My Serious, Logical Thoughts on the Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

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Jeremy Bentham was the name of an English philosopher as is the name John Locke. This is the alias of Locke given to him by Widmore.

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE SNUGGLY

So who is the good guy here? Ben or Charles Widmore? Although Ben has lied about a lot of stuff I vote for Ben and here is why. Ben and his people know more about the island than Widmore. This is evident when Widmore admits he has no idea why Richard Alpert told John he must die. Also Widmore sent the freighter to the island to kill everyone on it. Do not be fooled by the statement of Widmore when he says he just wanted Ben. If that is all it was then why did the mercenaries kill Karl and Rousseau? And then there is the C4. I believe Ben when he says that Widmore planned to kill everyone on the island. I also believe Ben when he says that Widmore wants to use John to get back to the island. According to Ben on a previous episode, Widmore wants to turn the island into some kind of business venture to make money. He wants to charge admission for people to come to the island and be healed. For example, how much would a crippled man pay to walk again? Probably a lot. Now you start to understand why Widmore wants the island so desperately. It is all about greed.

I KNOW WHO KILLED ME

The big question that is on the mind of everybody is why Ben killed Locke. After all, he was about to commit suicide. If you wanted him dead why not just let him kill himself? It certainly would be easier. There are two possible reasons for this.

One: Ben knows that in order to get back to the island they must recreate the original Oceanic flight as much as possible. John plays an integral part in this recreation stepping in for the dead father of Jack. Now how did the father of Jack die? Well he did not hang himself. Perhaps Ben felt that if he killed Locke that that would be closer to the circumstances surrounding the death of the father of Jack than how Locke wanted to die. This would improve their chances of returning to the island which is what Ben cares about deeply.

Two: Ben kills Locke only after Locke admits to knowing about Eloise Hawking. Did that trigger something in Ben to make him want to kill Locke? Was Locke the man who knew too much?

Locke points out Ben to Caesar and tells him this is the man who killed me. Not many people can say that eh?

SO DID THEY OR DID THEY NOT?

Now that Locke has been brought back to life by the island does that mean that the father of Jack is also alive? We have seen him several times on the island dating back to season one. I have two ideas about this. Either the father of Jack has been brought back from the dead but not in physical form, or the island or monster is impersonating him. We have already seen at least one impersonization when the supposed brother of Eko admitted that he was not really him. But before that he looked and acted like the brother of Eko. Is the island impersonating Christian or is it really him? It could go either way, but as for now it seems that it really is Christian but in a ghostly form. That is why Christian could not help Locke in the cave when Locke was wounded and why Christian could appear standing next to the C4 just before it blew up and yet appear in a later episode.

Also when Locke tells Jack that his father says hello, that gets an immediate reaction from Jack who shortly thereafter buys a ticket to Sydney and right back in the hopes that the plane will crash on the island. We know this from previous episodes. One thing I did notice is that Jack stated in one episode that Locke told him some really bad things happened on the island after Jack and the rest left. But in the conversation Jack and Locke had that is not discussed. Is this a mistake by the writers or did they actually talk about it but not on camera or was there a second visit by Locke not shown? Does anyone else have a comment on that?

FATE VERSUS PROBABILITY

Jack and Locke have an awesome debate when they discuss how Locke ended up at that particular hospital. Locke says it was fate, and Jack says it was probability. We are reminded of the title of the one episode: Man of Science Man of Faith. The classic debate is shown here perhaps more overtly than ever. Later when Locke writes the note to Jack saying “I wish you had believed me” we get a better idea of what he meant. He wanted Jack to believe in fate – the idea that we all have a destiny. Helen had a destiny. Locke wanted to see Helen and is even more goaded into searching for Helen by the remarks of Kate who asks him if he had ever been in love. This is also referred to amazingly by Abbadon when he says “the path of Helen led her here” referring to the grave and that the “path of Locke will lead him back to the island”. This is extraordinary since Abbadon has never really been tagged as a man of faith. Now about the reference of Abbadon to himself being an orderly and referring the Walkabout for John which eventually led him to the island. This was not faith. Widmore encountered John in the past when John was time flashing around. Widmore knew John was destined to go to the island and just helped him get there. That was the job of Abbadon to get people where they needed to be. How he knew that sending John to a Walkabout would lead him to the island is unclear. Perhaps there will be more time flashes where Widmore finds out it was flight 815 and the date of the crash. Or perhaps Widmore knew eventually that some plane John was on would crash there.

