for a small window of time at the beginning of the next cycle. Now, imagine if there was a safety switch in place that released that energy before it overloaded the machinery, perhaps manned by a two-person team in a hatch under the ground...

Again, just talking out my ass. At any rate, I think we know how those polar bear remains that Charlotte found in the desert really got there. They had the same Dharma insignia that Ben was wearing, in case you missed it.

Now laughing friends deride / Tears I can not hide / Oh, so I smile and say / When a lovely flame dies / Smoke gets in your eyes
Um, some of you may have noticed a certain smokey monster appeared in this episode. I know, I know, it was only there for a split second, and you had to squint to notice it, but ...

Okay, seriously, holy crap. Never have we been afforded a better view of Ol' Smokey, or Cerberus, or the security system, or whatever you want to call it. And we STILL don't know what the hell it really is. Do any of you remember the good old days when we thought it was a big ol' T-Rex stomping through the jungle? Or a massive group of nanobots? Anything but just a corporeal mass of smoke that can read thoughts, sense fear and rend you limb from limb. The only thing we know for sure after watching this episode is that Ben has some method of either calling Ol' Smokey from its depths or partially controlling its actions. If what we've learned so far about the mechanics of the island are true, the security fence is in place to keep both the living and the, well, smokey dead away from the Dharma compound. That means that Ben somehow alerted Cerberus that some troublemakers were up to no good out in the brush and it was able to penetrate the security fence and enter the compound. Ben certainly didn't seem very afraid of Cerberus, which means that he also knows a lot more about the island's main security system than he's always let on.

Personally, I think Cerberus is an ancient holdover from the island - an archetypal manifestation of the centuries of energy and spirits that have ebbed and flowed across its surface. In many ways, as we've seen in so many episodes, the island itself seems to be aware, possibly even having its own consciousness. Perhaps in the same way, Jacob is a manifestation of the island, as well - its mouthpiece, if you will, choosing to appear to different people in whatever way would best allow it to communicate. Right now, it's utilizing Christian Shephard's spirit or soul or countenance because his is the strongest and most recent addition to the soul bank. That is, of course, if Christian is really dead.

Yeah, it's all just a bit of hokum to toss around the old noggin' for the time being, but, like most other things on the island, you have to keep trudging along and learn to look past all the smoke and mirrors.

The Holy Goof as Supervillain
Ol' Benjamin is an obvious bibliophile, and, as such, has taken on many a moniker from some more famous readings. When we first meet Ben, he's taken on the name of Dorothy's uncle from The Wizard of Oz - Henry Gale. Now, we know he's also gone by the name of "Dean Moriarty," a name with two possible literary references.

To many, the most obvious reference would be to Professor Moriarty of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales. Although the criminal mastermind is only truly referenced in two of Doyle's Holmes stories, he became the archetype for the modern archvillain, even supposedly causing Holmes to plunge to his death while trying to stop him and his machinations. Personally, I think that this alias doesn't quite fit in with Ben's self-identity. Ben considers himself one of the "good guys," no matter to what ends he goes to advance his agenda. The attribution of the evil mastermind that is this Moriarty would seem to be what those of us looking outside of Ben's actions would likely affix.

More likely, however, the alias is a reference to the epic, rambling "hero" of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, especially if viewed from Ben's perspective. In the first half of the story, we learn of the protagonist's near-worship of Dean Moriarty, the son of an alcoholic who yearned to grow behind the social restraints placed on him from his past and his circumstances. Later in the story, Dean is seen more through the eyes of a realist, and Dean's failings nearly betray his status of this legendary hero. Still, in the end, Kerouac reminisces of his travels and it's Dean who is at the forefront of his mind. It seems that Ben identifies with both the early and late versions of Dean in the story - triumphing over the adversity and control of his indifferent, alcoholic father, and yet, still yearning to better himself as leader of his new people, the Others, and the death of his mother during his childbirth.

I've said it before, people, I'll say it again. Go and read. It's worth it.

As the old Klingon proverb states ...
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Cold, however, is not how I would describe how the storyline is shaping up in this new development. Now that we know that Ben is after Penny, this whole this is going to get white HOT, and I personally cannot wait to see the final showdown between Ben and Desmond. This season just keeps getting better and better.

And that's all I have for now. Until next time, keep thinking those thoughts and if you hit an epiphany, tell me something good.

Namaste.