Musings of a LOST Fanatic

LOST weather

2009-05-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

It may be that the abundance of Rain we saw in Seasons 1 through 4 represents the struggle between Jacob and The Foe.

The fact that S5 has seen very little rain may be a hint that the corner’s been turned, that Light has already triumphed over Dark.

The Children of Jacob and the children of The Foe

2009-05-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

I think that Jacob and The Foe are Manifestations of the Island’s schizophrenic Good/Evil aspects and that they each have their Human Followers

I think Jacob’s Children believe in Choice, Honesty, Selflessness, Loyalty, Non-violence, Penitence and Forgiveness - all of which Jack was tested for (by Ben) at Hydra. These are the folks who used sling-shots and trank-darts instead of guns - and we’ve seen precious little of them. These may be the members of Family Richard who are currently at The Temple.

The Foe’s Children are cruel, unforgiving Haters who are quite willing to kill (using guns or grenades) without hesitation or remorse. Ethan, Danny, Colleen, Mikhail, Bea, Ryan, Greta, Bonnie, Jason and others belonged to this group - and, thanks to Ben have been erased in Ben’s Second Purge. Their Leader is/was Charles Widmore - whose personality they reflect.

I think that Ben’s pre-crash Family included both “wings” of The Family: Widmore ‘Loyalist ‘ “Hater” members, who followed his orders (sometimes reluctantly) and Good Guy non-killer members, presumably including Cindy and Karl - who were giving the kidnapped kids “a better life” that the lives of Kate and James.

I think The Rules surrounding Charles’ Banishment included a Rule whereby his Loyalist Hater members could not be directly harmed by Ben, in return for which they were obliged to obey him. This uneasy Truce (during which both Jacob and The Foe prepared to break their circular Impasse) endured from The Purge until the arrival of Flight 815.

Flight 815 included a number of Social Misfits - a pair of Murderers (James/Kate), a Torturer (Sayid), an Adulterer (Sun), a violent Mob Enforcer (Jin), a pair of Spoiled-Brat incestuous siblings (Shannon/Boone), a drug addict (Charlie), an unmarried mother (Claire) who had put her own mother into a Coma, three emotional cripples (Jack, Eko and Ana Lucia) and an emotional and physical cripple (Locke) plus a number of less messed up folks like Michael, Walt, Rose, Libby and Bernard.

The fact that Widmore (with a couple of nudges from Jacob) was mostly responsible for the selection of these passengers coupled with the fact that Ben didn’t know who was on the plane until after Mikhail had prepared his dossiers, suggests that Widmore/The Foe intended these passengers to join his Army in preparation for the S6 War.

The Tailies were attacked twice, during which most of their members were kidnapped. The Losties, however were protected from attack and some of them were healed physically and emotionally by the Light Aspect of The Island in preparation for the S6 War.

The arrival of The Losties enabled Ben’s Second Purge (which decimated the ranks of The Foe’s Island Army), during which he used The Losties to kill Ethan, Colleen, Tom, Ryan and Jason, among others - and to manipulate Mikhail into killing Greta and Bonnie before he himself was killed by Desmond. To me, this implies that Ben is a true Son of Jacob (knowingly or not) and that his killing of Jacob in 516 was not only foreseen by Jacob, but was actively enabled by him. It was Jacob who permitted (or caused) the death of Nadia, which led to Sayid becoming a self-hating Killer under Ben’s tutelage; It was Jacob who sent Sayid to 1977 to shoot (innocent) Ben - which led to Ben’s subsequent emotional damage - damage further nurtured by Jacob during Ben’s 35 years of Island servitude, and it was Jacob who goaded Ben to stab him with his final “What about you?” question - a question which reeked of dismissive Judgement.

The Foe thought he was using Ben and Locke to destroy Jacob/Obi Wan, but it was in fact Jacob who used The Foe’s Hatred and Strategy to become (post-murder) more powerful than he’d been before.

I pity Ben - as Jacob does/did, and I’m not giving up on him. I think he’ll turn out to be a Good Guy after all.

I also think that The Foe - in the form of Locke - is limited by that form. To some extent he only knows what Locke knows.

The S6 War between Not-Locke and Jacob The Resurrected ought to be a Humdinger

How "real" is LOST?

2009-05-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

It may be that the very first Humans to have landed on the Island drove it insane when it scanned their memories and observed their activities

These “first-contact” humans came/fought/destroyed/corrupted - and the Island, struggling to understand these strange creatures, absorbed their collective Insanity and has been struggling to heal itself ever since.

Successive Human visits to the Island resulted in similar destructive cycles of arrive/fight/destroy/corrupt until the Island created a Shield to keep these annoying creatures away.

Over the course of its encounters with Humans, the Island scanned their memories/experiences which included Names (LOST has a surprisingly limited stock of names), Relationships (Powerful Father and Distant Child, Poor Son working for Rich father-in-law, Child raised by Single Mother who tells Child that Father is Dead, Divorcing Parents etc) Life Experiences (Special Births, Vehicle Collisions, Serious Injuries resulting in Prosthetic Limbs, Encounters with Psychic Healers) Objects (Knife, Machete, Hand-Gun, Rifle, Geiger Counter, MacCutcheon Bottle) and even Sound Effects (Printer chatter, chain/cog/ratchet, Fog-horn, SKU scanner beep)

The Island can Manifest objects, animals and people - dead or alive, whether there’s a body handy or not. It can also affect the perceptions and memories of Humans by sending them Lucid Dreams and Waking Hallucinations - especially if they are fatigued, injured, emotionally agitated, under the influence of drugs or ill - any kind of Altered State will do.

I believe that Jacob and The Foe are Manifestations of The Island and represent its final effort to heal itself. These two Entities embody the Light and Dark Aspects of the Island, its Optimistic and Pessimistic Points of View. The Final Iteration (aka S6) of the Fight/Destroy/Corrupt cycle will decide once and for all whether Humanity deserves to survive or whether it should be Exterminated. Humanity is on trial as it was on Star Trek TNG’s “Far Point” and “All good things” Episodes.

Just as Jacob and The Foe embody the Island’s Optimistic and Pessimistic Aspects, the Children of Jacob and the Children of The Foe embody their Characteristics:

The Children of Jacob believe in Free Will, Choice, Honesty, Selflessness, Loyalty, Non-violence, Penitence and Forgiveness - all of which Jack was tested for (by Ben) at Hydra. These are the folks who used sling-shots and trank-darts instead of guns - and we’ve seen precious little of them. These may be the members of Family Richard who are currently at The Temple.

In “The Incident”, we saw Jacob’s fluency in Foreign Languages. Among his Children, we’ve seen Sun (English), Charlotte (Korean), Juliet (Latin), Bernard (Morse code) and Achara (English) express this same skill.

I kinda hate this idea, but I’m coming to believe that our Losties (including CW, Eloise, and Daddy Paik) are Expressions or Manifestations of The Island’s Consciousness, that all of LOST is an Illusion, a Long Con, a Magic Trick ... that Recycled Props, Recycled Names, Recycled Scenarios, Spoken Lines and even Sound Effects are clues that LOST is a Game, a Thought Experiment playing out over Six Seasons in the Mind of The Island as it “decides” whether or not Every Single One of us is Dead.

The Incident - 5/13/09 - Recap and comments

2009-05-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

An action-packed, thought-provoking Finale that gave us lots of answers, left us lots of questions and revealed a whole lot more about how Unreal/Imaginary/Mythical LOST really is. This Finale also paid respectful homage to its 4 predecessors.

Jacob is spinning yarn into thread using a treadle-operated Sewing machine. He wears home-spun hand-sewn cotton clothing and simple sandals. Family Richard’s people, the ones who wear home-spun clothing, are Jacob’s Children. His hair is light brown and his face reminds me of Bram’s.

We see him using The Machete to “position” the threads of his Tapestry - which depicts a Winged Eye - the All-seeing Eye of God, I suppose. In his Stone Chamber, there’s a Magical Eternal Flame (no fuel required) burning in a circular pit.

Jacob is outdoors - at the shore - where he cleans a freshly-trapped fish using the same (?) Machete as we just saw him use on his Tapestry. He fillets and cooks the fish on a hot rock. Once it’s warm enough to eat, he places the fish fillet on a leaf. No more than the bare necessities of technology for Jacob. His shirt is a Light colour. As he gazes out to sea, he spots the Black Rock approaching.

I doubt that Jacob needs to eat, but I suppose he does because it’s pleasant. For him. For the fish, not so much. I wonder at this “needless” killing.

He is joined by his Enemy/Brother - who wears a dark shirt. Referring to the Black Rock, Jacob’s Frenemy says:

"You brought (Manifested - or Attracted?) them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?" (Like Q in “Encounter at Far Point” and in “All good things” in ST TNG)

"You are wrong." (About the Worthiness of Humanity)

"Am I? They come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same (in every Iteration so far)."

"It (Human History) only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress."

"Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?" (And all Humans)

"Yes."

"One of these days, sooner or later, I'm going to find a loophole, my friend."

"Well when you do, I'll be right here." (He’s expecting The Enemy’s “success”)

"Always nice talking to you, Jacob."

"Nice talking to you, too."

We learn that The Statue is still standing in 1845 - and that (as guessed by many, including myself) it’s Taweret - the Egyptian Goddess of Fertility:

Taweret - The Great Female - was the ancient Egyptian goddess of Maternity and Childbirth, protector of women and children. Like Bes, she was both a fierce demonic fighter as well as a popular deity who guarded the mother and her newborn child.

The fact that her Statue was mostly missing (not even a visible pile of rubble) by 2004 may have something to do with the deaths of pregnant females on the Island after the Purge.

Plutarch described Taweret as a concubine of Set who had changed her ways to become a follower of Horus and that Taweret kept Set's powers of evil fettered by a chain.

An alternative consort for Taweret was Sobek: In some Egyptian creation myths, it was Sobek who first came out of the waters of chaos to create the world. As a creator god, he was occasionally linked with the sun god Ra .... RA .... Richard Alpert

I’m thinking that Jacob and his Frenemy are the embodiments of The Island’s Dark and Light Aspects. Opposed to each other, but also fraternally connected to some degree. As powerful as these two are, I think that God or The Island is more powerful still and that these two Players are themselves part of a larger Tapestry of which they may or may not be aware. Note that The Others, in their Room 23 video recognised that God and Jacob weren’t the same Being: “God loves you as he loved Jacob”

The introduction (to us) of The Machete supports the idea that all of LOST is a Game in which a limited number of “Props” like The Machete and the MacCutcheons Bottle are recycled by various Players through various recycled Scenarios. Maybe some/all of the Misery and Suffering of our Losties isn’t really real, but is used as a Teaching/Conditioning Tool by The Puppeteers . I don’t like this idea much, but it seems to be supported by what we’re seeing in the Show.

I’m also thinking that Charles, Eloise, Ben and Team Ilana know all about the Rules of this Game, although Ben’s actions in this Ep are impossible for me to fully understand at this point.

The fact that Humans have (as of 1845) “always” followed the same fight/destroy/corrupt pattern suggests that the Brothers have been connected to Humanity for thousands of years - back to at least Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. It may be that the Brothers “moved” to The Island to “retire” like Rose and Bernard, disgusted with Human Conflict.

Maybe the descendants of the Statue-builders have all been wiped out and Jacob’s decided to try again with the Black Rock Humans.

An Iowa Gas Station/General Store - which Young Katie and Young Tom Brennan have decided to rob. With some Patsy Kline (what else? After all, Katie’s Theme Music is PK) on the Store’s radio, Katie tries to steal a lunch-box, but is caught red-handed. Jacob teleports into the store with some cash and buys Katie’s Freedom. He tells her to “be good”, secures her promise never to steal again but forgot to get her to promise never to murder her Step-Father. This Jacob visit seems to be intended to keep Katie on the Straight and Narrow. Too bad that The Enemy has access to Katie/Kate at a later point in her life. I doubt it, but I wonder whether Kate remembers this encounter with Jacob.

I’ve been writing since S3 that the lives of our Losties have been Managed for decades. This Ep finally shows us proof that I was right. The fact that their pre-crash lives were mostly miserable suggests that The Bad Guys intended this band of misfits to join the on-Island Bad Guy Army, but once on the Island they were protected from Bad Guy contact long enough for a few of them to be healed and educated to become Good Persons.

Note that Ben Linus, International Man of Mystery subsequently also left the Island with the appropriate Foreign Currency. To some extent, Ben is an expression or extension of Jacob.

The Galaga: J&J learn from Kate that Jack plans to explode Jughead, but James’ initial reaction, with which Juliet had previously agreed, was that they’d decided to return to the Real World and retire with wealth and happiness.

Naturally, the Dramatic Requirements of the Plot couldn’t permit this and in an impossible-to-believe change of heart, Juliet decides to throw her life away because her parents broke up when she was a young girl. Her pretext is Loyalty to their friends, but it’s just a pretext. She disables their guard, unlocks their cuffs and the three of them convince the Galaga Captain to surface long enough to permit them to paddle back to the Island in a life raft. So much for my prediction last week that they’d be off-loaded at the LG.

Shortly after their return to the Island, Vincent finds them, followed shortly by Rose and Bernard, who, after the flaming arrow deaths of “everyone they knew” (which contradicts 1954 Ellie’s comments about them having been captured) decided to “retire”.

Bernard: "People try their entire lives to get themselves a nice quiet place near the ocean where they can live in peace. We did. That's what we made for ourselves." I’m thinking that R&B really have made their reality for themselves. They have access to DHARMA food, nobody harasses them and the sun is always shining. How real is their Retired Bliss? As real as they “want”.

Does this mean that the pain and suffering of our Losties is something they want? Or something that Someone Else wants for them?

Based on this R&B scene, it’s possible that these two end up becoming Adam and Eve, as long as they die some time in the next 20 years or so.

The Tunnels: Sayid’s been reading the Journal and tells us that Daniel left detailed instructions on how to remove the “plutonium core”, which would be more than powerful enough to “wipe out” the Swan’s EM Pocket. Hugo and Jack may have Miraculous Super-Powers, but Sayid’s the Team’s Ninja Assassin Techie.

In order to notate Jughead’s design, did Daniel Time Travel to the (no doubt Top Secret) US factory where 1954 Jughead was manufactured?

While Sayid works on Jughead, Richard Chooses a sledge-hammer from the convenient selection at hand. He approaches a “Stone” wall and by delicately tapping, locates the one that’s to be hammered. A few moments later, we’re in Horace’s basement. The implication is that the DI excavated the foundation for this house, encountered a buried stone wall and simply laid their concrete-block foundation wall along-side the ancient buried stone wall without any further investigation AND that the Hostiles knew about this and knew how and where to break through stone and block to enter this basement. OK, then. So much for last week’s prediction that they’d use the Tunnel rail-road to move Jughead to the Swan. I’m guessing we’ll see more of The Tunnels in S6.

Richard tells Jack that having met JL a few times, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly Special about him and asks Jack his opinion on JL. Jack’s comment that Richard shouldn’t “give up on” JL seems to me to have been transmitted to Richard’s 2008 self - who’s got a John Locke Problem.

Having removed the Core, J&S have about 2 hours to get to The Swan and just before Richard knocks Ellie out, she tells Jack (but in reality, us) not to “misunderstand who’s in charge here” - Jacob? The Island? God? The Universe?

As Sayid announces that he and Jack will hide in plain sight (by wearing Horace’s clothes) we are reminded that The Enemy is hiding in plain sight - by wearing John Locke’s, um, body.

The Dharmaville Firefight reunites most of our Losties (too bad about Sayid’s nasty gun-shot wound to his gut, compliments of Roger Linus. Dang, but Karma’s a bitch). On their way to the Swan, they reunite with James, Juliet and Kate - which gets all our Lostie ducks in a row.

Swan site:

Mad Radz arrives and confronts Dr Chang about having stopped The Drill:

"I've been working on this project for six years, designing a station that will be able to manipulate electromagnetism in ways we've only dreamed of." I guess this makes Radz a Mad Scientist instead of a Mad Soldier.

"Have you thought about the consequences of drilling into that pocket? We have no idea--"

"If Edison was only worried about the consequences, we'd all still be sitting in the dark. [Technological Progress is Good]. I came to this island to change the world, Pierre, and that's exactly what I intend to do. [you will indeed Change The World, only not in the way you thought]. Let's get it started!" He hits the side of the large drill. Drilling continues.

30 years later: Richard has a John Locke Problem which, given what he knows about the Island’s abilities to Manifest objects, animals and people shouldn’t be a Problem at all. Yes, yes, I know that the Plot requires Richard and Ben not to realise they’re being led around by an Evil Spirit disguised as JL, but still ... I’m disappointed that the Writers couldn’t come up with something better than Temporary Stupidity to explain their willingness to permit the coming Devastation to their People.

Unless - and I’m clinging to this - unless they do know that Locke isn’t Locke, they do know that Ben has to “kill” Jacob, they do know how disastrous this Choice will turn out to have been and they play out their parts anyway because they know there’s a do-over coming, in which Ben can/will make a different Choice.

Ben tells Sun that he’s never met Jacob - and this seems to be The Truth. But ... during Juliet’s 3 years on the Island she presumably experienced enough of Jacob’s Miraculous Powers that Ben was able to convince her that Jacob could cure Rachel’s Cancer if she would only Choose to stay on the Island and keep working on the Fertility Problem. I guess that Jacob spoke to Richard - who passed messages on to Ben - who passed them on to “his” Family. Sounds pretty clunky to me. It wouldn’t take a genius in such a small-town environment to figure out that Richard was Jacob’s true mouthpiece.

We learn that Richard’s Immortality is a Gift from Jacob and we get more hints from “Locke” that death and destruction for Family Richard are around the corner.

Team Ilana are paddling to the Island with The Crate. Frank is not tied up, but he is lying on his back in the canoe. The outrigger Race of Death with the Time-skipping Losties has not occurred. Yet. If ever.

Frank learns that he might be a Candidate for ... New Leader of the Others? Human Sacrifice to reanimate the corpse of JL?

Given Team Ilana’s soft-touch treatment of Miles, they may be Good Guys, but Bram’s snotty attitude and Friendly/Unfriendly Toggle Attitude bugs me.

“Flashback” to the Ford double funeral. Young Jimmie’s writing The Letter and his pen runs out of ink (like the Lawyer’s pens at the Claire adoption meeting). Jacob is there to hand Young Jimmie a pen - that he can keep. To me, this proves that Jacob encouraged Jimmie to pursue a Vengeance-Driven Life (which he does, despite his promise to his Uncle Clem not to finish The Letter). At best, Jacob is willing to ruin James’ life for The Greater Good. At worst, Jacob is not a Good Guy at all.

Note that Uncle Clem’s comment that “What’s done is done” recurs in 1977 James’ Discussion with Jack. The suggestion (for me) is that this 1976 “flashback” was “created” by Jacob/ the Island in 1977 to influence James in 1977. Call me crazy, but I’ve been doubting the “historicity” of these “flashbacks” since “Enter 77".

“Locke” asks Ben if he’s told Richard about the Kill Jacob Plan. For a moment, I thought maybe “Locke” was testing Ben in some way, but then we learned that “Locke” doesn’t know everything either:

Ben: I started thinking differently about things when my dead daughter threatened to destroy me if I didn't do everything you said." (And yet, a few hours previously, Ben wasn’t being meek and servile at all. I hate these Writers’ flip-flops)

"Wait, wait." Locke steps in front of Ben and stops him. "Where did this happen?"

Despite Locke’s access to The Island, he doesn’t know what Smokey told Ben

"In that cavern beneath The Temple, when we went to see the monster."

"So, you're willing to do whatever I say, no matter what it is?"

Assuming that “Locke” is tuned in to the Dark Side of The Island, maybe the Light Side not only judged Ben to be Good Enough, but it needs Ben to “kill” Jacob in Apparent Co-Operation with the Dark Side. “Locke” is being played by God/The Universe

"Yes."

"Well, then, I guess I won't have to convince you after all." “Locke” knew all along that he/it couldn’t kill Jacob directly - a challenge/constraint that Ben himself had to circumvent in order to carry out The Second Purge.

"Convince me to do what?"

"I'm not going to kill Jacob, Ben. You are." God/The Universe wants/needs Jacob to “die” so that he can be reincarnated into Locke’s corpse (?)

10/05: Sayid and Nadia are discussing plans for their Anniversary when Jacob makes a sinister appearance, distracting Sayid long enough for Nadia to be killed (possibly murdered) by a hit-and-run driver. It would appear that Jacob wanted Sayid to become Ben’s Assassin, with all the misery this brought him. To some extent, Ben and Jacob are working together. Note that Nadia’s death is similar to Edmund Burke’s. This is a Recycled Scenario that may or may not be “real”. Note also that we’ve seen this identical (I think) intersection twice before: A) Kate looking down from the lawyer’s office, B) This is the intersection where Locke’s car got smashed up right after his visit to Helen’s “grave”.

Some might say that Jacob “saved” Sayid’s life, but aside from the likelihood that Sayid would probably have preferred to die with his wife, it seems to me that if Jacob had wanted them both alive, that’s what would have happened. No ... Jacob needed Sayid alive and Nadia dead. Motivation, dontcha know.

Flashback: Ilana is in a hospital (again with the hospitals) and her face is bandaged as if for burn wounds - possibly the result of her last battle with The Enemy.

Enter Jacob: In Russian he says, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it sooner."

"I'm very happy to see you." Jacob’s expertise in Foreign Languages is echoed in the ability of various Players to Secretly Speak a Foreign Language (Sun, Airport Flowered Shirt Guy, Shannon, Charlotte, Juliet etc) The Players are extensions of Jacob or at least share some of Jacob’s Abilities.

"I'm here because I need your help," he says in English. "Can you do that? Will you help me, Ilana?"

"Yes."

Note that Ilana’s “help” included dragging Sayid onto Flight 316. Jacob needed Sayid on that plane, needed Sayid to shoot Young Ben and to help enable The Incident. I think that Jacob knew he, himself had to die - and be reborn/resurrected.

Ilana knows The Future (at least to some extent) and her Lackees are ostensibly carrying JL’s corpse around to show Richard “what he’s up against”. Ilana also knows how and why to find “Jacob’s Shack”. As they approach the Shack, Bram points out the break in the Ring of Ash. When she enters the Shack, it looks dishevelled and long-abandoned. She finds a scrap of tapestry depicting The Statue pinned (with The Machete) to the wall for her to find and upon exiting The Shack, orders her Bearers to torch it. Based on the fact that The Machete and the tapestry fragment were used to help lead Ilana to Jacob, my best guess is that Jacob was indeed held in this Shack for some years and only recently escaped. What involvement (if any) that “Christian” and “Claire” may have had in Jacob’s Liberation will presumably be revealed in S6.

Team Ilana’s next destination is the Statue. In contrast to Daniel’s suicidal approach to Camp Hostile, Team Ilana approach Family Richard with guns pointed to the sky, hands up in a non-threatening manner. Nobody dies. After asking for Ricardus, we find out that What Lies in the Shadow is (in Latin) “He who saves us all”. In an homage to the S4 Finale, we see that the Body in the Crate is that of John Locke.

It’s too late to prevent Jacob’s death, but that was never the goal. The Goal is to resurrect him using John’s (carefully protected by Team Ben) Body - which hasn’t just been incinerated like Jacob’s.

2000 - Jacob is sitting on a bench reading “Everything that rises must converge” by Flannery O’Connor - another book I’ll want to look into to enhance my LOST understanding. Something to do over the next 8 months.

We hear the sound of broken glass followed by the sight of JL falling backwards to the grass behind Jacob’s bench. Having known this event was imminent, Jacob is the first to approach what appears to be a corpse. When Jacob grips the corpse’s left shoulder, John takes a deep breath and “wakes up”.

Jacob: "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright. I'm sorry this happened to you." I wonder if John (and the other Losties visited by Jacob) remember these “meetings”. Note that in each case Jacob touches them. Is Jacob’s Touch important?

2008 - “John” leads his People to the Lostie Beach camp:

"Alright everyone, Richard tells me that we should get to where we are going by night-fall, so why don't you all take this opportunity to rest up and catch your breath. Considering what I have planned for you, [Slaughter? Battle?] you're going to need it."

Subsequently (to Ben) :

"What happened that day at the cabin when you first took me to meet Jacob?"

"Well you clearly already know that I was talking to an empty chair, John, that I was pretending. Which is not to say that I wasn't just as surprised as you were when things started flying around in the room."

"But why would you go to all the trouble to make something like that up?"

"I was embarrassed. I didn't want you to know that I had never seen Jacob. So, yes, I lied. That's what I do." Sayid is a Killer; Ben is a Liar

"Why do you want me to kill Jacob, John?"

"Because despite your loyal service to this island, you got cancer (of which you were cured in short order). You had to watch your own daughter gunned down right in front of you (which you subsequently accepted as your Fate). And your reward for those sacrifices? You were banished. And you did all this in the name of a man you've never even met. So the question is, Ben, why the hell wouldn't you want to kill Jacob? The Devil has a smooth tongue.

And yet ... Ben himself told Suicidal John that he was Very Important, that he had much Work to do on the Island. I’m kinda hoping that Ben’s current Mope is an Act.

Sun sees Aaron’s cradle and turning it over, finds Charlie's DS ring. (a loose end I thought might never be addressed).

Flashback to the Sun/Jin wedding after which Jacob approaches and in “excellent” Korean tells the newly-weds: "I'd like to offer you my blessing. Love is a very special thing. Never take it for granted." - as he Touches both of them. Jacob needs their Love to become so strong that Sun would Choose to abandon their daughter on the off-chance that her husband might still be alive after having given him up for dead.

1977: In an homage to the S3 Finale, James asks Jack for Five Minutes to “chat”. Before this “chat”, we get a “Flashback” during which Jack meets Jacob. After witnessing Jack’s first major solo surgery, during which his Daddy taught him the “count to five” Defense Against Panic strategy, Jack tries to buy an Apollo Bar from the vending machine. Like The Machete, these Apollo Bars are recycled “Props”. After being “cheated” by The Machine, Jack and Christian share a Moment:

"You know, it's bad enough that everybody in this hospital thinks that the only reason I got this residency is because you're my father. But then you, you put me in a ”Time out” during my first major procedure in front of my entire team. Dad, I know you don't believe in me, but I need them to."

"Are you sure I'm the one who doesn't believe in you, Jack?" Christian walks away. Sometimes I think that Christian did his best to turn Jack into a Great Doctor, but most of the time I think he deliberately or otherwise undermined Jack’s self-confidence and self-esteem. He succeeded in large measure, but the Island and Jack’s Island friends helped turn him into the Great Leader I expect to see in S6.

Jack then meets Jacob:

"One of these yours?" Jacob asks as he holds up two candy bars.

"The machine got stuck," Jack says.

"I guess it just needed a little push," Jacob says as he hands Jack his candy bar. As a comment to Jack, this doesn’t make any sense to me, but as a comment to us, it reminds us that various Players have needed Little Pushes here and there to Keep Them on their Paths.

Returning now to the Five-Minute Chat, we learn that the reason James didn’t leave the Island to prevent the 1976 deaths of his parents was that “what’s done is done” - as told to him in this Ep’s “Flashback”. Why did this phrase stick in James’ mind instead of , say: “If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again”? Be that as it may, Newbie Man-of-Faith Jack is suddenly all about Destiny:

"I had her. I had her and I lost her."

"Kate?"

Jack nods.

"Well, damn, Doc, she's standing right on the other side of those trees. You want her back, just go over there and ask her."

"Nah, it's too late for that." Not at all, Jack, especially if Juliet’s around (oops)

"Jack, if what you're doing even works, you and Kate will have never met and she'll be in damn handcuffs."

"If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."

Instead of Jack beating Ben to a pulp, as he did during the S3 Finale, these two Old Friends beat each other up, during which James points out that he and Juliet Had A Life in 1977 D’Ville. As James gains the upper hand, he’s called off by Juliet who tells him:

"He's right, James, we have to do this."

Her explanation seems more than a little idiotic to me:

"I changed my mind when I saw you look at her." In the Sub - where all you had to do was ignore Kate, drink the OJ and Live Happily Ever After

Sawyer starts to say something and she says, "Don't."

"I don't care who I looked at. I'm with you."

"And you would stay with me forever if I would let you and that is why I will always love you. [This sounds idiotic to me] What we had was just for a little while and just because we love each other, it doesn't mean that we are meant to be together [this profundity brought to you by Jacob’s so-called Flashback]. Maybe we were never supposed to be together. [an idiotic page out of the Hawking/Hume script] So if Jack can make it so that none of you will ever come here, he should." James doesn’t speak Destiny, but Jules does.

"Why are you doing this, Juliet?"

"If I never meet you, then I never have to lose you." She walks away.

Whatever happened to “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”?

Swan site: Ahab/Radz hears from Phil that Team Jack is on the loose and Mad Rad figures that they’re headed to the Swan. He orders Team Phil to join him - with some guns.

Jack and Kate share a Moment:

"Kate, why'd you make me promise to never ask about Aaron?"

"Because I was so angry at you for making me come back here." Anger = Lust?

"Is he [James] why you came back?"

"I came back so he [Aaron] could be where he belongs, with his mother." Jeez, Kate; you sound like George Bush trying to justify going to war with Iraq - a different reason every day.

In the next of a series of nonsensical flip-flops, Kate suddenly supports Jack’s Blow Shit Up strategy.

“Flashback” - Hugo’s Release from Prison, during which Jacob - who’s waiting in a cab outside the Police Station tells Hugo that he’s been waiting for him (Telling The Truth) that he is not Crazy (which Hugo already confirmed to his Dad) and that his Ability to speak with his Dead friends is a Blessing, not a Curse. This is Jacob’s Gift to Hugo: freeing him from Guilt and Fear.

After suggesting he board Ajira 316, Jacob adds:

“It's your choice, Hugo, you don't have to do anything you don't want to." The Rules of the Game include “No Physical Coercion”. The verdict in the Trial of Humanity will depend on what Free Will Choices our Players make. Jacob exits the cab.

"Wait, you forgot your guitar."

"It's not my guitar" - The Implication to Hugo is that Jacob is an Envoy from Charlie. The Rules of the Game permit Emotional Blackmail.

Dying Sayid: "Remember, be careful. It's rigged to explode on impact. According to Faraday's plan, you must get the bomb as close as you can to the source of electromagnetism." Blowing up a Death Star is tricky.

"Sayid," Jack says. "This is going to work and it'll save you."

Vader/Sayid: "Nothing will save me."

2008: “Locke” follows Richard up the rocks at the foot of the statue. Richard sees Ben following and says, "What are you doing?"

"John wants me to join him," Ben says.

"You can't bring him in," Richard says.

"Why not?" Locke says.

"Because only our Leader can request an audience with Jacob and there can only be one Leader on the island at a time, John."

"I'm beginning to think that you just make these rules up as you go along, Richard. Ben is coming in with me, and if that's a problem, I'm sure Jacob and I can work it out."

Richard has every opportunity to block “Locke’s” access to Jacob. His allegiance is not to an Impostor. He’s either Temporarily Stupid or he’s Playing His Part.

They go up to the wall and Richard pushes the stone door. "Tell him I said hello." Richard walks away and Locke and Ben go inside.

"Will you be able to do this, Ben? I know it won't be easy, but things will change [for the worse] once he's gone," Locke says. "I promise." He hands Ben a knife in exactly the same way that Ben handed Locke the Kill-Your-Father knife at The Old Place.

Swan: Despite Miles pointing out that Jack’s actions might actually cause The Incident (something Very Important for the Losties to hear), they all agree to LTDA. During the ensuing firefight, Jack hesitates a moment before dropping Jughead’s Heart into the shaft. Kate’s nod gives him permission to erase their so-called relationship - and he drops it - to no effect.

Meanwhile, Radzinsky’s Drill hits The Pocket and in an homage to the S2 Finale, metal stuff starts flying into the drill-shaft (which might later become the Hatch Shaft) including a metal toolbox which hits Jack’s head hard enough to kill him. Pierre Chang’s left arm is crushed by a metal strut, but Miles, crying: “Dad” frees him and orders him to get away as far as possible. He (and Radzinsky) dutifully run away. Ahab doesn’t Go Down With His Ship, because his Destiny is blow his brains out later. Phil receives his Karmic Death (metal rod through the chest) with no assistance required by/permitted to James.

In an homage to the S1 Finale, Juliet gets dragged down the CV, er drill-shaft and hangs on long enough for some heart-rending “I love you’s”, after which she lets go like Gandalf and, falls (like Gandalf fell) down the 100% fatally deep drill shaft at the bottom of which all her fillings would have been pulled through her brain - and doesn’t die. Maybe she has plastic fillings.

2008:

Ben walks up to The Tapestry. It appears to be finished and has lots of Egyptian symbols on it.

"You like it?" Jacob says. He's sitting in a chair off to the side. "I did it myself. It takes a very long time when you're making thread, but I suppose that's the point, isn't it?"

"Hello, Jacob," “Locke” says.

"You found your loophole." Jacob has prepared for this Moment

"Indeed I did. And you have no idea what I've gone through to be here."

"Have you two met before?" Ben asks.

"In a manner of speaking," “Locke” says. "Do what I asked you to do, Ben."

"Benjamin," Jacob says, "whatever he's told you, I want you to understand one thing. You have a Choice."

"What choice?" Ben says.

"You can do what he asks, or you can go and leave us to discuss our issues."

"Oh, so now, after all this time, you've decided to stop ignoring me. Thirty-five years I lived on this island and all I ever heard was your name, over and over. Richard would bring me your instructions. All those slips of paper. All those lists. And I never questioned anything. I did as I was told. But when I dared to ask to see you myself, I was told, 'You'll have to wait. You have to be patient.' But when he asked to see you, he gets marched straight up here as if he was Moses. So why him? What was it that was so wrong with me? What about me?"

"What about you?" Jacob asks. Ben has been judged again - and found wanting.

"Well." Ben stabs Jacob [killing his Father again] multiple times. [acting out the part that Jacob has carefully prepared for him].

Jacob tries to say something and Locke says, "What? I can’t hear you"

"They're coming," Jacob speaks his Dying Words and Locke kicks him into the fire.

I think S6 will bring us back to this Moment, and Ben (Jacob’s Biblical Son) will make a different Choice.

Swan drill-shaft: Juliet wakes up, mortally injured and spots the (unexploded) Plutonium Core - which she pounds repeatedly with a rock. After saying “ Come on, you sonofabitch”, it finally explodes, ending the Season in a Whiteout and a “Reverse” LOST symbol.

We didn’t see Richard watching the “deaths” of the Losties, but it’s possible he saw what he said he saw.

LOST 515A - “Follow the Leader” - recap and comments

2009-05-08T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Blossoming of St John the Leader, The Return of Jack the Leader and the Revelation of Radzinsky the (obsessed) Leader. I’m not quite sure which of these is the scariest. Jack, I think.

Kate and Jack crouch ”in the bushes like rats” as they watch Daniel’s approach to Camp Hostile:

"What's he doing in there?" Kate asks. "Jack, he's crazy." (There’s that Word again)

"Is he? What if this is why we're here? What if this is our one chance to put things back the way they're supposed to be?" Jack has Found His Purpose. Daniel handed it to him, but his Daddy Conditioned him along with The Island - which enabled the Sarah Miracle Surgery and also sent him Tour de Stade Desmond, the Charlie Resurrection and of course, Ben plus John plus Eloise ... all of these Encounters and Experiences have Motivated Jack to Choose - at this point in Time - to try and “Change Things”.

After Dan’s been shot, J&K are captured with standard Widmore brutality - a rifle-butt to the face - delivered by Erik the mounted Hostile. Jack’s lying on his back, bleeding from his facial wounds - just like he did on the Phuket beach after his beating by Achara’s people. The off-hand Widmore cruelty is/will be inherited by Danny, Colleen and their fellow Hater Loyalists - all/most thankfully dead now. CW naturally assumes, based on their attire, that J&K are DI members and escorts them into Camp, where Ellie has found, and is leafing through, Daniel’s Journal. She finds the inscription - in her hand-writing - that she doesn’t remember having written.

Ellie orders Erik to take J&K to her tent after Jack admits that Daniel, Kate and he were in the same group. Having flung Kate hard to the ground (hands bound), Erik kicks Jack in the face when he shouts: “Take it easy on her”. Family Charles really seem to hate the DI.

In her typical flip-flop manner, Kate seems unwilling to erase the last three years of her life, whereas Jack - who mentions all the “people they’ve lost” (who would theoretically never have died) - seems quite willing to “wipe the slate clean” of all the misery the Losties have been through. I had to laugh when Kate said that “it was not all misery” to which Jack - looking at her - responded that “enough of it was” Ouch, but so right.

Notice that Somebody has Managed the Jack/Kate Relationship so that Jack would - at this point in time - Choose not to have ever met Kate. Note also that Jack’s (and Kate’s) pre-crash lives were anything but “normal”. Both their lives were deliberately miserable. Somebody/Something has been manipulating them from before their births.

Enter Eloise: She’s in shock at the thought that she’s just killed her Future Son. Only Daniel’s death could have achieved this result - and IMO, Daniel knew this to be true and therefore Chose death to enable Events to unfold as foreseen by him/the DI. His death placed his (completed) Journal into Ellie’s hands and The Journal (like Gray’s Almanac in BTTF) permitted Ellie to know The Future all the way up to early 2008. And yet, Somebody (possibly Jacob) sent 2004 Daniel to 1954 via the FDW. Somebody is in control of who goes where and when. That Entity is not Richard or Ben or Charles or Ellie.

Only Daniel’s death could Motivate Ellie to co-operate with a Stranger who believed Daniel’s “we can change things” message. She’d love to believe that she can Change The Future so that she doesn’t end up killing her unborn son. Sadly, I’m sure that Ellie is about to learn the hard way about Universal Course-Correction.

Note that Ellie is currently very much in charge of Camp Hostile. I’m guessing that Charles’ hot-headed, cowardly and cruel track record caused him to be “passed over” for promotion to Leader - until Ellie left the Island or was Banished.

I’m delighted to report that I was right that Jughead was not buried under the Swan. We now learn that Jughead was buried under The Barracks - and then we learn why Widmore and his Loyalists are so angry and so cruel.

The DI built their “village” on top of Hostile Sacred Ground. There’s an entire tunnel/temple (?) complex under Dharmaville - some of which (“Summon Protection”) we know that the DI found out about. I think that CW hates the DI so much because they humiliated him and his people. His family had exterminated Team Jughead in 1954 (when CW was not yet in charge), but couldn’t repel the better-equipped and more numerous DI - which arrived in the early 70's (when CW possibly was in charge) and forced a humiliating Truce on Family Richard/Charles/Ellie, which CW has been itching to erase ever since.

I’m thinking that there’s a connection between Team Jughead and the DI, especially based on the evidence that the Island DI seemed to have a strong Military component ... lots of weapons, a military-style submarine ... even the name of Dharmaville - “The Barracks” - is Military. Before sending in their Science Team, the DI probably sent their Military Team in first - to “pacify” the Hostiles (another Military term). Note that Alvar Hanso made his fortune in the Arms business. He could easily have been involved with Team Jughead, long before his involvement with the DeGroots. The “Top Secret EYES ONLY” photo of the Island dated 9/23/54 on display in the Lamp Post supports this connection.

The DI’s Science Team, presumably headed by Dr Chang, may have arrived after the Truce was put in place and yet might still have acted (knowingly or not) as a “front” for

Military Research including Interrogation Pharmacology, Animal research - with Perimeter Defence applications - and of course Time Travel. After all, if a Military Force could learn to control Time, they could win every battle before it started. Maybe Radzinsky is/was a Military guy and maybe that’s why he’s so obsessed with staying “on schedule” with the Swan Construction.

Note that the Widmore-sponsored Kahana crew also included a Science Team and a Military Team.

Note also that post-Purge Mikhail and Kelvin were both ex-Military guys and that Mikhail was on Jacob’s List.

Ellie brings a blanket out of her tent with which to cover Daniel’s corpse and passes her hand over Dan’s dead eyes - which magically close all by themselves as so many other dead eyes have on LOST. When she announces that Erik and Richard will be coming with her as she leads J&K to The Bomb, Charles is startled and dismayed, because he knows that Ellie’s pregnant, which adds even more irony to her situation. She’s already carrying the unborn son she just shot to death.

Richard: "The man you're asking about, Jack, is Charles Widmore. He and Eloise are...let's just say ... love can be complicated." This comment reminded me of Tom’s comment - also to Jack - about the relationship between Ben and Juliet.

The Ellie/Richard/J&K group arrive at a pond:

As soon as Kate hears that this pond is the gateway to The Tunnels, she balks and announces that: "I'm going to go back and find everyone else. I can't go any further with you, Jack. Not this time." So much for Loyalty, Trust and “I’ve always been with you.”

I recognise that for dramatic purposes, Kate has to leave Team Jack, has to re-join Team James to clue them in on what the Jughead Plan is and that at some point in the Finale, all our Losties have to be re-gathered and sent Back to The Future, but ... sometimes my willingness to suspend my disbelief is, um, strained. Based on Kate’s (credible) unwillingness to “restore” the timeline to a “normalcy” in which her Future involves trials and Jail-time, I get it that she’d like to stop the Jughead Plan. What I totally don’t buy is Jack (and Sayid) letting her walk away.

I loved the Return of the Jedi, oops, I mean the Return of Sayid and I understand his support of the Jughead Plan. Farewell Erik - and good riddance.

Let’s talk about “Erasure” for a moment. “Tabula Rasa” (way back in S1), means “Clean Slate” - a fresh start. Ben erased the Red Sox tape to record the Widmore Assault. Jack’s blackboard cleanup sort of did the job, but what had been “erased” was still somewhat visible. Miles’ failure to erase the Camera 4 tape had, um, consequences.

In the last few Eps, the word “Erase” has become more prominent, including Sayid’s question: "So you're telling me you're going to erase the last three years of our lives?"

For me, the implication is that Full and/or Partial Erasure of Memory and of Events is possible in the LOST Universe. Starting over, “do-overs” and the Deja Vu of half-erased memories and the Room 23 reference to “Everything Changes” ... all of this points to History being re-written. Despite Daniel’s (formerly) staunch insistence that WHH, I believe he was right that “we can change things”, but that he was wrong about when this might be possible.

Despite hints that History has already been re-written in minor ways (no Annie, no Olivia), I think that The Incident has to happen more-or-less as it did and our Losties have to return to 2008 (possibly surrounded by the Changes they have enabled), finally knowing enough about Time and the nature and capabilities of The Enemy (and of themselves) to evolve into the Super-heroes they’ll need to be to win the Season 6 War.

Kate: "Since when did shooting kids and blowing up hydrogen bombs become okay?" This question goes to the heart of the “Means to an End” and “Greater Good” questions and Kate is here showing that she’s unwilling to use Evil Means to achieve an alleged Greater Good. For the moment.

Jack: "The three of us disappeared off that plane and ended up here, now, because this is our chance to change things." Sorry Jack, all you’re doing is ensuring that WHH.

"And if you're wrong, then everyone on the island dies. Do you understand that?"

"I'm not wrong, Kate. This is it. This is why we're here. This is our destiny." Re-born Man-of-Faith Jack still has a few things to learn. Nevertheless, I’m happy to see that “Jack has become John” as I’d predicted a long time ago.

"Do you know who you sound like? Because he was crazy too, Jack. You said so yourself." (Another reference to Insanity)

"Well, maybe I was wrong."

"No, you were right. I'm going back to find the rest of our people because if I can't stop you, maybe they can." So much for Kate’s Mission to Find Claire. She didn’t even find Miles, Jin and Hugo.

Despite Erik’s death, Richard dutifully obeys his Leader and dives into the pond. Before following him, Jack tells Sayid:"If I don't see you on the other side, I won't blame you." “Cooper” told John he’d see him “on the other side” (of surgery) and Ben said something similar to Jack just before his Hydra Spinal surgery. To me, this “recycling” of scenarios and phrases suggests that The Island is (at least to some extent) controlling the perceptions of our Losties.