IT IS A FAR GREATER THING THAN I HAVE EVER DONE BEFORE. A FAR BETTER RESTING PLACE I GO TO

Locke coming back from the dead is eerily similar to a movie called Star Trek III the Search for Spock. In this movie the Genesis planet is life from death as captain Kirk mentioned at the end of Star Trek II the Wrath of Kahn. Spock is literally brought back to life by the planet. In the same way the island also seems to be life from death bringing back Locke. This despite the warning of Charlotte that this place is death. Well, Charlotte it also seems that this place is life too. Locke coming back from the dead also nails home the idea that Locke has a very special relationship to the island. We have already seen that the father of Locke was somehow magically transported to the island after a car accident and of course how Locke was healed right after the plane crash. Does that mean if Locke was killed on the island he would have been brought back to life immediately? Count on it! The proof is in Mikail. Mikail has been killed at least twice in the show - once by a sonic weapon and once by a spear gun. Both times he came back. Mikail must have the same kind of special relation to the island that Locke has. Sadly not everyone has this relationship or else Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Scott, Neal, Charlotte, Danielle, Karl, Michael, Alex and others might still be alive. This idea has already been explored on the Deep Space Nine episode Battle Lines where Sisko and others land on a planet ravaged by war but where no one can die. So they keep fighting and everyone keeps dying and coming back to life over and over. That episode killed me! J

THE GHOST AND MISTER LOCKE

When we first learned of the visits by Locke to the Oceanic Six I thought they would be more ghostly. At the time we learned about the visits we did not yet know Locke would be leaving the island. But in this episode we see that the visits were actually quite normal. Notice that Locke is in a wheelchair again after being severely wounded when falling on the island after a time flash. Locke has returned to the horrible chair that once vexed him. However he handles it very well. When people ask him “what is with the chair “ we are reminded of the earlier Locke who was confined to a wheelchair. But notice on the island, in addition to being alive again, Locke no longer needs the chair and seems to walk perfectly fine. The healing power of the island is instantaneous. That is probably why Locke is not that disturbed about the chair this second time.

ODDS AND ENDS

Walt does not know that his father was killed when the freighter exploded. Locke probably knows Michael is dead or at least suspects. Now the question is will Michael appear as a ghostly figure?

Note the specialness of Walt in this episode when he says he has dreams about Locke on the island. These dreams no doubt refer to Locke in the future being on the island with the survivors of flight 316. We should take note that Walt says that these people want to harm Locke. But why would survivors of the plane crash want to harm Locke? Well, since nobody saw Locke on the plane that makes him kind of an outsider. Just who is this guy? Also Locke says some pretty strange stuff to them like “this is the man who killed me” and “I have already spent over 100 days on this island”. If they find the Others on the island they may think Locke is one of them as a spy. We saw this when Ethan Rom was a spy for the Others. Notice how Locke asks for the manifest. That is how Hurley discovered Ethan was a spy and why Locke wants it now. History almost repeats itself in this second plane crash, but the manifest is not available.

Where did the boats come from? Who do they belong to? Whoever they are they have guns. We know that the survivors of flight 316 will leave the area they are in now perhaps fleeing for their lives.

Why did Lepidus and a woman take one of the boats? Were they coerced to do it or did they do it willingly?

Note that Abbadon mentions that Walt should need to go back to the island too. In fact that is why Locke is supposedly there to convince Walt to come back. But Locke says that Walt has been through enough. So it is more than just the Oceanic six it is everyone. Apparently they can get by without Walt since they did make it back to the island.

We now know that Tunisia is the exit point for anyone leaving the island after turning the wheel. That is why the camera is there and why Ben ended up there after he left the island. When Ben did it he encountered two men who he ended up killing. Did these men work for Widmore? Ben mentions that he has been there before so does this mean Ben has turned the wheel before?

Who created the wheel room?

The ghosts seem to have visited Hurley many times. That is why he is not surprised to see Locke who he thinks is a ghost. Again are these ghostly visitations the real people or the island impersonating them?

Sayid used to work for Ben as a hitman. Sayid would kill people at the order of Ben. Ben somehow convinced Sayid it was for the defense of the island. But now Sayid has turned against Ben. What happened to turn Sayid? Why did someone murder the wife of Sayid? Ben says Widmore killed her but what possible motive would Widmore have to do this? Is it not just as plausible that Ben killed the wife of Sayid in order to recruit Sayid through lies?

