Okay. FWIW, here's what I think regarding the parallel/mirror theory, Graphite. Sorry so late on the take. Also, I cut this post down from approximately 10-gazillion more words, so sorry if it might be disjointed...
As some of you [Graphite!] may know, I've been very big on mirrors and parallels this season. I think / have thought they're key to LOST. Since the beginning of the season, both have been top on my radar. But I think I may have been looking at them a bit differently than you have, Graphite... Or looking in somewhat different directions.
At this point, obviously there's no doubt, mirrors absolutely have been being used as clues, as a way to further the story lines and as a way to connect the worlds. Pat on my back for seeing that months ago, but it's old hat now. (But
maybe there'll be another big mirror revelation before the end? I hope)
I also believe that the seasons do mirror one another. To an extent.
While I love and agree with the basics of your ABCCBA theory, Graphite, I wish I believed that it was really so concise: I wish the writers/producers had crafted the seasons mirroring one another as meticulously as you're pointing out (if we were on the island maybe we could go back in time and suggest some improvements, as Hurley rewriting Empire Strikes Back). Also, I don't necessarily agree with some of your examples.
A couple of the things you list actually happen in different seasons than you're connecting them to, which throws off your own ABCCBA. (IMO, not that big a deal, because there were a lot more episodes in the first 3 seasons than the last 3 seasons, so it's "mushy.")
But mostly, while I agree with the premise of the show mirroring itself, and events mirroring one another, I just don't think that it's nearly as meticulous as you've portrayed (again, I wish it were). And IMO, parallels/mirrored events don't fit ABCCBA as closely as you've put forth.
Here's a way of looking at it: Consider that there are about 120 episodes of LOST. Mirroring the seasons (ABCCBA), on the
very safe side, lets say there were around 40 episodes on either side (ABC / CBA) ... There were a lot more episodes in the first seasons, and 40 per side leaves a lot of area for the "mushy" crossover. That's very conservative. In most episodes, a major plot point occurs. Something happens. Also, in pretty much each episode a number of smaller, but still significant plot points take place//are introduced. If you accept that, we're looking at least 40 events [crashes, cliff-fallings, boat launchings, etc], character introductions, concepts [constants/variables, childbirth, save-the-world button duties, time travel, etc] & pieces [maps, hatches, murals, ladders, dynamite, etc], that could be mirrored, and hundreds of smaller but significant events/concepts/pieces that could be mirrored... All of these have the potential to be mirrored with a significant meaning. But really have they been? I don't think so.
Which things do we pull out as "legitimate" parallels? Artz and Ilana exploding? In my opinion, while I agree it's a mirror, I don't see there's much meaning there beyond as a story-telling device: As viewers, we feel comfortable with someone blowing up via Black Rock dynamite. It fits into our LOST world. There's already been a set-up; Artz blew up... So it makes sense to us. Plus there's a little extra something as a "inside joke," meaning the writers would know that steadfast viewers can "get something" out of it. But is there a significance to a mirrored random dynamite explosion death beyond that? It's a way to end the Ilana story (and give us a little jump in our seats). think that Ilana's blowing up was more a way to harken back, and to keep things inside of a world we know, rather than as a
significant "mirror."
I actually thought it was a cop out. Not the way she died (which I loved), but that there was never any real character development to her. Anything we learned of her was IMO, predominantly a waste of time.
Unless we were supposed to learn that Jacob doesn't really care about his followers, which could very well be. Maybe she was just an expendible body to move his game forward, while she considered him "the closest thing to a father she ever had."
And maybe the Jacob ashes she took, that Hurley has now, will play into the plot... I
hope they do.
So anyway, while I don't disagree that it's a mirror, I do question how significant it really is.
Are precarious cliffs a significant parallel? Or are there simply X amount of "uh oh, that was a dangerous wrong turn" situations on a Hawaiian island? Or do they parallel something smaller?
However, a few things, like say, Sayid being tortured by a weird electrical box is good. Sun's loss of English was a mirror I thought was remarkable.
While I think the writers/producers did have a decent idea of what was going to happen from the beginning, I do not believe they had it it completely mapped out. I think especially the bulk of seasons 3,4,5 were plotted as it all went along. So some of the things you parallel, I don't think were initially intended. That said, they certainly may have been intended after-the-fact... For example, when they wrote the hatch in, while I don't believe they knew they were going to mirror it with the well (or at all), I do believe they intended to mirror the hatch when they wrote the well in... And once that was clear, clarified with something like the torch being dropped down the well. No doubt that mirrors the torch down the hatch...
But the way lost is set up, you can draw parallels all over the place. And given that there are so many possibilities, I find it difficult to believe that if ABCCBA was deeply integrated, they wouldn't give us some stronger and more meaningful associations.
Parallels I've been looking at this season have more been regarding the Island vs the alt. And possible explanations of timelines (simultaneous or looping or what) over seasons.
I think much looser mirrors/parallels are more significant, like (obviously) Jack's science/faith change from season 1 to season 6. That's a big mirror, and it's significant. But the details, I wish I thought were more planned and significant.
Okay, that's already too long and rambling.
If it'd help, I can address it more on a point-by-point response to your post.
EDIT: I think I can put what I think in fewer words.
lain:
Basically, I think that if the writers/producers explained it, they might say something like: we tried to mirror the island characters and events as much as possible as the seasons drew closer to an end. We wanted to increasingly work within a framework that was self-referencing, and repeating. To create mirrored circumstances, and loops upon loops... Some of those mirror references related to seasons, some to dialogue, some to events, some to circumstances, some to characters (their developments/changes), and importantly, to the history of the island itself (events that repeated on-island, such as Claire becoming a "new" Rousseau).
I don't think there was quite a "formula," as ABCCBA for a lot of the mirroring.