Jack’s journey through the underwater passage leads him into the Moon Pool of the underground Tunnel/Temple complex. Note that Jack’s swim into this Moon Pool recalls Charlie’s swim into the LG’s Moon Pool at the end of S3. I’m thinking we’ll be seeing the LG’s Moon Pool again very soon - when the sub docks there.

Jack’s a bit surprised to see that Sayid’s decided to Follow the Leader, but Sayid’s Gallows Humour makes sense to me: "If this works, you might just save us all. And if it doesn't, well at least you'll put us out of our misery." Indeed, Sayid’s currently out of options: he’d rather Die Together than try to Live Alone in the 1977 Island jungle.

As they walk through the tunnels, Sayid whispers to Jack, "I'm sure it's occurred to you that this woman's motivation in helping us detonate the hydrogen bomb is only to annihilate the Dharma Initiative." No Sayid - Ellie’s Motivation is to prevent the Future murder of her unborn son.

"Yes, but I still trust her."

"Why?"

"Because 30 years from now, she's the one that's going to tell us how to get back to the island." No, Jack - you trust her to try to Change Things in 1977 because of what Daniel told you. Try to keep your Motivations straight, guys.

When Ellie uncovers Jughead, we see that it’s in a cart equipped with railway-type wheels. I’m thinking that Jughead will soon be rolled through the Underground Railway towards The Swan. My best guess is that it will NOT be exploded, but that the Tunnel entrances to the various DI Stations will be blocked off per the Blast Door Map and that Blast Doors will be installed in the Swan and the Staff (and possibly the Pearl and Tempest) because of the post-Incident danger of Jughead exploding at some future point. That point might very well occur in the Season 6 War.

Note that the Bear Cave may have led to a Tunnel. Maybe the DI knew about the Tunnels. Or not. Note also that Smokey may have used these tunnels and that they may have been blocked off to keep Smokey out of the DI Stations.

30 years later: Richard has set up a Beach Camp complete with fish and squid drying racks. Richard’s working on a ship-in-a-bottle project. I’m thinking the model ship is the Black Rock. One of Richard’s People runs up to announce that “He’s here”. Like the Messiah, Family Richard’s been expecting the Return of St John. For three years.

John has a dead boar over his shoulders and announces that he has brought dinner. I guess the Island told JL where to find Camp Richard after the Temple Visit. Richard doesn’t seem to be surprised to see JL, but he does seem to be (a little) surprised to see Ben.

Responding to Richard’s recognition that St John exudes Confidence, Locke smiles and nods. "I have a purpose now." Let us hope that St John is serving the Good Guy aspect of The Island.

After explaining to Sun that John is now the Leader of The Others and that RA has been an “advisor” to the Leader for “a very, very long time”, Sun asks Richard if he remembers having met the 1977 Losties: "Yes, I was here 30 years ago. And I do, I remember these people. I remember meeting them very clearly because I watched them all die." Is he lying? He didn’t see J,J &K board the sub.

OR ... maybe at some point during The Incident, once all the 1977 Losties have been reunited, Richard watches them “die” in some way that actually sends them back to 2008. Note that “Christian” and St John have both suggested that reuniting with Jin and the rest of the Losties is possible. It would certainly be poetic - Sun loses Jin at the end of S4 and is reunited with him at the end of S5.

After hearing Richard’s depressing “news”, St John tells Sun: "I don't think we went through all this for nothing, Sun."

Prior to embarking on their Errand, John asks Richard:"You still have that [immaculately-conceived] compass I gave you?"

Richard pulls it out of his pocket. "Little rusty, but she can still find north."

"Ben, I'd appreciate it if you'd join us," Locke says.

"Why, John? Don't you trust me here with my former people? Afraid I'll stage a coup?"

"I'm not afraid of anything you can do anymore, Ben." St John is Strong with The Force.

Ben nods. "Well in that case, I'd love to come." Ben keeps trying to needle John, trying to maintain some kind of Superiority over Him.

As the Three Musketeers march toward the Beechcraft, we learn that Richard knows about the FDW. He may be old enough to have witnessed its initial use.

We also learn that St John wants Richard to take him to visit Jacob immediately after the completion of their current “errand”. After Ben’s snide “That’s not how it works, John”, Richard agrees that it’s indeed possible for him to bring Locke to The Prisoner.

When John announces that they’re ”almost to the plane”, Ben asks: “What plane?” I found this question puzzling because Ben ought to have known perfectly well what plane they were approaching. He knew about it when he and Juliet visited the Pearl in “Expose”. Anyways ...

We now find out (in the coolest possible way) how Richard knew about Locke’s leg injury inflicted by Ethan in 1999/2000. We’ve ”returned” to the night when Richard emerges from the bush, extracts the bullet and tells John that he has to leave the Island, round up the O6 and bring them back. And that he’ll have to die to accomplish this task.

A minor quibble: when I first saw this scene, I noted that Yemi’s body was still in the plane. It hadn’t yet been found by Eko and “cremated” by him. This pegged the date of this visit by JL to 2004 - probably November. However, while John was encountering Richard in what I thought was 2004, Team Daniel/James/Juliet/Charlotte/Miles were encountering the Ajirans in the Outrigger Race of Death - which agrees with the 2008 timing of The Errand. OK, then.

Note that Ben described 2008 John watching Richard minister to his 2004 injured self as “quite the Out Of Body Experience” This is another reference to Altered States and cannot be a Coincidence.

Then:

"Your timing was impeccable, John. How did you know when to be here?"

"The island told me. Didn't it ever tell you things?"

"No, John, [which contradicts Ben telling John that the Island used to send him Dreams] and clearly it hasn't told you where Jacob is, otherwise you wouldn't need Richard to show you." Ben trying again to flaunt his Superior Insight

"You've never seen him," Locke says.

"What?" Ben seems to be astonished at the accusation that he’s never seen Jacob. Who else cured Rachel?

"Jacob, you've never seen him, have you?" Ben gives no reply, but it sure seemed to me that Ben saw Jacob quite clearly in The Cabin until Jacob switched his Attention to John for his famous “Help Me”

Locke hasn’t permitted enough time for Ben and Richard to get properly caught up, so Richard seems genuinely surprised to hear that John did, in fact die. That ought to enhance his Messiah status.

Upon returning to the Beach Camp ( at night), Richard suggests that they head to see The Wiz in the morning, but John is eager to leave right away. Richard and Ben exchange some Looks that imply that they’ve cooked up Ben’s return between them and that they have a Plan to “manage” JL:

"We can do whatever you want, but maybe the two of us should go to my tent and talk--" Richard is possibly playing for time, possibly intending to tell JL that Jacob is an Evil Spirit, under restraints devised by him and Ben.

"Is this everyone?" Locke asks, unwilling to delay his departure.

"Well, there's another group at The Temple [what’s Special about the Temple Group, whom John, Ben and Sun did not meet while they were in the neighbourhood? Do they include Cindy, the Children and the kidnapped Tailies?], but--"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to everyone here now."

"Of course. Be my guest." [Reluctant at the prospect of Losing Control of his People]

Locke: "Hello, everyone. My name is John Locke. I've been told that for some time, you all have been accepting orders from a man named Jacob. And yet, oddly enough, no one has actually seen him. Now, I'm sure there are very good reasons why his existence and whereabouts are a secret," he turns and looks at Richard, "I just don't know what they are." He turns back to everyone else. "And to be honest with all of you, if there is a man telling us what to do, I want to know who he is."

Sun steps forward. "This man, Jacob, can he tell us how to bring Jin and the rest of our people back here?"

"Absolutely. Richard has agreed to show us where we need to go. So I'm going to go and see Jacob, right now. And I'd like all of you to come with me." As St John walks among His People, they lay their hands on him, having accepted him as The Promised One.

To Ben, Richard says, "I'm starting to think that John Locke is going to be trouble."

"Why do you think I tried to kill him?" Ben asks. Are these two on the same side, or is Ben “handling” Richard?

Despite the “immediate departure” agenda, Family Locke do not, in fact leave that night. They leave the next morning - to the same LOST music as when Jack led his people to the RT at the end of S3. Jack=Locke=Moses

En route, Ben (for some reason speaking for Richard) offers:

"This pilgrimage to see Jacob makes [Richard] uncomfortable. He's expressed that he has reservations on whether or not you know what you're doing."

"I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Ben."

"I know we've had our differences in the past, but I'm here to follow you now [or else my Demon Daughter will Hunt me Down and Destroy me]. So if you need Jacob to help you reunite with your people then I--"

"I'm not interested in reuniting with my people." Yes you are, but you need to carry out another Errand first.

"What do you mean? You told Sun--"

"I know what I told her [what she needed to hear], but that's not why we're going to see Jacob."

"Then why are we going to Jacob?"

"So I can kill him." And why are you announcing this in front of Your People?

Regardless, these last five words sure stopped Ben in his tracks - and cast a whole different light on the Richard/Ben/Locke relationship. If RA and Ben were afraid that JL had intended to “free” Jacob and that they were losing control of The Prisoner to a naive Island Servant unaware of Jacob’s Evil Nature, then these five words place John, Richard and Ben squarely on the same Good Guy side.

My thoughts on Jacob: Mikhail referred to him as a Magnificent Man and also told John, Sayid and Kate that they weren’t on Jacob’s List because they were Flawed. Obviously Mikhail was on Jacob’s List along with Bea and presumably a number of other Others.

Danny said that Jack wasn’t on Jacob’s List, which implies that he himself (and his Hater wife Colleen) were. So ... it seems to me that Jacob is a Bad Guy Hater and deserves to be Imprisoned. If Ben and/or Richard are his Jailers, then they are by implication Good Guys

Note that Danny, Colleen, Ethan, Mikhail, Bonnie, Greta, Ryan, Jason, Tom and more are all dead now - a Second Purge initiated by Good Guy Ben. I think that the Rules surrounding CW’s Banishment included protection for his “Loyalist” followers. Ben could take no direct deadly action against them. In return, they were required to obey him - which they did, reluctantly at times.

My thoughts on Jacob’s Colleague “Christian”: A Parent who would perpetually undermine the self-confidence of his son, a Husband who would cheat on his Wife, a Doctor who would advocate the murder of a comatose patient and a Spirit that would casually tell a Self-Sacrificing Hero that he “can go now” is an Evil Being. Had Christian succeeded in killing Carole, Kate could not have dumped Aaron into her lap and hopped onto Ajira 316.

Meanwhile, back in 1977:

Mad Rad cuffs Jim and Jules to separate chairs and foolishly attempts to force intel from James by punching him out. C’mon, Stu, James has been tortured by far better Interrogators than you. Note that Horace the Meek is elbowed aside by Rad’s Ahab-like Obsession with the Swan’s Construction schedule. Is Rad an ex-Military Guy who knows the True Purpose of the DI’s “Research”?

When Snake-eye Phil smacks Juliet, however, James threatens to kill him. RIP, Phil. You’ll never meet Zeke, who also earned a Sawyer death-threat.

Note that Somebody has Motivated James and Jules to lurve each other. I wonder if Somebody Else Motivated James to lurve Kate.

Right after the Phil Death Promise, a Dharmite hustles in and points out that Kate and Jack were last-minute additions to the Sub Manifest and that Hugo Reyes, current whereabouts unknown, was connected to J&K

Hugo is stuffing DHARMA food into his knapsack, after which he lumbers up a hill carrying the knapsack and the guitar-case. I sure wonder what’s in the GC. Dr Chang follows him.

Hugo catches up with Jin and Miles, and shows them the food in his backpack and then asks: "What's the rescue plan?" Heart-of-Gold Hugo wants to help his Friends.

"Rescue plan?" Miles says. "We're heading to the Beach. Why do you think we sent you for food?"

"But they've got Sawyer and Juliet," Hurley says.

"And there are 30 of them and they all have guns," Miles says. "The only people we can rescue is ourselves, so let's go." Miles is still unevolved, still “Every Man For Himself”

"We've got to do something. I mean, Sawyer would never leave us behind." If he weren’t Under Arrest.

Leaves rustle and Jin and Miles raise their guns as Pierre emerges from the bushes.

"Dr. Chang, what are you doing here?" Miles asks.

"I could ask you the same question,"

"But we asked you first," Hurley says.

"Your friend, Faraday, said you were from the future. I need to know if he was telling the truth." Daniel’s Performance is bearing fruit

"Dude, that's ridiculous" World’s Worst Liar.

"What year were you born?" Pierre asks Hurley.

"1931."

"You're 46?"

"Yeah. Yes, I am."

"So you fought in the Korean war?"

Hurley thinks a moment and then says, "There's no such thing." Wrong answer

"Who's the President of the United States?" LOL - exactly the question he was afraid would be asked when James brought them to the Dharmaville Induction Centre

"Alright, dude, we're from the future," Hurley says. He looks at Jin and Miles. "Sorry."

Pierre walks up to Miles. "It's true, then? You are my son?"

"Yeah, it's true," Miles says. Daniel’s “You’ll see” Prediction comes true.

"Your friend, the physicist, he also told me to evacuate everyone I could off the island. He said there was going to be a massive accident at the Swan. Is that true?"

"He's been right about everything so far," Miles says. "If Faraday said get people off the Island, I'd do it."

"Well, then let's hope he knows what he's doing," Pierre says, abandoning the Three and marching to Security.

When Dr C arrives at Security, blurting out Orders to evacuate all non-essential personnel, Radzinsky cuts him off:

"Aren't you supposed to be at the Swan right now, Chang? [not a respectful Dr Chang]" We're supposed to break ground in less than 20 hours." [Huh? Ground was broken weeks ago]

"We are under imminent threat. If we start drilling, there's a high probability of a cataclysmic accident."

Rad: "We are drilling and on schedule!" This is a guy who definitely should blow his brains out.

Pierre: "Horace, you're in charge."

Rad: "He's not in charge anymore [War trumps Science every time] This is my decision and it's been made. We keep working."

"Let us on the sub," Sawyer says. "He's right. It ain't safe. Put the women and children on the sub and get them the hell out of here." He looks at Juliet and she smiles. "And if you put me and Juliet on the sub with them, we'll tell you anything you want to know." He looks at Juliet. "You okay with that, sweetheart?"

"Absolutely," she says. Awww

Radzinsky: "You want on that sub, Jim?" He slaps a notebook in Sawyer's lap. "Draw me a map. I want to know exactly where the hostiles are." [so that I can break The Truce]

Miles, Jin and Hugo watch Women and Children including Charlotte, her Mum, Lara and Baby Miles exiting their DHARMA bus before boarding the sub. Miles sees Dr C arguing with Lara, ordering her away from the Island, and (finally) learns why he was being so “mean” to his own wife: “It was the only way to get her to leave”. Miles finally learns the Truth because nothing stays buried on the Island. But, honestly - Duh. Saw that coming weeks ago.

The Three are just about to start out for Lostie Beach (hope they know the Fence code) when Hugo spots (cuffed) Jim and Jules boarding the Sub. Hugo says that Sawyer always has a plan (Ben’s line) and he does, but despite appearances, I think they’ll all be seeing each other very soon.

Sawyer’s Plan is the “Back to The Future” Biff Tannen Plan - “we’ll buy Microsoft. We’ll bet the Cowboys in the ‘78 Superbowl.” He expects to benefit financially (as did CW) from his Future Knowledge. Unfortunately for J&J, I doubt that they’ll be returning to the Real World just yet.

Kate’s last-minute arrival, like Ben’s 316 arrival cracked me up. Juliet’s PISSED look was hilarious and the awkward “Hey” and “Hey” was rather funny. But I doubt that Juliet needs to worry about Skate. Kate’s role here is to be the Link between Team J&J and Team Jack/Ellie.

We know that Lara, Miles, Charlotte and her Mother get to the Real World in 1977, but I’m guessing that JJ and K won’t get any farther than the LG - where they’ll be reunited with their fellow Losties for the Humdinger Finale, which will have to include Team Ilana, Captain Frank - and whatever’s/whoever’s in the metal crate.

As the Captain presses the “Submerge” button and the Galaga disappears, I’m confident we’ll see it again shortly.

"Australia's the key to the whole Game"

2009-05-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

A Random (but original) Thought: Remembering Hugo’s 409 “Risk” comment about Australia being ”the key to the whole Game”, could it be that all our Losties never did board Flight 815 - that they’re all still in Australia - still in their pre-flight hotel rooms, sharing some Aboriginal-controlled Dream?

Nah!

514A - “The Variable” - Recap and comments

2009-05-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

Appearing not to have been hit by Ben’s bullet, Desmond falls over, then gets up and beats the living shit out of Ben, tosses him into the water and then collapses with a potentially fatal (but invisible) gunshot wound. OK, then.

Eloise - or should I just call her “The [Matrix] Oracle” ? - introduces herself to Penny by asking how old Young Charlie is. She then remarks that he’s got his Father’s hair, which he doesn’t, but whatever. Her Mission isn’t Baby Flattery, but to deliver some Motivation to Penny:

Desmond’s wounding is incidental to an Old and Complex, um, “Conflict” involving herself and her son Daniel (among others). Ellie doesn’t mention Daddy Widmore’s participation in this War, nor the fact that Daniel and Penny (like Jack/Claire and Boone/Shannon) are half-siblings. Ellie does tell Penny that she’s there to Apologise (that word again) and that for the first time in a long time, she doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. In other words, until now, she has Known The Future - which Convalescing Desmond will confirm.

If Ellie’s telling the truth about not knowing the Future any more, it would seem that her willingness to send her son back to 1954 and 1974 was mostly to Close The Circle - a “memo” to her Past Self about the possibility of TT.

If Ellie herself is being played by the Island/Jacob and truly doesn’t any longer know The Future, doesn’t really know that Sacrificing her only-begotten son is/was necessary for The Greater Good, then she’s taking an awful lot on Faith.

After Eloise exits the hospital, (LOST sure spends lots of time in hospitals) Charles approaches from behind and asks:

"Is he alright?" Desmond? Or Young Charlie?

"Yes, Charles, he's fine."

"Good."

"Your daughter's in there. Why don't you go in and say hello?" Note that Eloise doesn’t say “our daughter” - which supports Ben’s accusation that Penny’s Mother is/was an Outsider. Note also the collegial, almost affectionate tone of Ellie’s suggestion to CW.

"Unfortunately, Eloise, my relationship with Penelope is one of the things I had to sacrifice." I guess Eloise and Charles haven’t been in, um, close contact for many years.

"Sacrifice! Don't you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles! I had to send my son back to the island, knowing full well--"

"He's my son, too, Eloise." [Slap] No surprise here, especially given CW’s Sponsorship of Dan’s Research, complemented by Ellie’s unrelenting “support” of Daniel’s Mission as well. So ... Daniel was conceived on-Island, possibly born/raised in the US (where he acquired his American accent) and then sent to Oxford to “finish” his Education and conduct his Research.

Island (1977) :

As soon as Daniel climbs out of The Sub (8 or 9 PM), he blows by Dr Chang (which explains why Dr C doesn’t recognise him later that day) and gets Miles to bring him to Jack - whom he wakes up at, say 5:30 AM. Long drive from the Sub Dock to Dharmaville, I guess. He’s returned to the Island because he got his hands on a copy of the 1977 New DI Recruits photo. “Material Boy” Miles is surprised to see Daniel because he thought Dan would use his future knowledge to become rich by inventing “the DVD or something”. Future Knowledge is exactly how Charles got rich after he was Banished.

Ben, CW and Eloise all worked together to enable Flight 316. To some extent, these three Puppeteers are on the Same Team.

During the Daniel/Jack chat, we learn that Daniel’s been “doing research” at the Ann Arbor DI HQ and that in Dan’s opinion, Jack, Kate and Hugo (never mind Sayid) should not have been sent/summoned back into 1977 and that Mummy was wrong to have enabled this Mistake. I respectfully disagree with Dr Dan (if he does indeed believe what he’s saying). It seems to me that Jack, Kate and Hugo (and Sayid) were required to return (temporarily) to 1977 to:

1) Befriend and then Betray Ben ... and

2) Shake James, Juliet, Jin and Miles out of their Temporary Retirement and to (possibly) set up the (Future) Purge.

After sharing this intel with Jack, Daniel has to hustle over to The Orchid where he has a Very Important Date - with Dr Chang, who pulls up to the Orchid “on schedule” as per Dan’s Journal. Dan follows Dr C down into the Basement and - after Dr C has his little “Kill Hitler” chat with the Foreman, Dan startles him with a Warning:

"I need you to order the evacuation of every man, woman, and child on this island."

This is a “pseudo-warning” similar to the one Ben gave Jack at the RT... intended NOT to be taken seriously at the time, but to be remembered at a subsequent Right Moment. "Now why would I do that?"

"Because that man is on a stretcher as a consequence of the electromagnetic activity that your drilling unleashed down here."

"Which is now contained." He gets into the elevator and Daniel follows.

"It's contained down here. But in about six hours, the same thing is going to happen at the site for the Swan Station, only the energy there is about 30 thousand times more powerful, sir, and the accident, it's going be catastrophic." I suppose this is/will be The Incident - but doesn’t seem to have anything to do with using the Swan Computer to contact the Outside World per the Radzinsky Edit.

"That is utterly absurd. What could possibly qualify you to make that kind of prediction?"

"I'm from the future."

Daniel follows Pierre out of the elevator. Daniel is consulting his journal. He finds something and says, "Dr. Chang, wait. Wait one second please."

"Yes, yes, you're from The Future." Pierre says. "You heard me talking about Time Travel. Now you've had your fun; good for you." A comment similar to Daniel’s reaction to Desmond’s initial 1996 Oxford comments.

Miles hears what they are saying and gets out of the Jeep.

"Please, Dr. Chang," Daniel says. "Please, look in my journal. Some of these equations won't be discovered for another twenty years."

Miles runs over. "Hey, hey, Dan. Leave the man alone. Sorry, Dr. Chang, I think he had too many drugs on the sub." Miles’ contradictions remove the Urgency from this Situation, but will very soon result in Dr C deciding to send his wife and infant son away to save their lives.

"Dr. Chang," Daniel says, "Miles is your son."

"Excuse me?" Pierre says.

"Think about it," Daniel says, "a Chinese man, named Miles, the same name as your baby, shows up with me from the future."

Pierre looks at Miles. "Is this true?"

"No," Miles says. [convinced that Daniel’s comments/actions are foolish]

"Stay away from me," Pierre says and gets in a bus and drives away. If Daniel does, in fact “die” a short while later, when does he film the 2008 DHARMA Booth video?

"Are you out of your mind?" Miles says. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure that your father does what he's supposed to do." Like his Mother the LOST Oracle, Daniel has told Dr C exactly (and only) what he “needed to hear”. I’m thinking that Daniel’s 3 years at Ann Arbor revealed at least some of The Big Picture about The Future and who is Supposed To Do what when.

“Flashbacks” - Since Daniel’s Memory becomes badly damaged during his young adulthood, I’m wondering what his “Flashbacks” should represent:

A) Factual depictions of Real Events as viewed by an Omniscient Impartial Being

B) His subjective memories of these events - from his personal Point Of View

C) Implanted memories cooked up by The Island to Motivate him to Choose what he’s Supposed To choose. To me, LOST “Flashbacks” “feel like” A, but might be B (except for Daniel) or C - which create issues with shared memories.

Note again the constant references to Insanity and Dreaming in this Episode and in many/most/all others. Maybe everyone in LOST is in some Sleep Lab lucidly dreaming all this stuff. Maybe everybody’s in some Insane Asylum sharing Hallucinations.

Moving right along: Young Daniel, (like Young Sun in “Glass Ballerina”) is playing piano with the aid of a Metronome. Daniel plays well, but out of synch with the metronome. His “Time Sense” is, er, underdeveloped. His (very wound up) Mother (who reminds me very much of Penny) is proud of her son’s musical ability, but reluctantly embraces her duties as a Future-Seeing Time Cop:

"Destiny means that if you have a special gift, then it must be nurtured." She stops the metronome and says, "How many beats has that metronome counted since you've been playing?"

"Eight hundred sixty-four." Daniel = Math Genius

"Your Gift, Daniel, is your mind, a mind that is meant for science, mathematics, and it's my [Time-Cop] job to keep you on your Path. So, unfortunately, there is no more time for distractions."

"But I want to keep playing the piano. I can do both. I can make time." Daniel is/was forever running short on Time.

"If only you could," she says and closes the piano. She already knows (how?) that Daniel’s eventual return to The Island will mean his (possible/inevitable) “death”.

Daniel’s Oxford Graduation: Eloise wastes no time snubbing Daniel’s Research Assistant/Girlfriend Theresa in order to share a few Moments with her Son. Ellie’s “training” of her son is at least as rigorous (and emotionally damaging) as Christian’s “training” of Jack:

You should be focussing your energies on your work."

"On my work,"

"Yes! That is what is important."

"You've made it abundantly clear. Why would I waste my gift on a woman?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, Daniel, but you're not going to have time for relationships. The women in your life [Theresa and Charlotte] will only be terribly hurt." She has Seen The Future

"What does that mean?"

"It means that your work will always come first. That's all." She can’t tell her Son that she has Seen The Future, a Gift (or a Technology) she acquired after leaving the Island, a Gift shared by her Ex.

"Only because that's what you always push me to do. You pushed, and you pushed, and you pushed and when will it be enough, Mother? When? I'm the youngest Doctor to ever graduate from Oxford, [similar to Jack’s Med School accomplishments] I just got a new 1.5 million pound research grant. What else do I have to do?" [to earn your respect/praise/love?]

"Grant? That's wonderful. From whom?" [She doesn’t answer his Real Question]

"I don't know, Mother. Some industrialist. Widmore, I think. [Ellie seems somewhat surprised (why?) to hear CW’s name] Charles Widmore." Ellie’s demeanor changes instantly darker, but she tries to cover it with a “chuckle” :

"I don't want to fight with you, Daniel. That is not why I came."

"Why did you come?"

She pulls out a gift and sets it on the table. "To congratulate you." [spoken as though bowing reluctantly to defeat]

She stands. "Good luck, Daniel, and I do hope you know that I mean that." She leaves, sticking Daniel with the bill.

Daniel opens the gift. It’s the journal that we've seen him use. Inside the front cover it says, 'Daniel, No matter what, remember [Hah!], I will always love you. Mother'

She already knows that she will have to eventually sacrifice him, like Abraham (almost) did with Isaac.

11/04 - The Fake Wreckage is on TV and memory-damaged Daniel weeps without knowing why. His visitor is Charles Widmore, who is presumably paying the cost of Daniel’s Caregiver (Caroline) as he’s been doing for Theresa and her sister.

We learn that Daniel tested The Device on himself “first” - which implies that he experienced no immediate negative effects and that he tested it on Theresa second. Or maybe she tested it on herself as Daniel had done to himself.

Regardless, Widmore’s visit has a different purpose. After admitting that he planted the Fake himself (which makes little sense, given the original 815 Flight Path, but whatever) CW says that he’s admitting this to Daniel because Daniel won’t remember it the next day. Huh? Why then tell him? Or - is he actually trying to tell us? Which makes just as little sense to me.

Anyways ... CW obviously thinks (correctly) that Daniel’s memory isn’t completely defective, since he makes a Proposal that Daniel subsequently discusses with Mummy:

“The real Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on an island, a special island, with unique scientific properties. I want to send you to the island. It will further your research, show you things you'd never dream [that word again] of, and more importantly, it will heal you, Daniel ... your mind, your memory."

Daniel’s Island Missions were to mislead Team Jack about their Not Rescue, test the Time-shield around the island using The Payload, calculate the in/out Bearing, help disable The Tempest, coach Desmond on how to acquire his Constant, recover his own Memories and Faculties, assist in the “Evacuation” of Losties to the Kahana and then to act as a Time Guide to the Left-behind Losties, including his 2003 (?) Conversation with Desmond. Oh yes, he also tried to comfort soon-to-die Charlotte as she lurched towards nose-bleed heaven.

When Daniel was marooned in 1974, he was finally able to “further his studies” in Ann Arbor.

Memory-impaired Adult Daniel plays the same piece of piano music as before, but he’s forgotten some of the notes. Given the Show’s emphasis on Memory, part of me wonders if Memory Erasure is a by-product of Daniel’s Research - or the goal. If the DI “already” knew all about TT, it didn’t need Daniel’s TT Research. But if the implantation of “false” memories is part of what’s going on, then finding a way to wipe memories clean (Tabula Rasa) would be an important first stage of the Memory Substitution Process.

But I’m thinking that in some Circular way that Daniel’s Time Travel Research is/was/becomes the basis for the DI’s and is crucial in itself. He’s certainly “way ahead” of 1977 Pierre Chang.

Mummy comes to visit:

"I hear you have been offered a job."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, it's my business to know. Aside from staying in touch with CW, it seems to me that Eloise's access to info is so good that she may be a Remote Viewer - an invisible omniscient (or nearly so) Observer.

I came here, Daniel, to tell you that it is very important that you say yes to Mr. Widmore, that you accept this opportunity." Charles and Eloise have recently been in touch

"I can't. He needs someone who can do really, really complicated space/time calibrations and calculate bearings, and I just don't know how to do that anymore."

"Daniel, this place he mentioned to you, this island, did he tell you that it could make you better? What if it's true? Why, then you could go on with your work. Just think of all that you could accomplish."

"You really want me to go?"

"Yes."

"Will it make you proud of me?"

She takes a deep breath. "Yes, Daniel, it will."

He cries. "Then I'll do it."

All of the love-starved “training” that Eloise has subjected Daniel to, all the distractions removed from his life so that he could succeed in his Time Travel Research, even the damage that’s been done to his memory ... all of it has been done to him (by both of his parents) so that he would Choose - at this point in Time - to go to the Island.

Note that Dan’s memory problem is different from Theresa’s - which seems similar to Minkowski’s and Desmond’s - albeit not fatal. Instead of Remembering The Future like Desmond or toggling between the Past and the Present like Theresa and Minkowski, Daniel’s simply forgetting some of the Past.

Speaking of Desmond, we’ve seen no evidence of his continuing ability to Remember The Future. He certainly didn’t know that Ben was coming after him and Penny. Maybe his Powers were temporary, lasting only long enough to get Charlie into the LG.

Note that pre-Kahana Naomi considered Daniel a “Head-case” and that Doc Ray thought that Daniel “couldn’t even help himself”. And yet - he was able to plot a Bearing from the Kahana to the Island - while still outside the Island’s Time Shield - and seemed totally lucid as soon as he parachuted from the chopper. And yet - a few days later, while playing Memory Card Games with Charlotte, he wasn’t happy about the state of his Memory. It was only after coaching Desmond to establishing his Constant - which may have triggered Daniel’s own use of Desmond as his own Constant - that Daniel seemed fully recovered.

Island 1977 - 6AM

Having been woken by Daniel and having watched Dan and Miles drive off to the Orchid, Jack decides to confer with James - who’s recently made Phil a Prisoner-in-a- Closet like Hugo in 403 ( “The Economist”).

Having accomplished his Orchid Mission, Daniel (and Miles) return to Dharmaville and join the Lostie Conference at Casa LaFleur/Burke during which Hugo has already voted to flee Dharmaville and head to Lostie Beach because commandeering the Sub and trying to flee to the Mainland sounded “wishy-washy” to him. Go Hugo!

"Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy. Good to see you again. Pound cake's in the kitchen. Help yourself to the punch." All Inside Jokes which only hard-core Fans will “get”.

Daniel goes inside and James asks Miles, "Is he still crazy?"

"It's on a whole new level, man," Miles says.

Daniel’s Plan is to flee Dharmaville and seek out the Hostiles because he knows his Mummy is there and that she alone can send the Losties Back to The Future.

James: "Your mother is an Other?" Sweet

Jack: "Sawyer, [Dan] said he could get us back to where we belong. Whether we go on the sub or we head back into the jungle, we don't belong here."

"I belonged here just fine until you came back, doc," Which is partly why J,K,H and S were sent to 1977

Jack turns to Kate. "You know where the Hostiles are? You and Sawyer took Ben out to them. Can you get us back out there? Kate, you made me promise to never ask what happened to Aaron or why you came back here. But I know that reason, it isn't here. It's not now." True enough. “Claire” is in 2008.

"Whatever her reason is, helping H.G. Wells, here talk to his Mommy ain't got nothing to do with it," Sawyer says. "Come with us, Freckles."

Juliet wants Freckles Elsewhere ... any Elsewhere: "The code for the fence is 141717. You should take Daniel; it's over here for us, anyway."

Instead of driving Dan, Kate and Jack to the Sonic Fence, Miles tosses Dan the Jeep keys. He’s sticking with his 1974 Buddies.

While Kate and Jack figure out how to liberate some hand-guns (Jack: “Good thing I’m a janitor”), Miles decides to chat with Charlotte and (breaking his promise to himself) warns her (unnecessarily - since her Mother would be making that decision for her) that she will soon need to leave the Island. He does not warn her never to return.

Alas, before Team Dan can make a Clean Getaway, they are accosted by Perpetually Angry Radzinsky who spies Dan’s gun and starts a firefight during which Dan receives a neck injury and Jack shoots a fuel drum, enabling a messy escape.

Radzinsky and his two lackeys storm over to Casa LaFleur/Burke where he hears Closet Phil (another LaFleur mistake) and orders Jim, Julie and Miles to Get Down On The Floor. As I’d predicted a few weeks ago, the Lostie presence in Dharmaville has been recognised as an Infiltration. Time for Kangaroo Court #2. Unless Hugo and Jin - who are outside - can turn the tables quickly.

Upon reaching the Sonic Fence, Dan offers another TT lesson:

"You've got to understand, Jack, this is our Present. When we met did I have a scar on the neck? No, because I hadn't been shot yet. We can't be so naive as to think nothing can happen to us. Any one of us can die, Jack." Jack has to hear these words, has to realise that even if his Free Will decisions “already happened”, he still has to Choose, still has to Act.

Dan: "In about 4 hours, the Dharma folks at the Swan site are going to drill into the ground and accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy. The result of the release of this energy would be catastrophic. So, in order to contain it, they're going to have to cement the entire area in, like Chernobyl. And this containment, the place they build over it, I believe you called it the hatch. The Swan hatch. This flatly contradicts the notion that the Swan was designed and built before The Incident, with a powerful computer which was dumbed down after The Incident to the lowly task of releasing the EM charge every 108 minutes.

Because of this one little accident, these people are going to spend the next 20 years keeping that energy at bay by pressing a button (using fallible humans when a Clock would have done the job more reliably). A button that your friend Desmond will fail to push, and that will cause your plane, Oceanic 815 to crash on this island (which was the whole point of this stupid button-pushing chore). And because your plane crashed, a freighter will be sent to this island. A freighter that I was on and Charlotte was on and so forth. This entire chain of events is going to start happening this afternoon. But, we can change that. I've studied relativistic physics my entire life. One thing emerged over and over: Can't change the past, can't do it. Whatever happened, happened. But then, I finally realized, I've been spending so much time on the Constants that I forgot about the Variables. Do you know what the Variables in these equations are, Jack?"

"No."

"Us. We're the variables. People. We think, we reason, we make choices. We have free will. We can change our destiny. I think I can negate that energy under the Swan. I think I can destroy it. If I can, then that hatch will never be built and your plane will land just like it's supposed to in Los Angeles."

Despite the fact that Daniel is about to prove (again) that WHH, Jack and Kate had to hear this speech - which I think is all Daniel wanted/needed to do with them. He knows he’s about to die (maybe) but he’s ensuring (like his Mother) that Events unfold the way they must if the Current Iteration of LOST is to attain Success - however that’s to be defined.

Hearing Daniel talk about Humans being Free Will Variables, I recall John playing the Flame computer - and winning despite Mikhail’s warning that the Computer cheats. John said then that it was only Humans who cheated - and I still believe that Human Free Will is crucial to the Winning of the Looming War.

Marching through the bush once more, K&J hang back a bit and Kate says: “This is a mistake. He's talking about erasing (that word/concept again) everything that's ever happened to us, Jack. It's insane (that word again)."

"We disappeared off a plane in midair and ended up in 1977. I'm getting kind of used to insane."

IMO, if Daniel really wanted to confer with his Mom, his best tactic would have been to enter Camp Charles/Ellie/Richard unarmed. So ... I don’t think his Mission was chit-chat. I think he did what he was Supposed To Do - close the Circle - send a Message from 2008 Ellie to 1977 Ellie - the Message being: “Time Travel is real and you sacrificed your Son to convince yourself of that fact. Now get the hell off the Island and figure out how this Time Travel stuff works. Oh and before you do, collect the 7 Time Travellers currently on the Island and send them Back to the Future.”

If Daniel gets Otherised like 1977 Ben just did, maybe they both return to Dharmaville - where Daniel eventually gets through to Dr Chang and they make that ComicCon video.

513 - Some like it Hoth - recap and comments

2009-04-16T15:15:00.001-07:00

Despite a number of Light Moments, this is a "dense" Episode offering a bunch of clues about the true nature of the Island and the Factions competing to control it.

Recap:
An old-style microwave shows the time: 3:16. The Apartment Manager opens it and says, "It comes fully equipped."

Mrs Chang is in the process of renting a "budget" apartment - in what may be the same "Motel Complex" as we’ve already seen used by Anthony Cooper and by Carole Littleton - for herself and Young Miles, who looks to be about 7 or 8 years old. In what may be the first time he exhibits his Gift, he’s drawn to Unit 4 by visions of a Dead Man Lying Down. After he touches his hand to the door, he "learns" that the spare key to the (locked) unit is hidden under the (white) stone rabbit near the entrance.

When his Mom and the Landlord come running in response to his "Mommy!" cries, we discover that Young Miles has learned that the Dead Guy was alone, scared, experiencing chest pain and calling out for Kimberly, his deceased wife. Miles could "hear" him. Despite this freaky occurrence, it would seem that Mrs Chang lived in that apartment complex for the rest of her life.

Miles, like Hugo, Jack, Desmond, Achara etc has a Supernatural Gift and the Island has been busily selecting, training and gathering a Team of Super-Heroes for the Coming War.

Teen-aged Miles returns to Apartment 7, in which his Mother lies gravely ill (like Carole/Claire and Diane/Kate). On the back of his jacket, an upside-down "1". Before she dies, he wants some info:
"I need you to tell me why I'm this way. How I do the things I do. And I need to know why you won't talk to me about my father."
"Because he never cared about us. He never cared about you." He cared enough to take turns waking up early to feed Miles - and to read a Polar Bear book to him.
"Your father kicked us out when you were just a baby. He didn't want anything to do with us. So the less you knew about him, the better." Another Island Child (like Charlotte, Walt, Aaron, Ji-Yeon and maybe even Daniel, James, Jack and Juliet) sent away to Save Their Lives.
"Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because it was over. Your Dad has been dead a long time." Carole told Claire the same thing.
"Where's his body?" Does Mrs Chang know about The Purge?
"Somewhere you could never go." Despite Dr Chang’s self-sacrificing effort to send his child out of harm’s way, the Island’s Agenda is to bring him back - at the appropriate time. Note that CW is acting (consciously or not) as the Island’s Tool in this Return of the Children - suggesting that Aaron, Clementine, Ji-Yeon and Young Charlie will be coming to the Island in S6. I wonder what Grandma Carole is telling Aaron in 2005 - and what Grandma Paik is telling Ji-Yeon.

2004 Miles has been hired to speak to the dead son of Mr Gray, a Grieving Dad. Unfortunately, there’s no body, since the kid’s been cremated. Needing the money, Miles decides to "improvise" and sitting at a table, holding the Dad’s hands - like Richard Malkin, Isaac of Iluru and Lynn Karnoff - Miles tells the Dad what he wants to hear, that his son always knew he loved him. For me, the implication is clearly that Malkin, Isaac and Karnoff may have "cheated" from time to time, but that their Powers were Real nonetheless. So... Malkin’s prediction that Grave Danger would surround Aaron if he was Raised By Another still holds.

Immediately after the above Fake Seance, Naomi Dorrit shows up to audition Miles - and he demonstrates The Real Thing. We find out that it was indeed Widmore who exhumed those Thai bodies and bought the jet used to fake the 815 crash. Naomi knew this before boarding the Kahana, but did Captain Gault? Once again, Ben was Telling The Truth about who was behind the Fake Crash and Widmore was the Lying Liar.
Note that Naomi called CW her "Employer" - the same phrase that Elsa used. It makes no sense to me that CW could have been Elsa’s Employer, since he knew full well who Sayid’s Boss was, but whatever.

We now learn something true and something false:
"This island has a number of deceased individuals residing on it. And as this man was the one responsible for them being deceased, we believe that you can supply valuable information as to his whereabouts." Finally - Proof that numbers of Dead People are walking around on the Island. I’ve been saying for years that Ben is not human - and finally, here’s some support for that notion. I’ve also thought for a long time that Family Ben/Richard consists of mostly Dead People - the famous Non-Living People mentioned by Ben back in S3. The Lie in Naomi’s little speech is that Ben was responsible for their deaths. In 512 we clearly saw that CW was not Banished until well after The Purge. He was in charge before and during its execution.

Note that MA gathered the intel on Miles, Charlotte, Frank and Daniel, but that Naomi, by "auditioning" Miles, may have been testing him for her own peace-of-mind before signing him up for the Mission. Her offer: 1.6 ("16") Million Dollars, exactly half of what Miles subsequently asked Bram (and Ben) for. I doubt he’ll ever see a penny of this Fantasy Payment.

Next up - a 12/04 conversation with Bram:
"You owe me a fish taco." [Yuck]
"Sorry about that, but your apartment's being watched [by CW?] and we had to try our best to talk you out of working for Charles Widmore."
"I have no idea who that is."
Bram climbs into the back with Miles. "He's the man who chartered the boat you'll be getting on next week. And, my friend [is/was Caesar a member of team Ilana?], you do not want to get on that boat. Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?" How could Bram not know that Miles isn’t already part of their Team?
"No, can't say that I do."
"Then you're not ready to go to that island. But if you come with us, all those things you've spent your life trying to find out, you'll know. You'll know who you are, Miles, why it is you have a Gift and most of all, you'll know about your father." Like Old Ben did to Old Locke, Bram is tempting Miles with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Note Bram’s use of the word "Gift" - the same word used by Achara. Maybe Achara’s (Thai) people are allied with Team Ilana.

Bram, like Colleen with Sun, was trying to "recruit" Miles to voluntarily join his Team.
"I don't know where you've been getting your intel, but I stopped caring about my father a long time ago. What I do care about is money. So, I'll tell you what, if you want me to pass on going to the island, it's going to cost you double what they offered, 3.2 million."
"We're not paying you anything. All the money in the world isn't going to fill that empty hole inside of you, Miles." Bram, like Ben, is Playing By The Rules; no physical coercion, but offering an "Informed" Choice - and respecting the outcome.
They stop and throw Miles out and Bram says, "You're playing for the wrong team."
"Yeah? What team are you on?"
"The one that's going to win." They drive off. As much as Bram was constrained to Play By The Rules, he still strikes me as a smirking, full-of-himself Jerk. He may not be a backwards-talking blood-thirsty Hater/Killer, but I doubt that he’s a Good Guy.
Bram’s comment about the "empty hole inside" Miles does linger in his brain, though - in a good way.

Note that CW and MA knew about the Gifted Children - Miles, Charlotte and Daniel. I’m still thinking that CW isn’t quite the Bad Guy Enemy he’s made out to be. I think he’s being used by the Island (as it’s using Ben) even if he himself thinks differently.

Note also that if the Island (or some part of the Island) wanted Team Ilana dead, they’d be dead. Maybe the Island will soon be at war with itself - a "crazy", schizophrenic possibility.

Just before flying off to Bali to board the Kahana, Miles decides to revisit Mr Gray and give him back what (compared to 1.6 Million dollars) is now chump-change plus a heart-felt but nonetheless hurtful comment: "If you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should have told him when he was still alive." This advice sounds like something that Christian should have heeded while he was still alive - if "repairing the relationship" was in the cards - which it wasn’t.