What DHARMA hatch were the plane crash survivors using in this episode? Notice it still has electricity. I thought the barracks were destroyed? Any thoughts on this anybody?

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on 316

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316 is the flight number of the Ajira flight to Guam. Notice that 16 is a Hurley number. Also this is a reference to John 3:16 a famous biblical passage which reads “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should no perish but have everlasting life.”

IN CHAOS THERE IS ORDER, IN ORDER THERE IS CHAOS

By recreating the conditions of the original flight that brought them to the island, they are utilizing a branch of science known as chaos theory. In certain situations, the outcome of a situation is extremely sensitive to initial conditions. This means that if you make a small change in the initial conditions it might lead to a huge change in the outcome. Examples include weather predicting, roulette wheels and even pendulums. For example take a roulette wheel. The ball is thrown, rolls around on the wheel and lands in a certain location. Now suppose you want the ball to land in the exact position on the next throw. One way to guarantee this is to recreate the conditions on the previous throw. This would be quite complicated as there are many variables to account for. These include: the velocity and position of the wheel when the ball is thrown, the velocity of the ball when it is thrown, the temperature of the air, and the breeze if any. To recreate the original throw all of these would have to be set to EXACTLY their original values. Even a small change in one of these variables can lead to a radically different outcome. For example if the ball is thrown at just a slightly different angle it could end up in a totally different slot.

Now we have a better understanding of what our heroes are doing. They are trying to recreate the initial conditions to achieve a similar result. Even though chaos theory is a good analogy for what is going on here, I think there is more to this than just science. Jack put the shoes of his father on the feet of Locke, but these shoes were not even the original shoes that his father wore on the flight. His father wore tennis shoes (And his father was not a computer!) so this is not recreating the initial conditions exactly. Nevertheless their plan seems to have succeeded except they end up back in the 1970s or possibly early 1980s. Perhaps the change in time is because they could not reproduce the conditions exactly enough. But what they probably achieved is the end to the time flashes. Now they are LOST in time with DHARMA. Jin and also Faraday now work for DHARMA. Perhaps our LOSTaways will now work for DHARMA also. Their goal is to find a way back to their own time, and the key to that is the wheel room. In a previous episode we see Faraday in uniform in a cave right outside the wheel room.

THERE IS THIS FARMERS DAUGHTER, IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD …. AND WE WAS SWINGIN

In the lamppost the large pendulum is called a Foucault Pendulum and is used to study the rotation of the earth. As the pendulum swings back and forth, its plane of vibration oscillates or precesses. This is because of the rotation of the earth. The pendulum feels a force called a Coriolis force due to the rotation of the earth. The Focault Pendulum can also be used to study chaos theory. Put a magnet at the bottom of the pendulum then arrange other magnets on the floor in the area where the pendulum will be swinging. Then start the pendulum swinging from somewhere and see on which magnet the pendulum ends up. Now try to reproduce the same result by placing the pendulum in its original location and letting go. You will find that even a tiny difference in the original location can lead to a very different result. You can learn more about the Focault Pendulum here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum

Somehow Eloise is using the pendulum to locate the island by predicting where the island will be instead of where it is. Scientifically there is no grounds for this. Notice the latitude and longitude counters on the wall. This is how DHARMA found the island. But how did they know about the island in the first place to look for it and how did they know the island was moving and had special properties? This is unknown but may indicate that the island has been inhabited for quite some time. Remember the four-toed statue and the temple! The lamppost station was built years ago and is the first DHARMA station we have seen off the island. Notice the DHARMA logo on the door. Eloise said a very smart man figured out how to find the island but does not say who that man was. Candidates include the man Marvin Candle who appears in the orientation films of the hatches. He also goes by several other names.

