A more complicated look at a jack-centric time loop***WIth an addition now…
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By chemjohn
- A more complicated look at a jack-centric time loop***WIth an addition now…
- Created: Jul 18, 2008
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 4.13: There’s No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3
- Status: Current
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Bear with me, as this one is a little bit complicated, but I think it makes sense…
I’m thinking that this time on the island, is Jack’s second time on the island. Lots of us here have been thinking that, and posting here like mad on this thought. But how about THIS take…This time around, This second trip on the island that has been seasons 1-4, Jack got to the island in a coffin. WHAT??? you may say…But here this out. Maybe…just maybe, last time, JACK stayed behind….and HE was the one in the coffin and the others brought him back to the island, where he was revived. Where, the first time he went…with Christian in the coffin, perhaps also killed because of a past stint on the island, was revived, and then his ghost tells Vincent to go wake up Jack, who just crashed from the coffin. We’ve all been assuming that Jack’s plane flashbacks are from when they all crashed on the island in Season 1. Maybe it wasn’t…maybe that was a flashback from his first visit to the island.
Now…Because he knows that his staying on the island will result in his death, he wants off like freekin crazy. But then, he goes crazy and depressed a while after getting off the island. He also likely knows and remembers what happened the last time people left the island, and is why he insists on lying…because he knows what happens to the last group that left the island and didn’t lie. He also knows, now that Locke has also died, just like he did, that the loop is continuing and no matter what he seems to do, it’s not fixing it self.
I really think this fits, and is a neat variation on the Jack time loop bit. Maybe the flashbacks are from his FIRST visit to the island….and he got to the island a second time in the coffin.
It also explains why Jack is so insistent that Locke didn’t move the island…Jack knows exactly WHAT happened cus he did it or helped do it last time. I don’t think this is a semantics thing where he knows Ben moved it and not Locke. I think he knows what REALLY happened because he was involved last time.
Let’s take it a step further… Jack got back this second time (for season 1) in a coffin, and all the flashbacks we’ve seen with him on a plane are from his first trip to the island, during which he was bringing his father home, and Locke happened to also be on the plane…Locke, was there on the island, before Jack, with Christian, and Locke left, Christian stayed and died died and so Locke went back with Christian in the coffin and Jack on the plane….this is why Lock and Jack disagree…Jack’s first experience (Locke’s second) were in opposite places. Now, in our show, Locke (on his third stint on the island) stays, and Jack leaves.
Just think about it…it FITS confusing, yes…but it fits.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack | Jack Shephard | 1.1, 1.5, 2.11, 1.11, 1.16, 1.20, 3.9, 3.22, 3.1, 4.10, 4.12, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1421 |
| John | John Locke | 3.3, 2.17, 1.4, 1.19, 3.13, 3.19, 4.11, & 3” href=”/episodes/theres-no-place-home-parts-2-3/”>4.13 | 1188 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.13 | There’s No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3 | 5-30-2008 | Jack, John, Ben | 284 |
| 4.12 | There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1 | 5-15-2008 | Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun | 129 |
| 1.2 | Pilot, Part 2 | 9-29-2004 | Kate, Charlie | 202 |
| 1.1 | Pilot, Part 1 | 9-24-2004 | Jack | 353 |
Yeah it kind of does make sense. Good thoughts, chemjohn! +1
yeah like this. takes a minute to get your head round it tho. similar to whta i was suggesting in theory “in a loop of his own”.
Good thoughts! I don’t know how i feel about these time loop theories though. “with Christian in the coffin, perhaps also killed because of a past stint on the island” I”m not sure what your implying, as Cristian was dead because he drank so much in Australia that he had an alcohal induced heartattack. Also, “Because he knows that his staying on the island will result in his death, he wants off like freekin crazy” how would he know this? If he left the island and died, how would he of come back to life to travel back in time to do it over again so he could not leave the island and live? Or do you mean because there is a timeloop going on, even though he is dead, the time loop forces him back in time, and he’s alive again?? Lastly, “just maybe, last time, JACK stayed behind….and HE was the one in the coffin and the others brought him back to the island, where he was revived” but how could he have stayed behind, but have also been on the plane in a coffin??
I dont mean to sound like i’m picking apart your theory, i like it alot, but just have some questions to help me try to figure it all out. +1 for creative thinking and for posting! :)
I pray this is not what is happening.
For having just lived it once, he sure didn’t know much the second time around. Like that Michael was gonna kill Ana Lucia and Libby, or that Ethan was an other. This kind of explanation just cannot be.
yea i agree with lost481. and also, on the plane jack sees a whole bunch of people that are on the island with him.
Well it take the idea that Jack has been on the island and brings it a little further with some detail, so I like that, but I don’t think this is the case. Many reasons to be skeptical are listed above. It just doesn’t seem like any of these guys knows enough or has been prepared enough for what happened to indicate that they have been on the island.
Some might argue that going back in the time loop also causes the memory to revert to that time, leaving little snippits that remind people of past occurances from other times on the island. There is also the fact that the island really won’t let Jack return unless ALL of the O6 return with him, so they would have to be going through this loop as well.
If this is Jack’s second time on the island, then the big question is what happened the first time?
We can not automatically assume that events have simply repeated themselves exactly. The first time on the island may have been quite different, maybe the first time Michael did not end up killing Libby and Ana-Lucia?
We do not have enough information to know that if this is a second time for Jack, what happened the first time.
I agree that there are some ambiguous lines in the pilot, their are spoken lines that could be taken both ways, though it is still difficult to know whether this means that Jack is reliving the same sequence of events or whether (if the theory is true) he was creating a different chain of events than what he had the first time.
wow Im so happy that most people are seeing all this now I have been going crazy trying to tell people and they look at me like im nuts,and although we cant convincinly tell the whole time line of events I just know that we are right,infact it’s soo obvious to me I dont get why people cant see it happening.I look at the pilot and think man they were genius to film all that and make us think so much for so long,then when Jack says we have to go back…thats when you just know hes on a time loop or he goes back or whatever.
Jack said he “blacked out” after the plane hit some turbulence and doesn’t remember the crash…. well, yeah, that makes perfect sense. He said he “blacked out” because he was never there! He didn’t wanna say something wrong, and get caught in a lie so he said that he blacked out… totally supports the fact that Jack wasn’t on the plane!
Also… Has anyone else noticed how Vincent found Jack? Wouldn’t you think the dog would be a little more concerned with saving the people from the crash, and not running to Jack laying down in the forest?
I dont see how it fits with Jack having now left island. Surely if he arrived this time around in a box, then the media would now be going a little more crazy as in “that dude was dead 3/4 months ago, now he’s not - whats going on?”
very interesting theory :)
very true gerbinator, good catch.