At this point in the Series, it’s impossible to know what’s "real", but this (2004) "Flashback" has a strong influence on 1977 Miles’ decision to reach out to his Father - an effort he did not make during his first three years in Dharmaville, but which he might now make within days of his conversations with Hugo. If so, he’d better act fast. Our Losties have to leave Dharmaville before the Return of "Ben".
　
Island:
Jim and Kate, having handed Dying Ben to Richard, must now return to Dharmaville and try to "cover their tracks". Good luck with that. Jim radios Miles and asks him to erase the Security Tape for Camera 4. Before he can complete this task, Miles is interrupted by Horace, who inducts Miles into the Circle of Trust and sends him to meet Radzinsky in Hostile Territory with an empty Body Bag.

Miles’ Forgotten Erasure of Tape #4 comes back later to haunt the Losties and hasten their departure from Dharmaville. Jack’s Partial Erasure of the blackboards provides a hint about some of the Memory Fragments that seem to have surfaced from Past Lives. It would seem that Tabula Rasa is not always possible on the Island.

After entering Grid 334, Miles is stopped by Radzinsky, who leaps out of the bush seemingly in the middle of nowhere. He whistles for his two lackees to bring out the body and feeds one lie after another to Miles about the circumstances surrounding the death of this Construction Work Man. After they load the corpse into the back of the van and walk away, Miles unzips the BB and asks: "So, what really happened?"

Back in Dharmaville, Horace is on the phone with Dr Chang: "Pierre, if it was caused by the [Swan] electromagnetism, we need to know." Having just arrived back at Dharmaville, Miles is now sent to The Orchid, where Dr Chang will perform an autopsy.
After some back-and-forth with Hugo, the two of them drive off in the same van, with both corpse and job-site lunch in the back.

Hugo: "We're going to the same place. Why don't we car-pool? It will help with global warming, which hasn't happened yet, so maybe we can prevent it." Hugo the Activist, thinking (correctly) that he can change the Past/Present/Future.
So ... the Orchid was built slightly ahead of the Swan.

Infirmary:
Kate returns and thanks Juliet for sending James, when suddenly Roger barges in, having just returned from his Mission to The Staff Station for no-longer-necessary Medical Supplies. Fast-thinking Juliet apologises for less-than-perfect Patient Monitoring and suggests that Ben’s been kidnapped. After Roger storms out in search of Security, Juliet turns to Kate and says: "Well, here we go".

For me, the implication is that Juliet has been through this sequence of events a few times already and knows that her three years of Playing House with LaFleur are over . The alternative explanation is simply that with the arrival of Kate, Hugo, Jack and especially Sayid, there was no way to keep things smoothly rolling along as they had been for three years. And rightly so. The Island has/had no intention of permitting J&J to live happily ever after in the 70's and 80's.

Van:
Hugo asks: "How do you spell ‘Bounty Hunter’ ?" For me, this was a reference to Ilana, as was Hugo’s subsequent comment that Boba Fett was eaten by the Sarlacc - a hint, I guess that team Ilana will eventually be defeated.

Other Important Lines: "Forget it; you’re imagining things" - another reference to the "unreality" of "events" we’re seeing on the show.

We learn that the dead Work Man died when a filling in his mouth was [electromagnetically] pulled out of its socket and right through his brain. This line reminded me of Desmond telling John and/or Jack that whenever he walked by the Swan’s Chernobyl-style concrete wall that his "fillings hurt." When Hugo asks Miles how he knows all this, he displays his Openness to Comic-book style Miracles and Super-Powers. Note that Hugo was the first to identify Desmond’s Super-Power-like ability to see the Future.

I loved how Hugo bulled ahead to say and to do what he thought was Right, regardless of the express wishes of his companion. Note that Miles, like Jack, Kate, Charlie, Sayid and James, is another in a long list of emotionally-wounded and morally-suspect CW Tools that the Island has healed/rehabilitated for its own use.

Playground - in which we learn why 2004 Cindy and her Other colleagues gave away so little info:
Instead of rushing over to Security, as he’d threatened, Roger’s decided to drown his sorrows in Beer. Heart-of-gold Kate decides to share a little Future Knowledge with Grieving Dad - and triggers the Law of Unforseen Consequences. Instead of being comforted, Roger grows suspicious of Kate - and, soon enough - her Friend Jack.
Maybe one of these days, Kate will learn to keep her cards closer to her vest. Or not. In any case, it’s all good. The Losties have to leave 1977 very soon - and the actions/words of Sayid, Kate, Jim, Juliet, Jack, Jin, Miles and Hugo will bring on their collective departure on schedule.
The frustrating but necessary reticence of the 2004 members of Family Ben/Richard is to some extent shared by Juliet - who (still, I think) knows way more than she’s sharing.
Miles and Hugo - in which they each learn about the Abilities of the other. Miles can discern the circumstances of the death of the deceased including their near-death thoughts, whereas Hugo can hold two-way conversations and even play chess with them. Hugo is proud that his "power" is "better" than Miles’. Note that Hugo’s not really aware that his Greatest Power is the Power of Wish-Fulfilment - which is how he revived the dead Dharmavan in 2004.

I had to laugh at how Hugo blurted out to Dr Chang that he knew about the corpse but could keep a secret - a self-contradictory statement if I ever heard one. If Hugo knows, everybody knows. Nevertheless, the threat of weighing Polar Bear shit did seem to make an impact on Hugo - and brought a rare smile to Dr Sarcasm’s face. Note the disdain with which Pierre regarded the work of his Hydra "colleagues". Professional rivalry?
"I don't want to talk about it," Miles says.
"Are you kidding me? How weird is it that your dad is the dude from all those movies? Only back then he was called Marvin Candle. Is that like a stage name?"
"What part of 'I don't want to talk about it' isn't sinking in?"
"Well, if you didn't want to talk about it, why'd you tell me? [Good Guy Hugo can tell truth from Truth] How long have you known he was your Dad?"
"The third day we were here, I was in line at the cafeteria and my mother got in line behind me. That was my first clue." So ... Miles can be in the same time/place as his younger self.
"But all those Dharma dudes end up dead. Don't you want to save him?"
"I can't save him. [Miles has swallowed Daniel’s Passive Kool-Aid] They're going to get killed no matter what I do, so why bother?" This "defeatist" attitude may have been invented or instilled by the Bad Guys ... OR ... whatever Free Will interventions or non-interventions happened, happened.

Class-room:
Jack is erasing (badly) the blackboard, which contains a lesson about Ancient Egypt, including some Symbols and some dates (2000 BC, 1300 BC, 700 BC). The fact that his erasures (like those of Ms Hawking) are incomplete implies that the Memory Edits undergone by our Losties as they go through their various Time Loops are sometimes incomplete. Some memories "leak through" from Previous Lives. Some folks would write this off as Deja Vu.

During his subsequent discussion with Roger, Jack reveals that he and Kate are friends - further connecting the suspicious newbies to each other. When Roger told Jack that Kate had given Ben some blood, I was reminded that 2004 Kate (and James, Michael and Jack) all had blood samples taken from them involuntarily. It may be that these 2004 samples were taken to compare them to some 1977 samples.

Jack’s exposure to his Dad’s drunkenness - as well as his own - led him to "talk down" to Roger about his compromised mental state that day - giving Roger further incentive to remember this conversation.

Pierre, Miles and Hugo:
Hurley: "So, I'm new here, Dr. Chang; what is it exactly you do at the Orchid?"
"It's classified."
"Oh really, you can't tell anyone? Not even your wife?"
"No."
"What about your kids?"
"I have a three-month old son, so, no I haven't told him."
"Three months, wow, congrats! What's his name?"
"Miles."
"Small world," Hurley says. "That's your name too, right, Miles?"
"Yeah," Miles says. Hint, hint, Pierre
"So, you a fan of jazz, Dr. Chang?" Hurley asks. "Like Miles Davis?"
"My wife is," Pierre says. "I like country."
"So you two [Miles only] have been here for three years now," Hurley says. "Must be pretty tight, huh?"
"Dr. Chang and I don't exactly travel in the same circles," Miles says.
"I wasn't aware there were [Time Loop] circles," Pierre says.
Hurley says, "Great! We should all get together for a beer sometime. How awesome would that be?" Hugo is trying to push Miles and his Dad together - not to Save (or Destroy) The World, but to "heal" Miles’ wounded soul.

Swan site:
Pierre opens a Secret Fence - which "conceals" the Swan job-site, complete with Armed Guards. What a joke. The site could be seen from any nearby hill or tall tree ... the Construction noise could be heard from miles around. Willing suspension of disbelief - OK, OK. But, seriously, there’s no way such a Project could be kept secret from Family Richard/Charles, not even counting the fact that moles like Ben, Ethan and (possibly) Amy were in constant communication. The DI were positively asking to be Purged. Note, however, that the Swan was off-limits to 2004 Bea. So ... maybe it was somehow off-limits to 1977 Family Richard/Charles. After all, Radzinsky , Kelvin and Desmond survived there (including Food Drops) for many years undisturbed. Note also that the (completed) Swan was "buried" (how?) with concealed entrances.
Note that a day or so ago, Radzinsky was working on the Swan model. And yet, a day or so later, construction is well under way. Talk about Time Pressures.

Having dropped Pierre off, the Two Musketeers continue their banter/therapy session:
"So your dad," Hurley asks, "was he around, you know, where we came from, the future?"
"No."
"Well then this is kind of awesome for you, huh?"
"How is it awesome?"
"Because you get to hang out with him, you know, get to know him better and stuff. Don't bother thanking me, but he was totally down for that beer, dude. You know, maybe he'll let you hold baby you or you can change your diaper."
Miles slams on the brakes. "Listen up, because we're only going to have this conversation once, okay? I don't want to hang out with my dad. I don't want to know him better, and stuff."
"Why not? Did he beat you up when you were little or something?"
"He wasn't even around when I was little, you dimwit! I never knew him, until now. Why am I even telling you this?"
"Because you're in pain and you need to let it out." Hugo sees to the heart of the matter - just like 2004 Bram did. But 1977 Miles has a unique opportunity to "make contact" before it’s too late.
"I'm not in pain! It doesn't matter. My father is dead. He's dead. He's gone. He never cared about me. And nothing I can do will ever change that." This is the Lie that Miles has been telling himself for three years.
"But he's not gone. We just dropped him off." Hugo wants to Change the Past/Present without regard to what these changes might mean to the Future. This "wonderfully human ability to cheat" is exactly what the island needs to avert Future Disaster.

Then we get a Big Hint about the Reality behind LOST:
Hugo: "It's 1977, right? So Star Wars just came out. And pretty soon George Lucas is going to be looking for a sequel. I've seen "Empire" like, 200 times, so I figured make life easier and send him the script...with a couple improvements."

So ... our Losties have been Observed acting out their Script numerous times - with "improvements" edited into the Script from time to time. We keep talking about The Island, but maybe there are some (competing) DI Scientists Observing and Manipulating events from The Future.

Hugo’s final comment (for now) : "At least I’m not scared to talk to my own Dad"

Casa LaFleur/Burke:
Jim walks in, weary from a long day of Crisis Management. Jack is waiting and informs him that Roger is suspicious of Kate. But that won’t matter for long, because Phil has discovered the not-erased Security Tape, and as soon as Jim does a Ben and finds out that Phil has not told Horace, he knocks him out and orders him to be tied up, sounding like Ilana ordering Frank to be tied up. Next step? Pack up and flee to Family Richard?

Hugo and Miles, having returned to Dharmaville:
"Sorry I said you were afraid to talk to your dad, dude." [The Right Thing to have said]
"Don't worry about it."
"I used to hate my dad, too, dude."
"Yeah?"
"He left when I was 10. But the best thing I ever did was give him a second chance and although I may never see him again, I miss him. And I know he feels the same."
"My dad didn't leave when I was 10. I was a baby. I never knew him. And I don't want to [the same attitude that Claire had toward her Father]. It's not happening."
"That was Luke's attitude too."
"What?"
"In "Empire", Luke found out Vader was his father, but instead of putting down the light-saber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually, but at what cost? Another Death Star was destroyed. Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc [Ilana’s destiny?] and we got the Ewoks. It all could have been avoided if they'd just, you know, communicated." Hugo planting the right seed at the right time. Our heroes have to let go of corrosive emotions like Fear, Doubt and Vengeance

Having been Influenced by Hugo’s comments, Miles looks in from outside on Pierre reading a Polar Bear book to Baby Miles (who’s wearing a DHARMA jumper; talk about Company Loyalty). Miles can see for himself the Affection that Pierre shows to his younger self and, when Pierre - having taken the phone-call informing him that the Sub had just docked - comes out, spots Miles and says: "Miles, I need you" , his love-starved reply: "You do?" had just the right note of wistful hope in it - only to be dashed (or set aside) when Pierre followed up with: "The sub’s in from HQ. I need your help bringing them in."

With Radzinsky signing in the newly arrived Ann Arbour Scientists at dock-side, we see the poignant arrival of Daniel (who’s wearing a Swan patch) : "Long time no see"
Maybe Miles does (soon) reach out to Pierre and therefore helps convince him about the reality of TT, especially with Daniel in the picture too.

512 - "Dead is dead" - recap and comments

2009-04-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

An answer-packed Ep which finally confirmed for me that LOST History can be (and has been) re-written and that the Good Aspect of the Island is assembling a team of Super-heros to slug it out for The Good Guys in the up-coming War

Shortly after Richard and Ben have returned from The Temple, Charles gallops into Camp Hostile to confront Richard about saving Dying Ben’s life, asserting that Richard should have let Ben die. It’s only when Richard tells CW that "Jacob wanted it done" and reminds him that "the Island chooses who the Island chooses" (which would include CW himself), that CW accepts Richard’s Jacob-supported decision. Ellie is nowhere in sight.

Note that the Island chose Ben as (future) Leader over Young John Locke - who needed more Conditioning before he could evolve into Ben’s Worthy Successor.

When CW enters the Convalescent Tent, we see that Ben’s wound was where we last saw it. So ... maybe it was only Sayid who "saw" his bullet hit Ben’s heart.

Ben doesn’t remember being shot by Sayid, doesn’t remember the 3-year presence of Team JJJM in Dharmaville, but does remember his Dad and how much he does not wish to return to Dharmaville. His memory has been edited and by the time he returns "home", the Losties have not only disappeared, but were never again discussed in Ben’s presence. I’m certainly looking forward to the upcoming confrontation between the Losties and the Dharmaville Leadership.

Young Man Ben is on a Mission with Teen-Aged Ethan. It’s 1988 - 4 or 5 years before The Purge. Ben the Dharmaville Mole plus Ethan - who may or may not still be living among the Dharmites - have been assigned to "exterminate" Danielle (whom CW apparently considers a Pest). Note that Danielle is not living in the Jungle Dugout where she tortured Sayid in 2004. History has been rewritten. Note also that neither Ben nor Charles knew about Alex. IMO, this is a Character Test for both of them. By Choosing to spare Danielle’s miserable life and the life of her daughter, Ben shows himself to have enough empathy to be promoted to (future) Leader.
Charles, on the other hand, has already shown himself to be too cruel to serve the Island properly for much longer. His comment about killing "it" - uttered in Richard’s presence - is another nail in the coffin of his Leadership.

Ben’s parting instructions to Danielle help explain her subsequent huntress/hermit behaviour. In a frightened, slightly crazy bid to enable Alex to live, she avoids confrontations with the Others, including the Whispers that she hears from time to time. Note that Ben knows about The Whispers.

Danielle subsequently helped the Losties at several key points in 2004 which is why the island couldn’t permit CW’s 1988 Extermination to occur. Note also that she had met Ben in person in 1988 and would therefore have known exactly who was "caught in her net" in 2004. There’s much more to the Ben/Danielle Story than we’ve been shown so far.

Note that CW showed himself to be a blustering Coward who couldn’t bring himself to kill Baby Alex - but had expected a much younger Ben to do so.

The next "Flashback" occurs shortly after The Purge. There are no DHARMA signs around; the dead Dharmites are presumably mouldering in the Pit and Alex looks to be about 6 or 7 years old. CW’s been ordered Banished and the Sub taking him away is about to leave:
"I came to say goodbye," Ben says.
"No you didn't. You came to gloat." True. This is a Character Flaw of Ben’s
"You left the island regularly. You had a daughter with an outsider [Not Ellie, then]. You broke the rules, Charles." Did Ben arrange to Banish Ellie, knowing that Charles would Break The Rules by maintaining a relationship with her and then (even worse) fathering Penny with a different woman?
"And what makes you think you deserve to take what's mine?" Charles doesn’t deny that he Broke The Rules.
"Because I won't be selfish [like you]. Because [unlike you] I'll sacrifice anything for this island."
"You won't sacrifice Alex." [He eventually did]
"You're the one who wanted her dead, Charles, not the island." [Not yet, anyway]
"I hope you're right, Benjamin, because if you're not and it is the island that wants her dead, she'll be dead. And one day, you'll be standing where I'm standing now. You'll be the one being banished. And then you'll finally realize that you cannot fight the inevitable." He takes a step toward Ben. "I'll be seeing you, boy."

Ben was eventually banished from the Island - but only temporarily. His off-Island activities were sanctioned/required by the Island - which permitted him to return. The Island permitted Ben the experience of raising Alex to give him the empathy he needed to balance his ruthless zeal. I also think that Ben (and the other members of the Good Guy team) are trying to "fight the inevitable"

Maybe Ben tricked CW into Exile by timing the Purge to coincide with one of CW’s off-Island trips.

Annie is nowhere to be seen. Her absence, as well as Olivia’s, supports the notion that the Timeline’s been changed.

Ben phones CW, entering 2,3 on John’s cell-phone, I think. If so, he read John’s mind to know the number. He’s once again in Gloat Mode (for which he’ll shortly be paying dearly). The phone will soon be sleeping with the fishes. As most of us expected many weeks ago, he’s intent on murdering Penny in a petty tit-for-tat Vengeance ploy. But the Island has a different Agenda. He shoots (poorly) at Desmond who’s knocked over, but not for long. He then threatens Penny, but changes his mind when he sees Young Charlie. The Island has trained him not to punish an innocent child/grand-child for the sins of his elders. His Desmond beating is Justice for the threat to Penny’s life (and his own). The fact that Desmond did not pursue Ben out of the water and into the Marina Phone Booth indicates that he recognised that Ben was no longer a threat to him or his Family at that point.

Ben’s Choice - to let Penny live - is what permitted his return to the Island. He’s been Conditioned to become a Worthy Island Tool just as much as Sayid, Kate or Jack.
　
Meanwhile, back on Hydra Island:
Given the extensive care lavished on JL’s corpse and the fact that Ben knows "who" "Christian" is, it should not have surprised Ben to see John "alive" again. So ... maybe he’s still lying to John (and subsequently Sun) about how rare Island Resurrection is. If I’m right that some or all of Family Richard are similarly Immortal Non-Living Persons, I guess Ben’s just not yet ready to share this Privileged Info with "outsiders", including us.

And yet, Ben did say that he would "really miss" John. Maybe the John that Ben was going to Really Miss was the Old John - lost, weak and easy to push around.

We learn that Ben intended/intends to return to the main Island to be "judged" - which is not what he’d earlier told Frank and Sun. Interesting that at this point, St John doesn’t yet know (or isn’t admitting to the knowledge) "who" is supposed to judge Ben.
Shocker that Ben knows more about Smokey than he’d previously let on. He knows it’s Smokey who does the Judging.

The following morning, on Ajira Beach, Ben encounters Ilana plus some flunkees working on a metal cargo crate on the beach. How this cargo ended up on the Beach, with the plane intact, is never explained. Ilana seems to want it moved - hence the bamboo poles. It seems that this cargo was pre-planned and had nothing to do with the transportation of Sayid to Guam. Ilana was multi-tasking.

No idea what this might mean, but ... when we first saw Ben lying injured in the Ajira Infirmary, his shirt collar was blood-stained. When we see him a day or so later - wearing that same shirt on the beach - it’s nice and clean.

When Ben encounters Caesar a few moments later - with St John at water’s edge, communing with The Island - Ben shifts into 100% Manipulation Mode:
Caesar: "What do you make of [Locke]?"
"I'm not sure," Ben says. "What has he told you?"
"When you were out cold, he was watching over you. And he said you killed him."
"I killed him? Really? 'Cause he looks fine to me. You know I don't really remember him from the plane. Do you?"
"No, I don't."
"What if he was already here before we crashed? If he thinks I killed him, then he's insane. We may be dealing with a man who is dangerously deranged [the "craziness" theme again]. Then the question is, what are we going to do about it?"
"Don't worry, my friend." Caesar shows Ben the gun he'd found in the building. "I have your back." My best guess is that Ben was simply "smoking" Caesar out ... getting him to admit a willingness to use Ben’s sawed-off shotgun against JL.

Ben is in his Hydra Office, rifling through his papers. When he finds a photo of himself with Alex, he takes it out of its frame. Suddenly, St John is there, asking: "What’s that?"
After Ben folds the photo and puts in his pocket - which is what Desmond did with the Penny/Des pic - he and St John discuss JL’s murder.

Question: why would Ben have a "serious" office on Hydra Island? He didn’t live there, and the Island was mostly just used for "Projects". Another Question: since the distance from Hydra to Otherville is only about half a mile, why in blazes would Team Ben have needed that huge ship to evacuate Hydra after Juliet’s Trial? I guess it was about capacity rather than trip distance.
I loved how St John and Ben switched roles, with John sitting in Ben’s chair, behind Ben’s desk. Karma for both of them.
"[Murdering you] was the only way to get you back to the island, along with as many of those who left as possible. You do remember, John, that's why you left in the first place? To convince them to come back? But you failed. And the only way to bring them together was by your death and you understood that. That's why you were about to kill yourself when I stopped you."
"If all I had to do was die, Ben, then why did you stop me?"
"You had critical information [Jin was alive, had sent his ring to persuade Sun to stay away and - Eloise Hawking was in LA] that would have died with you. And once you'd given it to me, well I just didn't have time to talk you back into hanging yourself, so I took a shortcut. And look at you, John. I was right. You're here. You're back. So are the rest of them. I don't know where yet, exactly, but they came. It worked. And that's why I did it. Because it was in the best interest of the island."

Note that Ben didn’t say anything about the difference between Suicide and Murder. Maybe this issue will crop up again. Having said that, Locke’s suicide did motivate Jack to return more than his murder would have.

I love the new John: serene, self-confident, illuminated with Island Wisdom:
"I've decided to help you, Ben."
"Help me do what?"
"Do what you say you are on your way to do. Be judged ... If everything you've done is in the best interest of the island, then I'm sure the monster will understand. Let's go."
I love how St John has now become Ben’s Benevolent Spirit Guide
　
Ajira Beach: Locke and Ben are preparing to launch one of the outriggers, when Caesar plus three lackeys march over to prevent their departure. As the discussion becomes a confrontation, Caesar reaches for "his" sawed-off shotgun but it has magically teleported into Ben’s hands. Bye, Caesar - I thought you’d play a bigger Role. Note that Ben did the same thing to Karl - just before he shot Charlotte. Note also that despite the "No Killing" rule, that Ben seems quite willing and able to get his own hands dirty - MA (possibly), John and now Caesar.

So - maybe Ben really was trying to protect St John from the Bad Guys who were trying to hurt him per Walt’s Dream. Or ... knowing that he couldn’t kill a Dead Man, Ben’s just "rolling with" whatever St John wants to do.

Next stop - Dharmaville Dock. I think Ben realises that Home Sweet Home looks way worse than it ought to have. He knows that History has been (somewhat) re-written. I loved the Ben/John repartee upon arrival:
Locke: "Looks like we're not the first ones who decided to tie up here,"
"That would be Sun and Lapidus. I showed them where the boats were and Sun thanked me by smashing me on the head with a paddle."
Locke sits on the dock and puts on his shoes. "Is she the one that hurt your arm? I noticed you were favoring it on the way over."
"No. Someone else hurt my arm."
"You just make friends everywhere you go, don't you."
"Well, I've found that friends [like CW] can be significantly more dangerous than enemies, John."
"Is that why you shot an unarmed man in the chest?"
"The man was unarmed because I'd stolen his gun, the gun he was going to use [Telepathy?] to kill you. Couldn't let that happen." Ben told Locke something similar about MA
"No sense in letting me die twice, right?"
"You're welcome."
"We're going to your old house, aren't we?"
"Yes. It's the only place I can summon it, the monster. And once it arrives, I'll either be forgiven, or I won't."
"I think you're lying."
"Lying about what?"
"That you want to be judged for leaving the island and coming back because it's against the rules. I don't think you care about rules."
"Then what do I want to be judged for, John?"
"Killing your daughter." Ben is surprised by JL’s shrewd insight, since John didn’t even see Ben’s folded pic

As Ben and John approach Ben’s house, they chat a bit about the Purge - which "still" seems to have occurred:
"So whose idea was it to move into these houses?"
"Excuse me?" Ben asks.
"Well your people were living in the jungle and then after you murdered the Dharma folk you relocated here. I just wondered if it was your idea."
Ben stops and faces Locke. "Do you disapprove, John?"
"It just doesn't seem like something the island would want."
"You don't have the first idea of what this island wants."
"Are you sure about that?" St John is "turning the tables" on Ben the Great and Powerful.

As Ben re-enters his house, he spots the remains of the "Risk" game that Hugo, James and John were playing just before the Team Keamy attack. The timeline’s similar, but not identical to what it "was". When Sun shows Ben the photo of the 1977 DHARMA recruits featuring Hugo, Jack and Kate, he seems genuinely surprised. His memory’s been carefully edited. When Sun tells Ben (and us) that "Christian" told them to wait for the arrival of St John, it’s clear that The Island/Jacob/Christian can "see" The Future and know that St John will be along shortly. Ben seemed to know who "Christian" was.

Frank’s reactions made me laugh: "As long as the Dead Guy says there's a good reason for it, then I guess everything is going to be just peachy. And forget about the fact that the rest of your people are supposedly 30 years ago, now the only ones that are here to help us are a murderer and the guy who can't seem to remember how he got out of a coffin! Sun, please, let's just go back to the plane and see if I can fix the radio and maybe we can get some help."

Jesus, er St John tells Sun that if she leaves with Frank, she’ll never see Jin again and that he (JL) is all the help she needs. He can see the Future and he has some ideas. Sounds a lot like Ben to me - only kinder and gentler.

After Frank leaves to return to Hydra, it’s time for Ben to (attempt to) summon Smokey. I was a little annoyed with St John’s School-teacher/Parent/Coach attitude toward Ben’s Chore:
"Ben has something to do first. Isn't that right, Ben?"
"Yes, John, that's right."
"Better get to it then." A little too much glee in St John’s new role, but I suppose he’s earned it. Ben too, has earned his Penitence.

We now get to see Ben go through the looking glass and down the rabbit-hole as he pushes open the glyph-encrusted "summon protection" door inside his Secret Closet. After locating and lighting a Jacob’s Cabin-style kerosene lamp, he descends a set of stone stairs - which leads to a narrow earthen tunnel - which opens into an earthen chamber in the floor of which there’s a pool of muddy water. My first thought, when Ben reached into that muddy water, was that Something was going to grab his wrist. It didn’t. However, Ben did locate and turn an underwater dial - which drained the pool, after which Ben announced - to the air - that he’d be outside.

After Ben emerges (dirty again) from the Rabbit-hole, Sun tells him that John had "something to do" (commune with the Island) and during their moment of privacy, Ben enlightens Sun about Locke’s new Status:
"Sun, I had no idea it would happen [Liar]. I've seen this island do miraculous things. I've seen it heal the sick. But never once has it done anything like this. Dead is dead. You don't get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island, scares the living hell out of me." And yet, Ben must know that he himself is a Non-Living Person like St John.
They hear a noise in the jungle. Ben says, "You may want to go inside ... because what's about to come out of that jungle is something I can't control."
Locke [whom Ben can no longer control] walks out of the jungle. "Any luck?"

Both John and Ben remember how soon Smokey appeared the "last" time Ben summoned him ... so ... the Timeline’s not too badly disrupted. Yet.

However, since Smokey’s apparently not coming to Ben, it’s time to take Ben to Smokey.
I think I believe Ben when he tells JL that he (Ben) doesn’t know "where it actually is"
I loved how John said: "I do"

As JL prepares the two torches he knows in advance that he’ll be needing, he tells Sun that "I’m the same man I’ve always been." There’s a whopper if I ever heard one. He’s suddenly bold, illuminated, self-confident and The Island speaks to him directly - nothing like the John Locke we’ve seen for Seasons 2 - 5.

As an aside: given the growing likelihood that our Characters are subject to memory and consciousness edits, how would they even know what/who they were previously? I remember the story fragment that Jack read to Aaron - about how impossible it would be to know if one’s personality had been changed overnight, while asleep. The only answer here would be the memories of you held by your friends, assuming you aren’t all in some Collective Dream or other Altered State.

Having prepared his torches, John leads the way to Smokey’s Home.

Meanwhile, back at Ajira Beach, Frank pulls up in his outrigger and is approached by a Redshirt who informs him that "Ilana and three of the others" have found some guns and are currently "in charge". When Frank approaches, Ilana asks him: "What lies in the shadow of the Statue?" This code question reminds me of the Radzinsky/Inman question - intended to differentiate between Friend and Foe. The fact that Ilana asks the question tells us that she doesn’t know who among the Ajira survivors is on her Team. The question itself suggests that Ilana might represent a group of Banished former Islanders whose ancestry extends back to the statue-builders. Charles Widmore might be the leader of this group (despite his English accent) or these folks might be the Third Faction I’ve been alluding to for many months.

Either way, her orders are to "get everyone else and tell them it’s time" and to tie Frank up. He’s scheduled for another canoe ride. I’m guessing that we’ll soon see two canoes heading to Lostie Beach. I’m looking forward to finding out what’s inside that large cargo container. I’m also guessing that Frank’s wondering if he shouldn’t have stayed with Sun, the Murderer and the Dead Guy. I’m sure, however, that he has Work To Do in connection with Team Ilana.

As John confidently leads the way to the Temple which he’s never seen, Ben gets to walk a while in John’s (old) shoes:

"You don't like this, do you?" Locke stops and turns around.
"What?"
"Having to ask questions that you don't know the answers to. Blindly following someone in the hopes that they'll lead you to whatever it is you're looking for."
"No, John, I don't like it at all." Karma leads to empathy for The Other.
"Well, now you know what it was like to be me."
When we arrive at the Temple Wall, we learn that the Temple Proper is (supposedly) a half-mile inside the wall. Assuming the wall is rectangular in Plan View, that would make each of the four Temple walls over one mile long. Pretty hard to swallow - and completely unnecessary. Be that as it may, St John and Ben aren’t going to The Temple - but only into the Cerberus Vent at one corner of the Temple Walls ... and they’re certainly not marching a half-mile or more once they’re underground.

Faced with possible Erasure, Ben asks Sun to seek out Desmond - if she ever leaves the Island - and to tell him that Ben was Sorry - a seemingly sincere but unnecessary, probably unwelcome and wholly gratuitous gesture from a Dead Man. OK then.

While Sun waits outside, John and Ben descend into the same Cerberus Vent in which Montand lost his arm and in which his friends lost their Personalities.
Once underground, Ben has another confession:
"You were right."
"About what?"
"Why I need to be judged. When Charles Widmore's men came, they gave me a Choice. Either leave the island or let my daughter die. All I had to do was walk out of the house and go with them. But I didn't do it. So you were right, John. I did kill Alex. And now I have to answer for that. Appreciate you showing me the way, but I think I can take it from here."

So ... the question is what exactly was Ben’s Choice:
A)Permit Alex to die so that Ben the Coward could live? This is what Sayid believed.
B) Permit Alex to die so that Ben the Island’s Faithful Servant could continue doing his Work?
C) Surrender to Team Keamy in the hope that Alex and the Losties might survive?
It seems as though the Primary Protocol might have resulted in Result C - the peaceful extraction of Ben (unharmed) and the survival of Alex and the Losties under the rule of a Widmore Appointee.

However, Ben did state, and Miles did tacitly confirm that after Ben’s extraction, everyone else on the island (even before the execution of the Secondary Protocol) was to be murdered.
So ... it would appear that Ben’s real choice, despite his own "confession" that he chose Alex’s death so that he himself could live was ... B) that in order for him to continue his Island-appointed role, he had to "let go" of Alex, the way that Kate (and "Claire") had to let go of Aaron. Let us also remember that at the time of Alex’s death, Ben was completely convinced that no matter what he said or did, that Alex could not die. He did not choose her death at all.
"You got it," Locke says. This oft-repeated line suggests that Ben is dreaming this Experience
Ben walks away and says, "I'll meet you outside, if I live--" ... and falls through the floor to a room below. So much punishment for so many Sins

Locke runs over and looks down to Ben. "Ben! Are you alright?"
"Never better." Can’t kill a Dead Guy
"Hang on, I'll find something to get you out of there."
"John, wait." But Locke is gone. No witnesses permitted for Ben’s Vision

Note that John might have been right that he was not in danger when, in S1, he was almost dragged into a CV. But. It would seem to me that S1 John was nowhere near ready to become the Enlightened Leader he now seems to be. The suggestion, therefore is - again - a conflict within the Island itself as to how best to use the Losties. I’m thinking that the Good Aspect of the Island is winning so far.

We now get to see the Temple below the Temple. It’s covered in stone-carved glyphs, the most striking of which is a tableau showing Anubis confronted by Smokey - who is obviously Very Old - as in older than the first Ancient Visitors to the Island. Present-Day Smokey emerges from a set of circular vents below this tableau and quickly envelops Ben.

As Ben’s Trial/Judgment/Vision proceeds, Ben’s torch is extinguished just before the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Ben and us a number of iconic moments in Alex’s life culminating in her heart-breaking death, after which Ben’s "torch" is magically "re-lit".

He then "sees" "Alex" - who at first seems sympathetic to Ben’s sincere Apology, delivered in an unreal "dream-voice". After he says "Oh, Alex. I'm so, so sorry. It was all my fault.", "Alex" sweetly agrees - just before she grabs him by the throat:
"I know," she says. She pushes him up against the wall. "Listen to me, you bastard! You will listen to every word John Locke says. And you will follow his every order. Do you understand?"
Ben nods and she pushes him harder. "Say it!"
"I will follow him. I swear."
She pushes him again and he closes his eyes and begins to weep. When he opens his eyes, she's gone. Imaginary Time is over.
"Ben?" Locke calls from above. Locke puts a vine down the hole so that Ben can climb up. "Ben?"
Ben walks over to look up at JL.
"What happened?" Locke asks.
"It let me live."

The End
　

So ... despite Ben’s Character Flaws, Smokey has again judged Ben to be a Good Person who has (mostly) done (despite great personal pain and suffering) what the Island has wanted him to do. Unlike CW, Ben is welcomed back to the Island, proceeds to the next level of The Game - and gets a New Life. My long-standing belief in Ben’s Goodness is finally vindicated.
Note that the Island has Forgiven Ben’s murders of Abaddon, Locke, Caesar plus all of the (indirect) murders of Danny, Mikhail, Greta, Bonnie, Tom etc., not to mention all the Sayid Assassination Targets.

I’m looking forward to some more clarification as to the extent to which History’s been re-written - and I’m eager to find out what happened to Sayid - let alone Rose, Bernard and the surviving Red-shirts.

I’m expecting to learn sooner or later how Hugo got out of jail and onto Flight316.
I wonder also at the reaction - in the outside world - to the disappearance of The Oceanic Five.

Unless the Outside World doesn’t really exist.

That’s the problem with all the speculation about what’s real and what’s not. We sort of have to take "events" at face value regardless of their reality or unreality.

511 recap and comments

2009-04-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Another terrific Ep filled with answers, including What Kate Did, how Ben "survived" an Assassin’s bullet and some more of LOST’s Rules of TT

Kate’s Flashbacks:
With Patsy Kline playing on her car radio ("The only thing different..."), Kate pulls into Cassidy’s driveway with infant Aaron beside her. I guess we’re in early 2005. As she picks Baby Aaron up, she sings "Catch a falling star" to him. Maybe she heard Claire sing him this tune.
Cassidy recognises Kate, welcomes her inside and listens to her explanation of why The Six left and why Sawyer jumped out of the chopper. Cassidy’s interpretation of Sawyer’s (and Kate’s) motives are refreshing reminders that there’s always another POV.

As far as Cassidy’s concerned, Sawyer the coward could not commit to any relationship or responsibility. She correctly guessed (or read Kate’s mind) that the money in the envelope, supposedly from Sawyer, wasn’t. Cassidy’s shrewd conclusion that Kate was lying to her about Aaron’s parentage could be keen intelligence or it could be Telepathy. Cassidy, (like Nadia) may be an Island plant - tasked with nudging Kate into some key actions and conclusions - which she most certainly did in this Ep.

"You don't have to explain it, Kate, you've got the same look on your face as I did when he ditched me. All I have for you is sympathy."

It would appear that Sawyer’s Jail Reward money never did get to Clementine.

After Kate’s 1/05 departure from Long Beach Marina, she stops at a Grocery Store to buy Aaron a beverage. Distracted for a moment by a cell-phone call from Jack, Kate doesn’t immediately notice Aaron wandering off. After some frantic calling for her "son" and running around the store in dangerously high heels, she spots him with a Blonde-haired woman who (from behind) resembles Claire. She snatches him up and exits the store. I guess Aaron never did get his juice.

The very next morning, Clementine opens the door and smiles at her "Auntie Kate". Kate and Cassidy have become BFF starting from before, during and after Kate’s on/off relationship with Jack.

When Kate tells Cassidy that during the previous night’s Panic, she half-expected (thanks to the efforts of Ben and his Lawyer) Aaron to have been snatched, Cassidy’s curiously shrewd answer to Kate’s question: "Why would I expect him to be taken" was: "because you took him". Hmm.
"Claire was gone. She left him. I had to take him. He needed me."
"You needed him. Sawyer broke your heart. How else were you supposed to fix it?"

This insight certainly got Kate’s wheels turning.

She drives to Carole’s motel and confesses that Aaron is Carole’s grand-son and that Kate had been keeping him (despite learning at Christian’s wake that Carole was alive and well) for her own sake. But the Island insists on Honesty - and for Kate’s sake - and Carole’s (and Aaron’s), she hands him over to Carole and reveals that she intends to return to the Island to find Claire (not to reclaim James).

So ... immediately after this emotionally-traumatic but nevertheless voluntary surrender of Aaron to Carole, she drives to Jack’s place, lets herself in, insists that he ask no questions and rapes him. The next day she tells Jack that they are not " together" ... not Jack and her, and not the O5 either. OK, then.

Meanwhile, back on the Island:
Moments after Sayid stumbles off in a northerly direction, (I’m guessing he’ll be captured by Family Richard and confronted by a fully-recovered, no-longer-innocent Ben) Jin is revived by Phil’s voice over the walkie. He spots Little Ben face-down, rolls him over and hears him plead: "Please help" - so he does. The wound in his chest appears to have moved from his heart to the right side of his sternum.

In Dharmaville, Horace’s immediate, correct conclusion is that Sayid was sprung with "inside" help. He naturally suspects newbies Jack and Kate, especially when they draw attention to themselves, and I’m thinking it won’t be long before Team JJJ are confronted and interrogated, tried and sentenced to death.

It’ll be fascinating to see if Team JJJ warns Family Horace about the looming Incident and/or the more distant Purge - or whether they are sent Back to the Future before saying too much. Ben’s miraculous recovery and return to Dharmaville will also be cool to witness.

Kate and Roger share a moment when he asks her to switch on the winch, realises that she’s clueless and extends a little sympathy and friendliness. My first thought was that Roger might be getting lucky tonight - until he introduced himself as "Roger ... Roger Linus", at which point, Kate did a Sayid and choking back her repulsion, managed: "It’s nice to meet you, Roger".
When Roger sees his injured son emerge from the Dharmavan, he enters Temporarily Caring Parent mode, endearing himself a little more to Kate.

As Roger accompanies his son to the Infirmary, Kate decides to check out the Security Monitoring Centre where she finds James, er Jim. Without thinking about how much attention she’s drawing to herself, she’s in "I want to know everything and help everyone" mode. Heart of Gold, but Pain in Ass for the Head of Security.

When Horace and Miles enter the Monitoring Station, he asks Jim why Kate the newbie is down where she has no business being. Quick-thinking and quick-talking LaFleur answers: "I was seeing if she saw anything suspicious, but she didn't." He tells her she can run along and she leaves. Horace lets this go, but I’m sure he’ll remember that the newbies seem a little too familiar with each other and with LaFleur, Juliet, Jin and Miles. This will end up looking like a long-term Infiltration to him.

Next up is the discovery that a set of Dharmaville keys was left behind, further proving Insider help. Horace immediately announces that the keys belong to Roger, Willy or Jack the newbie. More suspicion.

Sawyer takes Miles with him. As they walk, he tells Miles, "Alright I want you to find Jack and Hurley and Kate as quick as you can and put them in a house and sit on them."
"What for?"
"Because I don't want them talking to anybody else. Things are starting to spin out of control here." No shit, Shelock.

Fortunately, LaFleur thinks to ask Roger about his keys and Roger soon concludes that it was Ben who stole them and it was Ben who helped Sayid to escape. I wonder if he’ll be sharing that intel with Horace - or if that will even matter after it’s discovered that newbie Kate grabbed a Dharmavan and drove Dying Ben away - and was followed and helped by LaFleur. There will be a Day Of Reckoning very soon for Team JJJ.

When LaFleur realises that Dying Ben is being treated by Motor Pool Juliet (The Official Doc is out of town, natch) and that she lacks the Med Skills to save her patient, he marches over to Doc Miracle - who’s decided not to save Ben again. Ben has trained Doc M to hate him enough to forget his Hippocratic oath.

I had to laugh when Kate said: "Sawyer is just trying to do his job, Jack." because she’s the very first, in fact she’s already been the very first, to completely ignore any notions of trying to keep a low profile and "blend in".

Next up: some extensive (and exceedingly rare) Explanation:
Hugo: "We came back in time to the island and changed stuff, so if Little Ben dies, he'll never grow up to be Big Ben, who was the one who made us come back here in the first place. Which means we can't be here, and therefore, dude, we don't exist."
Miles: "It doesn't work like that. You can't change anything. Your maniac Iraqi buddy shot Linus. That is what always happened; it's just we never experienced how it all turns out ... The good news is that Linus didn't die, so that means the kid can't either. He'll be fine." Except that IMO, Little Ben does/did die and was replaced by a Smokey Non-Living Person with (seeming) Free Will, memory, autonomy and complete personality plus Special Powers.
Hugo: "Let me get this straight ... all this already happened?"
"Yes."
"So, this conversation we're having right now, we already had it."
"Yes!"
"Then what am I going to say next?"
Miles shakes his head. "I don't know."
"Ha! Then your theory is wrong."
"For the thousandth time, you dingbat, the conversation already happened, but not for you and me. For you and me, it's happening right now." Because "right now" is our Subjective Present.
"Okay, answer me this. If all this already happened to me, then why don't I remember any of it?"
"Because once Ben turned that wheel, time isn't a straight line for us anymore. Our experiences in the past and in the future occurred before these experiences right now."
"I can die because I've already come to the island on the freighter. Any of us can die because this is our present."
"But you said Ben couldn't die because he still has to grow up and become the leader of the others."
"Because this is his past."
"When we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?"
Miles thinks a moment and says, "Huh. I hadn't thought of that."
I think that 2004 Ben remembers it quite well, but is following orders and Playing his Part as per the Island’s agenda.

Here endeth the current Time Travel Lesson.

Meanwhile, Jack is going to Just Say No:
"Thirty years from now that boy's going to be a man that locks me in a cage because he needs surgery. And then you're going to come in and you're going to beg me to operate on him because he's threatening to murder Sawyer. I've already done this. I've already saved Benjamin Linus, and I did it for you, Kate. I don't need to do it again." So ... it now appears possible/probable that Jack was subjected to the Hydra Island Conditioning Project precisely so that he would make this exact Free Will decision after being sent to 1977. Ben was training Jack to hate him in the same way that Ben trained Sayid to hate him. Yikes, it sure is tough to be the Island’s Bitch.