CAUSE YOU GOT TO HAVE FAITH THE FAITH THE FAITH

The underlying premise of this episode is faith. The story of doubting Thomas is mentioned and is apt as Jack has been the doubting Thomas all along not listening to Locke. Jack has been the man of science and Locke the man of faith. According to this episode, Locke was correct – it is a matter of faith. You believe that putting shoes on Locke will help your chances of returning to the island even though there is no scientific justification for it. Now that they have returned to the island the faith of Locke has been vindicated. Perhaps now Jack will believe in Locke if he ever sees him again.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

• On the plane here is what the LOSTaways were able to recreate of the original flight.
• Passengers Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Kate, and Sun were original passengers
• The pilot Lepidus. Although not the original pilot (Greg Grunberg) Lepidus was supposed to be the pilot on the original 815 flight.
• Although 316 is not the same flight number as 815 both contain Hurley numbers and they are consecutive Hurley numbers 15 and 16.
• An FBI agent is on board apparently with a prisoner Sayid. This recreates the Kate being a prisoner situation. Though Sayid has also done work for the FBI so he could just be working with them.
• There is an Arab looking man on board which recreates the role of Sayid being the Arab-looking guy. Remember Sayid is filling in for Kate on this flight so this guy fills the role of Sayid.
• Hurley is reading a Spanish comic book like he did on the first flight. It is not the same book.
• Locke takes the place of the father of Jack in the coffin.
• Hurley may have brought a guitar onto the plane to replace the guitar of Charlie. This is uncertain though.

THE LIE OF BEN

On the plane Ben tells Jack that his mother taught him to read, but his mother died in childbirth. He could have been referring to an adopted mother, but none has ever been seen or even hinted at. Of course he could have been speaking in a joking manner. Recall that when Jack asked Eloise if Ben was lying she says probably. We know Ben has lied before. Ben has no feelings for the other people on the plane just as he had no feelings for those on the freighter when they died.

AIRPLANE

We already know that the plane did crash on the island. In a previous episode during one of the time flashes they find a bottle that came from an Ajira plane. Our heroes take the boat and then get fired on by some people in another boat. This means that the people on the boat chasing our heroes are none other than the survivors of flight Ajira 316. It has happened it will happen. You will see the same scene from the point of view of the crash survivors later.

SURPRISE

We do not know how long Jin, Faraday and the others have been with DHARMA. It could be that Jin speaks a lot better English now especially since he works for DHARMA.

What the heck happened to Ben? Why does he have blood on himself and why is his arm in a sling? You would think someone like Jack would ask him what happened but no, nobody asks! Ben said he had a loose end to tie up for an old friend. Do not be surprised if that old friend turns out to be Locke! Ben does not have too many friends these days.

What happened to Aaron and why did Kate get on the plane? Let’s theorize. The psychic said that Aaron cannot be raised by another and Claire should raise him or else something bad would happen to paraphrase. Claire has appeared to Kate in a previous episode and told her not to bring Aaron back. My best guess is that someone took Aaron and convinced Kate to get on the plane. But who? Was it people working for Eloise? Was it Ben? No. Was it a ghost from the island? I do not think they can physically interact with real people. Ideally to recreate the original flight Aaron would have to go back into the womb. That is not going to happen and as far as we know Aaron is not even on the flight. Since no other pregnant woman is on the flight that we see this is a huge discrepancy unless Kate is pregnant. Here is how it may have gone down. Some bad folks show up and forcibly take Aaron. Then they say let us impregnate you and you get on that plane or something really bad is going to go down.

Why and how did Sayid and Hurley get on the plane? Sayid seems very surprised to see Jack and the rest board the plane. This means that he did not willingly get on a plane to go back to the island. He thought he was on the plane for another reason. Hurley seems to have been convinced by someone to get on that plane but who? Hurley has been seeing a lot of ghosts lately so the best guess is that one of them told Hurley to get on it. Charlie perhaps? We know Charlie has visited Hurley before. One cannot help but think that Charlie spoke for fate and put him on the plane. Fate also put everybody else on the plane. They were all destined to return. You have to admit at the end of the previous episode it sure did not look like everybody was going back to the island.

Now that the plane has crashed will there be a new set of survivors on the island? Yes. Is the pilot dead since the original pilot also died? Recall that the original pilot survived the crash and was later killed by the monster. Lepidus could still be there.

Notice when the plane was about to crash that there was a time flash. This time flash took our heroes back in time to the time of DHARMA. We can guess that the plane crashed on the island with everybody else. Look for the plane to crash in the 21^st century while the LOSTaways are stuck in the 1970s or early 1980s.

Look for Locke to be alive because he has such a special connection to the island. The island gave him his legs back when the first plane crashed, and now it will give him his life back.

Why does Desmond not have to return now? He was not on the original plane of course, so will he now return to the island in a boat as before? What did Eloise mean when she said the island was not done with him yet?

