Over the last several months, I’ve been rewatching LOST when I need some time to de-stress. I’m assuming you know what LOST is; if not, Google it…
This is probably my third time through the first three seasons. And I’m still amazed by how great they are. The writers portray such deep human longings and emotions so well through the various characters.
One of my favorite scenes in the whole series is when Jack and Locke have one of their first (of many!) face-offs. This one is in regards to whether they should push the button. Locke desperately believes that pressing the button is important to the survival of humanity. Jack, more of a realist, sees the absurdity in that.
The problem, though, is that Locke is unsure of the proper code to enter before pressing the button. Jack has just learned the right numbers to enter from Desmond, the button-pusher for the previous three years who just ran away like a mad man.
So here we have Locke and Jack—one who wants to push the button but doesn’t know the correct code, and one who knows the code but doesn’t want to push the button. Locke insists that it is Jack who must enter the code and push the button. Jack refuses initially. Then the following ensues:
The show pulls together important threads about the joys and struggles of human existence into a conversation about…pushing a button. Brilliant, writers. Brilliant.