"This is our fault. We brought Sayid back. We caused this." Oh, Kate - how is it your fault that the island sucked you off a plane and sent you into the Past? And yet, it’s the "Free Will" choices that Jack, Kate and everyone else make/will make/have made that determine the outcome of Events. And yet, Someone/Something went to great lengths to select, train, educate and condition all the Players to "want" what He/She/It wants/needs them to want/choose.

"When we were here before I spent all of my time trying to fix things. But did you ever think that maybe the island just wants to fix things itself? And maybe I was just getting in the way?" Wow, Jack really has become a Man-of-Faith, thanks to Ben, The Island and St John. This insight would not have been possible for Jack unless he "experienced" all the "events" that "happened" to him in Seasons One through Five.

Having slapped Kate back in the face with: "You didn’t like the old me", my first reaction was: "Go, Jack!" Finally some Emotional Clarity.

Feeling sympathetic to Little Ben (having been exposed to temporary Proxie Motherhood), Kate exits the House Arrest House, does not get shot in the leg by MIles and marches over to The Infirmary to Help. The first Help she offers is her blood (something that Jack did for Boone back in Season One). This Gift buys enough time to deliver Little Ben to Ageless Richard.
Juliet and Kate share a few minutes of privacy, during which Juliet learns that Kate and Jack were (briefly) engaged and that Kate has no idea why Jack does what he does. This is a cute Feminine Bonding Moment and a pleasant alternative to the Love Squabbling that might have occurred. Then Roger bursts in, setting the stage for some more Kate/Roger bonding:

"My son stole my keys so he could bust that animal out of jail."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because of me. You got kids?"
"No" Not since three or four days ago.
"I thought I was going to be the greatest father ever. Guess it didn't work out that way."
"What about his mother? Is she still around?"
"No, she's dead. She died the day he was born."
"I'm sorry." Kate becomes even more sympathetic to Dying Innocent Ben.
"Yeah, me too. I tried to do what I thought she'd want me to do, but I guess a boy just needs his mother." Some excuse, Rog. Where were these noble thoughts when they were really needed? In fact, after the upcoming Return of the Prodigal Son - how much sympathetic understanding will you be offering your wounded son over the next few years before he chooses to gas you to death?

By the way, where’s Annie during Ben’s Near-Death Experience?

As Ben goes into Hypoxic Shock, it occurs to Juliet that Family Richard might be able to "save" Dying Ben’s life. Given what she knows/will know about the nature of Family Richard/Ben, including (I think) the little fact that they are immortal, and what the cost of this Immortality might be ... given what Juliet knows about the role of Choice and Free Will on the Island, I wonder if she’s feeling "pushed/manipulated" into making "choices" that are "willed" by Someone Else.

Kate’s good with the concept of delivering Ben to the Hostile Emergency Hospital/Resurrection Centre and together with Juliet, they transfer Ben into a Dharmavan
Juliet: "Okay, let's go ... I'm coming with you."
"No, no, no, no. If something goes wrong or we get caught, it doesn't matter for me, but you've got a whole life. And besides, if Sawyer knew I got you involved in this, he'd kill me." Thanks for thinking (a little bit) about Juliet and Jim Playing House. Too bad that all your meddling will tear all of you apart anyway, but hey - it’s the thought that counts, right?

Juliet: "Kate, Sawyer's going to find out Ben's gone and when he does, I have to tell him what happened, but I'll give you as much of a head start as I can. Good luck."
Note that this promise sounds much like the one that Kate made to Sun and Jin when they planned to leave Lostie Beach to join Team Locke in Otherville.

As Kate approaches the Sonic Fence and gets out, ready to try and figure out how to disarm it, LaFleur pulls up in his Dharmavan:
Jim turns off the Fence and asks Kate if she'd figured out how she was going to carry Dying Ben out there all by herself.
"The line's just right over there, right? The Others are on the other side?"
"They ain't right on the other side. We better get moving."
"Why are you doing this?" Kate asks. "Why are you helping me?"
"When I found out Ben was gone, Juliet told me what you were up to. I asked that exact damn question, 'Why you helping Ben?' and she said, 'no matter what he's going to grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die.' So, that's why I'm doing this." He picks up Ben. "I'm doing it for her." Ahh - James has indeed evolved.

As they trudge ever deeper into Hostile Territory, James and Kate catch up a bit:
"What's she like?"
"Clementine is beautiful. Looks just like you when she smiles. She's growing up fast, already has a little attitude."
LaFleur: "You and me would have never worked out, Kate. I wasn't any more fit to be your boyfriend than I am to be that girl's father."
"You seem to be doing alright with Juliet."
"Yeah. I've done a lot of growing up in the past three years." - Thanks to The Island and especially to Ben

When they are captured by the Hostiles, LaFleur tells them to take him, Kate and Ben to Richard. A few minutes later, Richard steps out of the jungle, knowing telepathically about their Mission. He may or may not have teleported to their Jungle Rendezvous location.
Richard looks at Ben. "If I take him, he's not ever going to be the same again."
"What do you mean by that?" Kate asks.
"What I mean is, he'll forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. You still want me to take him?" Richard is compelled to Tell The Truth.
"Yes," Kate says. She has Chosen.
Sawyer hands Ben over.
A man steps forward and says, "Richard, you shouldn't do this without asking Ellie. If Charles finds out--" Secrets, always with the Secrets.
"Let him find out," Richard says. "I don't answer to either of them." He walks away.

So ... Ageless Richard can Change Ben into a no-longer-innocent and permanent member of his Family. I’m thinking that this Change occurs after death - after the dead person’s soul has been weighed by the Island’s version of Ancient Egypt’s Anubis. If the Island judges Ben a Good Person, he becomes a Servant of the Light Aspect of the Island. I’m guessing that Bad Persons (possibly including anyone who’s committed suicide) get to serve The Dark Side. When Richard backed into the Temple Wall, my first thought was that he just kinda got sucked through it. Maybe he vibrated through it like The Flash.

Note that Ellie and Charles appear to have become Leaders - possibly in an equal relationship - and that Charles would likely not have approved of Richard’s decision to "save" Young Ben. Assuming that Charles was granted Immortality prior to being tricked off the Island by Ben, it would be no wonder that he wants to "reclaim" it. In 2005 he’s already 70 years old - and he’s suffering from nightmares, afraid that The Wrong Side might win the upcoming War.

Meanwhile, back in Dharmaville, Juliet, having sent Kate off to the Sonic Fence confronts Jack:
"Kate’s trying to save him and I sent James out to help her because they actually care."
"I came back here because I care, Juliet. I came back here because I was trying to save you."
"We didn't need saving! We've been fine for three years. You came back here for you. At least do me the courtesy of telling me why."
"I came back because I was supposed to." Based on the Island turning my life to shit and then Locke committing suicide, followed by Ms Hawking telling me to take a Leap of Faith, followed by my Grandad having a pair of my Dad’s shoes just when I needed them, followed by .....
"Supposed to do what?"
"I don't know yet."

Final Scene: 2005 Ben, having been cleaned up, wakes in the Ajira Infirmary. St John is sitting beside him. When Ben realises where he is and that John is Not Dead, he looks genuinely shocked. Maybe Ben (finally) doesn’t know what comes next. Maybe Ben really thought that he would never see John again after murdering him.
Last line of the Ep: "Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living" That’s rich, coming from a (former) Dead Man.

LOST and Vanilla Sky

2009-03-30T04:14:00.000-07:00

With LOST currently dropping progressively bigger hints that the Show is not a straightforward Drama featuring Real People doing Real Deeds in Real Situations, but is instead a Game or an Illusion or a Dream, I thought I’d re-watch a couple of movies that are based upon this same premise: "Vanilla Sky" (2001), starring Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz - and the 1997 movie upon which VS was based: "Open your eyes" - also starring Penelope Cruz .... Penelope.

Notable points from Open Your Eyes:

The hero’s name is César

He’s being held in a Psychiatric Penitentiary for murder. During his first two months there, he was catatonic - like Hugo was at Santa Rosa. His shrink, Antonio, is trying to get Hugo, er César to remember and confront his crime. The rest of the movie jumps to and fro among flashbacks, dreams, nightmares and (finally) Present Day Reality:

A company called Life Extension ("LE") - pronounced "Ellie" - is a prominent player in this movie, and over time, we get to learn how and why. In LOST, Life Extension was one of the areas that DHARMA was researching - and Eternal Life might very well be what Daddy Widmore and Daddy Paik want from the Island. Ageless Richard seems to have accomplished Life Extension.

As events unfold in "Open your eyes", we find it harder and harder to know what is real and what is a dream. When César expresses some doubt as to whether or not a particular character is actually dead, Antonio says: "Im like you - I only believe what I see" - a line we’ve heard Sayid speak.

Like LOST, there are some Déja Vu moments here and there. Like Hugo, César likes to draw while incarcerated.

After César is released from the Police Station after having roughed "Sofia" up, his Best Friend shows him a picture of himself sitting at a table with his arm around the shoulders of "Sofia" - just like the picture that Hugo’s shrink showed Hugo to prove that "Dave" wasn’t real.

During a Bar Scene, in which César is drinking by himself, the LE Man approaches and tells him that he’s dreaming - and that everyone in the bar is a creature of his imagination - that they are there to serve and obey him. César says that he wished they would just shut up - which they promptly do.

We get to watch César making love to Sofia - who right before his eyes transforms into Nuria - the Stalker ex GF who killed herself and almost killed him when she drove her car off a bridge early in the movie. Having been driven more than a little crazy, César suffocates "Nuria" - and this is the murder for which he’s been arrested. As his Shrink walks away, convinced that César is guilty - and crazy, César catches another glimpse of that same LE ad - and suddenly knows that this is the "Ellie" he’s been overheard repeatedly mentioning in his sleep.

He convinces Antonio to accompany him to LE and we learn that the Company offers (wealthy) terminally-ill patients a couple of services: 1) Cryogenic long-term storage until such time that Medical Science can cure whatever afflicted the patient - and -
2) Lucid Dreams - while they’re in Suspended Animation - to help pass the time pleasantly.

Upon arrival at the LE skyscraper, César experiences some more Déja Vu: he’s been here before. He’s signed a contract. He’s dead - and everything he’s experienced after collapsing drunk on the sidewalk has been a dream - and/or nightmare. He didn’t murder anyone - except himself (via drug overdose).

The Shrink tries to convince César that the LE rep is lying - that he himself is real (he certainly believes that he is). But - he cannot recall the names of his "daughters". The fact that Antonio behaves as though he’s "real" and believes himself to be "real" is a hint that some, most or all of the characters in LOST are similarly mistaken.

César decides that he wants to wake up - and the way for him to do this is to jump off the top of the skyscraper - which he does. The last words (and the first words) of the film are: "Open your eyes". Note that in "Dave", Hugo was similarly counseled to jump and to "wake up", but he didn’t. I doubt it, but I sure hope he’s not still at Santa Rosa, catatonic, hallucinating LOST.
　

Notable Points from Vanilla Sky:

Near the beginning of the movie, Dave, our hero, played by Tom Cruise, is driving to a racquet-ball game with his best friend, and they’re in a near-miss - possibly fatal - accident. His friend tells Dave that just before the near-miss that "Your life flashed before my eyes"
Ken Leung (LOST’s Miles) - has a tiny, but memorable part near the beginning of VS
David’s Dad used to "seek adventure" - including sailing, parachuting and ballooning. David Ames Junior has inherited the business from his Daddy, David Sr.

Juliana - Dave’s Stalker "Fuck-buddy" - when she spots "Sofia" ( once again played by Penelope Cruz) tells Dave that she looks like a Moth. She subsequently asks Dave: "How’d it go with our Moth Girl? Did she turn into a butterfly for you?"

At the party, with Juliana watching from a distance, Dave strikes up a conversation with Sofia, during which he asks her if Juliana is "burning a hole in my back right now". She is.
LE’s Life Extension research "mascot" is "Benny the Dog" - who drowned in an icy river, was frozen in an ice-block for 3 months and was subsequently thawed and reanimated.
One of Dave’s favourite keep-sakes is a Toy Airplane

At one point, Penelope tells Dave that she will tell him something "in another life"
"Sofia" appears (as an "Imaginary Friend") in the Psych Penn where Dave is being held. He can see her but his Shrink cannot.

While David and Sofia are walking down a New York street, we see a VW bus - in the same colours as the LOST DHARMA buses. It turns out that this scene was "borrowed" from an album cover entitled "The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan"

At one point when "Sofia" is replaced by "Julianna", we hear Whispers.

When LE "Tech Support" tells Dave that the folks at the bar are figments of his imagination, he adds that "You are their God and you can make them obey you"

When Dave and his Shrink visit LE - their initial guide is a red-haired woman whose name is Libby. Their second guide (played by Tilda Swinton) also has red hair.

The LE Lucid Dream brochure includes: "Upon Resurrection, you will continue in an ageless state, preserved but living in the present with a future of your choosing." The music being played during the LE Lucid Dreams infomercial is "Good Vibrations".

The repeated line: "They laughed at Jules Verne too" helps convince Dave that he did, in fact, sign the deal with LE, including the Lucid Dreams option - and that he is in control of all the events he’s experienced - good and bad.

Having learned that he can choose to "wake up", we learn that Dave’s "Panel of Observers" await his Choice. He chooses to "wake up" and live out the rest of his natural life in The Future - where Modern Medicine can repair his disfigured face and other physical damage. But before he takes the last step before Waking Up - he "summons" Sofia, Manifesting her by Wishing Her Up, for one last kiss. His last words to her include: "I’ll see you in another life"

As he falls to earth, his life flashes before his eyes and the last words in the movie are: "Relax Dave. Open your eyes". The final image of the movie is an extreme close-up of an eye opening - which is the very first image we see on LOST.

So - there it is - A serious car accident followed by severe personal damage, Altered States - dreaming, nightmares, wishful thinking, false insanity, Bad Twins, Imaginary Friends, Manifestations, Non-Living Persons, Invisible (Whispering) Observers, mind-reading and Choice.

If LOST is all a Dream (which I hope it isn’t) - who is the Dreamer?

I’ve written before that the repeating personal themes we’ve seen time and again: Mysterious/Miraculous Birth, malicious or absent parent(s), car accidents followed by serious injuries often including amputations, child working with/for a parent, poor boy/rich girl, people secretly knowing a second language ... these scenarios seem to be Variations on a Theme - of a single life. So, again ... whose life? Jacob’s ?

"He's our you" (510) Recap and comments

2009-03-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

A terrific Episode which rocketed along, thanks to The Island’s introduction of Jack, Kate, Hugo and Sayid into the 1977 DHARMA Initiative

Tikrit:
In a scene reminiscent of the one during which Young Yemi is ordered to kill a man but his older brother Eko does the deed for him, Young Sayid "helps" his (older) brother by wringing a chicken’s neck (like Goodwin did) and gives the dead chicken into his brother’s hands, intending to take no credit for the deed. His brother, however, admits that Sayid did the killing - and their Father praises Sayid for his courage. 2008 Sayid’s been a Killer (and a torturer) for decades.
The similarity between the two scenarios suggests the circularity of Human existence on the Wheel of Birth, Death and Reincarnation - but also suggests (again) that LOST is a Game in which various Players are assigned Roles. In Sayid’s case, his Role (in this Ep at least) is "Killer".

1977 Otherville jail:
Young Ben brings Sayid another sandwich (chicken, naturally) while Phil polishes his gun. He also brings the prisoner a book - "A Separate Reality" by Carlos Castaneda.
A Separate Reality... real, but unreal ... "Real", but an Illusion ... possibly a Game (with Rules), possibly a multi-party shared Santa Rosa hallucination, possibly a "Matrix"-like False Reality, possibly a shared Dream, possibly a Star Trek Holodeck-style Drama ...

According to Wikipedia: "As in his previous book, "The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge", Castaneda describes the experiences he has as an apprentice to Don Juan Matus (a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer) while under the influence of the psychotropic plants that Don Juan offered. The main focus of the book centered around Don Juan's attempts at getting Carlos to See, a practice best described as, in Castaneda's own words, "perceiving energy directly as it flows through the universe".

The book contains an introduction, an epilogue and two separate parts. Part One, "The Preliminaries of 'Seeing'", describes his re-initiation into the apprenticeship from which he withdrew in late 1965, and also describes his introduction to another brujo (sorcerer) named Don Genaro. Part Two, "The Task of 'Seeing'", elaborates on the mental processes involved with Seeing, and begins with Castaneda realizing that the plants are a necessary tool to arrive at Seeing."

So ... we viewers have yet to learn to "see" LOST for what it "really" is. I cast my mind back to Charlie’s S1 tattoo: "Living is easy with eyes closed" - the subsequent line for which is: "misunderstanding all you see". Most of us are still - 4 Seasons later - misunderstanding all we see. LOST is not the Story of Jack, Kate etc. It’s not about the Ben/Widmore War. It’s not even about the Island in and of itself.

Having handed Sayid food for his body and for his mind, Young Ben tells us that he bumped into Richard "four years ago" - which would be 1973, when Ben was about 9 years old, which is also the year that Ben and Roger arrived on the Island.
As a slight aside - If Lostpedia is right about Ben’s birthdate (12/21/65), he adopted Alex (in 1988) when he was 23 years old, four or five years before The Purge (1992 or 1993) - which means that four or five years before he killed his Dad, he’d already adopted a baby girl. OK, then.

Be that as it may, Ben has a Plan to spring Sayid from jail.

Moscow:
Sayid’s "last" Assassination Target is panic-stricken as he rushes into his apartment, locking various doors behind him and grabbing a handful of cash from his Paik-style digital safe in a futile effort to bribe Death.

The fact that Andropow’s safe is similar, if not identical to Paik’s suggests that the Separate Reality we are witnessing has finite Capacity or Memory; that the Island (via Smokey) can only Manifest what’s been down-loaded from the memories of the Players.
After Sayid kills him (two shots), Sayid exits the building and has a memorable encounter with Ben, during which he mentions the bribe - and that it "didn’t work". Sayid takes Pride in his Work.

When Ben tells Sayid that there’s no one left for him to kill, Sayid is lost, not knowing what he should do next. Ben specifically tells him that he’s " free" - that he should go and live his life. But, just like the similar conversation after the death of Bakir, Ben still knows how to pull Sayid’s strings.

So ... who is The Economist? Based on the fact that Elsa didn’t know that Sayid worked for Ben - something that Charles Widmore would certainly have known - The Economist is not CW. And yet, Ben tells Sayid that there’s no one else in Widmore’s organization who needs to be taken care of, implying that Widmore is The Economist. Maybe all of Sayid’s assassinations were merely training exercises, meant to prepare him for his real goal - the assassination of Young Ben.

Otherville jail:
Horace (Mathematician) plus Radzinsky and Phil enter Sayid’s cell, where Horace cuts off Sayid’s zip-tie "hand-cuffs" and threatens Enhanced Interrogation if Sayid doesn’t start talking within the hour. Why is a Mathematician the local Sherriff and Mayor?

Casa LaFleur/Burke: While Juliet stares out the window at Kate’s door, the bacon’s burning in the frying pan (as in "from the fat to the fire"). Coupled with her muffin-burning in TOTC, I’d suggest that Juliet should stay away from stoves and ovens.
Talk about low self-esteem - the mere fact of Kate’s return to Otherville leads Juliet to doubt the durability of her relationship with James: "It’s over, isn’t it? This, us, playing house". Note that "playing house" is a Kate phrase and that "This, us" is a Desmond phrase - the Island Separate Reality Game recycling within its limited stock of phrases. Note also that James assures Juliet that "everything’s under control". In his dreams

And yet, within a few hours, Kate’s been educated about the James/Juliet relationship and has explicitly ceded ownership of James to Juliet.

Enter Horace, who informs Jim that the prisoner isn’t talking and that the next step is a visit to Oldham (the "psychopath"). James gets his shot at extracting Sayid’s co-operation and marches over to Otherville Jail, where he orders Phil to take a long walk. His attempt to persuade Sayid to join in on the LaFleur Long Con fails because Sayid’s been so carefully trained (by Ben) to hate Ben - who maneuvered him into all those murders and learning to enjoy - or at least tolerate - his Work.

I’ve written elsewhere that Ben often appears to be The Master Manipulator, but that he himself is being played by Someone Else. This entity might be Jacob, the Island - or maybe future-dwelling Alvar Hanso. If so, this Entity is the true Man Behind The Curtain - the true "Watchmen" Ozymandias.

DI Cafeteria:
Hugo Cook brings some food to Jack Workman and Kate Mechanic. Talk about "Roles" ... talk about Karma ... talk about Jim’s (or Juliet’s) sense of humour.
I guess that "Love is Blind" because Kate genuinely seems not to have known that James (multiply scorned by her and separated from her for three subjective years) now belongs to Juliet. At least, she reacts with grace. Her "love" for James may have been her reason to Go Back, but she’s unwilling (for now at least) to fight for his affection.

As per standard, Jack hangs back and dutifully accepts whatever scraps of Rebound Love that Kate tosses at his feet. A couple of subjective days ago, she dragged him to bed, only to slap him in the face the next day. Then, after a sexual foreplay-style North Valley embrace with Ford, Jack hangs back some more. Ah, but that same night (I think) she invites Jack back into her bed.

Jail:
Roger Work Man mops the jail area floor, but really just wants to taunt the Prisoner by asking how he could be dumb enough to have been captured by dimwits like Radzinsky and Kwon. I guess the point of this exchange is to make us dislike Roger more than we already do - which sets up the following Bad Daddy scene - in which Young Ben is verbally and physically abused by Roger. This abuse helps to "explain" Ben’s Character, making it that much harder for Sayid to stick to his Mission - but he’s been well-enough conditioned that he carries it out all the same.

Santo Domingo:
Ben visits Sayid to inform him of Locke’s death. Playing on Sayid’s affection for Hugo and his guilt over his earlier rejection of Locke’s Go Back request, Ben delivers his lines and leaves, secure in the knowledge that the seeds he’s just planted in Sayid’s mind will bear fruit very shortly. Note the close correlation between the "Flashback" and Sayid’s "present day" memories, motivations and actions: having heard Ben tell him that he’s a Killer - that all the Free Will choices he ever made to torture and to kill weren’t Free Will at all because Killing is in his Nature (plus a lot of Nurture), Sayid comes to believe this "Truth".
Note that Ben considers himself a Good Person who is not a Killer.

Jail:
The Posse have come to take The Prisoner to The Torturer. This process starts with LaFleur giving Sayid a Last Chance to speak up. When he doesn’t, LaFleur shocks Sayid in the crotch! That had to hurt.

Oldham’s Office:
The music playing on Oldham’s wind-up phonograph is a Billie Holiday song whose words include: "I can’t give you anything but Love, the only thing I’ve got plenty of" - a little ironic for an Interrogator.
Oldham’s Office consists of a patchwork tent inspired by Locke’s Grow-Op Sweat Lodge, some outdoor tables loaded with vials of chemicals and some trees with strategically-placed restraint-straps.
Oldham is played by William Sanderson - who played JF Sebastian in "Blade-Runner" - and who also played in 12 Eps (in 2008) of "True Blood" - the very same show in which Michael Emerson’s wife Carrie Preston also played 12 Eps in 2008. Small world, eh?
When Sayid asks LaFleur who Oldham is, he answers: "He’s our you" - meaning he’s our Interrogator. But Oldham doesn’t resort to torture. He uses Truth Drugs instead - something the US military wishes it had (maybe they do have it?).

Long Beach Marina:
With the "illusion" in the background, Sayid stalks off after Kate announces that "This is insane. You are all crazy". Insane ... crazy ... Illusion. Can the LOST writers be any more obvious that what we (and the Players) think is "real" isn’t?

We catch up to Sayid - once again lost - drinking some MacCutcheon’s - Widmore’s brand of Scotch. Ilana - whose facial mannerisms and speech patterns are almost identical to Elsa’s - is there to pick him up. Whereas Sayid asked Elsa to dinner, Ilana asks Sayid to buy her a glass of MacCutcheon’s.

Ilana: "When you're that good at something, there are always going to be people who tempt you into staying the same." This line reminded me of Dave - who tried to keep Hugo from Changing. The Island, it seems is all in favour of Change, getting Players out of their "stuck" groove - helping them to Evolve.
Sayid is a slow learner and is conned by a beautiful woman. Again. It seems that Ilana - like Boba Fett of Star Wars - is a Bounty Hunter. She’s apparently been hired by the family of Peter Avellino and her Mission is to arrest and transport Sayid to Guam - where he will "answer for what he’s done". Maybe in Guam (alleged) criminals don’t have the rights they have here in North America.

Oldham’s Lab: As the drug-soaked sugar cube takes effect, Horace says: "Hello there" - just as he did in Locke’s Dream. Sayid is now ready to tell the Truth, including the Truth that he’s from The Future and that "you’re all going to die". His interrogators don’t quite believe that. Yet.

Kangaroo Court:
With Rabid Radzinsky foaming at the mouth about the Secrecy surrounding the design/construction of The Swan (as if the DI could possibly build such a large installation secretly), Sayid is sentenced to death on no motive plus non-existent evidence. Note that it’s Truce-Breaking Amy who sways the "Jury" to vote for Radzinsky’s Solution. When she said that "we have no choice", my first thought was: "there’s always a choice".

It seems that the (somewhat) hippy-dippy peace/love DI was readily willing to kill, whereas Family Ben/Richard (who use bolos, tasers, trank-darts, sling-shots and trip-wires) seem to genuinely be (or try to be) Non-Killers - maybe because they are all themselves Resurrected Murder Victims.

Note that Radzinsky (first name Stuart) is "Head of Research" and (possibly because of his Flame responsibilities) also has the privilege of consulting TPTB in Ann Arbor. Hmmm who might these folks be? Hanso? Mittelwerk? The DeGroote’s?
Note that Future Radzinsky (and therefore Inman) knew about the Hostiles. It may be that he and Kelvin quarantined/will quarantine themselves in The Swan during and after The Purge. I wonder if Radzinsky’s suicide was triggered by guilt over his role in the Sayid Affair.
Note that in an effort to enhance their "security" by deciding to execute Sayid, the DI may have helped trigger their own subsequent destruction. Recognizing the futility of his lone dissenting vote, LaFleur reluctantly knuckles under to Groupthink.

In a noble last-ditch effort to save Sayid’s life, LaFleur offers to stage a fake Jail-break like the Michael/Ben Con - another Illusion. Sayid declines, because he’s convinced himself that the Righteous Path for him includes murdering an innocent child. He too has become a Man of Faith.
Just before Kate spells out her reason for Returning, Ben’s Burning Bus Distraction sends all the Dharmites into Fire-Person mode.

I had to laugh when James said something to Jack along the lines of "We had three years of no burning buses [until] ... you’re all back for one day."

Jail:
Ben, wearing his Donnie Darko/Charlie Pace/Miles Straum hoodie, approaches Sayid and proposes a bargain: He’ll spring Sayid if Sayid promises to take him to Richard and his Hostiles. Sayid replies: "Yes, Ben, I will. That’s why I’m here" Sayid has discerned his Purpose.

LAX:
When (cuffed) Sayid spots Hugo, then Jack and then Kate ready to board Flight 316, he asks Ilana to skip this flight and take the next - because he’s" very superstitious" about flying. She replies that she’ll buy him a rabbit’s foot. Like the ones belonging to Roger Work Man, David Reyes and the Co-pilot of the O6 Coast Guard plane.

Jailbreak:
When Jin spots Sayid in the bush, he’s willing to let him go, subject to LaFleur’s approval. So Sayid executes a ninja move on him and knocks him out. Too bad for Jin that he suddenly forgot all his Tae kwon do training. When Sayid grabbed Jin’s pistol and said: "You were right about me. I am a killer", I thought for a moment (as I was meant to) that he was about to shoot Jin. But he shot Young Ben instead!
　
　
So ... if Ben is not dead, his near-murder may help lead (over time) to The Purge.

But if Sayid the Experienced Assassin really did kill Young Ben (it looked like a shot to the heart to me) the implication is that The Ben Entity that murdered Roger Work Man was a Resurrected Non-living Person like "Christian". I’ve been speculating for years that Ben may not be human - and the Assassination of Young Ben may offer the proof that this has been true for 4.5 Seasons. It would certainly explain Ben’s apparent ability to teleport - and his apparent ability to read minds. It would also explain CW’s remark, as well as Miles’ that he knows what Ben is.

So ... if Ben is an Island Manifestation, is he a slave to the island’s will? Does he have any Free Will of his own? Was his Sin - the one that got him banished - that he wanted a "real" daughter of his own? Is this why CW argued that it was Ben’s fault that Alex was murdered?
Is "Ben" opposed to "Christian"? Do these two Manifestations embody the duality/schizophrenia of The Island itself? Where does Future-seeing Widmore fit into this waltz?

Is "Ben" still acting as The Island’s Faithful Servant (or at least the Servant of the Light/Good Aspect of The Island)? Or does he have a "personal" mission - a personal agenda?

"Namaste" (509) - Recap and comments

2009-03-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

A satisfying Ep in which some loose ends were addressed and a couple of Familiar Names reappeared.

Ajira Flight 316 hasn’t crashed yet - and the co-pilot muses about Hugo’s Nerves of Steel. Frank appears to have embraced his Fate (possibly "knowing" that he was Supposed to Go to the Island) and does not warn the co-pilot of what’s coming. Frank’s "Flight Wings" brooch might mean something to Fans who know about these things.

The Time Flash Whiteout teleports Sayid, Jack, Kate, Sun and Hugo to 1977 and shuts off the jet engines - which the co-pilot manages to restart just in time for a heroic but surely non-survivable crash landing at Hydra International. During the co-pilot’s "Mayday" broadcast, we hear for a moment (in the background) a male voice reciting The Numbers.
The co-pilot, apparently not needed by the Island, has been impaled by a tree-branch whereas Frank, Sun, Caesar, Ilana, Ben etc apparently all have Work To Do.

Immediately post-crash, Caesar wakes Ilana whose first thought is to her prisoner and asks: "Jarrah"? Caesar introduces himself to her at this point, and we notice that Sayid has vanished. His 1977 Island arrival - with hands cuffed like Kate’s had been on Flight 815 - might have been, er, rough.

In response to Caesar’s question as to where everyone else was, Ben, looking creepier than usual, with one eye shaded (dark) and the other normal (light) announces that "They’re gone", followed (in response to Frank’s "gone where"? question) by: "How would I know?" As if. Ben’s Light/Dark eyes may be a hint that he, like The Island, is Schizophrenic.

Ajira Beach: Sun is fingering Jin’s ring the same way that Rose was fingering Bernard’s. Ilana approaches her and asks if she’s "lost someone". Frank announces that everyone should gather firewood, stay on the beach and hunker down for rescue. He seems to have forgotten the extreme unlikelihood of "rescue". In contrast, Caesar’s suggestion that the Ajirans explore the nearby buildings in search of food and communications equipment sounds smarter. Except that Caesar doesn’t end up looking for food or communications equipment. He’s looking for documents as instructed by his Boss. Caesar is a Natural Leader.

Caesar’s mention of "buildings and animal cages" appears to have alerted Ben (who’s been lurking near the beach/bush edge) as to his whenabouts - and he immediately leaves the beach area - with Sun and Frank in pursuit.

John is nowhere to be seen. I guess it takes 3 days for him to Resurrect.

When Ben circles around (or teleports around) behind Sun and asks her why she’s following him, she asks him where he’s going and he invites her to accompany him "back to our Island". His arm injury is already fully healed and he’s heading to the outriggers - stashed in place with the same Future Knowledge that dictated the construction of the air-strip. While Frank (who’s just arrived) discusses Ben’s Trustworthiness with Sun, Ben holds his tongue until Sun says that she "has to trust him" - at which point, Ben offers a slight nod before asking her if she’s "ready" to go find the canoes.

One of my favourite exchanges: "Sun, I want you to think about this, okay? This guy is dangerous. Sun, that boat I came here on, it was filled with commandos whose only mission was to get him."

"And how'd that work out for everyone?" Ben says. Boastful, but to the point. They’re all dead and Ben is exactly where he needs to be. Immediately after Ben tells F&S that he has "people I have to take care of" [as in "execute" ? - OR - as in St John who’ll still need lots of help?] and that "there's a small dock about a half mile [Wow - mighty close] due south across the water. It leads directly to a town where I used to live. There are resources there", Sun smites him with a paddle. I guess that’s how he ended up in the Hydra Injury Ward. If, when he wakes up and confronts St John he makes little or no mention of Sun and Frank’s Excellent Adventure, we’ll know that it was his Mission all along to send them on their way.

As Sun and Frank land their canoe at the New Otherton Sub Dock, we see that N.O. is in much worse shape than it was in 2004 and that the (2005) Processing Station isn’t nearly as vibrant as it had been 30 years earlier. Shortly after a brief Smokey visit (some shaking bushes and some Smokey chittering), we hear some Whispers immediately followed by some lights on inside the Station. So ... not only are S&F under close Observation, but "Christian’s" arrival is heralded on this occasion by Smokey and the Whisperers. If Smokey is Evil, then so is "Christian". Be that as it may, he seems to be acting as a Spirit Guide tonight, answering Sun’s question regarding Jin’s whenabouts and suggesting that there is a way for them to reunite. Note that "Christian" knows exactly what year Jack, Hugo and Kate had arrived. They were deliberately sent (or "pulled") to that year.

The final scene of the 509 Sun/Frank story is a picture of Jin’s 1977 DI Recruit Friends
Note that Sun and Frank did not head to Lostie Beach. At least, not yet.
　
Meanwhile, back in 1977:
Hugo is the first O6 Returnee to lumber over and give James a Bear-hug:
Sawyer laughs. "Easy on the ribs, there, Kong."
"Kong," Hurley says. "I've actually missed that."
"I've missed you too, Hugo." James has evolved, thanks to his Island Education
B Linus, Principal.

James and Kate have an awkward reunion, with Jack "hanging back" and wondering WTF is going on between him and James and Fickle Kate. Wasn’t it just a couple of days ago that she practically raped him?

James’ admiration for John’s "success" in bringing the O6 back is tempered by the news of his "death". Note that Jack is unwilling to use the "S" word.

After breaking the news that they’re in 1977 and discovering that both groups have been separated from each other for three (subjective) years, James announces that J,K and H will have to be "brought in" to Otherville, the alternative being camping in Hostile/Other Territory. When Jin hears that Sun was also on the plane, he rushes off to the Flame because "If a plane landed on the Island, Radzinsky will know".

Radzinsky. Kelvin’s Swan buddy - the guy who designed the Station, survived The Incident and The Purge, the guy who removed the Swan Orientation Film reference to the dangers of using the computer to contact the outside world, the guy who drew the Blast Door Map, who knew about the Chernobyl-style Swan concrete and the dumbing down of its computer. The guy who blew his brains out.

It was a good thing that Jin rushed to the Flame. Otherwise, Sayid would have been executed by "Quick-draw" Radzinsky.

After James tells J,K &H to stay put until he returns -"Don't go nowhere, don't do nothing until I can figure how the hell to explain where you came from." - he heads home to pack up some Dharma-compatible clothing for them to change into.

Meanwhile, Juliet, having observed the James/Jack/Kate/Hugo reunion is wise enough not to fly off the handle. To his credit, when she asks him what’s going on, James tells her straight that "they’re back". Note that it’s Juliet who reminds James that there’s a sub (conveniently) coming in that afternoon.

The Flame: As Jin bursts in on Radzinsky - who’s carefully building the Fuller Dome section of The Swan - Radzinsky asks: "Hey, you understand the concept of knocking?" We’ve seen this question before: Ben with Jack and Juliet the night before John blew up The Sub. I guess it’s no wonder that Radzinsky ended up at The Swan - since it appears to have been his "baby".

However, since he was in charge of Flame communications, he would presumably have known that the Swan was being watched by The Pearl. Note that the Swan was only in the Design stage in 1977 - and yet before 1980, The Incident, presumably triggered at the Swan, had already occurred. Those Dharmites must have been quick builders.

When Radzinsky asks Jin why he’s so agitated about a possible air-plane, Jin’s reply: "It just is" - sounds very much like something Ben might say. And with good reason. Jin knows something he cannot share with Radzinsky.

While James is rounding up J,K and H, Juliet is busily subverting the DI’s recruitment protocols. Since Amy’s conveniently off-duty, Juliet has the opportunity to insert names and files into the Sub manifest. We learn that all Submarine Arrivals involve Unconsciousness. An Altered State - again.

We also learn that the baby’s name is Ethan, which supports the Amy = Amelia theory. It seems that Ethan becomes a survivor of both The Incident and The Purge. Note the delicacy with which Juliet answers Amy’s question about a possible J&J baby: "I don't know. Timing's got to be right."

Meanwhile, back at The North Point, LaFleur drives up and kills the engine. He opens the bus and pulls out the clothes. "Alright, listen, you're all going to be the second batch of recruits coming off the sub pulling into port right now, so we ain't got much time. Nice suit, doc. Not exactly island wear. Try this."

"You want us to say that we were on the sub? How's that going to work?" Jack asks.
"Everyone gets knocked out before the trip, so no one meets each other until we process them." Since there’s only "10 minutes to make "Intake" ", there’s no time to debate The Plan. Note that James has become a decisive, effective Leader.

However, how long can Team JJJ maintain their Lie? Do they help trigger The Purge? Note that Richard knows that Team James are from The Future.

Meanwhile, back at the Flame, R&J react to an Intruder Alert and discover Sayid - not a Hostile prisoner as I’d predicted, but stumbling around in the jungle with his hands cuffed together. He’s glad (and mildly astonished) to see Jin, but their reunion is very short because Radzinsky arrives moments later to help "arrest" the "Hostile".

Instead of blindfolding him, they march him into the Flame - where he has the opportunity to see Radzinsky’s model/map. Radzinsky’s convinced that Sayid’s a Hostile Spy - which strikes me as a pretty stupid conclusion. Sayid’s in cuffs - and he’s crashing around in the jungle, setting off Motion Sensors. But whatever.

Meanwhile, back in the DHARMA Van, Hugo’s asking some smart questions:
"So it's 1977... and you guys are all members of the Dharma Initiative."
"Yep."
"You do realize, those dudes get wiped out, right? I saw the pit where all the bodies get dumped."
"What about it?"
"Well aren't you going to warn them? Aren't you going to stop it from happening?"
"I ain't here to play Nostradamus to these people. Besides, Daniel's got some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here." ["Whatever happened, happened"]
Jack leans forward. "Did you say Faraday? He's here?"
"Not anymore." [gone Time-travelling and/or working at the Orchid, I’d guess]

Upon arrival at the "Welcome to the Island" party, James tells J,K & H that their names are on a List and how the Welcome will unfold. When Hugo asks: "What if they start asking us questions we can't answer, like who's president in 1977?", James replies:
"It's not a damn game show, Hugo" Except maybe it is.

Once the newbies have been sent into the Processing Centre, James hears from Jin that he and Radzinsky have "found a hostile." "What's he doing in our territory?" Sawyer asks. "It's a violation of the truce." So ...the Truce includes Territories with Borders. Maybe Bea, in "Three Minutes" was still constrained by the Rules of a similar Truce.

When James arrives at the Flame, he’s very smart and very cool. All that Con Man training is sure coming in handy now. Sayid is smart enough too to understand his "role" - and thus avoid summary execution.
"My name's LaFleur. I'm head of security. I want you to listen real carefully to what I've got to say. If you do that, you'll be fine. Understand?"
Sayid nods.
"Identify yourself as a hostile," Sayid doesn't say anything so Sawyer adds, "The terms of the truce say that you have to identify yourself as a hostile or we've got the right to shoot you."
"We do not refer to ourselves as hostiles, but yes, I am one of them." Over Radzinsky’s ardent objections, James takes custody of Sayid and locks him up in the Otherville Jail, where he orders some food for the prisoner.

Meanwhile back at the Processing Centre, Jack gets promoted to Workman (not even Work Man) and Kate gets a blue jump-suit like Juliet’s, but with a flower (?) symbol on it. Maybe she’s in Gardening. I couldn’t read Hugo’s "role"

At the Namaste Party, the 1977 DI Recruit Pic is being taken - the very same Pic that Christian showed/will show Sun in 2005.

That evening, Jack and James have a powwow/confrontation:
Jack takes a deep breath. "I don't even know where to start. How about with Sayid?"
"I had no choice. He was running around in the jungle and got caught by my people. Seeing as how he can't tell the truth about how he got here, I had to improvise."
"Improvise."
"Uh huh. For now Sayid is safe, which is all that matters." [Just as "LaFleur" is deceiving the DI, Ben was/has been deceiving Somebody - and keeping the Losties safe]
"So, where do we go from here?"
"I'm working on it."
"Really? Because it looked to me like you were reading a book." [Jack the Hot-Head]
Sawyer chuckles. "I heard once that Winston Churchill read a book every night, even during the Blitz. He said it made him think better. That's how I like to run things [just like Ben]. I think.
I'm sure that doesn't mean that much to you, because back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn't think, Jack. And as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead." [More Leader Education for Jack]
"I got us off the island." [Only 5 1/2 of you - and not for long]
"But here you are, right back where you started. So I'm going to go back to reading my book and I'm going to think." He gets up. " 'Cause that's how I saved your ass today and that's how I'm going to save Sayid's tomorrow. All you've got to do is go home and get a good night's rest and let me do what I do." He opens the door and Jack walks out. "Now ain't that a relief?"
"Yeah," Jack says. ["letting go" ought to be a relief to Jack Workman]

Young Ben enters Security and announces that he’s bringing the prisoner a sandwich. He’s been on the Island long enough to be permitted this privilege. He is not a Newbie.

Young Ben asks Sayid: "Are you a hostile?"
"Do you think I am?"
Ben looks scared. "What's your name?"
"Sayid. What's yours?"
"I'm Ben." It may not have been intentional, but I thought Young Ben seemed (inappropriately) a little creepy.
Sayid looks startled and then says, "It's nice to meet you, Ben."

So ... Team James has been ignoring Young Ben for at least a year, maybe two or even three. OK, then.

Looking forward to the next chapter of the Ben/Annie saga.
　
　
　
　
　
　

Rewatching Season One with S5 eyes

2009-03-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

102:
Sawyer: "This guy [Sayid] was sitting in the back row of business class, the whole flight, never got up ... hands folded underneath the blanket [just like he was on Ajira Flight 316] ... the guy sittin' next to him didn't make it" .... [just like Marshall Edward Mars "didn’t make it"]

Sawyer: "Fine! I'm the criminal. You're the terrorist. We can all play a part. [to Shannon] Who do you want to be?"
To me, this is a hint that some part of Sawyer knew (or remembered) that he and his friends were "chosen" to play "roles" ... in a Game.

SAWYER: [grabbing Kate's arm] I know your type.
KATE: I'm not so sure.
SAWYER: Yeah. I've been with girls like you.
KATE: No girl's exactly like me.

This suggests that our Losties are in some ways similar (but not identical) to either their predecessors in previous Iterations of The Game OR are similar but not identical to previous versions of themselves. This of course suggests that the personalities of our Losties have been "edited" over many Iterations. The "Alice in Wonderland" excerpt that Jack read to Aaron hinted as much:
"I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? But if I'm not the same, the next question is, 'Who in the world am I’?"
Changed in the night. Edited while unconscious. How "real" are the memories and experiences of our Losties? Are they all unconscious somewhere in some "Matrix"-type of Alternate Reality? I hope not.

103:
Marshall to Kate: "You really are one of a kind" - which supports the above

Note that Jack murdered The Marshall to put him out of his misery and was respected, not hated or despised for his action. I think that Ben’s "murder" of Locke in 507 should be viewed at least as charitably as Jack’s murder.

104:
Kate: "Who says this is my first time boar hunting?" Who indeed? How many times has she gone boar-hunting in previous Iterations?

Note that our first view of "Christian" was not standing in the ocean, but standing on-shore by a tree.

The black slip-on shoes that Locke puts on as soon as he realises he’s regained the use of his legs appear to be the same shoes that he was wearing in his coffin.

Christian is more Evil than Good

2009-03-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Christian deliberately raised Jack to lack self-confidence. What Good Parent would ("White Rabbit" - 105) tell a child: " Don't choose, Jack, don't decide. You don't want to be a hero, you don't try and save everyone because when you fail … you just don't have what it takes." ? Granted, this may have been Christian’s well-meant attempt to "toughen" Jack up, but if so, it achieved the opposite. To me, it looks like a deliberate attempt to cripple Jack emotionally, to prevent him from becoming a Great Leader.

To be fair, it seems that in later life that Christian did try to be a Better Father:
advising Jack to give his patients a little hope, admitting (on Jack’s wedding day) that he wasn’t as good a father as he could have been, advising Jack not to "cross the line" with Gabriela and then, when Jack did so anyway, to "let go" of Sarah.

Nevertheless, Jack, upon arrival on the Island, was riddled with self-doubt and it was only because of Locke’s subtle guidance in "White Rabbit" (not to mention his rescue as Jack dangled over the edge of that cliff) plus the Island’s Healing Influence that Jack gradually grew into his Leadership role

Christian was an adulterer - including fathering a child with his lover
Christian suggested (in "Par Avion" - 312) to Claire that he could stealthily murder Carole (while in her coma):
CHRISTIAN: Claire, your mother is alive, but she’s not really living ... now may be the time to look at other alternatives; other ways to relieve her pain. Now, it is illegal to turn off her machines, but I know of ways that can achieve the same effect without the legal consequences.
CLAIRE: You think that just paying her bills makes you noble or something? You come down here and you try and get me to kill her?
CHRISTIAN: Claire listen to me. Do not keep your mother alive for the wrong reasons. Now there is hope and there is guilt. And believe me, I know the difference.
Note that it was only because Claire refused this "help" that Carole survived, recovered from her coma, and flew to LA, possibly taking over from Kate as Aaron’s Parent figure

Christian was an alcoholic - who basically committed suicide by drinking himself to death: "The police found him in an alley in Queens Cross. Now, a tox screen showed a blood alcohol content, which for a man of his size, probably brought on myocardial infarction - a sizable, and fatal heat-attack." ("White Rabbit"). It may be that having chosen death by suicide, that Christian was resurrected on the Island as a Bad Guy.

In "Meet Kevin Johnson (408)", "Christian" casually, almost gleefully tells Michael that he "can go now"

"Christian" tells John (in "Cabin Fever" - 411) that he is not Jacob but can speak for him
"Christian" subsequently implies (in 505) that he is Jacob and suggests that Ben is an untrustworthy weasel

If Christian does, in fact "speak for" Jacob, there’s further evidence to support Christian’s Badness:
Good Persons like Sayid, Kate, and John are not on Jacob’s List because they are "flawed" - "frightened, angry and weak". People who are on Jacob’s List presumably include Danny Pickett (hater), Colleen (hater), Bea and Mikhail - who cheerfully killed colleagues Greta and Bonnie as well as Charlie.

Episode 508 "LaFleur" recap and comments

2009-03-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

The Well - John is in the FDW chamber and Team James are up top. James has the rope in his hands and The Well hasn’t been built yet.

But The Statue has. From the back, it looks Egyptian. It may be a Lion-Man, possibly a Sphinx-Man - including four toes like The Sphinx. He has a crown on his head and in each dangling hand, he holds a large Ankh (one dark and one light?). Who knew that The Orchid was within a few hundred yards of the Island’s West Coast?
According to Lostpedia: "The Egyptian [Ankh] hieroglyph is a symbol of eternal life and fertility".
Eternal Life - something wealthy old men might like to enjoy
Fertility - or its opposite - seems to be an Island Issue - or at least a Ben Issue
So - what is it with the DI and Egypt? My best guess is that it has to do with the Egyptians’ obsession with death, resurrection and rebirth.

After the Whiteout Time Flash during which John worm-holed to Tunisia, Team James is sent to 1974, and The Well has reappeared. In a heroic effort to rescue Locke, James rushes over, grabs the rope and jumps in - but The Well has been filled in with rocks and dirt. Maybe the ancient Statue-era rope leading into the ground persuaded Someone to dig a somewhat less ancient Well in that location. And 1974 Daniel knows that something at its bottom controls Island Time Travel. The Orchid has not yet (1974) been built.
The Last Flash seemed "different" to the members of Team James - more intense ("like a volcano") and yet the headaches and the nosebleeds are gone. Note that by embracing his Destiny and Leaving the Island - even on pain of death - that John has saved the lives of the Left-Behinders. Note the "volcano" reference. I think we’re in for a Volcanic Eruption at some point in the future. Note that Ben’s dire warning about the "death of every single living person" has not occurred. Yet.

A few minutes later, they spot Daniel, mumbling to himself: "I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna tell her " [never to return] Daniel will once again Try to Change The Past/Present/Future. It seems that during the Final Flash, Charlotte’s body stayed behind in the Statue Era and Daniel announces that "whenever we are now, we’re here for good" So to speak.

After James decides to lead his friends back to Lostie Beach, he and Juliet share A Moment, during which James thanks Juliet for "getting his back". It’s another step on the way to Love. Awww.

A few moments later, we hear two gun-shots, followed by the screams and pleadings of a Woman: " Oh God ... no, no, no ... we didn’t mean anything." The woman is Amy. Her dead husband is Paul. It appears that they were picnicking in Hostile Territory, contrary to the Truce Terms. The two "Hostiles" are wearing Hillbilly clothes. One of them has tattoos on his upper arm. Having killed Paul, it appears they intend to capture Amy and bring her to Family Richard with a bag over her head looking very similar to the bags used by Family Ben 30 years later
Miles wants to avoid involvement, confirming with Daniel that "we don’t get involved, right?" and Daniel replies that it doesn’t matter, that "whatever happened, happened", which in this case includes Sawyer and Juliet’s TT-enabled intervention. Confirming that Juliet’s still got his back (answer: "absolutely"), J&J approach the picnic scene. When James yells at Hostile #1 to "drop the gun", he doesn’t. He aims it at James and is killed by Hawkeye Juliet before James can pull his trigger - which he does when Hostile #2 aims at him. At that point, "it’s over" and Amy is safe.

When Jin finds a walkie-talkie on one of the corpses, James announces that they "need to go". Amy, thinking that it might be possible to hide the evidence of her Transgression, insists that The Hostiles must be buried and that Paul’s body must be brought along - a task for which Jin volunteers.
When Amy mentioned The Truce, my first thought was the Truce between Mikhail and the group he called "The Hostiles". The Truce terms would appear to include a requirement whereby DI members must stay inside the Sonic Fence and within close proximity to their Stations and roads.
When she insisted that Paul’s body be brought back to The Barracks, my first thought was that dead bodies are important on the Island - fresh or not, the obvious implication being that there are lots of reanimated corpses running around the place.

As Team James accompanied Amy back to The Barracks, James instructs his friends: "Alright, listen up. When we get there, there’s going to be a lot of questions. So just keep your mouth shut and let me to the talking."
Miles asks: "You really think that you can convince them we were in a boat wreck?"
"I'm a professional. I used to lie for a living." It is no coincidence that James is a Good Liar. And its no coincidence that The Island sent Team James into 1974. They have Work to do - and they’ve been "here" before - only this time, they remember the Future/Past.

By the time they reach the Sonic Fence, Amy has begun to suspect that Team James might be lying. Juliet warns Dan not to walk between the pylons - and James instructs Amy to turn the Fence off and to step through it first - which she does. We hear the "zing" of the stun-level frequency she’s set, but Team James does not. As they all stupidly cross together, James says: "Going forward, we should all do a better job of trusting ..." as they all fall down together, the Con-Man having been conned again.

As James wakes up, Horace asks him: "How’s your head?" James: "It hurts". Three years later, this exact same scene occurs, but with the roles reversed. After Horace thanks James for saving Amy’s life, he says:
"There are hostile indigenous people on this island and we don't get along with them. So, why don't you tell me who the hell you are."
"My name is James LaFleur. You can call me Jim."
"How'd you get to the island, Jim?"
"If my friends are safe, why are you asking me all the questions?"
"They told me I need to talk you. That you're the boat captain."
"We got caught in a storm and shipwrecked. We must have hit the reef. Thankfully, we washed up on shore."
"What kind of ship?"
"Salvage vessel. We were searching for a famous lost wreck. It's an old slaver out of Portsmouth, England, called The Black Rock. You ever heard of her?" How could James possibly have known that the Black Rock sailed out of Portsmouth? My best guess - a memory fragment from a Past Life.

Be that as it may, Horace doesn’t really believe James’ story, but concludes that his group is harmless and no more than a temporary problem, since he plans to ship them off the Island the next day. This situation sounds familiar.

While James is lying to Horace inside, Jin, Miles, Daniel and Juliet are outside, where Juliet explains that the Others took over the Barracks, wiped out most of the people living in them and brought her to the Island via the sub a long time after that.

Jin asks: "Daniel, no more flash?"
"No. The record is spinning again and we're just not on the song we want to be on."
They see a little girl with red hair. She asks her mom where her dad is. Daniel stares at her. She waves at him as he whispers "Charlotte" to himself. Note that it’s 1974 and "Charlotte" appears to be about 3, yielding a DOB around 1971 - which flatly contradicts Ben’s statement that she was born in 1979 - in England.

When Horace brings "Jim LaFleur" out to his "ship-mates", James informs them that LaFleur" is Creole, hinting that yet another Lostie speaks a Secret Language. As it happens, La Fleur is French for The Flower, but whatever. Note that Creole is the language of Voodoo.

A few minutes later - Hostile Attack Warning! Team James are hustled indoors where they watch Ageless Richard march up and plant a torch for a Parley. He is not wearing Hillbilly clothes, but he could use a shave:
Horace walks outside and approaches Richard. "Hello, Mr. Alpert."
"Hello, Mr. Goodspeed."
"I wish you would have told me you were coming, I would have turned the fence off for you." [Stupid comment, seeing as how, Richard bypassed it with ease]
"That fence may keep other things out, but not us [since we’re Non-Living Persons who can Teleport at will]. The only thing that does keep us out, Horace, is our Truce, which you've now broken."

I believe that Rose, Bernard, the surviving Red Shirts and Sayid are all in the custody of Family Richard. Note that it is Richard, and not Charles Widmore who represents "The Hostiles". It may be that 1974 Charles Widmore (aged 37) has not yet seized control of "his people". OR ... he is in Military Control but sends Richard as his ambassador. The brutality of the two dead Hostiles hints at the brutality of their Commander.

After Horace, having come inside to confer, hears James say that the bodies wouldn’t be very hard to find, he orders Phil: "Call the Arrow. Tell them we're at Condition 1. Take the heavy ordnance and make sure the fence is at maximum." The Arrow, it seems, may once have been a Weapons Depot.

James: "Let me talk to him"
"Excuse me?"
"Your buddy out there with the eyeliner, let me talk to him." [I smiled at his "eyeliner" crack - which was a nod to us Fans]
"We had a truce with these people. You don't understand."
"I understand that I'm the one that killed his men. And I'm the one that's going to go out there and tell him why I did it."
"I can't let you do that."
"Then it's a good thing I ain't asking your permission."

"Hello, Richard."
Richard is sitting on a bench. "I'm sorry, do we know each other?"
"I'm the guy that killed your men. Heard some gunshots, saw two men throwing a bag over a woman's head, gave them a chance to throw their weapons down and walk away, but one of them took a shot at me and I defended myself."
"Your people know that you're telling me this?"
"Ain't my people, Hoss, so if you've got some kind of a truce with them, it ain't been broken."
"If you're not a member of the Dharma Initiative, then what are you?" ["what", not "who"]
Sawyer sits next to Richard. "Did you bury the bomb?"
"Excuse me?"
"The hydrogen bomb with "Jughead" written on the side. Did you bury it?"
"What?"
"Yeah, I know about it. I also know that 20 years ago some bald fella limped into your camp and fed you some mumbo jumbo about being your leader. And then "poof", he disappeared right in front of you. Any of this ringing a bell? That man's name is John Locke. I'm waiting for him to come back. So, still think I'm a member of the damn Dharma Initiative?"
"No. I guess I don't. But no matter who you are, two of my men are dead. And my people need some kind of justice. What are we going to do about that?"

The LaFleur Treaty includes leading Family Richard to the graves of his two men and handing over Paul’s body as well. This Treaty - plus maybe something else that James did over the next couple of weeks - earned him and his friends the privilege of becoming Dharmites.

So ... Ageless Richard meets Locke in 1954, witnesses his 1956 birth, gives him the Dalai Lama test a few years later and then a few years later still invites him to Science Camp. Meanwhile, back on the Island in 1974, he meets James the Time Traveller from 2008 who refers to Locke again. No wonder Locke’s 2004 Island Arrival is so eagerly anticipated by Family Richard. It will certainly be interesting to see how long Team James/Jack stays in 1977 onward and how their presence shapes the Past/Present/Future.

Before releasing Paul’s body, Amy removes a necklace from his neck. It’s an Ankh symbol. Yes indeed, the DI have embraced Ancient Egyptian (and Sumerian, Greek, Roman, Druidic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Voodoo) culture.

James approaches Juliet on the Submarine dock where she tells him she’s leaving on the Sub the next morning. We’ve heard this before. James talks her into staying for "two weeks - that’s all I’m asking"
Daniel obviously wants to stick around and learn what he can about the DI’s investigations into TT. Juliet’s becoming "invested" in James ... and it seems that Miles and Jin would rather stick around working in Security than to re-enter The World in 1974.

Three Years Later, it’s 1977 and Jerry is enjoying a Night-Shift Moment with Rosie - who’s brought some Brownies. She’s wearing a Geronimo Jackson shirt and the tunes on the open-reel tape recorder are groovy. They are in a Security Monitoring Room (which we have not previously seen) within the Barracks compound. Like the Infirmary, and the School, the windows are protected by steel mesh. This may be the room in which 2004 Ryan watched Kate enter Jack’s house to "rescue" him.

The Monitors at this Station include the Hydra Island Polar Bear cages and therefore presumably other Stations as well. While Jerry and his freshly-returned boss Phil argue, Rosie notices that Horace is out near the Sonic Fence drunk and blowing trees up. It’s 3 AM, but Jim LaFleur, Head of Security, takes his job seriously and rousts Miles to help him collect their boss Horace.

When I saw Horace blowing trees up, my first thought was that this action looked and sounded exactly like the "tree-exploder" aspect of Smokey. Did Future Smokey incorporate Exploding Trees into its repertoire because of Horace’s actions that night? Does Smokey dislike members of the DI (including Juliet in "Left Behind") because of Horace’s tree-destruction? Is Smokey a relative of Tolkien’s Ents?

When James brings (drunk) Horace home to (pregnant) Amy, he tells her that he was blowing up trees "by the Flame"? Huh? From what we saw, he was within sight of the Sonic Fence - nowhere near The Flame, but whatever.

It turns out that she and Horace had gotten into an argument over Paul, her 3-year-dead husband - and that the baby was coming sooner than expected!

The local medic - who’s a Resident and not an Obstetrician - is unsure of his C-Section skills. It seems that Island women "always deliver on the Mainland" and that Amy’s slightly premature breech-birth could end up fatal for both her and her baby. If only there were a trained Fertility/OB somewhere at hand.

James marches over to the Auto Hospital where Juliet the Wrench is performing cosmetic surgery on a metal patient when James tells her Amy’s Tale. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Juliet’s job title is "Motor Rx"
It seems that she and James had an agreement whereby Juliet would not resume her Fertility Practice. However, the Island has other plans for Dr Juliet and she decides to try to deliver Amy’s baby, despite her fear that Amy, like every other Island Woman patient Juliet has treated, would die at her hands. The support and confidence that James has for her help settle her mind - and Dr J, Medicine Woman succeeds in helping bring a new baby boy (Karl?) into the World. James was right - the Island Fertility Problem hasn’t cropped up yet - and Dr Juliet, having chosen to stay on the Island, might just be able to learn what caused/will cause it - which just happens to be Ben’s Obsession.

While waiting outside the Infirmary, James is met by Jin, who informs him that he and his team finished searching Grid 133 today - with no sign of their people. Tomorrow’s assignment will be to search Grid 134. I wonder if all this Grid-searching will lead to further Truce breaches.

On his way home that day (while Horace sleeps through the birth of his son), James stops to pick a flower. There’s a bottle of DI Merlot and some salad on the kitchen table. When Jim LaFleur shows Juliet The Flower, I thought about his name and I also thought about how Jin used to do that for Sun - bring her one flower. Juliet is grateful that James "believed in" her ... "believed" ... that word again.

When James told Juliet that he loved her, I thought about the fact that it was mostly Ben and his harsh manipulations that led James to finally let down his defences and self-loathing enough to permit himself to love Kate. Ben the Good Guy helped James evolve into a Good Person (with a little help from the Light Aspect of the Island).

After dinner, James wakes Horace up and History repeats itself - only role-reversed: "How’s your head"? "It hurts" We now learn that the Horace/Amy fight was sparked by the possibility that Amy hadn’t "gotten over" Paul, since he’d only been dead for three years.

James: "I had a thing for a girl once. And I had a shot at her. But I didn't take it. [Yeah, right] For a little while, I'd lay in bed every night and wonder if that was a mistake, wondering if I'd ever stop thinking about her. But now I can barely remember what she looks like. I mean her face ... she's just gone. And she ain't never coming back. So, is three years long enough to get over someone? Absolutely." Little does James know that this conviction of his is about to be sorely tested.

The very next morning, snuggled up in bed with a naked Juliet, James gets a phone-call from Jin. He’s found Jack, Hugo and Kate - should he bring them to New Otherton? The right thing for James to have done at this point would have been to say "yes", tell Juliet exactly what’s just happened - and meet them holding hands together.

But that’s not what James does. He instructs Jin to meet him in the North Valley. Why, oh why, would James lie to the woman he now loves - and who loves him back - presumably much more steadfastly than Kate the Fickle Bitch ever did or will do? Is it because "you can’t help who you love?"

Note that the "Three Years" referenced in this Ep (1974 to 1977) mirror the "Three Years" (2005 to 2008) that the O6 were "away". For both sets of Losties, it’s been three years since they’ve seen each other.
According to Lostpedia, Young Ben and Roger arrived on the Island around 1976/77. So ... it’s barely possible that Team James/Jack will get to witness the arrival of Young Ben.

Note, however, that Olivia is nowhere to be seen - which completely contradicts what we saw in "The Man Behind The Curtain" - and which therefore suggests that this Iteration of 1974 - 1977 Island Events is Different. It may be that in this Version, Ben doesn’t come to the Island. Maybe Ben doesn’t even survive childbirth!

Horace - Mathematician seems to be in charge of The Barracks as Chief of Security. In this Ep, we do not see any Scientists - not even Pierre Chang. I suppose that he and his fellow Scientists would have been working at/in their Stations. We do see folks riding bicycles and playing chess, though. I’m guessing that Daniel’s been working at the Orchid since 1974.

Note also that Ben and John have both (unlike Charles Widmore) found a way to Return to The Island.

Widmore the mind-reader

2009-03-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

After Widmore asked John why he would voluntarily leave the Island, he hesitated a moment and then said: "You've come to bring them back... the ones who left." To go from seemingly genuine perplexity over why anyone would voluntarily leave the Island to that particular conclusion seems to me to imply telepathy.

If I’m right, it could explain how a 47-year-old ex-soldier freshly dumped into The Real World could rapidly become wealthy enough to drink MacCutcheon's, finance expensive Temporal Research and also Round-the-world sailboat races, including sailboat giveaways.

The Island's Good/Evil Schizophrenia

2009-03-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

The undeniably evil way in which Smokey ripped Montand’s body away from his friends in 505 ("This Place is Death") suggested to me that the island itself is evil - or partly evil. This Evil aspect of the Island may have appeared after the merger of its ancient, natural "come to me" Sentience with the DI’s early 1970's installation of their Cerberus Security System. I believe that this merger enhanced the Island’s ancient Self-Awareness with abilities including Telepathy and the down-loading of human memories (both good and bad) and led to The Incident - which we know occurred in the mid/late 1970's since it was mentioned in the 1980 Swan Orientation Film. Note that the Blast Door Map features the blocking off of 7 DI-built tunnels, tunnels which I think once permitted Cerberus to patrol the entire tunnel system which linked the Stations to each other.

This merged/enhanced Island Self-Awareness may have led The Dark Aspect of the Island to conclude that Human Violence, Greed and Dishonesty deserved and demanded the Death of All Human Life on Earth. The fact that "Robert" - "changed" by the Dark Side of The Island - was "willing" to murder an innocent pregnant woman further persuades me that the Dark Side of The Island is Malignantly Evil.

The Island’s Light Aspect may have recognised that not all Humans are Evil and that Human Good Guys deserve to live. Note that Family Richard appear to value non-violence, honesty, selfless courage, integrity, sincere remorse for any wrong-doing and forgiveness. Family Richard - of which we’ve seen very little - may be the Children of the Light Aspect of the Island, judged and chosen by it as Good Persons.

It seems to me that The Island’s two opposing forces - one light and one dark - are engaged in a Civil War - and that these two opposing forces have similar powers - including the ability to send Lucid Dreams, the ability to resurrect, incarnate and reincarnate living, breathing beings as well as to Manifest inanimate objects. The fact that "Robert" - "changed" by the Dark Side of The Island - was "willing" to murder an innocent pregnant woman further persuades me that the Dark Side of The Island is evil.

On the other hand, we’ve seen The Light Aspect of the Island heal our Losties - both physically and spiritually. We’ve seen it intervene when Locke was on the verge of Suicide in the DHARMA Pit and we’ve seen it lead our Losties on journeys of discovery and self-discovery to awaken and strengthen their Best Selves.
I think that the Island’s schizophrenia has led to the creation and/or gathering-together of teams of players, for both sides, both on and off the Island. IMO, the Children of the Dark Aspect of The Island are the Other Others - and we’ve seen only glimpses of them, including the Night One Tailie Kidnappers. I believe the backwards-talking Hater who yelled; "We hate you" to Kate on the courthouse steps is a member of the real Bad Guys.

Regarding the Island’s Schizophrenic Craziness, note the "beer clue":
Frank’s (two) beers on board the Searcher were branded - "Jekyll Island"
The Jekyll/Hyde opposed-personalities-within-one-body concept fits in with the emphasis on Craziness/Sanity in the Show:

Hugo - in and out and in and out of Santa Rosa
Jack’s insistence that John was "insane" coupled with Jack’s fears for his own sanity after spotting "Christian" in "White Rabbit" and later, after his return to St Sebastian’s
Libby’s incarceration (if that’s what it was) at Santa Rosa
Brandon’s fatal, craziness-inducing encounter with the island’s Temporal Radius
Regina’s Kahana Cabin Fever
Keamy’s Blood Lust after the failure of his Primary Protocol

Hugo is the embodiment of this "Craziness" theme. As of 507 (TLADOJB) he has journeyed through Insanity and has emerged "Sane", courageous and yet comfortable with the reality of his ability to interact with Dead Friends. This triumph (within Hugo) of Sanity over Insanity bodes well for the future Happy Ending for LOST. I hope.

DHARMA Glyphs, DI Time Travel and Desmond

2009-03-02T05:26:00.000-08:00

Given the "fact" that the FDW and The Well, The Temple and Ben’s Secret Door appear ancient, it would appear that there was a civilisation on the Island that pre-dated the DI and yet had mastered Time Travel - in other words - Aliens.

And yet ... the Glyphs decorating these ancient artifacts are Human symbols, not Alien symbols. The DHARMA-built count-down timer featured Egyptian glyphs and the DI/Hostiles/Linus/Richard Family seems to have whole-heartedly "adopted" various Buddhist/Hindu notions of Reincarnation, Karma, Nirvana plus Christian Messianic leadership into their Island Culture. Note that Ben’s bookshelf included the Quran, VALIS and possibly everything in between.

So ... maybe (like Doc Brown) we all have to think a little more four-dimensionally.
I’m thinking that the DI - in the early 70's - mastered Time Travel (how?) and travelled into the Future - to discover the horrifying Death of All Human Life.

In an effort to prevent this Disaster, the DI travelled back in time to discover the circumstances leading to this Future Disaster and then maybe travelled even farther back in time to try to Rewrite History. We know that the DI sent a Polar Bear to Tunisia far enough back in time (thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years) for it to have become worthy of an Archeological Dig.

I’m thinking that the DI travelled far enough back to have created, or to have influenced, or at least to have incorporated ancient Egyptian, Mayan, Buddhist, Roman, Christian, Druid and Viking practices/beliefs into their Island Culture - which included speaking Latin. In other words, it wasn’t Aliens who built the FDW Well "before" the DI’s Island arrival. It was the DI itself.

I think that the DI tried repeatedly to avert the Future Disaster and failed every time. Somewhere along the line, the DI noticed that each failure to Save The World resulted in a "Reset", where events repeated themselves (as dictated by Buddhist philosophy) during which something else could be tried ... some Change could be introduced (into The "Past") which could help lead to eventual victory over the Future Disaster.

Note that the DI designed and built the Swan, including the fail-safe key and that Ms Hawking, in FBYE, knew all about it and told Desmond that it was his job to eventually turn it. Note also that she corrected Desmond when he told her that he would take the ring. She told him that he changes his mind and walks out the door (which is exactly what he did in a previous Iteration of these events).

Note also that Ben told Locke in "Lockdown" that he didn’t push The Button and that there was a loud, scary humming noise followed by some shaking ... and that the countdown timer then reset itself to 108 without any interference on his part. In other words, Ben knew what would have happened had he not pushed The Button. He had experienced (or at least heard about) the Swan Implosion in a Previous Iteration of these events. Note also that during the Swan Implosion, when Ben was on the Pala Ferry dock with his captives, that he didn’t miss a beat during The Discharge. He’d been through this Time Loop before and knew what to expect.

The point I’m getting at is that the DI designed and built the fail-safe key, knowing that sooner or later, during one or another of the Time Loops to come that a properly-selected and motivated "Desmond" would be sent to the Island and would be forced to turn the fail-safe key, thereby becoming Uniquely Special, and therefore able to help The Good Guys succeed where all previous efforts had failed.

I’m also convinced that the Good Guy DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team found itself up against an opposing Bad Guy team with formidable powers who were in favour of the Death of All Humans. Yikes!
The Final Success of the DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team, including our rehabilitated Losties is what we will see in Season 6.

Ben and Roger

2009-03-01T07:09:00.001-08:00

When trying to think of Ben as a Good Guy, one fact always gets in the way: he killed his Father.
And yet, Locke killed his Father (via James) and is considered to be a Good Guy. Not only Ben, but also Ageless Richard told Locke he had to kill his Father.
Maybe "Killing your Father" is a necessary step on the Path to becoming the Family Richard Leader.
Maybe these Murdered Fathers get Happily Resurrected like Locke has in 507, making their Deaths a Promotion.
Maybe "you have to kill your Father" was part of the agreement whereby hand-chopping Charles Widmore was "tricked" off the Island.

Widmore and Desmond

2009-02-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that Charles Widmore has been training and motivating Desmond for many years. Instead of marrying Ruth, Desmond "woke up" on a sidewalk, not knowing how he got there and decided to "follow" Brother Campbell - who’s connected to Eloise Hawking and to CW. Ruth subsequently called Desmond a Coward, after which Daddy Widmore sent his daughter to the Abbey on an errand that just happened to result in the two of them meeting.

Two years later, when Desmond "first" met Charles Widmore, the Great Man, after asking Des whether he had any military training, informed him that he wasn’t worthy of so much as a gulp of MacCutcheon’s, let alone the hand of his daughter.

When Widmore’s colleague, Ms Hawking convinced Desmond that his "path" was to break up with Penny, she called him a Coward just before she walked away.

Des then joins the Army - where one can "become a man you can be proud of" - and during his Basic Training, CW gives him Penny’s (correct) address so that he can visit her there and regain her love before he is dishonourably discharged - for cowardice (or insubordination) - from the Army .
Upon his discharge from Military Prison, CW is right there, outside the Prison and again accuses Des of cowardice as he offers to bribe him to stay away from Penny and then subsequently arranges for Libby to "give" Des the Elizabeth.

Despite the fact that her Daddy intercepted the letters that Des had sent her over the years, Penny still loved Desmond enough to track him down at the stadium in LA where Des tells Penny that he intends to win Widmore’s Sailboat Race to regain his honour.

IMO, it was CW, Ms Hawking and Libby - a Time Cop agent - who "nudged" Des onto The Elizabeth and thence onto the Island. The Implosion enabled Des’ mind to revisit his 1995 relationship with Penny and to "realise" (too late) that he could have chosen to stay with her ... and this Revelation sustained Desmond’s love - guided and supported by Daddy Widmore - enough for him to establish his Constant and thus enable Charlie to reach her briefly before his noble death. Note that CW, piggy-backing on Penny’s Listening Post info, set up the Kahana crew (including the MA-selected Science Team) and also including Naomi’s "cover story" Desmond photo.

In "Jughead", we see Desmond "break in" to the Widmore-sponsored Faraday lab where he conveniently "finds" the Daniel/Theresa photo and is then conveniently educated by the extremely-well-informed "caretaker" - and marches off to visit Theresa - which leads Desmond (by the nose) right back to Widmore - who once again suggests that Desmond should resume hiding after delivering his message to Faraday’s LA-located Mum.

It seems to me that Widmore’s careful emotional button-pushing is intended to propel Desmond (and therefore Penny and Young Charlie) into situations requiring Desmond’s Courage - which he will be that much more eager to demonstrate because his Father-in-law led him to do so.

In view of the fact that CW gave Desmond the correct LA address of Ms H, it seems to me that he either sent his daughter to her death (if she’s dead) or he used her as bait in an effort to have Ben killed. Either way, he sure is a Loving Daddy all the way.

Charlie's War

2009-02-28T07:04:00.000-08:00

Regarding the War predicted by Charles Widmore: It seems to me that Widmore the Wicked selected and "trained" a set of social misfits including a manipulative Adulteress married to a guilt-wracked Corporate Enforcer, a Murderous, Vengeance-seeking Con Man, a guilt-wracked Torturer, a Fugitive Murderess, a (former) Murdering African Drug Lord, a Heroin Addict, a guilt-wracked sanity-doubting Lottery-winner, a guilt-wracked Pregnant Woman and a guilt-wracked Doctor among others. His team then herded these emotionally-fragile "draftees" onto Flight 815 which was deliberately crashed onto the Island with the intent (I think) to induct them into his on-Island network of Loyalist supporters.

But Ben, having had many years to prepare, had a counter-plan. The Tailies were attacked on Night One - before Goodwin had time to prepare his List. The Night One kidnappers grabbed 4 men - all of them "tough, athletic threats". One of these was Eko - who was a bit tougher than anticipated. On Night One at Lostie Beach, the Losties were not attacked by any kidnappers. But they saw some trees shaking and they heard "The Monster". IMO, The Monster was protecting the Lostie Beach Losties from Widmore’s Loyalist on-Island supporters that night - and for many nights to come. Other than Scott/Steve, not one Lostie was murdered on Lostie Beach during Seasons 1-4. Ben (with the Island's help) was keeping them safe.

Over the course of Season One, I believe that The Island tested and helped "heal" a handful of potentially "Good" or at least "Useful" Losties and by the end of Season Three, Ben had eliminated a bunch of Widmore’s on-Island Hater Loyalists - including Danny, Ryan, Mikhail, Bea, Greta, Bonnie and even Tom - before the arrival of Team Keamy.

At this point in the Series, Hugo - who learned to believe in himself and his ability to Make His Own Luck - including the Miraculous revival of that dead DHARMA bus, has been returned to The island, sure of his Sanity, confident in his "let’s do this" Courage and yet comfortable seeing Dead People that no one else sees. Jack, freshly returned to the Island, has now embraced his inner Man-of-Faith and will (I think) become more confident in his Ability to perform Medical Miracles.

Kate, having experienced Motherhood (sort of), may now have a chance (assuming she’s pregnant) to become a Full-Fledged Island Mother. Sayid - dunno what his role other than healthy skepticism, ninja combat and effective interrogation techniques might be. St John was dead and has now been Resurrected as a walking, talking, eating, sleeping "more human than human" Person. I’m thinking that he has yet to learn about his new capabilities, which might include "Christian-style" teleportation. Once Desmond sails back to The Island, he’s the Game Changer - the guy who can rewrite History. I think that before the War begins, the Grown Children, including Walt the Manifester will also have travelled to the Island.

The Love that Sun and Jin discovered for each other on the Island will enable them to find a way to be reunited across Time and Space.

The S6 War will feature Good Guy combatants who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, teleport, read minds (I think) Manifest their Wishes and edit the past/present/future.

Their enemies will have similar capabilities (including the ability to Manifest "Bad Twins" of the Good Guys) and will have had time to master their Powers. I suspect that Ben may be on a Personal Mission which may or may not ally itself to the Lostie Good Guys - and I suspect that there are three Forces at play and not just Ben the Possibly Good VS Charles the Possibly Bad.

Regardless, the S6 War shapes up to be a "humdinger"

Widmore's 3 Peaceful Decades

2009-02-27T12:49:00.001-08:00

Regarding CW’s comment about 30 years of Peaceful Island Protection: After the 1954 slaughter of Team Jughead, there were about 17 years of possible Island Peace before the 1971(?) arrival of the DI. During these 17 years, the hot-headed, murderous, and yet cowardly Bully we all saw in "Jughead" may have taken control of "his People" - the (Latin-speaking) Family Richard. That must have been fun for them.

The 1971 arrival of the DI seems to have sparked a not-peaceful series of "hostile" attacks, one of which we glimpsed during Young Ben’s first day at DHARMA School. Roger Work Man also encountered some not-peaceful "Hostile action" years before The Purge.

At the time that Young Ben meets Richard in the Enchanted Forest outside the Sonic Fence, it may be that Charles The Cruel has been the "Hostile" Leader for almost two decades. I’m guessing that just before the Widmore-ordered Purge, Ben Work Man (Secret "Hostile" Agent) negotiated (or tricked) a much older Charles Widmore into pushing the FDW in accordance with a set of Rules they’d worked out between them. It was too late to stop the Widmore-organised Purge, but immediately afterwards, Ben the New Leader could start the process of winning the upcoming War.

507 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - recap

2009-02-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

An illuminating Episode in which Ben’s Goodness and Widmore’s Badness are somewhat further demonstrated.

Recap:
We’re in an office. A DI office. "Caesar" enters and finds a LIFE magazine, dated 4/19/54 featuring a cover picture labelled "Color picture of Hydrogen [bomb] test ... The Awesome Fireball". This magazine pre-dates the US Army Top Secret Jughead Mission (by about 6 months) as well as the 1970's arrival of the DI - so ... Somebody in the DI saved this magazine for about 20 years and then brought it to the Island? Hmmm
Caesar then breaks into an old-style wooden Filing Drawer and extracts a file containing some Island maps and what looks like one of Daniel’s Journal pages - featuring "Space-time", "Real Time" and "Imaginary Time". Actually, it may be that this is the DI original that Daniel may have copied into his journal.

Caesar then finds a loaded sawed-off shotgun attached to the underside of the desk, grabs it, stashes it in his bag and then lies about having found it. Ilana (a kinder, gentler version of Edward Mars/Ana Lucia) enters, asks him what he’s just put into his bag and he tosses her the flashlight. It’s 2 or 3 days since they crash-landed at Hydra and the A-Team are exploring. They haven’t yet found the Armoury. Note that Family Ben (with a bit of help from Kate and James) built the air-strip in anticipation of this crash-landing. This implies that they left this office stuff behind to be found.

Ilana announces: "We found someone - a man. Roxanne was scouting just south of here and he was just standing in the water. He's wearing a suit."

As the two of them return to the beach, they stroll past the crash-landed plane. Great flying, Frank!! According to Ilana, the newcomer isn’t "one of the ones who disappeared" and was in fact not "on the plane". As we approach the beach, we see someone huddled under an Ajira blanket. It’s John. John Locke.

So ... St John has not been reincarnated, but has been resurrected with his memories and personality intact. Unlike Montand and "Claire", he has not been "possessed" by The Island His casket corpse did not include a cast on his right leg, and John is not limping in his New Life. How "alive" is he, exactly? Is he now immortal? Is he one of the "Non-Living Persons" obliquely referred to by Ben when he warned Jack that calling the Freighter would result in the "death of every single living person" on the Island? Are all of Family Ben/Richard Non-Living (immortal) Persons? Have they all died like John?

The next morning, as John looks across the water to the Island, Ilana brings him the Best Mango He’s Ever Eaten and we find out that of the originally left-behind 3-boat outrigger fleet, that Frank and Sun took one in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Maybe Frank and Sun are smart enough (unlike St John the Stupid) not to trust Caesar. I’m guessing that their first destination would have been Lostie Beach, which they found abandoned (the date of the Flight 316 crash being early 2008).

I’m guessing that Frank and Sun would then have abandoned that canoe and started searching for their fellow Losties by foot, not knowing that they’ve been Flashed into the early 70's. Poor Sun - now isolated from both her husband and her daughter! Poor Jin when he finds out too.

I’m further guessing that Caesar and his Five Best set out to scout the island, found the abandoned outrigger, went searching for Sun and Frank, came back to find one canoe missing, then chased it, taking pot-shots at Team Ford - until they Flashed away - like Hugo, Kate and Sayid had.
Note that Caesar, the Leader of the Flight 316 survivors has a Very Appropriate Name. I wonder if he speaks Latin.

Note that Ilana tells John that "nobody remembers you being on the plane" - just like Nathan and Ethan.
St John the Stupid has still not figured out when to hold his tongue. Instead of saying the bare minimum until he can figure out who these people are and what their intentions might be, he starts blabbing about remembering his own death. Slow Learner. Given Walt’s Warning (see below) John’s speechifying is even dumber.

Flashback to John pulling the FDW, followed by his "wake-up" on his back in the Tunisian Desert. Just like Ben, John’s first action is to vomit some Wormhole Gack. Unlike Ben’s 10/24/05 arrival, there is now a camera Observing the Exit site. Based on Bentham’s passport issue date (12/12/07), I’m guessing that John’s Tunisian arrival occurred in early December, 2007 - time enough for Charles Widmore to have discovered and upgraded the site with a surveillance camera. The Bedouins who come to pick John up have also had their transportation up-graded from horses to a truck.

Note that John would have died in the desert if not for Widmore’s help. He would also not have been able to track down The Six without Widmore’s help. Both Widmore and Ben (plus Richard and "Christian" and Ms H) want The Six to Go Back, but only Ben The Good wants St John to survive the Return.

If Widmore was 17 in 1954, he was 70 in December 2007. Unless there’s some serious Longevity Benefits involved in reclaiming the Island, one would think that CW ought to just retire in peace. However, I think that Longevity as in Eternal Life may in fact be at stake for CW. CW tells us that "his people" protected the Island peacefully for three decades [after the Not Peaceful slaughter of Team Jughead]. If CW was banished at the time of The Purge (early 90's), this suggests that he became the Leader in the early 1960's. Note that Young Ben arrived in the early 70's - about 10 years after CW became leader of the "Hostiles". CW is about 25 years older than Ben

We all know that there’s a War Coming. If there’s only two sides to this war, it should now be obvious who The Bad Guys are. But I’m inclined to think there’s three sides to this war and we haven’t really seen much of The Real Bad Guys.

Meanwhile, St John gets a new passport in the name of Jeremy Bentham - a name picked out by Widmore.
According to Lostpedia:
[Bentham] was best known for his advocacy of utilitarianism, a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome - the ends justify the means. Utilitarianism argued that the "right" action or policy was that which would cause "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". His critics objected saying that it would therefore "...be acceptable to torture one person if this would produce an amount of happiness in other people outweighing the unhappiness of the tortured individual."

Bentham was also known for his outspoken opposition to the French revolutionary discourse of "natural rights", an idea championed by philosopher John Locke (whose father, also named John Locke, worked for Jeremy Bentham). He also suggested a procedure for estimating the moral status of any action. His principle regards "good" as that which produces the greatest amount of physical or spiritual pleasure, and the minimum amount of pain; and "evil" as that which produces the most pain without the pleasure.
So ... CW "believes" that the End Justifies The Means (not unlike Ben’s philosophy). I’ll buy that, but as far as the concept of The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number, I don’t think this reflects CW’s personal philosophy at all.

In an effort to win John’s Trust, Widmore tells him that he’s never tried to kill him - implying that Ben did. This is a Half-Lie. Ben had just been demoted, was distraught and not thinking clearly. He pulled the trigger only once and admitted subsequently that he "should have realised at the time that [the murder attempt] was pointless". The fact that Widmore knew about Ben’s DHARMA Pit wounding of John tells us that he had spies on the island at that time. By the end of Season Three, Ben had succeeded in the (indirect, by-the-book) removal of the Widmore Loyalists from The Game.

Widmore’s next Big Lie is that he wanted Ben removed so that John could assume his rightful Island Leadership Role. Based on the Widmore comment in 409 ( "The shape of things to come" ):
"That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again." , I think it’s safe to say that CW has/had no plans for John to become the Island Leader.

On the other hand, Ben The Good specifically took on the burden of Moving The Island so that John could rejoin Family Richard and become their Leader - at least for a little while. Ben may be a Liar, but Widmore is a Lying Liar.

Finally, regarding John’s willingness to "trust" CW, he should remember 17-year-old CW completely willing to cut off Juliet’s hand just for starters and that he nonchalantly murdered "Cunningham" for the "crime" of hinting where to find Camp Richard, followed by his own cowardly flight which helped lead Team John directly to the camp.

We are now formally reintroduced to Matthew Abaddon, whose job is to "help people get to where they need to get to" - including Charlotte’s journey to her death and Locke’s journey to his. Widmore’s last word to Locke was: "Godspeed" - the same word spoken to him by "Horace" . Were Horace and Widmore on the same side before CW’s exile?

Based on the detailed, 3-year surveillance info contained in the O6 File, John’s first stop is Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - where Sayid’s been helping build homes and schools. Note that Sayid is still alive. Widmore is not The Economist.

Sayid’s comments are the first step toward John’s suicide: ""Why do you really need to go back? Is it because you have nowhere else to go?" Note that it was the news of John’s death that brought Sayid to Hugo.

Next up: Walt
"I've been having dreams about you. You were on an island, wearing a suit, and there were people all around you. They wanted to hurt you, John."
John shakes his head. "Good thing they're just dreams." John = Idiot
"Is my dad ... is he back on the island? I haven't talked to him in three years. Figured he must have gone back."
"Last I heard, your dad was on a freighter near the island." John didn’t want to be the Bearer of Bad News
"So why'd you come to see me?"
After a few seconds, Locke says, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." John changes his mind about trying to recruit Walt, who’s been through enough.

MA’s comment: "That's 0 for 2, Mr. Locke. Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought you were supposed to bring everyone back." The Angel of The Abyss is pushing John into despair.

Next: Hugo
By the time Locke rolls his wheelchair over to where Hugo is working on his Not-Island watercolour, Hugo’s used to visits from Dead Friends and naturally assumes that Locke’s the latest in a series. When he confirms that the Staff can see John (who is therefore Not Dead), he’s shocked. When Locke explains that The Six are needed on the Island, Hugo’s sceptical that Jack, Kate or Sun could be persuaded. Then Hugo sees MA. Hugo, LOST’s Moral Compass tells John that MA is evil and untrustworthy. If CW or MA had wanted Locke to succeed in recruiting Hugo, they would have made a point of keeping him out of sight. But that’s not the agenda here. The agenda is to lead John into Choosing Death.

Kate: "The answer is no,"
"Kate, I don't think you understand."
"No, you made yourself perfectly clear. Everyone on the island is going to die if I don't go back. And the answer is no."
"Why? Don't you care about them?"
"Have you ever been in love, John?" she asks. "I think about you sometimes. I think about how desperate you were to stay on that island. And then I realized, it was all because you didn't love anybody." Another nail in the coffin. Note that in 413, Kate told Jack that Locke’s conversation with her convinced her that he was crazy - a conclusion not really supported by the above, but whatever.

MA now takes John to visit Helen’s grave, where he tells John that Helen died of a (Minkowski-style?) brain aneurysm and that despite the possibility that she and John might have been able to share a few good years, that her Path led her to an early death in 2006 and that John’s Path, no matter what he did or what he does leads back to the Island. All this talk about John’s Path places MA onto Team Hawking (which is looking less benign by the minute. Maybe her FBYE comment to Desmond that his failure to turn the failsafe key would lead to the death "of every single one of us" meant only the deaths of everybody on Team Hawking - despite what D&C have to say).

Helen’s last name - Norwood - may be a reference to the late Warren Carl Norwood, the sci-fi author of "TIME POLICE".

MA now delivers his final words to John - intended to lead him into Choosing Death: "Mr. Widmore told me that Richard Alpert said that you were going to die. So tell me, John, is that inevitable or is it a choice?"
Helen’s death erases any possibility that she and John might yet rekindle their lost love and severs any connection to The Real World for St John

Having Done His Work, MA is killed by Ben or his shooter, after which Locke drives off out of control (thanks to the cast on his right foot), gets smashed up in a car accident and wakes up with Doctor Jack beside him:
"What are you doing here?" Jack asks. He has broken up with Kate again, has caught some glimpses of "Christian" and is on the road to self-destructive Substance Abuse.
"Jack, how did you find me?"
"You were in a car accident and you were brought into my hospital. What are you doing here?"
Locke props himself up. "We have to go back."
Jack chuckles. "Of course. Of course we do."
"Jack, the people I left behind need our help. We have to go back."
"Because it's our Destiny. How many times are you going to say that to me, John?"
"How can you not see it? Of all the hospitals they could have brought me to, they brought me here. You don't think that's Fate?"
"Your car accident was on the west side of Los Angeles. You being brought to this hospital wasn't Fate, John, it's Probability!"
"You don't understand. It wasn't an accident. Somebody is trying to kill me." [Not Yet]
"Why would someone try to kill you?"
"Because they don't want me to succeed. They want to stop me."
Jack hangs his head.
"They don't want me to get back, because I'm important."
"Have you ever stopped to think that these delusions that you're special aren't real? That maybe there is nothing special about you at all? That maybe you're just a lonely old man that crashed on an island?" [No wonder that Jack takes the news of Locke’s death so hard. He thought it was his fault]
"Your father says hello," Locke says.
"What?"
"A man, the man who told me to move the island, the man who told me how to bring you all back, he said to tell his son hello. He couldn't have been Sayid's father and he wasn't Hurley's. That leaves you. He said his name was Christian."
"My father is dead."
"Well, he didn't look dead to me."
"He died in Australia three years ago. I put him in the coffin! He's dead."
"Jack, please, you have to come back. You're the only one who can convince the rest of them. You have to help me. You're supposed to help me."
"John, it's over! It's done. We left and we were never important, so you leave me alone and you leave the rest of them alone." Exit Jack, about to try Going Back without involving anyone else except innocent fellow passengers.
Note that the above conversation conflicts with Jack’s 413 and 501 comments, including: " He said that [Going Back] was the only way that I could keep you safe – you and Aaron ... He told me... that after I left the island, some very bad things happened ... and he told me that it was my fault for leaving ... and he said that I had to come back ...
Sawyer, Juliet, everyone from the boat... and everyone we left behind – John said that they'd die, too, if I didn't come back.
Note also that it was Locke’s death, especially death by suicide that helped push Jack into becoming a Believer.

The Westerfield Hotel may be crummy, but it’s the address that John gave Sayid. It’s also the only hotel I’ve ever seen that features a T-bar ceiling and radiators.
After breaking some ceiling tiles and stringing his Suicide cable over something strong enough near the poured concrete above and anchoring the cable to the radiator, John’s ready to die. He has chosen death - which is what CW and MA wanted him to choose.

Ben bursts in:
"What do you want from me?"
"I'm trying to protect you!"
"Protect me? You shot him. You killed Abaddon."
"Yes, yes I did. But it was only a matter of time before he would have killed you. [which he almost did - indirectly]
"No! Widmore came to me. He saved me."
"No, John, he used you! He waited until you showed up so that you could help him get to the island. Charles Widmore is the reason I moved the island. So that he could never find it again. To keep him away so that you could lead." [which are exactly the circumstances under which Ben voluntarily left the island]
Ben says, "You can't do this. If anything happens to you, John, you have no idea how important you are. Let me help you."
"There is no helping me. I'm, I'm a failure."
"No, John, you're not." [John has to hear Ben’s encouraging words]
"I am! I couldn't get any of them. I couldn't get a single one of them to come back with me. I can't lead anyone."
"Jack booked a ticket." [John had to hear that Jack had taken the first step]
"What?"
"A plane ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney tonight. Return trip first thing in the morning. Whatever you said to him, John, it worked. And if you got Jack, you can get the rest of them." Ben kneels. "John, you can't die. You've got too much work to do. We've got to get you back to the island so that you can do it." He reaches over and unties the wire. "Please, John." He stands and helps Locke down.
"I know we can do this, John. You haven't even been to Sun yet, let's start with her."
"No. I promised Jin that I wouldn't bring her back."
"Jin is alive?"
"Yeah, but he didn't want her to know. He wanted me to tell her that his body washed up on the beach. He gave me his wedding ring to give to her."
"Alright. A promise is a promise." [valuing a Commitment as on several previous occasions]
Locke removes the noose from his neck. "Thank you." [he has chosen Life. Now it’s OK to kill him]
Ben helps him to the bed. "I know we can do this. Once we can get them all in the same place, I don't know where we'll go from there, but we'll figure something out."
"I know where we go. There's a woman here in Los Angeles."
Ben gathers the wire. "A woman?"
"Yeah. I don't know exactly where, but she shouldn't be that hard to find. Her name is Eloise Hawking."
Ben stops, suddenly Grim. "Eloise Hawking? You sure?"
"Yeah. Why? Do you know her?"
"Yes, John, I know her." He walks behind Locke and strangles him with the wire.

Did Ben "decide" to murder JL when he mentioned Ms H? Did Ben not want John to meet her? When Desmond suggested that Ms H was Faraday’s Mother, Ben had a similar Grim reaction.

The above exchange permitted Ben to learn that Jin was alive and that he had wanted Sun not to Go Back.

Suicide is a sin in the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Religions and as I wrote a week or two ago, I was convinced that suicide would not permit John’s entry into Club Messiah.

Therefore, I believe that Ben’s intervention in John’s Suicide proves him to be a Good Guy, willing to do horrifying work in order to further his (or The island’s, or Jacob’s) agenda. I believe that Ben’s "murder" of John was what permitted John to be resurrected, the opposite of what CW wanted. Note that Somebody also wanted Hugo to commit Suicide in "Dave".

Knowing that John would retain his post-Resurrection memories, it was also important for John to hear, prior to his death, that he had, in fact succeeded in nudging Jack toward becoming a Believer. It was also important - for Future Motivational reasons - that John know that it was Ben who "killed" him. We’ll have to wait to find out why this should be the case.

The fact that Ben told "Locke" that he (Ben) would "really miss" John suggests that Ben didn’t expect to return to The Island - or at least not in the same Time Period as St John. The upcoming confrontation between Ben and John ought to be lively.
Locke’s death triggered the gathering of the O6 in LA. Team Ben’s help got them (and Locke’s body) onto Flight 316.

The fact that Ben left Locke in Hanged Mode suggests that he wanted CW to believe that John had, in fact chosen Death - hence the Suicide Scene and the Suicide Note put into Ms H’s hands. I expect that CW will be unpleasantly surprised to find his erstwhile "protege" alive and well on The Island at some point.

Cut to Hydra Island. Caesar is in the Office, behind the desk - which features a Baby Polar Bear skull (I think) - and is reading the contents of a Hydra-stamped folder. St John The Stupid marches in and starts Showing Off:
"That symbol, it belongs to an organization called The Dharma Initiative. They were conducting some experiments here awhile back."
Caesar puts the file down. "How do you know that?"
"I spent more than a hundred days on this island. I know a lot." [Actually, John, you spent zero days on this Island, but whatever]

Is JL being played by Caesar?

It seems that Caesar is willing to share too: "On the plane, I was sitting across from that really big guy with curly hair. When the plane started shaking, really shaking, there was a noise and a bright light. And this really big guy with curly hair, he was gone. I mean, literally gone. And it wasn't only him. Some of us saw it happen to other people too. [presumably including Sayid]
So, Mr. John Locke, do you have an idea about what happened?"
"I think I might know how I came to be here. But that would involve me finding my friends. Do you have a passenger list?"
"No, the pilot took it when he ran off."
"And everyone's accounted for? All the people, other than the ones who disappeared?"
"Yeah, except for the ones that got hurt."
Caesar takes him to another room where people are lying on cots. They are bandaged. Locke looks at each one until he comes across Ben.
"You know him?" Caesar says.
"Yeah. He's the man who killed me."

The Power of "Wanting"

2009-02-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

We now know that for certain people, if they want something enough, it will happen for them - both on and off the Island.

I'm fairly sure that Walt "wished up" a Polar Bear after seeing the image in Hugo's Comic Book on the Island in the same way that he wished up that bird he was studying in Australia.
In fact, in order for a Polar Bear to even exist on a tropical island in the first place, there had to be some real-world reason, some "reasonable" explanation - such as, say, a decades-old Scientific Research program aimed at "de-territorialisation" blah blah blah. In other words, I think Walt CREATED the DHARMA Polar Bear program IN THE PAST by wishing up a Polar Bear in the "present".

We know that Ben knows about Conscious Wish Fulfillment because he describes it to Locke in "The man from Tallahassee". We also know that Ben, having turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel, is transported in time and space to Tunisia. We know that Ben didn't know what date or even what year he was in, but that as soon as he realised that it was a few days before Nadia's funeral, he travelled to Tikrit and happened to have in his possession photographic "proof" linking Bakir to Nadia's murder. IMO, Ben "wished up" this proof - which did in fact appear valid: moments before his death, Bakir admitted that he worked for Widmore.

I think that Ben may have (unconsciously) "brought" Jack to the Island because he NEEDED a miracle-working spinal surgeon. It was Ben's need, coupled with the fact that Ben is Very Special which enabled him to (perhaps subconsciously) WANT a Spinal Surgeon to come to the Island. Ben's WANTING changed Jack's past, causing him to make a series of "choices" and to encounter a series of "Coincidences" (including his Miraculous Sarah Surgery) which weren't Free Will or Coincidences at all ... these "Free Will choices and Coincidences" were simply all the little steps needed BY BEN to get Jack onto Flight 815.

One of the repeating phrases we hear on LOST all the time is: "What is it that you want?" or "What do you want from me?" We also know that in 305 - "The Cost of Living" - that Ben told Jack: "I wanted you to WANT to save my life" - knowing that if Dr Miracle-worker WISHED for it sincerely enough, lo - it would come to pass (as it did for Hanging Charlie)

So ... who WANTED Ben to get Cancer in the first place? Maybe Jacob.

Who WANTED the rest of our Losties (and was responsible for all their pre-crash misery) on Flight 815?
Note that Ben's "Family" weren't really expecting Flight 815 on the day of the Book Club meeting and that it wasn't until after Mikhail's research that Ben knew the backgrounds of the survivors. So ... Ben didn't consciously bring them. Somebody (Jacob? ... The Island?) is using Ben.

As of Ep 506 ("316") we’ve seen Man-of-Science Jack finally embrace his inner Man-of Faith aspect to the point where he "plays along" with Ms Hawking’s Voodoo-style insistence that Locke’s body needed something that belonged to Christian. Her "leap-of-faith" line is an important step along Jack’s journey towards becoming a Believer. At least equally important is Ben’s Doubting Thomas lecture, followed by the "coincidental" presence in Grandad Ray’s suitcase of a pair of Christian’s shoes.

It seems to me that Someone (Jacob?) or Something (The Island?) wants Jack to believe in his ability to perform miracles and that this effort to lead Jack into Belief extends at least as far back as Jack’s miraculous Sarah surgery.

Note that Christian seems to have tried for decades to undermine Jack’s self-confidence. He also tried to convince his own daughter to sanction her mother’s murder. How evil is that? How callous was it for "Christian" to appear moments before Michael’s death to tell him that he "can go now" ? If a prick like that disses Ben, it seems to me that Ben really might be a Good Guy.

Note also that Someone wanted Hugo - long before his arrival on the Island - to believe that he was crazy. Upon arrival on the Island, "Dave" (Manifested by Someone or Something) almost succeeded in persuading Hugo to jump off that cliff. But Someone Else had planted Libby on Flight 815 - and she saved Hugo’s life. Hugo subsequently developed enough self-confidence that he was able through sheer force of Will to revive that dead DHARMA van - which Hugo subsequently used to kill Ryan on Lostie Beach. Upon returning to The World, Hugo evolved from once again believing himself to be crazy (thanks to visits from "Charlie" and "Eko") to gradually believing himself to be sane and yet still accepting the reality of Dead Friends, including "Ana Lucia"

My point here is that it seems to me that our Losties are, in fact, being "played" by at least two opposing Powers that have mastered the art of Wish-fulfilment. It further seems to me that these two opposing Powers are both "Aspects" of the Island itself - which reflect a dark/light dichotomy/schizophrenia waging Civil War on the Island - and in The World.

To me, the best evidence to support this Island Schizophrenia theory is what we saw in "This Place is Death" where one aspect of the Island ripped (innocent) Montand’s arm off, instantly "possessed" him, lured his three (innocent) buddies into the CV, "possessed" them and then forced Robert to attempt to murder his (innocent) pregnant wife. This Evil Deed was prevented by a "missing" firing pin reminiscent of Michael’s malfunctioning pistol. In other words, the Dark Aspect of The Island was defeated (in Danielle’s case) by the Light Aspect of The Island.
If I’m right, the Dark Aspect of the Island seeks the end of all Human Life on Earth, whereas the Light Aspect is willing to tolerate us.

It further seems to me that our Losties will, during S6, come to understand the Rules of The Game and to finally take control of their own Destiny and hopefully Save The World.

Alvar Hanso and the US Army

2009-02-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

Note that the 9/23/54 US Army photo was labelled "Top Secret". So ... Somebody connected to the DI (possibly a powerful, wealthy and well-connected Munitions Supplier) obtained US Army Top Secret info which may have led the DI to the Island some time between 1954 and the 1970's. And yet, Alvar Hanso’s ancestor Magnus landed on the Island in the late 1800's - so ... it was (at least) known by AH to have existed during his entire life. Maybe AH knew of its existence but couldn’t find it until the early 1950's.

LOST DHARMA Glyphs, DI TT and Desmond

2009-02-24T04:41:00.000-08:00

Given the fact that the FDW, The Well, The Temple and Ben’s Secret Door all feature Egyptian/Mayan glyphs, it would appear that there was a civilisation on the Island that pre-dated the DI and yet had mastered Time Travel - in other words - Aliens.

And yet ... the DHARMA-built count-down timer featured Egyptian glyphs and the DI/Hostiles/Linus/Richard Family seems to have whole-heartedly "adopted" various Buddhist/Hindu notions of Reincarnation, Karma, Nirvana plus Christian Messianic leadership (all of which are human and not ET notions) into their Island Culture. Note that Ben’s bookshelf included the Quran, VALIS and possibly everything in between.

So ... maybe (like Doc Brown) we all have to think a little more four-dimensionally.
I’m thinking that the DI - in the early 70's - mastered Time Travel (how?) and travelled into the Future - to discover the horrifying Death of All Human Life.

In an effort to prevent this Disaster, the DI travelled back in time to discover the circumstances leading to this Future Disaster and then maybe travelled even farther back in time to try to Rewrite History. We know that the DI sent a Polar Bear to Tunisia far enough back in time (thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years) for it to have become worthy of an Archeological Dig.

I’m thinking that the DI travelled far enough back to have created, or to have influenced, or at least to have incorporated ancient Egyptian, Mayan, Buddhist, Roman, Christian, Druid and Viking practices/beliefs into their Island Culture - which included speaking Latin. In other words, it wasn’t Aliens who built the FDW Well "before" the DI’s Island arrival. It was the DI itself.

I think that the DI tried repeatedly to avert the Future Disaster and failed every time. Somewhere along the line, the DI noticed that each failure to Save The World resulted in a "Reset", where events repeated themselves (as dictated by Buddhist philosophy) during which something else could be tried ... some Change could be introduced (into The "Past") which could help lead to eventual victory over the Future Disaster.

Note that the DI designed and built the Swan, including the fail-safe key and that Ms Hawking, in FBYE, knew all about it and told Desmond that it was his job to eventually turn it. Note also that she corrected Desmond when he told her that he would take the ring. She told him that he changed his mind and walked out the door (which is exactly what he did in a previous Iteration of these events).

Note also that Ben told Locke in "Lockdown" that he didn’t push The Button and that there was a loud, scary humming noise followed by some shaking ... and that the countdown timer then reset itself to 108 without any interference on his part. In other words, Ben knew what would have happened had he not pushed The Button. He had experienced (or at least heard about) the Swan Implosion in a Previous Iteration of these events. Note also that during the Swan Implosion, when Ben was on the Pala Ferry dock with his captives, that he didn’t miss a beat during The Discharge. He’d been through this Time Loop before and knew what to expect.

The point I’m getting at is that the DI designed and built the fail-safe key, knowing that sooner or later, during one or another of the Time Loops to come that a properly-selected and motivated "Desmond" would be sent to the Island and would be forced to turn the fail-safe key, thereby becoming Uniquely Special, and therefore able to help The Good Guys succeed where all previous efforts had failed.

I’m also convinced that the Good Guy DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team found itself up against an opposing Bad Guy team with formidable powers who were in favour of the Death of All Humans. Yikes!

The Final Success of the DI/Jacob/Hawking/Linus team is what we will see in Season 6.

Random thoughts following "316"

2009-02-23T03:46:00.000-08:00

Note that despite his JL/Orchid words to the contrary, Ben is able to return to the Island - possibly only because he’s accompanied by the Losties. His anguish while pushing the FDW seemed at the time to suggest Banishment Remorse, so I’m eager to find out how he managed to get "permission" to Go Back. Since his last-second arrival echoed Hugo’s (onto Flight 815) and since his trip to the front of the plane was a "Charlie proxy" - type move, this might explain it. Sort of. Note that "Caesar" gets a ticket to the Island too. Maybe he's a Widmore plant.

Note that there were several carved stone pillars, including a pair supporting an arch in the Pendulum Room. To me, this suggests that the DI was involved in TT even "before" finding the Island.
There were two Virgin Mary statues in Ms Hawking’s Office - one (small) on her desk, the other (large) on the hutch. My only "explanation" for these "recycled" props involves Illusions, Hallucinations and/or Dreams and I really don’t want the Show to be about that.

The shot of Ben "praying" placed him below a stained-glass half-circle so as to suggest Saintliness. Ignoring the "glitch" that it was night-time outside, TPTB seem to be suggesting that Ben really is a Good Guy.
While Ben was educating Jack about St Thomas’ bravery in the face of anticipated murder, it occurred to me that Ben’s subsequent North Beach Marina injuries might have resulted from a murder attempt (possibly instigated by Widmore - OR The Economist) on his life.

Ben’s callous disregard for the fates of the Economy passengers aboard Flight 316 is shared by Jack’s similar disregard while using his Oceanic Golden Pass to Go Back at the end of S3.

Kate is right that Hugo "bought a ticket" - well, he bought 78 tickets - but she’s wrong about Sayid buying one.

After Kate wakes up at poolside, she asks: "The plane, where’s the plane?" - and I suddenly thought about Tattoo’s trademark line on Fantasy Island - another place where Wishes Come True.

506 - "316"

2009-02-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

Finally - proof positive that Time Loops are real and that the version of events we all saw in Seasons 1 - 4 were one set in a series of Iterations - each one different, but with similarities to its predecessor. In this, the Final (?) Iteration, the first major difference I’ve noticed is that Jack, Kate and Hugo all remember the previous Iteration.

The Ep opens with an eye opening - a left eye - Jack’s left eye. He’s waking up, on his back in a bamboo grove. Welcome back to Ep 1, Scene 1. Except not quite. Vincent doesn’t come prancing through the jungle, Jack does not have a bleeding back and the first thing he hears are Hugo’s cries for help.

He follows the sound of Hugo’s voice, sees him floundering in a pool below a waterfall - possibly the same pool in which James and Kate found the gun-case and in which Paulo found Nikki’s script bag. Amazing how something familiar looks so different from another Point of View.

Hugo - who appears to have cannon-balled out of Flight 316 is floundering around with the now-soaked guitar-case he brought on board. I’m guessing he brought the guitar at "Charlie’s" request. Somebody is going to have to program the LG jammer at some point in the past/present/future. Note that Brennan, in 505, also brought a soaked musical instrument case to the Island.

After dragging Hugo into shallow water, Jack swims over to Kate, who’s lying inert at pool-side. Her question, upon waking is: "Are we?" Jack’s answer: "We’re back"

"46 hours earlier" (whatever that means):
Eloise leads Jack, Sun, Desmond and Ben through a door marked; "Caution: High Voltage. Do not enter this enclosure" and down the winding stairs, past a DI hatch (marked with a "lamp" symbol) and into the Pendulum Room. Note that The Lamp-Post is a reference to "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" and "The Magician's Nephew", the first and sixth books in the Narnia series. In the books, a lamp-post marks the passage between Narnia and the real world.
Once through this hatch door, we see a "live" wall-mounted latitude/longitude board. Ms Hawking tells us that "this is how they found the Island". When Jack asks Ben whether he knew about this place, he says he didn’t (and yet we know that he met Eloise upstairs in the Church). When Jack asks Eloise whether Ben’s telling the truth (as if that could possibly matter), she says: "probably not". Huh!? She wants Team Jack to distrust Ben more than they already do? Whatever.
We see a photo of the Island with a caption at its bottom: "9/23/54 US Army Op 264 (one day shy of exactly 50 years before the crash of FDlight 815) Top Secret EYES ONLY" - which, when I Googled it didn’t come back with anything obviously relevant. So ... the US Army figured out how to find the (moving) Island during the 50's and sent the Jughead gang (possibly in the Galaga) to seize and/or destroy it, but were defeated by 1954 Team Richard. And the reason why Ms Hawking displays this photo is ... ?

After she finds the binder she had in mind ("Ah ha!"), Ms Hawking enters Pedantic Teacher Mode:
"The room we're standing in was constructed years ago over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy. That energy connects to similar pockets all over the world. [including Tunisia] The people who built this room, however, were only interested in one."
"The island," Sun guesses.
"Yes, the island. They'd gathered proof [from the US Army?] that it existed. They knew it was out there somewhere, but they just couldn't find it. Then, a very clever fellow built this pendulum on the theoretical notion that they should stop looking for where the island was supposed to be and start looking for where the island was going to be ... This fellow presumed, and correctly as it turns out, that the island was always moving. Why do you think you were never rescued? Now, while the movements of the island seem random, this man [Horace - Mathematician?] and his team created a series of equations which tell us, with a high degree of probability, where it is going to be in a certain point in time. Windows, as it were, that while open, provide a route back. Unfortunately, these windows don't stay open for very long. Yours closes in 36 hours." Someone went to a lot of trouble at some point in time, to keep the Island moving and therefore highly inaccessible.
Note that the (Widmore-sponsored) Kahana crew knew the Island was moving [in Space-time]

Finally - "proof" that Somebody deliberately selected, trained and herded our Losties onto Flight 815 - which was then flown into a "window" (including the "instrument malfunction" and consequent route change). Note that the in-air break-up of Flight 815 was not accompanied by a Whiteout like the one on Flight 316 - which sent our Losties into the early 1970's. Hence the "same" dates on/off-Island for the 815 survivors. At this point it looks like Team Widmore were responsible for Flight 815. Note also that Widmore sent Desmond on his Sailboat Race - which also intercepted the Island. CW knows a thing or two about Island location techniques, possibly including the funding and staffing of the Antarctic Listening Post. Note that the "real-world cause" of Flight 815's break-up over the Island was Desmond’s 9/22/04 System Failure. Talk about one big Game of "Mousetrap".

As I’d thought some time ago, Desmond’s "message" to Eloise was entirely unnecessary. She was already doing what she could. The real (Widmore) mission was IMO to offer Penny and Young Charlie up as bait with which to lure Ben into a murder attempt.

Ben’s grim look when Desmond told him he was looking for Daniel’s mother was exactly what I’d thought: Ben now knew that Widmore had sent Desmond to LA. The fact that Ben emerged from his encounter with Penny seriously injured implies that Widmore sent some muscle to guard his daughter.
It seems to me that Desmond is too important to be permitted to Play House with Penny and Young Charlie for long. If Penny’s dead, Desmond might very well be on a Vengeance Mission of his own.
Ms Hawking’s grim look when she tells Des that the Island isn’t yet done with him tells us that she knows something about Ben’s upcoming Assassination Attempt.
Note that Desmond is tuned into the Game aspect of the story. Note also that his advice to Jack ("whatever she tells you to do, ignore it") is quite similar to Sayid’s "do the opposite" advice to Hugo - which didn’t enable either of them to avoid flying the friendly skies of Ajira.

Note that within the Pendulum Chamber, there are several carved stone columns - strangely out of place in this high-tech environment. I didn’t spot any glyphs on them.

The Flight 316 co-ordinates - 34 degrees, 03N 118 degrees, 14W Guam
Some super-geek might be able to find some meaning in these numbers

Ms Hawking tells Jack that if he doesn’t round up all of the O6 that the results would be "unpredictable". So ... since Aaron was only a "half-person" on 9/22/04, the results should be "fairly predictable" ?

With the rest of the Class dismissed, Jack is asked to stay behind for a "detention", during which Ms H hands him Locke’s suicide note. Note that she told Jack that Ben and Sun had heard all that they needed to hear. For a moment, she sounded to me like The Oracle in "The Matrix " She added that the issue of Locke’s Suicide Note did not concern them - encouragement not to "share" info.

It seems to me that Locke’s suicide made a strong impression on Jack - as though (to Jack) Locke willingly died in the service of his commitment to his "faith".
Eloise’s next few lines, concerning the necessity of "giving" Locke’s body something belonging to Christian, the better to serve as a Christian proxy/substitute struck me as a Voodoo technique. Note that the "soul jars" in Jacob’s Cabin also derive from the Voodoo Religion.
Her key line: "Stop thinking how ridiculous it is and start asking yourself whether or not you believe it's going to work. That's why it's called a leap of faith, Jack." This line helps push Jack into Believing. Locke delivered this same line to him back in Season 2. Locke had heard it from Helen.

When Jack re-enters the upstairs Church and Ben asks what Eloise told him, Jack replies: "Nothing that matters" . My best guess as to why Jack didn’t expound is that he thought all this Voodoo stuff would have sounded ridiculous.

When Jack asked Ben how Ms Hawking knew "all this", Ben (looking at the Doubting Thomas painting) replied:
"Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably die there, Thomas said to the others: 'Let us also go, that we might die with him.' But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later when he refused to acknowledge the resurrection. The story goes that he needed to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced."
"So was he?"
"Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack." So ... Ben’s non-answer helped lead Jack into believing, like Locke, that Miracles like resurrection were possible.

A bar: Jack stares at an undrunk drink when his phone rings.
An Old Folks Home: Jack’s Granddad Ray has been retrieved on his fourth escape attempt and is "enjoying" a Magic Show, the announcement for which ("Join us for a Special Magic Show") might as well apply to LOST. The Show included a rabbit. Note that "Magic" often involves Illusions. Note also that Arthur C Clarke wrote that "Sufficiently-advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic."
As Jack unpacks his Granddad’s Getaway Suitcase, he finds a pair of new shoes which turn out to have belonged to Christian. Just the right items to "give" to Locke, made extra meaningful when we learn why Christian wore white tennis shoes in "White Rabbit"
I’m guessing that Ray is not Christian’s father - who gave him The Watch. If I’m right, that would make him Margo’s Father. After Jack tells Ray (but not his Mum?) that he’ll be going away "for a while" (as in "forever"), he enters his clean and tidy condo/apartment. Molly Maid’s been very busy over the last few days. While Jack (after looking into various cupboards) fixes himself a drink, we hear his front door open (no knock) followed by a some quiet strides, followed by a soft thump. Kate’s dropped in for a visit.

Kate looks emotionally numb. My best guess is that Aaron’s been murdered. If not murdered, then at least kidnapped. If he’s been kidnapped, it appears he’ll be Raised By Another, because Kate has (finally) been persuaded to Go Back. I’m guessing that either Gabriel or Jeffrey or both paid her a visit after she drove home from the Long Beach Marina.
When Jack asks her what happened, she says: ""Don't ask questions. If you want me to go with you, you'll never ask me that question again. You will never ask me about Aaron again. Do you understand, Jack?" For once, he doesn’t press. Maybe he’s learned (the hard way) to Let Go. They kiss and then they fuck - the kind of sex that follows Great Fear. We never get to see whether Jack drinks that drink or not.

The next morning, Jack’s up early and makes coffee and juice for Kate.
As he moves Christian’s shoes off the table, Kate says: "Those don't make much sense for the Island. You might want to consider hiking boots."
"Those were my father's. When I went to pick up his body in Sydney, my dad didn't have any nice shoes. My mother wanted to have the funeral as soon as I landed back in L.A. and I thought, 'Who the hell is going to see his feet?' And I had these old white tennis shoes and I just said "use these, put these on". I guess he wasn't worth a nice pair of shoes to me or the time it would take to go out and get them."
"So why don't you get rid of them? Why hold on to something that makes you feel sad?"
This slightly surreal banter seems brittle and is mercifully interrupted by the phone. Exit Kate, Running Away - again.

Ben, battered, injured and bleeding is calling from the North Beach Marina - where I’m guessing he had trouble tying up his loose end. He sends Jack to pick Locke’s body up from Jill the Butcher. Note that Desmond appears to have sailed from England to LA - presumably through the Panama Canal. It would therefore seem that his meeting with Daddy Widmore occurred several weeks prior to his encounter with Ms Hawking. If Penny is dead, her Daddy basically sent her to her death. If so, it would seem that Desmond has a new Mission - to Kill Ben. And he even has an appropriate Boat on hand!

As Jack changes John’s shoes, he says: "Wherever you are, John, you must be laughing your ass off that I'm actually doing this. Because this, this is even crazier than you were."
Jack then takes the envelope out of his pocket and tucks it into Locke's clothes. "Anyhow, you can have this back. I've already heard everything you had to say, John. You wanted me to go back, I'm going back." He closes the casket. "Rest in peace."
Note that JL (with a lot of help from Team Ben) achieved 90% of his Mission even though he died believing he’d failed.

Airport: Once again, Jack is trying to get a coffin on board an airliner. Easier going this time, though. Note that when the clerk asks Jack what his relationship was to the deceased, that Jack answers: "Friend" (as opposed to his answer to the same question a few days earlier). I even think it’s true. I think that Jack has finally (tentatively) embraced the Man-Of-Faith aspect of his own personality, taking him one step closer to becoming the Great Leader that Achara saw in him back in "Stranger".
After checking in, a fellow passenger tells him: ""My condolences. I'm sorry you lost your friend." I’ve seen this actor before - but not on LOST. I’m sure we will see him again. His (actor) name is Said Taghmaouj and he ends up sitting beside Hugo on Flight 316.
In Security, Sun approaches Jack and they chat for a bit, during which she says that: "If there’s even a chance that Jin is alive, I have to be on that plane" Even if it means abandoning Ji Yeon - who is now one more child being raised by a Granparent. Can’t wait for the Sun-Jin reunion.

During the Security scan, we see Sayid being marched through (cuffed) and escorted by a (female) Marshall. Shades of (gender-reversed) deja vu! Team Ben’s been busy indeed. We also see an Oceanic Poster on the wall.
At the Gate (#15, natch), we see Hugo reading another Spanish Comic Book. This one features The Last Man on Earth, whose face looks like a skull and whose name appears to be Yorick - as in Hamlet’s Yorick. Yes indeed, our writers know their Eng Lit.

It would appear that Lawyer Dan and/or Gabriel/Jeffrey have, uh, reasoned with Hugo, who has now accepted his Fate, but has decided to spare as many civilians as possible the near-certain death (for them) to come. He has bought all 78 of the empty seats. LOST fans have got to love Hugo. The "civilians" at the Gate, however, will never know how he spared them. In fact, had they known he stopped them from getting on that plane, they would not have thanked him. And ... there was no way he could have explained himself by telling them the Truth. He would not have been believed. This is exactly the situation in place between the Season 1 Losties and Family Ben.

When Jack and he meet at Gate 15, Hugo actually says: "OK, then. Let’s do this" The Cowardly Lion has found his Courage. As Jack passes (seated) Sayid - already on board - Sayid seems surprised to see him. Sayid looks Grim. Kate - still looking Grim is also already on board. The last passenger to board is Ben.

Hugo, with the Guitar beside him, leaps up when he sees Ben and says: ""Wait, what's he doing here?"
"Hurley," Jack says.
"No, no, he can't come!"
"Hurley," Jack says, "if you want to get back, this is how it's going to have to be." [Why? Ben wasn’t on Flight 815]
"No one told me he was going to be here," Hurley says. [What did they tell you, Hugo?]
"Who told you to be here, Hugo?" Ben asks. [Like he doesn’t know]
The flight attendant asks, "Is everything okay?"
"Yes," Jack says. "Yes, everything is fine." He looks at Hurley. "Right?"
"Yes, Jack, I'll be fine." Hurley sits. Grim

Note that all of the O5 plus Ben are seated in First Class.
As Jack and Ben chit-chat about the Suicide Note that’s been course-corrected back into Jack’s hands, Jack glances back at the Economy passengers and asks: "And the other people on this plane, what's going to happen to them?"
"Who cares?" Ben says. [Stone Cold, it would seem. But. I think Ben knows that the LOST End Game will result in the deaths of millions and that a few dozen here or there simply don’t matter. How this squares with his earlier "I will kill no innocent people" speech to Kahana Michael is yet to be explained] Note that Jack, while using his Oceanic Golden Pass was similarly onconcerned with the fates of his fellow passengers.

Once the "unfasten your seat-belts" sign lights up, Jack pays Kate a visit, during which he asks: ""Hurley, Sayid being on the same plane. How did they end up here?"
"They bought a ticket." Kate = Traumatised Skeptic
"You don't think it means something? We're all back together." Jack = John

This is the "merger" between Jack and John that I’ve been anticipating for a long time. Note that "Jack" and "John" are interchangeable names.

We then find out that (as I’d expected) our captain is none other than Frank Lapidus, being course-corrected back to the Island - and he realises this as he spots Sun, Hugo, Sayid and Kate in First Class. "We’re not going to Guam, are we?" And then, instead of frantically trying to change course, he just rolls with it.

While Jack waits nervously for Turbulence, Ben is reading "Ulysses" by James Joyce.
According to Lostpedia, the novel is a story about the journey through Dublin on a single day (June 16, 1904) by its main character, Leopold Bloom. Damon and Carlton told viewers to read this book on one of the Dharma Special Access videos. A quote from page 316 of the novel is hidden in the source code of the Ajira Airways website. The final chapter [of Ulysses] is named "Penelope".
Note the tender concern that Ben shows to Jack: "No, Jack, [Locke’s suicide] wasn’t your fault ... Let me give you some privacy" [to read the Suicide Note] Ben simply cannot concern himself with the fates of inconsequential "civilians" because his energy is devoted to the Important Players on Team Jack

The note reads: "I wish you had believed me". John’s wish came true. And it was no coincidence. After Jack wakes up on his back, the note fragment he retains reads: "I wish" Once again, we are reminded that on LOST, certain Very Special people can Manifest their Wishes - maybe even posthumously.
As the (expected) turbulence hits, Hugo glances over at his fellow passenger and says: "Dude, you might wanna fasten your seatbelt" - as he fastens his eye-mask! [Classic]

The ensuing Whiteout should have clued us in to the fact that our Losties have been Time-shifted.
The Flight 316 survivors are spread out. The shiny DHARMA van looks like it just drove off the Back to the Future parking lot. Jin’s DHARMA symbol appears to resemble a Sheriff’s star. Maybe he was sent out to look for crash survivors. His hint of a smile implies that he recognises and remembers his fellow Losties. He’s been living in this time period long enough to have landed a DHARMA job. Is Daniel working in the Orchid basement at this moment? Is James hauling rocks?

Will we see 2008 Ben bump into his early 1970's self?

What role, if any, will our Losties have in the upcoming (early 1990's) Purge?
Note that the left-behind children will "now" have 30 years to grow up and ... get to the Island in 2004 Island Time?

Will the Island resurrect Locke as Locke? Or ... (my best guess) as Jacob?

I’m currently of the opinion that the Island has - or will have - a "split personality" a Jekyll/Hyde conflict (remember that Beer clue?) within itself ... a black/white civil war reflected among the Island inhabitants themselves. I think it may be this "Family" that John/Jacob is supposed to "bring together again" per Boone’s Sweat Lodge comment

505 Recap - This Place is Death

2009-02-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

For me, the biggest and yet subtle revelation of the Ep was that the Losties still have no idea just how bad The Bad Guys really are/were/will be. I totally believe Ben when he tells Jack and Sun: "What I'm doing is helping you! And if you had any idea what I've had to do to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe, you'd never stop thanking me."
IMO, The Bad Guys shaped the pre-crash lives of our Losties in all their collective misery and loaded them onto Flight 815 in order to use them against Ben’s Good Guy team. Constrained by The Rules, Team Ben protected and rehabilitated the Losties as part of a huge effort to Save The World and 505 showed us a glimpse of the titanic antagonistic forces on and off the Island arrayed against Team Christian/Hawking/Linus.

Recap:
Before Sun and her Gun get out of her car at Slip 23, she gets a phone-call from her daughter and during this call, it suddenly struck me that Sun was already, by that point, ready to abandon Ji-Yeon in pursuit of Vengeance. She was ready to go to jail over the murder of Ben Linus. This explains (to me) why she’d be prepared, by the end of this Ep, to abandon Ji-Yeon and follow Ben back to the Island - back to Jin.
I’m amused at all the LOST-fan speculation that Sun’s real target was Jack. Some times things really are what they seem on this Show. Ben was her Vengeance Target and if Widmore really did send the Gun ‘n Chocolates to Sun in a bid to indirectly kill Ben, he failed again. For now.
As Sun lectures Ben about the three years she’s been nursing her Grudge, we see a boat in the background. The name on the boat is "Illusion". If this Show is a huge Illusion - such as ... "it’s all a dream", I’ll be more than a little, er, annoyed. And yet, the recycling of names, scenarios, sounds, spoken lines and "props" (like one single brand of Scotch) coupled with the Show’s constant references to Altered Mental States like Sleep, Sleep-deprivation, Unconsciousness, Insanity, Lucid Dreams plus Memory Issues ... there’s something that smells fishy to me.
Kate retrieves Aaron from Auntie Sun’s car and stalks off, muttering phrases like: " you guys (including "Jeremy Bentham") are crazy" and drives off in her Volvo - heading "home" no doubt, happy in the knowledge that Lawyer Dan was working for Ben and not Grandma Littleton. I think it’s time for her to meet the Real Bad Guys.
Sayid walks off, saying that he wants "no part in any of this". Except for the Rule about "Informed Consent", I’d say it was time for Team Ben to break out the Elephant Trank Darts. Is Sayid on his way to tell Hugo to stay in jail?
Sun agrees to defer her trigger-pulling until Ben shows her the "proof" that Jin’s alive. En route to St Eloise Church, Ben unleashes the above Honesty Torrent which shuts both Jack and Sun up for the rest of the ride.
Upon arrival at the Church, Ben gives Sun the ring that Jin had previously given to Locke and uses it to achieve the opposite of what Jin had wanted. Ben uses the ring to help persuade Sun to Go Back. That ‘s the problem with letting someone else do your work for you. So ... how did Ben know to have the ring in his pocket? Maybe Jack phoned him. Or maybe he knew telepathically. Or maybe he manifested the ring on the spot.
As they approach the Church, Desmond strolls up and asks: "What are you doing here?" Another priceless Jack/Desmond Miracle Moment.
Note that as soon as Desmond asked Ben: "You’re looking for Faraday’s mother too?" that Ben’s mood instantly became more grim. He knew that Widmore had sent Desmond to LA. Is Penny’s life in dire peril? Let us hope that Ben’s been able to "let go" of his desire for Vengeance.
As we enter the Church, Eloise seems to be prepared to do her magic (or at least start it off) on the Installment Plan. I hope she’s not as evil as she looks at that moment.
Meanwhile, back on the Island:
Jin confirms the date (11/88), but, like Marty McFly, is not thinking four-dimensionally. He somehow believes that "his camp" (complete with helicopter) might exist elsewhere on the Island in 1988. Nuh uh.
After admitting that he couldn’t find "his" camp by following the shoreline, Jin agreed that he could find it from the Radio Tower. Except that Jin was never at the RT, but whatever ...
En route to the Radio Tower, we learn a little more about The Monster. Its first victim of the day was Nadine who was quietly snatched, quietly executed and then placed into some tree branches (a la Seth Norris). After her body fell to the ground, the Monster’s next vic was Montand - who was dragged into a Cerberus Vent by Smokey - who had some new (to us) sounds - a "tapping/hammering" sound plus a roar we haven’t heard before. After dragging Montand into the hole (minus his left arm), we hear a voice - probably of the already-resurrected "Montand" - informing Team Danielle that he’s "hurt" [no shit, Sherlock] and that "it’s gone" [yeah, right]. Sounds like bait in a trap to me. Naturally, Robert plus both of his buddies climb into the hole shortly before the next Whiteout, after which Jin finds himself alone outside the Temple. Alone, except for Montand’s now-aged arm. The Temple is "decorated" by glyphs looking similar to those incised on Ben’s Secret Door, the FDW chamber and displayed on the Swan count-down timer.
The undeniably evil way in which Smokey ripped Montand’s body away from his friends reminded me that S1 Locke had looked into the beautiful white light "eye of The island" and that we’ve seen hints of "White Flashy" in previous Ep’s - such as when WF drove off Black Smokey while it was attacking Juliet and Kate in "Left Behind". It seems to me now as though The Island itself contained/contains two opposing forces - one light and one dark - and that these two opposing forces have similar powers - including the ability to send Lucid Dreams, the ability to resurrect, incarnate and reincarnate living, breathing beings as well as inanimate objects ... and that the Island’s Dark Side might very well be opposed to All Human Life. The fact that "Robert" - "changed" by the Dark Side of The Island - was "willing" to murder an innocent pregnant woman further persuades me that the Dark Side of The Island is evil. The fact that Ben could summon Smokey to harass Team Keamy suggests that Smokey is a tool to be used by either side.
After taking a drink from a jungle leaf, Jin spies a column of Black Smoke - described by 2004 Danielle as a precursor to a Visit from The Others. Jin then finds Danielle’s Beach Camp - which includes Brennan’s violin case, Danielle’s Music Box, a box marked "Explosive" (possibly from the Black Rock) and the fly-blown bodies of Lacombe and Brennan. He hears Danielle: "You're not Robert! You're someone else! That thing changed you!" I’m guessing that she came to the same conclusion about the two Beach Buddies.
from 109 ("Solitary") :
DANIELLE [to Sayid]: You just happened to hear my distress call? I know what you are ... I broadcast from somewhere else. But they control it now
SAYID: They?
DANIELLE: You... and the others like you [Island Changelings]
DANIELLE: Our vessel was 3 days out of Tahiti when our instruments malfunctioned... The ship slammed into rocks, ran aground, the hull breached beyond repair. So, we made camp, dug out this temporary shelter ... Temporary ... Nearly 2 months we survived here, 2 months before --
SAYID: Your distress signal? The message I heard, you said, "It killed them all."
DANIELLE: We were coming back from the Black Rock. It was them. They were the carriers...
DANIELLE: The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him. It took them, one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost ... What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen.
from 123 ("Exodus, Part 1") :
DANIELLE: The Black Rock is not far. This is where it all began -- where my team got infected -- where Montand lost his arm.
So ... in Season 1, Danielle believed that her compatriots had been infected near the Black Rock, with a Personality-changing Sickness which they’d contracted from the Others who were "the [disease] carriers" and she believed that "The Monster" was no more than a Security System guarding the Island. In S1, Montand lost his arm near the Black Rock.
In 505, Montand lost his arm under the Temple and Team Danielle did not dig out a Jungle Shelter where they survived for nearly 2 months; instead, Danielle (on her own after the deaths of Nadia and Montand) returned to the Beach after the disaster at The Temple (not the Black Rock)
In 505, Danielle shot Brennan and Lacombe who had "returned" from the Temple as "Changelings" and laid them out side by side but unburied on the beach. She subsequently killed "Robert" after "he" persuaded her to lower her rifle so that he could (try to) shoot her - which proved that she had been right about him too having been "changed" by The Monster.
In 505, Danielle firmly believed in The Monster as much more than a Security System. Judging by the state of Montand’s arm and the state of the two beach corpses, Danielle shot Robert about a month after the Temple Disaster - but before giving birth to Alex.
In the 505 Iteration, she took a few parting rifle shots (all "misses", natch) at Jin before he was snatched away by the Whiteout. Since these two Iterations of the Rousseau Saga are different, we don’t have to worry about whether S1-S4 Danielle "remembered" Jin.
So ... Danielle (after her child’s kidnapping) "goes crazy" and lives alone for 16 years? I doubt it - and hope we get to see a follow-up to the 505 Rousseau events soon.
After the joyful James/Jin reunion and immediately after James clues Jin in on the finer points of Whiteout Time-skipping, Jin bursts out with some Korean and asks Charlotte (who’s sitting beside Miles) to translate. James mistakenly thinks that Jin has addressed this request to Miles, who offers: "Uh, he’s Korean; I’m from Encino" Priceless.
In true Lostian fashion, it’s the red-haired white girl who speaks Korean. So ... why did she try to hide her Korean language skill? Some observers (more imaginative than me) have suggested that she was a Paik plant, but that seems now to have been a Red Herring.
As Team Locke marches toward the Orchid, Daniel drops back with Charlotte and asks her if she speaks any other languages. Instead of asking him: "How many languages are there?", she replies: "just Klingon" [yay Star Trek!!] Note that Locke has his Knife plus a Machete. Kinda like wearing a belt plus suspenders.
Shortly after, Daniel offers: "It does make empirical sense that if this started at The Orchid, then that's where it's got to stop. But as far as bringing back the people that left in order to stop these temporal shifts, that's where we leave Science behind." Exit Science, enter Voodoo (or Faith). Allrighty then.
The increasing frequency of the next few Whiteouts plus the increase in the number of nose-bleed victims convinces John, James, Jin, Miles and Juliet of the urgency to do ... something, and Locke’s Plan starts sounding less and less crazy, to the point where everyone but Daniel is willing to abandon Charlotte.
After her terrifying warning to Jin not to permit Sun’s return to the Island because This Place Is Death, she slips into Theresa mode: "Why can't Daddy come with us? ... You know what my mom would say about marrying an American ... I know more about ancient Carthage than Hannibal himself." So ... did Charlotte once consider marrying an American? Possibly an American Physicist?
It seems that Charlotte was a Geronimo Jackson fan like Officer Eddie’s Dad, Commune Mike and John Locke. She also offered an Orchid clue to John: "Look for the well. You’ll find it at The Well" Thanks for that, Red. [I wonder if we’ll ever find out how she knew about The Well]
After the departure of Team Locke, we learn from Charlotte that: "Daniel, I've been here before."
"You've been here before?"
"I grew up here, on the Island. There was this thing, the Dharma Initiative ... and then I moved away with my mom and I never saw my dad again. And when I got back (?) to England, I asked my mom about this place, but she would say that it wasn't real and that I made it up. That's why I became an anthropologist, to find this island again. It's what I've been searching for my whole life." So ... she grew up remembering her early Island life? Based on her joy at finding the Tunisia DI Polar Bear, I’d say yes. Note that her mom (Annie?) told her that her Island Life was an Illusion. Yikes.
So ... Charlotte was born in England, moved to the island for a few years and then moved back to England? Allrighty, then.
"Charlotte, why are you telling me this?"
"Because I remember something now. When I was little, living here, there was this man, this crazy man. He really scared me. He said that if I ever came back I would die." This sounds like a "repressed memory", that she only remembered "now".
"Charlotte, I don't understand."
"Daniel, I think that man was you." Hmmm ... Daniel does/did get around - and he doesn’t "remember" this warning. Yet. Maybe it’s in his journal.
Just before she dies, Daniel tells Charlotte that his mother can help them.
Her Work finally Done, Charlotte dies, and Daniel weeps as he did before being recruited by MA. How did that man know whom to call?
So ... can Mummy resurrect Charlotte?
Meanwhile, back at The Well, James asks what John expects to find at its bottom - a subway? Priceless. Jin extracts a promise from John not to bring Sun back to the Island. He promises. Sun will Come Back anyway. No wonder John had to die.
John kept his word and did not contact Sun. But Ben contacted Locke - who gave him Jin’s ring. Note that the Very Bad Things that John told Jack about include some Red-shirt deaths, the disappearance of Bernard and Rose and some nose-bleeds ... a far cry from the Death of Every Single Living Person.
Note that The Well pre-dates the 1970's DI, that the FDW chamber is at its bottom, that the Whiteout Time Skip Flashes emanate from the bottom of the Well, propagating "upwards", that The Well disappeared at some point before the Orchid construction and that it appears to have a tunnel connection to ... somewhere/somewhen else.
Shortly after John falls a good distance (again), lands on his back (again) and injures his R leg (again), "Christian" strides into view, lights a "Jacob lamp" and tells John that he’s there to help him the rest of the way:
"When you came to see me [Christian = Jacob?] in the cabin, you asked me how to save the island and I told you you had to move it. I said that you had to move it, John."
"But Ben said he knew how to do it. He told me that I had to stay here and lead his people."
"And since when did listening to him get you anywhere worth a damn? [valid point] The good thing is that you're here now. You ready to go?" The implication is that John should have insisted that he be the one to Move The Island. But we all know that Ben had to leave first to Prepare The Way. "Christian" is still manipulating John (in a Good way, I think)
"I don't know what to do once I get there."
"There's a woman living in Los Angeles. Once you get all of your friends together, and it must be all of them, everyone who left [does Ji-Yeon count?] and once you've persuaded them to join you, this woman will tell you exactly how to come back."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Eloise Hawking." Jacob/Christian/The Island/Richard/Ben and maybe Widmore are all on the Same Team.
"What if I can only convince some of them to come back?"
"I believe in you, John. You can do this." It’s all about Motivation.
"Richard said I was going to die."
"I suppose that's why they call it a sacrifice."
"Alright. I'm ready." This Messianic willingness to die for the Greater Good marks John as a worthy Leader AND (I think) marks Team Jacob/Hawking/Linus as Good Guys.
"Good. Now on the other side of this column, here, is a wheel that's slipped off its axis. And all you have to do is give it a little push."
Locke tries to get up. "Can you help me up?"
"No. Sorry, I can't." [John Locke = A Moth]
Locke uses the wall to pull himself up. He sees the wheel oscillating - the Time Skipping Effect of which is presumably "magnified" Outside - plus some flashes coming from behind the wall. It would appear that the other side of the wall is the Cold Side.
"Good luck, John," Christian says.
Locke goes to the wheel and pulls it. As the flash of light comes, Christian says, "Say hello to my son."
"Who's your son?" Locke says.
Cut to Christian’s son, with Sun.
So ... after John "stabilised" the Unfrozen Donkey Wheel, I’m guessing that the Island Flashes stopped (?) while Team Ford and Family Richard and the Other Others await the return of The Six ++ (?)
Note that John failed to convince any of The Six to Go Back. Did he actually commit suicide (all depressed over his failure?) as reported in the newspaper? Or was he murdered by The Bad Guys? For St John to qualify for legitimate membership in the Messiah Club, it would have to be Murder, I think.

503 Recap

2009-02-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

LOST 503A - Jughead - aired 1/28/09
Some more Time-Travelling Goodness, including some new head-scratchers
In 501, Daniel, having "skipped" to some time between 2001 - 2004, spoke to pre-crash Desmond - apparently on his own in the Swan - and urged him to contact his mother in Oxford whose name is ... Eloise Hawking (as we learned from the "enhanced" edition of 502 we saw just before 503 aired).
Desmond "receives" this message "3 years later" than the Ben/FDW date of 1/2005 - which would be 1/2008. The first time we see him receive this "memory", he wakes up beside (an apparently un-pregnant) Penny - after which Desmond ups anchor, not-pregnant Penny asks him where they’re going and he replies: "Oxford"
The first scenes of 503 show us a Flash-back of Desmond frantically racing from gambling den to gambling den in search of Doctor "Efron Salonga" - whom he eventually finds. As the two of them run back to Penny’s Boat, Des asks: "Are you sure you know what you’re doing? There’s a lot of blood". En route to the boat, they pass a flag and the word "Mabuhay" - which is a Tagalog greeting - so ... we’re in the Philippines. When they get to the boat, we learn that Penny is giving birth - Emily Linus-style - to a "beautiful " boy. Judging by the sub-par quality of Sonya Walger’s acting, I’m guessing that she was having a Really Bad Filming Day.
In the next scene - back in the "Present", we meet their new son Charlie - named after the ex-hobbit who brought them back together - and also the man who (for a few years) kept them apart. Young Charlie Hume appears to be +/- 3 years old as Desmond tells him about a very special island - called Great Britain - whose most special part is Scotland, a land of mountains, glens, deep Lochs (deep Lockes?) ... and Monsters.

Before going ashore in search of Faraday’s mother, Des promises that he’ll be back by dark and that he will then be "done" [with helping the Losties] forever - including never going back to the Island. Never say "never", Dude.
Having arrived at Oxford, Desmond learns that there are no records of any Faraday ever having worked there. We also learn that Des can't remember when he met Professor Faraday. Is Somebody tampering with the Past and erasing Daniel and Desmond's memory of him? After locating and breaking into Faraday’s former lab above the Physics department, having ignored a "Danger - Fumigation" sticker, we can see the blackboard, the maze, the purple-light gizmo, some papers strewn on the floor - and a pic of Des with a blonde. We are interrupted by a caretaker from whom we learn that Des is "not the first one to poke around here asking about [DF] and his work". So ... my best guess is that the folks who had earlier poked around are the Real Bad Guys - not Widmore and not Hawking/Linus.
Why would Widmore - who’d funded Faraday’s research - not round up and stash all of Daniels’s papers and equipment? Only the LOST writers know.
We also find out that Faraday did something to "that poor girl".
Now armed with a name and address, Des knocks on the Spencer door and we meet Abigail, Theresa’s sister. Theresa is presumably the blonde in the Daniel/Blonde pic. She’s also a long-term patient who’s currently being hand-fed by a Home Care worker. It seems that Theresa is (mentally) "away right now".
Like Minkowski, Theresa is prone to "Consciousness-jumping": "Sometimes she wakes up and thinks she's three, wants to know where her dolly is. Yesterday she was talking to our dad. He died five years ago." Unlike Minkowski, she’s been in this state for years. Daniel having abandoned her, Abigail is grateful to Mr Widmore for having looked after Theresa "ever since this happened to her" - a scenario similar to Christian Shephard looking after (comatose) Carole Littleton for years. I wonder what Carole was dreaming all that time.
So ... CW, whose 20-year search for the Island included funding Faraday’s research - the success of which was enabled by Desmond’s "Constant" mind-travel (Desmond having been selected, trained and motivated by CW and Ms Hawking to go to the Island) ... as I’ve been speculating for some time ... it would seem that CW and Hawking (and therefore Ben - who enabled the Swan destruction via Desmond’s turning of the fail-safe key) have been working (to some extent) together - consciously or otherwise.
Desmond’s next Port of call was CW’s office - where Des breezed past Melanie the receptionist to barge into the Great Man’s office. Note that The Bodyguard seemed to materialise very conveniently. Where the hell is his office? OR did he teleport in from somewhere OR was he Manifested by CW? Note that CW waved Mr Muscle (and Melanie) away in much the same way as he did to the Southfield Auctions usher in "The Constant"
I was impressed by Desmond’s bold stance during the ensuing conversation, during which he asked for (and received) the address of Faraday’s Mother - "currently" in LA - and a "Very Private Person" - more evidence that the two of them work together. I was touched by CW’s seemingly tender concern for the safety of his daughter. It seemed to me as genuine as Ben’s love for Alex. CW’s concern for Penny extended to his parting request:
"Desmond, deliver your message, then get out of this mess. Don't put Penny's life in danger."
"Danger?"
"You're putting yourself in the middle of something that goes back many many years. It has nothing to do with you or my daughter. Wherever you were hiding, go back there." I’m guessing that CW remembers his last ("I’m going to kill your daughter") conversation with Ben. But it also sounded to me as though CW was appealing to Desmond’s "cowardice" and that Desmond picked up on the tone of his "go back there" suggestion.
"Thanks for the advice." He leaves. Desmond’s relationship to his Father-in-law has certainly evolved since 1995. I’m avidly looking forward to this Hawking/Hume meeting!
Meanwhile, back on the Island:
Miles, Charlotte and Daniel plus a couple of Red-shirts are en-route to The Creek. Charlotte’s symptoms have worsened to include dizziness and double vision. Daniel (either foolishly or fatalistically) promises her that he "won’t let" anything happen to her. Since she can’t possibly die yet, maybe Daniel actually knows something about Charlotte’s upcoming not-demise.
Upon arrival at the Wet Part of the creek, there’s no one there to meet and Daniel lectures Miles about his Bad Attitude (very similarly to his Charlotte Attitude Adjustment speech). Miles notices the wires and the Claymore mines, but warns the red-shirts too late to save them. Another couple of dead Living Persons. Multiple explosions! Capture by Flaming Arrow guys! We then meet Ellie, their rifle-toting Leader whose cutely-deceptive line is: "You just couldn’t stay away, could you?"
Note that the Claymore explosions sounded and looked (to me) similar, if not identical to the "Tree-exploder" aspect of Smokey.
It turns out that (according to Richard in a later conversation): " A month ago we found 18 members of an army battalion right here in the jungle, setting up this camp. We gave them the opportunity to leave peacefully. They weren't willing to do that, so I was forced to kill them. All of them." And dress up in their clothes.
"Forced," Daniel says. "By whom?"
"You answer to someone don't you? You follow a chain of command?"
"Yeah."
"Well, so do I." It would appear that Jacob (and possibly therefore Richard) doesn’t subscribe to the "no killing" Good Guy rule.
I’m thinking that the reason to dress up in the clothes of the Enemy - is to better infiltrate them. To me, this is connected to Team Ben dressing down in Hillbilly clothes in order to impersonate the other Others.
Ellie knows that of the 20 Beach Losties, there are still 15 unaccounted for - and wants to know where they are. We now learn that it was the American Invader Soldiers who set up the Claymores. I expect that Rose and Bernard are among the prisoners - whom we did not see during his Ep.
Meanwhile, Locke, Ford and Juliet discuss "Jones" and "Cunningham". Locke shows off his so-far-unaccounted-for Military training/knowledge by pointing out that their rifles are new-looking M1 Garands. It also turns out that "Jones", "Cunningham" (who looks to me a lot like Karl) and Juliet all speak Others 101 (not very good) Latin. Another example of someone secretly knowing a second language.
There’s something to all these people who resemble each other - Juliet/Sarah/Annie ... Ellie/Theresa ... "Cunningham"/Karl ... My best guess is in order to allude to "different versions" of the same "thing" - be it repeating lines, repeating scenarios and repeating/reincarnated people as well. Another hint relating to the whole Buddhist Dharma-wheel cycle comes when Juliet describes Latin as the "language of the Enlightened". Add in the fact that Juliet believes in Karma and we can conclude that the Others are aware of the circular nature of their existence and are therefore that much more "accepting" of their "fate", including death. Note that The Goal of Buddhist existence is to escape the Wheel of Life (through Good Deeds) and to attain Enlightenment, also known as Nirvana.
As Ellie marches her three captives to Richard’s camp, Miles announces that they’ve just stepped over the graves of four dead American soldiers, one of whom died of Radiation Poisoning and three of whom died of Lead Poisoning. Upon arrival at Camp Richard, Daniel learns that the Americans had brought a bomb to the island. A Hydrogen bomb. Which is leaking radiation (that word again). During a brief Time-Out in a tent, Daniel announces that, until "the next flash", the three of them will just go along with the notion that they’re out-of-uniform American soldiers. More plausible (for now) than The Truth, I guess.
Brought before Richard again, we learn that: "We didn't start this, friend, your people attacked us. You come to our island (how?) to run your tests. [Any non-military tests included?] You fire on us and you expect us not to defend ourselves?"
"I don't know anything about that. We are scientists."
"So, what, so they sent you here to recover?"
"You mean our hydrogen bomb? Then yes. I'm guessing from this man's radiation burns that the housing has been compromised. Is that right?" They both look at the bandages on a man's arm. "You need to listen to me. You have an unstable device that is capable of destroying this entire island and it's broken. If you don't allow me to render it inert, all of us are going to die. All of us."
Note that, like the Tempest Threat - also genocidal - that Daniel’s mission is to "render it inert". Different time period, different incarnation of the same threat/solution.
Meanwhile, Locke, Ford and Juliet learn from "Cunningham" that "the rest of your people are either captured or dead" because James didn’t give his orders in a Secret Language.
Juliet’s Diplomacy persuades "Cunningham" to volunteer that Camp Richard is a couple of km’s East of their present location - just before he’s murdered - Goodwin neck-twist style - by "Jones" - who then bolts. Locke aims his Garand but doesn’t shoot, because, well, Jones is one of his people.
Just before Daniel leaves to "disarm" the Bomb, we are reminded that the US Military tested H-bombs (among others) in the South Pacific. What we don’t know yet is how the original Jones, Cunningham etc "found" the Island. Just before Daniel heads out to disarm The Bomb, Charlotte tells him (in a scenario similar to Kate and James at Hydra) that he didn’t "have to " say that he loved her. He asserts that he said it because it’s The Truth.
Before Daniel and Ellie head out, "Jones" arrives and we find out that he’s considered a coward: "Cunningham and I, a group of them surprised us. We were outnumbered, but I escaped."
"Outnumbered, eh?" Ellie smirks as "Jones" tells her to shut up.
"How did you escape?" Richard asks.
"I ran."
"Did it ever occur to you that they might follow you?"
"Follow me? Their leader is some sodding old man. What? You think he can track me? You think he knows this island better than I do?" A coward, a merciless killer and an immature Punk/Bully.
By this time, Locke, Juliet and James have spotted camp Richard as well as Daniel, who (according to James) is being "death-marched into the jungle". Locke wants to have a Word with Richard. Juliet decides to help Ford rescue the Geek, having confirmed to John that Richard is old. Thanks for that, Jules.
As they march toward The Bomb, The Geek keeps looking at Ellie - who reminds him of Theresa. We finally get to see The Bomb, named "Jughead" - and Daniel quickly discovers that the casing is cracked as per his previous theory - and he hurries back to Ellie to warn her to keep her distance, patch the crack with lead, encase Jughead in concrete and bury him. Dubious that radioactive land-fill is Green enough for the Island, Ellie questions the wisdom of "just bury it". So ... Daniel tells her that he knows this is a good-enough solution because he knows that 50 years into The Future, "this Island is still here".
As Ellie chews on that for a moment, Ford and Juliet arrive and the four of them return to Camp Richard, Ford asking: "You told her"? I’m guessing that Ellie remembers this conversation for the rest of her life.
Meanwhile, Locke strides into Camp Richard - to the consternation of "Jones" - who promptly points a rifle at his back. When John tells Richard (who doesn’t recognise him per his prediction during their 2001 First Aid conversation) that Jacob sent him, Richard orders "Widmore" to lower his rifle. The fact that John knew Widmore’s first name probably helped support his credibility - and led to the John/Richard conversation during which John gave Richard The Compass and suggested that Richard visit his birth hospital in a couple of years.
We also learn that: "... we have a very specific process for selecting our leadership and it starts at a very young age." Similar to how the Dalai Lama is selected.
"Alright," Locke says, "what year is it right now?"
"It's 1954." As opposed to: "Well, John, that’s all relative"
"Alright, May 30th 1956, two years from now, that's the day I'm born. Tustin, California. If you don't believe me, I suggest you come and visit me." Whiteout
Note that Charlotte’s wrist bindings and Ford’s Garand stick with them through the Jump. Unfortunately, it looks as though this Jump is one too many for Charlotte as she drips blood out of both nostrils and collapses.
So ... prior to the 1950's arrival of the US soldiers, Family Richard were peacefully hunting boar, fishing and picking mangoes? I don’t think so. Getting off the Island is already in 1954 a Trusted Secret - well before the arrival of DHARMA. Jacob is already a ... God? The Four-toed Statue, the "kill your Father" Pillar and (presumably) the Temple are already old. Can’t wait to meet the Statue-builders.
Assuming that Desmond plans to sail to LA - across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and then up the coast of Mexico to California - his departure from London must have occurred weeks before the Hawking/Linus 70-hour deadline. I’m guessing that he really does have to Go Back with The Six ++. After all, Ms Hawking, Ben and the rest of The Six don’t really need Des to tell them how dire the situation is/was/will be on the Island. Assuming he takes Penny and Young Charlie along, it seems to me that Young Charlie might just grow up to become a Musician.

504 Recap

2009-02-21T08:30:00.001-08:00

LOST 504 - "The Little Prince"
Regarding the Episode title - According to Sparknotes: The [book’s] narrator, an air-plane pilot, crashes in the Sahara desert. The crash badly damages his air-plane and leaves the narrator with very little food or water. As he is worrying over his predicament, he is approached by the little prince, a very serious little blond boy who asks the narrator to draw him a sheep. The narrator obliges, and the two become friends. The pilot learns that the little prince comes from a small planet that he calls Asteroid 325 but that people on Earth call Asteroid B-612. [the label on the metal can overturned by Locke on the debris-strewn beach]
The little prince took great care of his planet, preventing any bad seeds from growing and making sure it was never overrun by baobab trees. [Note that the Little Prince is a Farmer and not a Hunter] One day, a mysterious rose sprouted on the planet and the little prince fell in love with it. But when he caught the rose in a lie one day, he decided that he could not trust her anymore. He grew lonely and decided to leave. Despite a last-minute reconciliation with the rose, the prince set out to explore other planets and thereby seek a cure for his loneliness.
While journeying, the narrator tells us, the little prince passes by neighbouring asteroids and encounters for the first time the strange, narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone and are overly consumed by their chosen occupations.
Shortly after arriving on Earth - in the Sahara desert - the little prince meets a snake - who speaks in riddles and hints darkly that its lethal poison can send him back to the heavens if he so wishes. The little prince politely declines the snake’s offer - for the time being.
Some time later, he befriends a fox, who teaches him that the important things in life are visible only to the heart, that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love makes a person responsible for the beings that one loves. The little prince realizes that, even though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique and that he is therefore responsible for her. Despite this revelation, he still feels very lonely because he is so far away from his rose.
It is now the narrator's eighth day in the desert, and at the prince's suggestion, they set off to find a well. The water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies, and the two share a moment of bliss as they agree that too many people do not see what is truly important in life. The little prince's mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the snake to head back to his planet. The narrator is able to fix his plane on the day before the one-year anniversary of the prince's arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to the place where the prince landed. The snake bites the prince, who falls noiselessly to the sand.
The narrator takes comfort when he cannot find the prince's body the next day and is confident that the prince has returned to his asteroid.
So ... The Six - having learned that Worldly Concerns are less important than returning to The Ones You Love, embrace/will embrace Ben-the-Snake’s offer to send them Home ... OR ... Little Prince Aaron (along with Princess Ji-Yeon and Bonnie Prince Charlie) will be going "home" to their Island/Asteroid, forsaking the narrow-minded world of self-absorbed adults.
It seems to me that the underlying message here is that the Return of The Six will make the World a Better Place ... certainly better than Total Destruction of All Human Life, in any case.
The disappearance of the Little prince’s body after having "died" would appear to be another hint that St John may in fact be "dead" but that he will soon be reborn. Yay!
Recap:
1/05 - on board The Searcher - the night before the discussion/vote about The Lie:
Kate suggests that she should pose as Aaron’s Mum and Jack asks for Kate’s support in favour of The Big Lie. Kate tells him that "I have always been with you" [except for when she’s with James]. Awww
"Three years later" - Kate prepares to meet Dan Norton (the Lawyer) while Auntie Sun looks after Aaron - just like the Good Old Days on the Island. Just as Kate leaves, Sun receives a Delivery, including surveillance pix of Jack and Ben at the back of Hoffs/Drawlor. The accompanying notes appear to be quite detailed - which implies that they’re being tailed by Professionals - but whose? Obviously, this package was sent by Widmore. But notice the result - by the end of the Ep, Sun and Aaron are on the same Pier as Sayid, Jack and Kate - with Hugo due for release the next morning. If Desmond sails into Slip 23 of the Long Beach Marina "tomorrow", he can join the Reunion without even needing to see his Mum. To me, this supports the idea that Widmore and Ben are co-operating to get The Six (plus maybe a few more) back to the Island. If Ben has to die to achieve this goal, this would appear to be a point in the Story where his death might make sense. We’ll just have to see if The Island agrees.
Lawyer Dan reveals that his client seeks a quiet "exchange of custody" and that he will be seeing him/her later that day. As Kate stakes out the Law Office, Jack arrives and together they follow Dan (is there a name shortage on this Show?) out to a motel where we learn that the "client" is Carole Littleton (for some reason made to look like "Elsa" from "The Economist"). We then learn that Carole is in town to collect her Oceanic settlement. Despite having made a comment at Christian’s funeral about how beautiful Kate’s son was, Carole professes - when Jack brings up Aaron’s name - not to know who Aaron is. I guess Carole hasn’t paid much attention to the world-wide news about Kate’s son. Whatever. The most puzzling aspect about Carole’s involvement is: why would Ben want Jack and Kate to know that Carole was in town, but that she has no intention of "taking" Aaron away from Kate? I’m just shaking my head. In any case, the next place J&K go is to the Marina.
Before hopping into Kate’s car to chase Dan the Lawyer, Jack had been in the process of unhooking Sayid from his IV - just as Evelyn Ariza - Director of Clinical Services interrupts and drags Jack into the hall to point out to him that he’s under suspension and that his actions in treating Sayid pose a liability risk to the Hospital. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Hugo to Jack during which we learn that Hugo is in the LA County lock-up - safe from Ben the snake. We don’t see Evelyn again, but as soon as Hugo hangs up on Jack, Ben shows up.
During those few minutes when Sayid was alone, an "orderly" entered his room under the pretext of giving Sayid some more meds, but Sayid figured him out in 10 seconds and during their scuffle, retrieved a note - containing Kate’s address - which was supposedly the address of his "Employer" - Huh? Note the clockwork timing of Jack’s departure from the room and the entrance of the "orderly". Somebody’s got good eyes and ears at St Sebastian’s. It would seem that Dr Ariza works for The Enemy.
A moment later, Jack and Ben join Sayid and they leave the hospital. Given the implications of the Kate note, Jack announces that he’ll track her down, while Ben and Sayid decide they’re going to look into the Hugo scenario. Note that Sayid does not attack Ben, nor accuse him of anything vile. His attitude seems to be cautious distrust. Evidently, his break with Ben was not about Nadia’s murder.
What Ben does say is: "You have friends in trouble. Let's get them to safety and save the dirty linen for later." Judging by Sayid’s subsequent comment that Ben is on nobody’s "side" except his own, it would appear that this dirty linen involves Sayid feeling betrayed, misled and used by Ben in the recent past. However, aside from snatching the van keys and announcing that he’ll drive, Sayid rejoins Team Ben readily enough - for Hugo’s sake. Note that the name on the side of Ben's van, "Canton Rainier" is an anagram of "reincarnation."
Their next stop is an underground parking garage where we learn that Hugo will be a Free Man the following day and that Dan the Lawyer works for Ben. I took some satisfaction out of having predicted this. I wonder what Gabriel and Jeffery are up to? The next stop for the Locke Reincarnation van is Slip 23.
Meanwhile, back on the Island, Charlotte is not dying. In fact, after some initial (temporary) memory loss, she recovers quite readily and Daniel’s theory is that:
"I think it's neurological. Our brains have an internal clock, a sense of time. The [time-skipping] Flashes... throw the clock off. It's like really bad jet lag." The fact that subsequent nose-bleeds (without worsening Charlotte’s previously deteriorating condition) occur with:
2) Miles and
3) Juliet
seems to imply that Charlotte’s Island experience is longest/farthest back, followed by Miles’ (unremembered) childhood (?) stint and then Juliet’s "three years". Beyond this shallow conjecture, I’m just rolling with the Show.
John’s strategy to return to the Orchid strikes me as a reasonably good one. Ben’s left a "wreckage" trail leading from the vault to the FDW - which presents its own obvious invitation. The trick will be for John to enter the Orchid at an appropriate point in time - shortly "after" Ben’s "most-recent" turn of The Wheel. Until then, however, there’s so much we have yet to learn about the Island’s history.
Note that John is NOT spending any time with Family Richard. He’s been snatched away from them - and won’t be returning to them and their Family mysteries as long as he and/or The Island keep Time-skipping.
Note also that we haven’t seen nor heard from Rose, Bernard and the remaining Lostie red-shirts - who are presumably skipping in synch with the A Team and are no longer the prisoners of 1955 Family Richard.
As soon as Charlotte’s recovered enough, Team Locke head back toward Lostie Beach to retrieve the Zodiac. En route, they spot the S1 light-column - (date: 11/1/04) and "detour" around it. John doesn’t want to bump into himself. They then hear screams - and James stealthily approaches the source of the screaming - Claire giving birth to Aaron - just before the next Whiteout.
A little while later, James and John discuss his reason for avoiding the Hatch:
James: So why'd you turn us around then? Don't you wanna go back there?
John: Why would I wanna do that?
James: So you could tell yourself to do things different, save yourself a world of pain.
John: No, I needed that pain to get to where I am now. [Sounds Enlightened to me]
Next up: Return to Lostie Beach. James’ immediate reaction to Juliet’s observation that "Camp’s back" is joy: "Finally! Anybody for a DHARMA beer? Hello? Anybody here? Rose? Bernard?" The camp’s abandoned and seems dishevelled, with a number of the structures in disrepair and all the supplies either stolen or consumed. There’s no "Kitchen", no Losties and no Vincent. But there are a couple of outrigger canoes. Much bigger than the Hydra Island/Karl outrigger. Even stranger - inside the canoe’s a water bottle. Not an Oceanic bottle, not a DHARMA bottle - but a completely new (to us) brand name: Ajira Airlines. Note the following comments about the canoes:
CHARLOTTE: Where did these come from?
FARADAY: That's a good question. They're pretty old.
MILES: Not that old. So ... Miles is implying that these canoes are not as old as they look? What’s up with that?
There’s still some ambiguity because this beach scene apparently dates to late 2005 or later - after the departure of the O6 - but this may be the type of Significant Change From Previous Iterations of Lostie Beach Reality that I’ve been predicting for years. The biggest Change - if that’s what it is - would be the suggestion that in this particular Iteration, the airline responsible for the crash was Ajira.
The Zodiac’s gone - possibly with a handful of the surviving Losties in it.
Shortly after Team Locke jump into one of the canoes, (conveniently large enough to accommodate 6 paddlers) they are pursued and shot at.
Miles: These your people?!
Juliet: No! Are they yours?! Note that before they took Canoe #1, James had asked Juliet: "Who came in these? Other Others?", her reply was: "Don't look at me."
To me, this implies that until they started shooting, Juliet didn’t know who owned the canoes but after they started shooting, she knew they were not her "we’re not killers" people - and that it was OK to shoot back. - which she did.
The final Whiteout of this Ep seems to have sent the entire island back to 1988 - the year that Rousseau’s boat crashed. It’s raining at sea and the A team paddle for shore, where they discover some debris from Rousseau’s boat - apparently named B612 in honour of The Little Prince - written, after all, by a Frenchman. Team Locke must be getting mighty hungry.
Off-shore, the French-speaking survivors of the B612 are in a round life-boat and spot Jin floating face-down on a table or door:
ROBERT: Je t'ai bien dit! On n'aurait jamais du suivre ces maudits chiffres! (I told you so! We never should have followed those damn numbers!)
MONTAND: C'est pas ma faute, Robert. Brennan devait tenir le sonar! (It's not my fault, Robert. Brennan was in charge of the sonar!)
BRENNAN: Mais je le faisais, Montand! Je vous l'ai déja dit, les instruments ont mal fonctionné! (I was watching, Montand! I told you already, the instruments malfunctioned!)
ROUSSEAU: Un homme á la mer! (Man overboard!)
(Man) Quoi? (What?)
Mais je pensais qu'on était tous lB! (I thought we were all there!)
On est tous la! il n'est pas des autres. Alors qui est-ce? (We ARE all here! He's not one of us. So who is it?)
Pagaie! Pagayez! Allez (Paddle! Paddle! Come on!)
"pointez la lampe de poche sur lui" (focus the light on him) "il faut tenir la lampe torche" (We have to hold the light)
"brennan (?), aidez a pagayer" (brennan, help paddling)
"allez depechez vous! nous derivons avec le courant" (come on! hurry up! we are moving with the stream)
"non, il n'y a que lui! pas de bateau, rien" (no.. There's only him! no boat! nothing!)
"les vagues vont nous amener (rapidement ?) sur la côte, le vent ( ?) par ici" (the waves will bring us (quickly ?) to the coast, the wind ( ?) over here)
"nom de dieu brennan! ta gueule!" (for godsake brennan! shut up!)
"allez, montez le dans le radeau" (come on, bring him in the raft) "il est lourd ! » (he’s heavy) "aide moi" (help me)
"Il respire encore" (He's still breathing)
My best guess is that Jin was outside the FDW Time-shift "radius", but close enough to it that he was tossed into 1988. Maybe Rousseau’s 1988 shipwreck was caused (?) by the 12/30/04 FDW activation

Final Scene:
AUTOMATED VOICE OVER RADIO: 4... 8...
MONTAND: Robert... Regarde, le signal vient de l’ile. (look, the signal comes from the island)
ROBERT: Tu peux déterminer la source ? (can you find the source ?)
AUTOMATED VOICE OVER RADIO: 15... 16...
MONTAND: Bien sur que oui. Regarde. (yes of course, look !)
ROBERT: Tu crois qu’elle est habitée ? (do you think it’s inhabited ?)
ROUSSEAU: Ça va ? Comment tu te sens ? (how are you ? how are you feeling ?)
JIN: No understand.
ROUSSEAU: (French accent) You speak English?
JIN: (Panting) Little.
ROUSSEAU: Are you okay?
JIN: Yes.
ROUSSEAU: How did you get here?
JIN: Boat.
Robert surement : Qui est-ce? (who is he ?)
Montand : On s’en fout qui c'est. Qu’est ce qu’il fait ici ? (I don’t care who he is. What is he doing here ?)
ROUSSEAU: Il dit qu’il est venu en bateau. (he said he came by boat)
ROBERT: (French accent) What boat?
JIN: It's gone. Sink.
ROUSSEAU: It must've been caught in the same storm as ours.
MONTAND: Who are you? How long you in the water?
JIN: I don't know.
MONTAND: How do you not know how you wound up in the middle of the ocean, hein ?
ROUSSEAU: Montand ! Laisse le, il est en état de choc. On a de l’eau B lui donner ? (leave him alone, he is shook up, do we have water for him ?)
Robert : Ouais. (yeah) (comes back with the water) Tiens. (Here)
ROUSSEAU: Merci, Robert. (thank you Robert)
JIN: (Exhales deeply) Thank you.
ROUSSEAU: What is your name?
JIN: Kwon Jin-su. Jin.
ROUSSEAU: Hello, Jin. I'm Danielle. Danielle Rousseau.
The End

So ... 1988 Danielle met 2004 Jin (although she doesn’t yet know when he’s from).
I’m guessing that Team Danielle, Jin and the A Team will soon meet in 1988. Team Locke will remember Jin, but will he remember them? Based on him being able to tell Danielle that he was on a boat which sank, it would seem that his 2004 memory’s intact. My advice would be that Jin should hug Charlotte tightly until the next Whiteout - even if it takes weeks and months.
Danielle watching Team Locke disappear before her eyes could tip her into some kind of madness ... OR ... might explain her subsequent strange 2004 behaviour upon re-encountering Jin and his colleagues. She’s always struck me as knowing much more than she let on. Ah ... I’m so looking forward to learning more about Danielle’s Story.
If, however, Team Locke cannot "interact" with Jin and Team Rousseau, they could at least see Jin, enabling John to relay this info to Sun.
Assuming that Locke, after leaving the Island, tracked Sun down and told her that Jin was alive and hanging out on the Island with James, Juliet and the gang ... why would she be all "Kill Ben" right now? Unless she isn’t.

501/502 Recap

2009-02-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

LOST 501A - "Because you left"
What a treat the S5 Premiere was, especially for hard-core "mythology Fans" like me.
For me, the most important revelation in the Two-Ep Premiere was that Ben, Ms Hawking, her son Daniel Faraday, Richard and Whoever keeps sending Hugo Imaginary Friends are all on the same side - trying to push The Six to Go Back. Moreover, Ms Hawking, Ben, his colleague Jill plus several others are all part of a precise Plan the failure of which would seem to be "God help us all" Catastrophic.
It’s still a mystery why anyone would be opposed to the Hawking/Linus save-all-human-life Plan - but I’m thinking that Widmore is not the Bad Guy he seems to be. There seems to be a connection between him, DHARMA, Brother Campbell’s Abbey and therefore to Ms Hawking herself. Note that Tom - who had an Ouroboros tattoo on his chest, seems also to have been connected to either Widmore and/or the Hawking group.
The opposition to the Plan seems to emanate from Someone who wants to delay/defer the Return of The Six - hence the "stay-put" strategies deployed to lock down Kate, Hugo and even Dr Jack. Note that Sayid’s attacker didn’t want him dead - only immobilised - possibly for no more than "70 hours" - after which the Event Window would be closed.
Recap:
Pierre Chang (Dr Candle) wakes up at 8:15 (in the 1970's) and his first (New Otherton) mission is to feed the baby. So ... who is the son/daughter of Pierre and (also Asian) Mrs Chang? - Sun? Note that the record ("Shotgun Willy") he plays as soon as he gets up, skips ... another reference to Time Loops.
Wearing his Swan lab jacket, "Dr Candle" sits for the filming (not taping) of the Orientation Film for Station 2 - The Arrow. It seems that the purpose of this Station was to develop Defensive Strategies (as in the Sonic Fence?) to deal with the hostile indigenous Island inhabitants. Note that the Arrow Station we saw was "abandoned" - except for a few choice Mystery Objects.
The filming is interrupted by an Orchid worker who bursts in with news of Trouble. Upon arrival at the (under construction) Orchid Station, we learn that a worker has been injured - a nose-bleed plus headache and confusion/terror.
The local Foreman shows us a Sonar image of the "open chamber" about 20 meters behind the drill-face - and we can see the FDW! ... before the Orchid was completed!
Despite not having "yet" sent any Orchid bunnies anywhere, Dr Chang seems to know about Time and the Rules of Time Travel. Maybe he acquired this knowledge at The Swan.
He’s hoping that the "almost limitless" energy source inside the rock will - if "harnessed correctly" - permit the "manipulation" of Time. If, however, the "energy" inside the rock were to be released, the results would be "God help us all" catastrophic. Note that getting too close to the buried Energy Source resulted in five broken carbide drill-bits, followed by one melted bit plus (apparently) some Constant Cabin Fever for the affected Worker ("grabbing his head and freaking out" - plus a copious nose-bleed). During the last few moments of this scene we discover that Daniel Faraday - looking the same age as ever - was a member of the 1970's Orchid work crew. It would seem that Daniel uses the same Fountain-of-youth product line as Richard.
Note that as dangerous as the FDW "Energy" was, it was "tamed" (how?) by the time DHARMA sent the PB to Tunisia and when Ben Moved The Island.
Funeral Parlor ("Present Day" - 1/08)
Ben asks Jack to help load Locke’s body into the Van he has out back. Maybe Ben didn’t Teleport into Hoffs/Drawlor. Bentham apparently told Jack that Ford, Juliet etc would die if The Six didn’t go back - implying that at the time he left the Island, they were still alive.
"3 years earlier" - just prior to the "Whiteout" of the FDW Island Move - which implies that the above Funeral Parlor scene is dated 1/08 +/- - which more-or-less agrees with my 3/08 or 4/08 FF Timeline
Just prior to the above Whiteout, Locke had rejoined Team Richard. Immediately after this Whiteout, he finds himself alone - during a rainy down-pour. The whole Island has skipped backwards through time to around 2001 - the (approximate) year that the Beechcraft left Nigeria. John is alone because Team Richard wasn’t at that Island location in 2001. Maybe the Whiteout created a wormhole which allowed the limited-range Beechcraft to take off in Nigeria and land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean using similar technology/physics to whatever enabled Ben (and the PB long before him) to travel from the Island to Africa.
John climbs some hills, sees the (2001) Beechcraft crash - and goes to investigate. Instead of approaching the plane from above, he somehow ends up at the base of the Crash Cliff and as he climbs up the same tree-roots climbed "previously" by Boone and Eko, Locke is shot at - by (2001) Ethan. As Locke fell backwards off the cliff, my first thought was that he’d broken his back a different way, possibly explaining Mikhail’s "fleeting memory". Wrong. He was just suffering from a bullet-wound to his right leg. Note that 2001 Ethan was very cautious/belligerent towards Locke. It would seem that the Ben/Ethan Family in 2001 had reason to be wary of strangers. How do you say other Others?
Ethan, sent to investigate the Beechcraft crash, asked John (at the point of his rifle) who he was. After informing Ethan that he knew his name - which John could have parlayed into a cease-fire - he then told him: "My name is John Locke. I know this is going to be hard to understand, but, Ben Linus appointed me as your leader"
Ethan: "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Good bye, John Locke." - as he started to squeeze the trigger - Whiteout.
Note that Ethan, when he subsequently "met" John in 2004 didn’t (as far as we know) remember this 2001 meeting. Note also that this Whiteout may have been triggered by John - his anxiety sufficiently attuned to The Island OR his Wish-Fulfilment Power
sufficiently potent to bring on the next Skip ("Jump 2")
Jump 2 - Night-time. John sees the downed Beechcraft. He hops over to it, peeks inside, sees Yemi’s body and grabs a strap to use as a Tourniquet. The date is after Boone’s death and before "?". Let’s say 11/15/04
After applying the tourniquet, with his back leaning against the Beechcraft fuselage, Richard emerges from the jungle, torch (and First Aid kit) in hand.
"How did you know there was a bullet in my leg, Richard?"
"Because you told me there was, John."
"No, no. No I didn't."
"Well, you will." Richard remembers a future event
"It was Ethan who shot me."
"Well, what comes around, goes around." Karma. Richard pours alcohol on Locke's leg.
"When am I?"
"Well, John, that's all relative." Not really. A date is a date. It’s 11/15/04 +/- Richard prepares to remove the bullet.
"Wait. The noise, when the sky lit up, where did you go?"
"I didn't go anywhere, John. You did." Why do The Losties jump around, but Team Richard’s members do not?
"This is going to hurt. It'll be a lot worse if you move, okay? Hold still." Richard uses tongs to remove the bullet. Previous bullet removals include Ford on the raft and Mikhail/Sayid.
"All done."
"I don't understand. How did you know I was here? How did you know where to find me?"
"I wish I had time to explain it, John, but you're going to be moving on soon, and we need to go over a couple things before ..." Richard remembers a future event.
"Moving on?" Locke moans in pain as Richard dresses his wound.
"First, you're going to need to clean out the wound every couple of hours. Keep as much weight off the leg as you can. The island will do the rest, John. Secondly..."
"But I don't understand-"
"No, no, pay attention, John. The next time we see each other I'm not going to recognize you." Why not?
"You give me this," He hands him a compass.
"What is this?"
"It's a compass."
"What does it do?"
"It points North, John. Hey look, I wish I had time to be more sensitive about this, because it's a lot to swallow, but you need to know it in order to do what you need to do so I'm just going to say it. The only way to save the island, John, is to get your people back here, the ones who left."
"Jack, Kate? But the chopper was headed for the boat, the boat..."
"They're fine, John, and they're already home. So you have to convince them to come back."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"You're going to have to die, John." - Whiteout
Jump 3 - It's daytime. The plane is back up on the cliff. The date is 8/04 (see below)
Locke looks into his bloody right hand at the compass Richard had given him. The next time we see John it’s night-time and Juliet’s about to get her hand chopped off.
Meanwhile, back at Lostie Beach:
Whiteout - Ben’s just turned the FDW, sending The island to (approximately) 2001.
In the Zodiac, Neil ("Frogurt") asks: "What happened?" Not that it matters, but I doubt that we saw him jump into the Zodiac at the end of 412.
We discover that the Camp is gone because it "hasn’t been built yet" - the whole Island, including the Losties - has been shifted 3 years into (its) "past" - to 2001. Note that the 3-years backwards Island Shift bears no correlation to Ben’s 10-month "forward" Spacetime jump to Tunisia.
It turns out that the Zodiac made the Shift, but the Beach kitchen, tents, water containers and utensils - including knives - did not. Daniel, who knows more than he tells us, asks to be taken to a man-made structure (other than the Tempest), Juliet tells him that the (Swan) hatch is within 15 minutes of Lostie Beach - so off goes the new "A" Team, including Shirtless James, Juliet, Miles, Charlotte and Dan. On the way to the Hatch Crater, Team Ford encounters Jump 2 - into the darkness of a night in 11/04. James: "Great".
When they reach the crater "blown up, just like we left it" in 11/04, Ford decides to return to the (presumably functioning Beach Camp) for some food and supplies. Note that Bernard, Rose, Frogurt and various Red-shirts did not follow the A Team to the crater. As far as we saw, Bernard was trying to light a fire, with Rose nagging him all the way. So ... what do they encounter after Jump 2? A "restored" Camp, complete with 11/04 copies of themselves? I doubt we’ll ever find out.
After James and Juliet suggest that they could Change The Past by warning the Losties not to fly to the Kahana, we learn some more LOST Time Travel Rules:
Daniel: "That's not the way it works,"
"Who says?" asks Sawyer.
"You cannot change anything .... you can't. Even if you tried to, it wouldn't work." To me, this sounds like Tom telling Michael "it won’t work" ... that the Island’s Will is indomitable.
"Why not?".
"Time is like a string. We can move forward on the string. We can move in reverse. But we cannot ever create a new string. If we try to do anything different, we will fail. Every time. What happened, happened." This is basically Mummy’s Universal Course-Correction" theory - which she also is trying to circumvent.
"How do you know so much about this, Danny boy?"
Daniel takes off his backpack. "I know about this," he pulls out his journal, "because I spent my entire adult life studying space/time. I know this because this journal contains everything I've ever learned about the Dharma Initiative. This is why I am here. I know what's happening." And yet ... Dan is going to try to change The Past/Present/Future anyways.
Based on Juliet’s apparent cluelessness, it would seem that she does not know what’s coming. Hmmm. After the "son-of-a-bitch" shift into Jump 3 daylight, Juliet finds the camouflaged 9/04 Quarantine lid - James (towing the A Team) marches off to the Swan back door to pound on it for DHARMA food, beer and clothing.
After some "Brig" and Ben’s Secret Room-style door pounding, including: "Open the damn door" and "You open up. It's the ghost of Christmas Future.", James is finally persuaded ("If it didn’t happen, it can’t happen") to return to Lostie Beach with everyone except Daniel - who stays behind for a little door-pounding of his own.
Just before Charlotte marches off towards Lostie Beach, we see that she has a nosebleed. Desmond suspects that Charlotte has Eloise Syndrome - but seems unable/unwilling to help her find her Constant. Yet.
When Desmond finally opens the Swan Back Door, he’s in his Haz-Mat suit, complete with respirator and air-tank. So ... Kelvin is ... dead? (otherwise, he’d have come to the door) or Kelvin is ...sleeping/sick/comatose/drunk? Or Kelvin is ... outside somewhere?
Desmond is wearing his crisp, new-looking Haz-Mat gear. It’s not yet 9/22/04, since the Lostie Beach Camp is still unbuilt ... Whatever. Let’s say it’s 8/04.
Daniel: "You are the only person who can help us, because The Rules, Desmond, The Rules don't apply to you."
Different Rules, I guess, but note that The Rules didn’t apply to (Hydra Station) Juliet either.
Daniel: "You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special."
"What are you talking about?"
Daniel starts to hear the Whiteout noise. "Okay, listen to me, listen! If the helicopter somehow made it off the island, if you somehow made it home ..."
"What helicopter? What are you talking ..."
"Listen! I need you to listen or people are going to die. My name is Daniel Faraday and right now me and everyone else you left behind, we're in serious danger and you're the only one who can help us. I need you to go back to Oxford University." The light is getting brighter and Desmond looks up. More insistent now, Daniel says, "Go back to where we met and find my mother. Her name is ..." As soon Daniel said these words, I wrote down: Ms Hawking. I’m proud of that little insight. Note that Dan "sent" 2008 Desmond a "memory" from his "past". I’m guessing that The Good Guys (possibly Team Hawking) sent Island Desmond a series of Charlie Dying memories from his Future.
Having received this message, Desmond decides to act on it by upping anchor and travelling to Oxford to see Ms Hawking - who is connected to his former "boss" Brother Campbell - and to Daddy Widmore. Yikes.
Back at Lostie Beach (circa 8/04), Bernie the Dentist almost succeeds in lighting a fire. Miles announces that he’s going to scrounge up some food. I’m guessing that he’s just sensed the death (how?) of a boar.
Charlotte has found a couple of mangoes and gives one to Daniel as she tells him some more about her head-aches and memory losses. Daniel lies to her (why?) And suggests that she’s suffering from stress
Miles returns with a dead boar draped over his shoulder. He says he "found" it dead but that it’s safe to eat, because it’s only been dead for three hours. We know that Miles can commune with the dead and learn from them the circumstances of their deaths. Maybe the Island killed that boar for the hungry Losties. Not that they’re going to be able to enjoy their Raw Boar that night.
Just as Frogurt launches into his whining rant about how the Losties are all screwed because they have nothing and can’t even "get fire" - he gets a fire-arrow in the chest!! Island Karma at its finest.
Lostie Beach is suddenly a Battle Zone! Fire Arrows fly in! Red-shirts die! Sawyer yells out that everybody should split up and get to the creek!
Note that on the evening of 9/22/04, the freshly-arrived Losties were not attacked by these fire-arrow-wielding Hostiles or the rifle-toting overall-clad Hostiles (who might or might not be the same Bad Guys) either. It would seem that my long-ago theory of Lostie Beach having been Protected by The Monster is/was correct. Note also that the Night One Tailies were attacked (though not murdered). As I’ve said before, I believe these Night One attackers are/were the other Others - the on-Island Bad Guys.
Having fled Lostie Beach, James and Juliet are captured by "Jones" - a murderous Hater wearing Not-DHARMA overalls. He wants to know how many Losties there are, how they got there and what they are doing. Instead of approaching our unarmed, obviously civilian Losties peacefully, their approach is to shoot first and ask questions later. It would seem that Jones and his friends have their own on-Island enemies.
To illustrate his seriousness, Jones threatens to unconditionally cut off one of Juliet’s hands, the second one optional, depending on the quality of her intel.
Just before his machete-wielding underling can complete his hand-chopping-off blow, he is hit by a not-bullet - possibly a thrown rock, possibly (??) an invisible punch - which is what it looked like to me.
Jones is similarly felled by an "invisible punch", then James tackles Underling #2, while Juliet picks up Jones’ rifle and points it at him. Meanwhile, Mr Machete recovers and is about to slash at James when he’s killed by a thrown knife. Enter Locke. It’s still 8/04. I think.
Note that the Losties can skip through Time and keep their memories - like Richard (except when he can’t).
Meanwhile, back in the Real World, Aaron is watching a cartoon train on TV and says: "Choo-choo, tunnel." Kate replies: "Oh I think choo-choo knows better than that. He goes into that tunnel, he's never coming back out." Never Coming Back. We’ll hear those words again.
At the door, some "lawyers" tell Kate they have a Court Order authorising them to "take" blood samples from her and Aaron in order to determine her relationship to him. Oh, sure. Since when do Lawyers have the medical expertise to withdraw blood? IMO, the only purpose of this Lawyer Visit is to herd Kate and Aaron (using him to influence her) out of her comfy house and back to the Island. It seems to me that the "lawyers" are on the Ben/Jill team. Note that Matthew Abbadon also posed as a Lawyer - and his mission seemed also to be to herd Hugo out of his comfy "home".
As Kate and Aaron said "Bye-bye" to their home, we get to see a photo of Jack playing with Aaron on a swing. Awww.
London airport: Sun, using her Oceanic Golden Pass is briefly detained by Widmore who (sounding curiously similar to Daddy Paik) seems to have been offended by Sun’s earlier "lack of respect" in accosting him in public, in front of his business associates. Huh? Anyways ... she tells him that she’s willing to help kill Ben. I’m guessing he’s the Second Person she blames for Jin’s death. This (9:20) meeting is short enough that she does not miss her flight to LA.
Ben’s LA motel room: Ben watches the news report describing Hugo’s murder-enabled escape from Santa Rosa murder. Oops. Change of plan. Ben is not omniscient.
Sayid’s car: Hugo offers Sayid some fries and says: "You know, maybe if you ate more comfort food you wouldn't have to go around shooting people." Sweet. A few minutes later, Sayid tells Hugo that for the last two years (11/05 to 11/07) he’s been working for Ben and if Hugo should meet Ben, he should do the opposite of whatever Ben suggests. Hugo listens and remembers. So ... some time after the Elsa hit, Sayid lost faith in Ben.
A few minutes later, Sayid kills two would-be captors, but is himself rendered unconscious by a trank dart. I’m guessing his assailants didn’t want to kill Sayid, but only to immobilise him long enough to miss the Event Window - described below.
502 ( "The Lie" ) begins "3 years ago" (1/05) on the Searcher - where the Six (plus 2) are discussing The Lie. All are reluctantly in favour except Hugo who’s sceptical that Lying is necessary - or even possible. No wonder Jack - in TTLG - visits Hugo at Santa Rosa to check up on whether Hugo has blabbed.
Frank tells Jack that he’ll "just roll with" whatever they decide - and that’s the last we see of him. He doesn’t stick around with Des and Pen ... and he’s not a member of The Six. So ... maybe he’s wasting away in Margaritaville ... or Eleuthera.
Penny now hears from The Six that her Daddy is a Lying, Genocidal Power Freak - which may or may not be true. She does know, however that he can’t be "called off".
When Sayid chooses not to support Hugo’s Tell The Truth strategy, Hugo threatens that at some point, Sayid will need Hugo’s help - which he’ll withhold.
Cut to Sayid’s "Present Day" car - Hugo is driving, Sayid is slumped unconscious in the passenger seat. Hugo’s erratic driving attracts the attention of a Traffic Cop - who turns out to be "AL". She instructs Hugo to ditch his Santa Rosa duds and to take Sayid somewhere safer than Sayid’s Safe House. Her parting advice is to avoid cops and not to get arrested. Hugo ends up doing the opposite of this too. Oh yeah ... Libby says "Hi".
Note that Hugo now seems to have accepted the "reality" of various Dead Friends including Charlie and Eko - and has come to understand that he is not crazy. Allrighty, then. Note also that "Charlie" and "Ana Lucia" are trying to "push" Hugo to Go Back, which aligns them with the Hawking/Linus Team.
Acting on AL’s advice, Hugo pulls into a Gas Station/Souvenir Shop and buys an XXL T-shirt (into which he changes between the shop and the car - I’m so glad we didn’t get to see that). As he pulls out of the parking lot, Kate pulls into the same parking lot [small world, eh?] and considers calling Jack. She changes her mind, but is then immediately called by Sun - who’s by now in LA and would like to see Kate while she’s in town.
Ben’s Motel Room:
Ben is removing a ventilation grille, behind which there’s a bag. Ben places this bag inside another bag as Jack enters. They’re temporarily splitting up - Jack to go pack "anything in this life" that he wants, because he is Never Coming Back, Ben to stash JL’s corpse. When Jack asks: "He’s dead, isn’t he?", Ben gives him no reply. I’m guessing that John may not be quite as dead as Christian was in the Australian morgue. They agree to meet again in 6 hours.
Carmen’s House:
Cheech (er David) is fixing himself some comfort food, the better to watch the latest Ep of "Expose" - which gets interrupted by Hugo’s arrival at the (side) sliding door - with Sayid slung over his shoulder.
The Main Point of the following few minutes is that Cheech wants Hugo to Tell Him The Truth. They decide that Cheech will take Sayid to Dr Jack.
Hotel Lobby:
Kate and Aaron march across the lobby to an elevator - and Aaron wants to Push The Button. Definitely an Island Child.
Butcher Shop:
Jill chops up some meat at least as well as Charlie’s Dad ever did.
After Ben tells her that he’s got something for her to look after, she says: "He'll [not "it"] be safe with me."
Ben looks around. "Have Gabriel and Jeffrey checked in yet?"
"Yeah. Everything is moving right on schedule. How's it going with Shephard?"
"He's with us."
"Really? What'd you do, bribe him with some pills?"
"Cut the man some slack. He's been through a lot. We all have."
She looks down. "Right ... of course ... sorry."
"So keep him [not "it‘] safe, Jill, because if you don't, everything we're about to do won't matter at all." This is our first-ever hint that Ben is part of a Plan and has honestly confided (at least some of) the details of this Plan to respected colleagues. Despite what D&C have to say, I still believe that Ben really is a Good Guy.
Carmen’s House:
As Hugo tries to placate his Worried Mother, the LOST writers send us a sly message:
"Everything’s going to make sense. I promise." I almost believe them.
Sun’s Hotel Room:
Kate tells Sun about the Lawyers and Sun shrewdly concludes that they were not interested in exposing The Lie, but that they were interested in taking Aaron away. This can’t be correct. If they wanted to take Aaron away, they would just snatch him. She then advises Kate to "take care of them"!! Wow! Sun’s showing the same cold-blooded resolve that she showed to Jin’s Prostitute Mother, her Daddy and Charles Widmore.
Parking Garage:
Cheech hands Sayid over to Jack ands asks him to "stay away" from Hugo "when this is over". Yeah, well ...
Carmen’s House:
Carmen tells Hugo that a Good Guy doesn’t kill 3 men. A Good Guy doesn’t kill any men. Aside from his Father and the murderer of his "daughter", this appears to be exactly Ben’s creed.
As Hugo (finally) tells his Mother a disjointed, funny and completely crazy-sounding honest account of his Island Adventures, she tells him: "I believe you. I don’t understand you, but I believe you." I’m sure Hugo feels so much better, now.
While Jack is reviving Sayid at the hospital, Ben drops in for a chat with Hugo. Did he teleport past the Cop Stake-out?
Had it not been for Sayid’s earlier warning, Hugo might very well have accepted Ben’s offer to "go back to the Island. Come with us, Hugo, and this will be over. You can stop hiding. You can stop worrying about the stories and the deceptions. If you come with me, you won't ever have to lie again."
Note that Ben knew exactly what was emotionally eating away at Hugo. How could he know? I think Ben learned it telepathically. Be that as it may, Ben did not anticipate that Hugo would "do the opposite" . Now that Hugo’s been re-arrested, he’ll be locked up somewhere much more secure than Santa Rosa. Maybe he’ll meet MA there.
A Church (Oxford?)
Ms Hawking is scribbling scientific formulae on a blackboard while a large sweeping pendulum marks a circular tablet with a series of chalk lines all intersecting at the same central point. Her computer shows an "Event Window Determined" World map - with 8 or 9 Pacific Ocean matching marks displayed. She climbs some narrow circular stairs into an upper room, in which Ben is lighting a candle. If this is Oxford, it would appear that Ben teleported himself from LA.
He watches her unroll a cloth bundle and asks: "Any luck?"
"Yes," she says.
"Really?"
"Really. What about you?"
"I'm having some difficulties."
"You’d better get busy, because you only have 70 hours."
"What? No, no, that's not enough time! I need at least..."
"What you need is irrelevant." She turns to face him. "What you've got are 70 hours."
"Look, I lost Reyes tonight."
She looks worried. Ben says, "So what happens if I can't get all of them to come back?"
"Then God help us all."
The End
So ... Ben appears to believe in some form of God - as does Ms Hawking and Brother Campbell - possibly Daniel’s brotha
Sun has offered to help kill Ben, Kate will need lots of persuasion and Hugo’s on his way to jail or Max Security Nut-house. Sayid has turned away from him. Ben has a lot of Work To Do in the next 70 hours.

What does Juliet know that's worth her life?

2009-01-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

Rachel having become pregnant, followed by Edmund Burke having been killed by a bus shortly after Juliet expressed that "Wish" may be evidence that Juliet shares Walt’s wish-fulfilment Gift.

She knows that (prior to Ben’s tumour) that the Island is/was cancer-free.

Male sperm count is five times higher on the Island than elsewhere
Women who become pregnant on the Island die before their third trimester

Jacob is a great and powerful wizard, able to cure (and therefore inflict) cancer and appendicitis - among other wonders.

The Sonic Fence can repel Smokey

Having undergone the Island Martial Arts Training Program, she’s able to defend herself in unarmed combat. She’s also become a good shot with both Taser and hand-gun. The implications of a newly-arrived fertility doctor receiving Martial Arts and Weapons training include the likelihood that there are on-Island pre-crash Bad Guys ... the other Others.

Free Will is only available on the Island. Off the Island, Free Will no longer exists. The lives of off-Islanders (including all the misery suffered off-Island by our Losties) have been scripted for them by Someone - possibly Jacob. On the Island, people have to/can make Choices. If Juliet were to have explained this Fact of Life to Sayid the Former Torturer and Ford the Murderer, her life might indeed be forfeit.

Having suffered her fourth shoulder dislocation during "Left Behind" implies that she’s been through three previous Time Loops - and remembers that fact. She may therefore know (some of) what’s ahead for the Losties. If this is correct, it could be worth her life. If she knows about up-coming Lostie injuries and deaths and doesn’t try to prevent them, it might annoy the uninitiated.

Karma and the wisdom of "banking" Good Deeds

The above nuggets do not include the fact that Claire had been implanted with a sick-making device and that Juliet’s Lostie Beach Mission included testing Sun and Kate for pregnancy.

Primary and Secondary Protocols

2009-01-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Widmore/Keamy/Dorrit/Faraday Primary Protocol appears to have been:

Naomi lands on the Island safely and makes contact with Widmore's on-Island allies. "Finding Desmond" is her "cover story", but her real mission is to locate Ben.

Daniel and Charlotte's Primary Objective is to secure The Tempest and to disable its Island-wide death-spreading capability. It appears to me that Daniel has taken "Manual Control" of The Tempest at this time, which actually keeps it "in play".
Daniel's Secondary Objective seems to have been the study of the Island's Physical, Temporal and Electro-magnetic properties, possibly to re-enable communications with the mainland. His Tertiary Objective may have been an effort to correct his "memory problem". Having helped Desmond find his Constant (and thus possibly establishing his own) he may have achieved this objective. Note that Daniel (but not Charlotte) was aware (how?) of Keamy's Secondary Protocol.

Miles' Primary Objective seems to have been to locate Ben, using any means available, including telepathy. He's happy to try to extort money from Ben (as he did to the Ghost of that drug-dealing grandson) but he didn't "sign up" for mass murder.

Charlotte's Cultural Anthropological training may have come in handy in understanding and befriending the Hostiles and other Others. Having said that, her social skills need sharpening up, IMO.

The Science Team having disabled the Tempest and having located Ben, the Wet Team's Primary Protocol seems to have been to capture Ben, based on the info gathered by the Science Team and to escort him off the Island, leaving its inhabitants alive but under the new leadership of the Widmore Loyalists.

Ben's declaration to Team Locke that after his capture, everyone else on the Island was to be murdered may have been another of his lies (although it was tacitly corroborated by Miles). It seems to me that it was only after the failure of the Primary Protocol that Keamy initiated the Secondary Protocol which included finding Ben at the Orchid, capturing him and "torching" the Island.

Season 5 Speculation

2009-01-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

Miles’Ghost-busting skills will help explain The Whispers and possibly the long-dead Statue Builders.
I think that Miles is fascinated by what he’s seen on the Island so far, including the recognition that "Claire" wasn’t "herself" after the destruction of her Otherville house. My best guess is that she died in that explosion and that the island immediately resurrected her as a "Smokie" like "Yemi" and "Christian". The fact that she meekly followed "Christian" out of the overnight camp-site, abandoning Aaron (Buddha-like) on that jungle leaf and subsequently chatted with Locke in Jacob’s Cabin suggests as much ... and that Miles was staring at her in wonderment, not lust when Ford warned him to stay away from her.

Charlotte’s Cultural Anthropology skills will also help explain the origins/history of the Statue-builders.
We’ll find out more about her birth and previous life. On one hand, she may have been born on the Island and has been trying to return for years. Or she was conceived there, but born in England and was told about the island by her mother, who may or may not have raised her..

Daniel’s Physics skills will help unravel the physical/electromagnetic peculiarities of The Island. It may be that until Desmond established his "Constant" that Daniel’s note to himself: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant" didn’t exist. Maybe - now that both Daniel and Desmond have established their Constants ... maybe Daniel the "head-case" who "can’t even help himself" has been cured of his "memory problem".

Assuming that the Statue-builders are the same folks who built Ben’s carved-stone Smokey-access door and the glyph-inscribed Frozen Donkey-Wheel chamber, my best guess is that DHARMA, in an effort to "solve" the human-created Future Disaster travelled way back in time and created (or at least influenced) Ancient Cultures including the Assyrians, the Aztec and the Egyptians (whose decorations show up on DHARMA equipment/decor, including the Egyptian hieroglyphs displayed on the DHARMA-built Swan countdown timer). This kind of TT to the distant past may have something to do with the mix of human religions and philosophies we see all over the show too.

I’m hoping that the "Very Bad Things" that happen to the left-behinders do not include the death of Every Living Person on the Island - leaving only the Non-Living Persons (including Ageless Richard and all the Smokey-people) alive.
If wide-spread death is in the cards, I’m guessing that this disaster will roll out of The Tempest - possibly under the manual control of Daniel and/or Charlotte or the other Others.

I’m expecting to learn more about The Sickness (also possibly manufactured at The Tempest) during S5.

I’m hoping to learn more about the Arrow Station - and why Radzinsky’s bible and the glass eye were stored there.
I doubt that we will revisit the Pearl or the Orchid, but I expect we’ll return to The Staff Station and learn more about the Staff Station Battle - in which Ethan’s cheek got scratched. Maybe we’ll even learn how Charlie was hung up to die. I’m thinking that Ethan really didn’t do this dastardly deed.

The Six:
The return of the Six (plus Locke’s body) plus Walt, plus Ben (despite his "never come back" comment) will permit some kind of "do-over" which will avoid the above Island Disaster mentioned to Jack by "Bentham".

Hugo’s Gift is his new-found ability to make his wishes come true coupled with his new-found self-confidence ... as long as someone can convince him he’s not crazy. The last time we saw him in S4 was in Sayid’s company, escaping Santa Rosa where he’d been locked away and watched. Note that Abaddon had tried to get Hugo out of Santa Rosa weeks/months earlier - maybe he’s a Good Guy.
Hugo’s "current" unwillingness to return to The Island seems to me to be motivated by his belief that he really is crazy - and has been having conversations with Imaginary Friends, including (during Sayid’s visit) a chess-playing Eko. It occurs to me that The Bad Guys have been sending Hugo these Imaginary Friends (including pre-crash Dave) in their efforts to make him doubt his sanity and willingly "stay put".

Sayid’s been busy killing Bad Guys - who seem to me not to report to Daddy Widmore ... so ... who is The Economist? As at the end of S4, Sayid and Hugo were heading to "somewhere safe" - and Sayid has explicitly told Hugo that they are not returning to The Island, a commitment that will have to be overturned. I expect that Kate and Aaron will join Sayid, Hugo, Jack, Sun, Ji Yeon and Locke’s corpse in this Safe House. With "Bentham" decomposing by the hour, they’d best not linger in the Safe House.

Sun has managed (possibly in combination with her O6 colleagues) to take over her Daddy’s business and when last seen in S4 had approached Daddy Widmore with an offer (possibly a trick) to help him in some way. Widmore’s familiarity with Paik confirms their collusion in rounding up and loading the Losties onto Flight 815. The fact that Paik tasked Jin with the delivery of two Special Watches coupled with the fact that Christian made a big deal about giving his Father’s Watch to Jack on his wedding day ... this watch business underlines the centrality of Time and Time Travel on LOST.
Ji-Yeon is healthy and smart and Sun has repaired her relationship with her Mom. Her Daddy? Probably not so much, since he’s one of the two people she blames for Jin’s death. The second person she blames may be Jack (he thinks so) ... or it may be Widmore, in which case she’s plotting to harm him ... or ... ?

Jack: Having been marked by Achara as a Great Man and having been tested by the Others and admitted to their "inner circle" (including chess with Ben and football with Tom), he’s certainly ready to become the Leader he’s been trained to be. He’s learned the Hard Way that he should have stayed on The Island - just as Locke and Ben had told him on several occasions. He’s reconciled with Ben (in "no place like home") - ready to Go Back

Kate: as at the end of S4, Kate was still not willing to Go Back. I expect that she’ll change her mind early in S5 - possibly through a threat to Aaron. Like Hugo, she’s been "locked up", restricted to Playing House with her "son" in California for 10 years. In the most-recent teaser for S5, we see Kate telling a much-grown Aaron that they’re going somewhere - and it looks like they’re in danger - maybe even Great Danger.

Aaron is Very Special. The Island (including Ben) wants him to go back, but Someone Else - someone able to send Kate a Smokey Dream in which "Claire" tells Kate "don’t you dare bring him back", wants Kate to stay put in California.

Locke will be "resurrected" like Christian. My best guess is that Locke is/has been/will become Jacob. I’m also expecting to find out that Locke was in the Military shortly before he got pushed out that 8th-storey window.

Where/When did the Island go?:
I think that the Island has been sent back into the past - again. Let’s remember that Juliet’s shoulder has been dislocated 4 times (so far). I’m hoping that in the S5 Iteration, Jin is not dead - and is somehow reunited with Sun when she returns with their daughter. If I’m right and The Island’s been sent back into The Past, the "Oceanic 6" returnees may not be able to interact with the left-behinders. They may be able to watch them (including their own past selves) but only speak to them in Whispers. Or ... maybe their "future" consciousnesses will be able to share space with their past consciousnesses as was the case with Desmond in FBYE and in "The Constant" ... or maybe, The Six will "go" wherever/whenever the Island "went" and rejoin their friends (and enemies) within Island Time

Juliet - she knows way more than she’s told the Losties so far. Remember that she stated to Sayid that if she told him everything she knew that he would kill her ... so far, whatever she’s revealed seems to me not to have been worth killing her for ... but maybe she knew that Nadia, Claire and Jin would "die"

Ford - he’s just returned to the Island and was last seen sharing a bottle of DHARMA rum with Juliet. Will the two of them form a connection? My guess would be that James is not her type. I think he’s asked Kate to look up Clementine and if there’s a way for him and a Returned Kate to interact, I’d guess that the two of them would re-team - at least until Jack gets his act back together

Rousseau - despite her death, I’m hoping we learn her story - possibly through the "flashbacks" of someone else - possibly Richard - who will have to educate JL if he’s going to become their Leader.

Matthew Abaddon - on one hand, this guy’s creepy visit to Hugo implied that he’s a Bad Guy who wanted to transfer Hugo to another location the better to interrogate him. Having failed to persuade Hugo to leave, it may have been MA who then ordered Hugo watched. Or not. Maybe Abaddon wanted to get Hugo out of Santa Rosa, knowing that The Enemy was watching him.
On the other hand, MA inspired a dejected Locke into signing up for his Walkabout - which may or may not have been the actions of a Good Guy.
On the third hand, he assembled Naomi’s Science Team and coldly ordered her to "get in, get out and prevent anyone from getting killed". MA may not have been in charge of Keamy’s Team. I’m hoping we resolve these ambiguities (at least a little) in S5.

We’ll learn more about the competing Factions on and off the Island:
By systematically cutting off communications between the Island and The World (starting with the destruction of The Swan followed by the LG jamming) and between the Kahana and the World plus manipulating the Losties (plus Mikhail) into killing a bunch of Hater/Loyalists including Ethan, Colleen, Danny, Bea, Ryan, Bonnie, Greta - and finally even Tom and Mikhail himself, Ben managed to wipe out a whole bunch of on-Island Bad Guys before the arrival of the Widmore-sponsored Science and Wet Teams (who were expecting on-island "hater" help).
Then, Ben (with a little help from Smokey) killed/captured Keamy and his entire team - and permitted/enabled the destruction of The Kahana followed by "moving" the Island to once again hide it from Widmore’s "view". So ... Ben’s ("we’re not killers") team (possibly directed by Jacob) seems to be opposed to Widmore’s ("take no prisoners") team. I think Ben/Richard’s Good Guy team is mostly ex-Scientists

But I don’t think it’s that simple. I think The Island has an agenda which may or may not coincide with Ben’s and/or Jacob’s. Both Ben and Tom (RIP) are aware of The Island’s powers - which seem to be greater than their own.
Note that Someone sent "Harper" to give Juliet a message (supposedly from Ben) to kill Daniel and Charlotte at The Tempest. At the last moment she refrained and the breach (IMO created by Daniel) was contained. Had Juliet killed Daniel per "Harper’s" message, the Islanders might have been murdered at that point. IMO, the on-Island Faction that sent "Harper" to Juliet and Jack are opposed to Ben and were trying to frame him. These Bad Guys are still - at the start of S5 - around. The "Harper" manifestation had all of the "hater" malevolence that Danny and Colleen had.

Jacob may or may not be a Power in his own right, separate from (and therefore possibly opposed to) the Island. We know that Jacob is respected and obeyed by (seemingly all of) The Others. His abilities seem to include the ability to cure (and therefore probably inflict) cancer and appendicitis (on or off The Island) ... and yet, he seems to be trapped in time/space and needs Locke’s help. "Christian" and "Claire" and "Walt" may be Manifestations created by Jacob - an ability shared with The Island/Smokey.
Unfortunately for Locke (and therefore the Left-Behinders and Richard’s Others) it seems to me that Jacob is evil - and has been "imprisoned" (presumably by Ben the Good Guy) for a good reason. The people on Jacob’s List seem to me to be Bad Guys:
Mikhail and Danny for sure ... and presumably Bea, Colleen etc. The evil nature of Jacob’s List was reinforced (for me) by Mikhail when he explained in "Enter 77" that Locke, Sayid and Kate were not on Jacob’s List because they were flawed, because they were "angry, weak and frightened". Note that Achara told Jack that he was "lonely, frightened and angry" - two out of three adjectives used by Mikhail. This seems to place Jack (and Ben) in opposition to Jacob and his List.

I’m thinking that in order to defeat the real Bad Guys - the guys opposed to both Widmore and Ben, that Locke and Jack will have to learn to work together, that the ex-Scientists and the ex-Military will have to co-operate, that both Dark and Light will have to unite to win. This may be the Family that Locke has to "bring back together".

Ben may or may not be a Good Guy. On one hand, he tells Michael that (unlike Tom) he’s unwilling to permit the deaths of innocent people on the Kahana ... and then - within days - by killing Keamy with his own hands and not transferring the heart-rate transmitter to himself or Locke before Keamy’s death, he does just that - with no remorse. On one hand, he engineers the deaths of ex-military Ryan and his Ten Best, while on the other hand, he sends Goodwin (who didn’t appear to be a Hater) to his death - because of Ben’s possessive/jealous love (unless he’s faking this "love") for Juliet. Ben seems to display both Dark and Light in his personality.
I’m thinking that in addition to having mastered telekinesis, Ben may also be a telepath. He is rarely surprised by anyone and he always knows what emotional buttons to push. In "The man from Talahassee" he told Locke: "If you met Mikhail, that means you were in the Communications Station ... which means you’ve found the explosives ... so, you’re not planning to pilot the submarine anywhere, are you?" This set of "conclusions" sound like deduction, but I think it’s telepathy.
In "Eggtown", Miles tells Ben: "Do not treat me like I’m one of them [nods toward Kate], like I don’t know who you are or what you can do". Miles is a telepath and he seems to be suggesting that Ben is Special in some kind of superhuman way.
Widmore (in "The shape of things to come") tells Ben: "I know who you are, boy; what you are. I know that everything you have, you took from me..." By saying: "I know what you are", he might be implying that Ben is non-human. Or not.
In "Meet Kevin Johnson", Ben tells Karl: "The Temple’s not for them [the Losties], only for us" - as if to imply that Ben’s people are a different type of people from the Losties.
To me, the difference is that the Losties are Living Persons and Ben’s people (most of whom he "brought" to the Island) are "Non-Living Persons". If I’m right about this, it might explain why Ben and (at least some of) his people are telepaths. If Ben’s people are Non-Living "Smokies", they might share in some/all of Smokey’s powers - which include telepathy and pre-cognition. Granted, we "saw" Ben’s birth and bits of his childhood, but he could easily have died somewhere along the line and been reincarnated by Smokey. Or ... what we "saw" of Ben’s birth and childhood is nothing more than false memories implanted in Ben-the-smokey.
Regarding Ben and the various on and off-Island factions, let us also remember that Someone was watching Otherville. There were Security cameras here and there - and even Ben the Leader had a Secret Room which housed his Off-Island travel stuff - foreign currency, passports and clothing. He kept his Travels secret from whomever was watching (possibly Widmore’s people) - and yet he was constrained from simply smashing those Otherville surveillance cameras. More rules, I guess. Note that there were even cameras on the Kahana.

I'm thinking that a handful of wealthy Old White Guys might very well do anything (up to and including the future death of everybody on Planet Earth)to control the secrets of Eternal (Vigorous) Life. Avellino may have been one of these Bad Guys.

I think that the people on Ben’s Assassination List do not report to Widmore. I think the backwards-talking "we hate you" team are the enemies of both Widmore and Ben.

I think that despite appearances, Charles Widmore might be a Good Guy. He’s affiliated with Ms Hawking and Brother Campbell - who seem to be part of a Good Guy "Time Cop" group working to save All Human Life on Earth. Their symbol is the Ouroboros - the same symbol tattooed on Tom’s chest. Note that Widmore gave Desmond Penny’s correct address - which led to Desmond’s future ability to stay anchored in time while Penny set up the (Antarctic?) Listening Post - and eventually rescued Desmond, Frank and The Six. Since Ben also wanted The Six to leave (and then come back), it seems as though there’s some kind of strange co-operation happening between Widmore and Ben.
On the other hand, I’m thinking that ex-Navy Widmore (remember his passion for sailing and the fact that he knew all about Admiral McCutcheon ... plus he asked Desmond if he had any military experience) was once the leader of The (on-Island) Others who ordered the Purge (remember Ben telling Hugo (in "Cabin Fever") that he wasn’t their leader at that time?). I think that just before The Purge we all saw in "The man behind the curtain", that Ben, having previously jumped to the side of the winners, seized control of The Island from Widmore, a coup involving an agreement to abide by a set of Rules, including Widmore’s banishment from the Island and Ben’s promise not to (directly) kill any of the (Widmore) Loyalists. Maybe Widmore then turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel to Move The Island - and send himself back to The World.
With Widmore unable to go back to the Island, it may be that he identifies, recruits and motivates Desmond to go there on his behalf to help prepare for the subsequent arrival of the Kahana.

Penny now presumably knows about her Dad’s involvement in the Island and will try to stay out of sight (for a while). Jack’s last advice to Desmond was: "Don’t let them find you". With Ben having threatened Widmore to hunt down and kill Penny, this is good advice. At some point, of course, there will have to be some kind of confrontation between/among Ben, Widmore, Penny and Desmond.
Note that we’ve seen several pregnancy-detection kits, all (I think) made by Widmore Industries, which implies that Daddy Widmore is also interested in Female Fertility issues. Note that we know nothing about Penny’s mother.

I expect to learn more about The Game that Ben and Widmore have been "playing" - the one whose Rules Widmore unilaterally broke - resulting in Alex’s death. The fact that he denied responsibility for her death - that he blamed Ben for it - implies that Ben may have broken The Rules by "adopting" Alex in the first place.

I think that The Whispers are created by Future-dwelling DHARMA Scientists who are trying to "edit" The Future by making slight but systematic changes to The Past. I expect to learn more about these Whispers (and the Whisperers) in Season 5. Note that the appearance and disappearance of "Harper" was accompanied by Whispers. Note also that we’ve seen a few shots of Whispers "descending" to their ground-level target from their atmospheric POV.

I think that Season Five will (finally) show us more about the "Good Guy" Others who are about to accept Locke as their new leader. I’m hoping that we find out what happened to the Tailie kidnappees, including Zach, Emma and maybe even Isabel.

Cindy - who showed up briefly in "Stranger" and in "The Brig" has become the "guardian" of the kids (possibly replacing Juliet in that role) ... but ... Cindy did not know (in "Stranger") that AL had been killed by Michael. So ... Cindy (and her sub-group of Others) was not "in the loop" to the extent that Juliet is/was.
I expect that the Richard/Cindy group truly does not believe in killing and I’m hoping that we find out why they sometimes wear "hillbilly" clothes. My best guess is that these "costumes" have something to do with the other Others - the ones behind the Night One kidnappings.

I think that DHARMA succeeded in much of their research:

Polar Bear and Shark "enhancement"

Weather Control - possibly including the electrical storm which brought Flight 815 to The Island, as well as the storms which brought Danielle and Desmond as well.
Remote Viewing (Observation without cameras - possibly across Time and Space) ... which might explain how Tom "kept tabs" on Michael after he left the Island.

Telekinesis: No wonder The Others don’t leave tracks ... no wonder Ben showed up inside the locked Funeral Home ... no wonder Bea was interested in whether Walt could appear somewhere where he wasn’t supposed to be (which he did)

Telepathy ... I think that Tom read Michael’s mind when he confronted him in the alley, about to kill himself. After telling Michael: "we gave [Walt] back to you in one piece", Tom hesitates for a moment (during which he reads Michael’s mind) and says: "you told him, didn’t you? You couldn’t carry the guilt all by yourself, so you shared it with a 10-year-old kid." I think he again read Michael’s mind after he’d boarded the Kahana: "Wait a day or two until you're out on the open sea, then you're good to go." Michael doesn't say anything, so Tom says, "Oh, you've met some of them now. Got some names and faces and you're getting cold feet, huh?"
If Tom can read minds, why did he follow Ben’s orders - which indirectly led to his death? Maybe Ben can shield his thoughts (standard capability in all telepathy Sci-Fi literature) or maybe Tom willingly marched to his death in service of The Greater Good, having completed his Work.
The fact that Miles can read minds supports the notion that (at least) some of the Islanders can, too.

I expect that we’ll learn some more about Smokey. We now know that He can send dreams, manifest people, animals and inanimate objects (like video-tapes, traffic-cam photos and maybe even food-drop pallets), download memories and grab/smash things/people. If I’m right that Claire died during the destruction of her Otherville house, it would seem that Smokey can instantly re-animate a dead body (as it did for "Christian" and "Yemi").
We know that He travels underground and can pop up here, there and maybe anywhere. He knows The Future and part of His job is to judge and execute (certain) people. Smokey’s ability to send dreams, "speak through" injured people and manifest people and animals relates to consciousness. Sleep-deprivation, serious wounds, head injuries (concussions), sleep and dementia all facilitate/enable Smokey visions and manifestations.
Smokey is obviously a sentient being with His own agenda and I’m still of the opinion that He’s an amalgam of the pre-DHARMA Island Sentience merged with DHARMA’s Cerberus Security System, this merger possibly a result of, or the cause of the mid-to-late 1970's Incident. Based on the cog/ratchet sounds we hear whenever Smokey’s in action, it seems that He’s partly mechanical - possibly in connection with an underground tunnel railway system built by DHARMA in the early 70's.
Smokey cannot cross (or fly over) the Sonic Fence and he can be driven away by "White Flashy" - which we saw protecting Kate and Juliet in "Left Behind" and which Locke presumably saw in S1. By passing through an ancient stone door and getting dirty (by crawling into an underground lair?), Ben was able to summon Smokey to attack Keamy’s Kill Team (within Otherville - inside the Sonic Fence)... which implies that Ben knows much more about Smokey than he’s telling. What a surprise.

Wish-fulfillment: Ben arrives in Tunisia, unsure of the date, but once he learns that it’s 10/21/05 ... a few days prior to Nadia’s funeral ..... he "wishes up" the photo of Bakir with which to recruit Sayid. What else has Ben (or his enemies) "wished up" over the course of time? I’m quite sure that Tom "wished up" those extra torch-bearers during "The Hunting Party" because afterwards, there are only 4 or 5 people with Tom as they head back to Otherville.

Time Travel ... This is the #1 most important DHARMA discovery and explains how the PB was sent to Tunisia far enough back in time to have died and been buried for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Time Travel into The Future may have shown them a Total Disaster scenario, which they’ve been trying to avert.
According to D&C (and 1996 Faraday): "You can’t change the future" - so ... LOST is either about watching a series of entertaining but inevitable series of irrevocable, Universally course-corrected events (which feels totally wrong to me) OR ... there’s something else going on. Maybe you can only change The Future if you’re on/near the island (where effects can precede causes such as Dr Ray’s left cheek scar "unhealing" before his murder.) Note that Juliet, in TOTC, hinted that only on The Island does Free Will actually exist.

... or ...

Maybe you can change the Past/Present/Future. Maybe there is no "Future", but only the "Eternal Now" - which is my current theory.
When Ford asked Locke (in "The Brig"): "Hey, is it true ... that he threw you out a window, that you were a cripple?", Locke replied "not any more" - which might mean that it’s no "longer" true that Cooper threw Locke out the window in the past. Other evidence that changing the Past creates new realities in The Present include Charlie evolving from a non-swimmer in Season 1 to a former regional swim champion in Season 3 - able to swim down to the LG and disarm the jammer (which he himself might have programmed in The Past). Another example might be Sayid’s (belated) "recognition" of Amira in "Enter 77".
I believe that LOST is all about Changing The Past/Present/Future. In fact, IMO there are at least two Factions competing to change The Past/Present/Future.

I think we’ll learn more about Annie and why Ben was obsessed with female fertility. I predict that we’ll learn that (after The Purge) Ben got Annie pregnant and that she died during her pregnancy. Or - Charlotte turns out to be Ben’s biological daughter who was conceived on the Island, but that Annie was sent to England to give birth and raise her daughter there. Let’s remember that Charlotte was amazed that Aaron was born on The Island.
If I’m right, it means that Ben (knowingly or not) shot his own daughter (without hurting her) and has now "locked her away" on The Island - for now.
So much plot, so little time - only 16 (or maybe 17 or 18) episodes to cover the above - and a whole lot more. You know where I’ll be on January the 21st.