When Desmond delivers his message from Faraday to Eloise she seems to already know it. Therefore it seems a waste of time for Desmond to have come there at all. In fact, if Desmond had not come she would have helped everybody back to the island anyway. This implies that the purpose fate had in bringing Desmond to Eloise was not to help everybody on the island but to give a message to Desmond that the island was not done with him yet.

Notice after the LOSTaways arrive on the island that Hugo is clinging to a guitar case. Charlie was on the first flight and had his guitar on the plane. Did Hurley bring a guitar on the plane to try to help recreate the initial conditions? That would explain why when the time flash took the LOSTaways off the plane it took the guitar case also.

When this episode begins it is déjà vu of the first episode which also opens with Jack opening his eye and lying on the ground. So when the time flash happened fate tried to put the LOSTaways back in their original crash spot. I do not think it worked completely. I do not recall seeing Hurley wet in the first episode, and the guitar of Charlie was in a tree in the first crash.

Look for that Arab guy on the plane to have more speaking lines in future episodes.

In one of the time flashes we see that the camp of the LOSTaways apparently abandoned and some not so nice folks who drink beer have shown up in boats. Why would the new crash survivors be such jerks?

WILD TANGENT

In the movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie about a group of assassins people are fated to die when their name is read in a code found in weaves.

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on This Place is Death

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Something Charlotte said shortly before she died.

YOU WATCH YOUR TEMPLE
Ben told Richard to take everyone to the temple. Finally in this episode we see the temple. It looks ancient and reminds one of the ancient Mayans. Remember the four-toed statue. Both the temple and the statue may have been created by the same ancient people. Note the hieroglyphics on the temple. They are the same symbols we saw in the swan hatch when the timer ran out. The symbols appear instead of a countdown and the symbols were red with a black background. This may prove that DHARMA was well aware of the temple and its markings. Charlotte was on the island before as a child and she knew about the well, and we have already seen that DHARMA knew about the wheel room. Surely they saw the temple at some point. We also know DHARMA was well aware of the monster. They even built a shield against it.

THIS SCENE IS PERFECTLY ARMLESS
The story of Danielle is finally told. The details have sort of already been told to us by Danielle in past episodes. Before this episode Danielle had already revealed the following facts:

One of her people lost an arm
She had to kill her own people because they were sick. We did not know what they were sick with.
The monster is a security system. Danielle actually calls it that and tells Sayid that there is no such thing as monsters.

The men of Danielle apparently were changed somehow when they were dragged underground ala invasion of the body snatchers. Danielle even tells her husband that he is not her husband. Perhaps the monster reprogrammed them to be its slaves. Their first step would be to change Danielle also. Perhaps she picked up on this and shot them. Her own husband did lie to her on the beach, and he tried to kill her. The only thing that saved Danielle was that his gun was empty. Danielle revealed in a previous episode that she had to kill them because she could not let them off the island in their state. Whatever that was. Also we have seen the monster also try to pull John Locke down into a hole before. Jack stopped it with dynamite. If he had not would Locke also have been changed? Note when the men got pulled under a survivor calmly tells the others that he is hurt and that he needs help. He seemed a little too calm. Perhaps he had already been changed by that point. If so that means the change is immediate. Another idea is that it was not a human calling out to them at all but rather the monster luring them in.

RUIN ME
The situation with the temple is eerily similar to a book\movie called THE RUINS. In the movie (SPOILER ALERT! Skip to next paragraph if you did not see THE RUINS) a group of young people are quarantined on top of what appears to be an ancient Mayan temple. What they do not know is that the temple is infested with a bizarre plant that feeds on people. The vines can move and wrap around you much like the monster does in this episode. Notice how it grabs one of the crew and drags him underground. It also wraps around the arm of one of them much like a vine.
The husband of Danielle revealed that the monster was actually a security system for the temple. We already knew it was a security system, but we did not know what for. Now we know. How did the husband of Danielle know it was a security system? Did he just surmise this or did he learn something when he was down in the hole? Now since Ben told Richard to take his people to the temple Ben must not be afraid of the monster. How does Ben know that the monster will not attack his people? After all, if the monster is there to protect the temple would it not attack anyone who got near it like the crew of Danielle? The answer may be that Ben has figured out a way to control the monster. We have seen that Ben seemed to conjure the monster at will and unleashed it on the mercenaries. Like when smoke is used near a beehive to neutralize bees from attacking, Ben may have found some way to make his followers immune from the monster attacks. The monster may pass over them because they have the neutralizing agent of Ben. Like when the Angel of Death passed over the jews in Egypt when they placed blood on their doorposts but visited the Egyptians with the death of the firstborn. (See the movie The Prince of Egypt). Ben has also alluded to a Magic Box. He said that you could wish for anything, and it would appear when you looked into the box. Could the box be the temple? It did seem rectangular shaped.
The question is to who or what is this temple erected? May I guess and say that it is to the island itself. The island being as special as it is could have been worshipped by an ancient society. Why not? People have worshiped the sun, moon, trees and everything else. Why not an island? This brings up the question of the monster. If the temple was erected by an ancient people then how could they build the monster and what is it? It could be that the people built the monster to protect the temple. Now that they are all dead the monster still exists and continues to mindlessly protect the temple like a computer program that continues to perform actions programmed into it by a programmer. This same premise was used in a star trek episode called That Which Survives. According to www.startrek.com the description of this episode is:

A deadly computer image protects a long dead outpost.

In this episode the security system was a hologram in the appearance of a woman, and she would kill people by touching them to defend the outpost. She was the “monster” so to speak. The monster on LOST could be just like that. But this still does not answer the question as to how a primitive ancient people could possibly have the technology to build the monster and how it still exists today. The answer could be time travel. By time travel advanced technology could have ended up back in time, and these ancient people were not so primitive as we might think, or they could be modern people transplanted back in time. As far as we know the farthest back in time that our LOSTaways have gone is 1954, and many of the jumps have been fairly recent. But that does not mean that jumps to ancient times are impossible. Who says they cannot go back in time thousands of years?

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN
Jin sees a pillar of smoke in the distance. Danielle has said that before the Others took her baby she saw a pillar of smoke. The LOSTaways also saw a pillar of smoke when the Others were planning something. When they investigated they found a fire on the beach with no footprints around it. It has never been explained why the Others build these fires before striking. Though Danielle is only 7 months pregnant. Unless she is going into early labor it should be 2 more months before Alex is born and the Others arrive to take her. This would mean that the smoke Jin saw was not the smoke Danielle saw right before Alex was taken but another smoke. If it was different smoke what were the Others planning when Jin saw the smoke?

REMEMBER ME
At just the right moment, Charlotte has a memory of herself on the island that has to do with when she saw Faraday warning her to leave. But why did she not remember this important detail before? Charlotte may be the last surviving member of DHARMA. Desmond also had a memory of Faraday that he did not recall until a very convenient time which led him to the church just as Ben and the others arrived. Why did Desmond only recall seeing Faraday at the right moment? Also notice that the mother of Faraday is Eloise Hawking. The mouse of Faraday in the episode The Constant was also named Eloise. Now we know why. Faraday knows that he will encounter Charlotte as a child and tell her and her mom to leave the island. He will also tell them that if Charlotte ever returns to the island she will die. In the words of commander Data from the episode Times Arrow: “It has happened. It will happen.”

THE GHOST AND MISTER CHRISTIAN
The reason why Christian is unable to help Locke up may be because his body is not really physical much like the appearing disappearing cabin. He may not really be there, but may just appear in the mind of Locke. Also when Christian says to say hello to my son (Jack) this is similar to what Ana Lucia said to Hurley when she said that Libby says hi. But these visions of people are probably just visions though we did see Hugo actually touch a shoe of the guy Dave he saw in a vision. But Dave was never really a person so even touching the shoe could have been in his mind. Recall in season one when Locke drugged Boone using only ingredients found on the island. The island itself (or Jacob) seems to be able to enter into the mind of these people and cause them to see visions of people and other things. Recall when Kate saw the horse. Proof that these dead people are not really the people they seem to be comes from the vision that Eko had of his brother. And his brother said to him “You talk to me like I am your brother.” To which Eko replied “Who are you?” So Jacob or the island or the monster appears to people as other people usually dead people (except Walt!) and can act exactly like the dead people since the island can read the minds of the people it is talking to.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Although this episode tries to answer the question as to why all of the missing LOSTaways must be returned to the island, the answer Locke gives: “that is just the way it works” is no answer. Notice that Locke keeps his promise to Jin by not forcing Sun to return. However he does give the ring to Ben so he can get her. Technically he does not break his promise.
Why must Locke die?
Is Locke really dead? There is a tiny amount of evidence that he is not. Hurley asked Ben if Locke was really dead and Ben avoids the issue.
Why were the Hurley numbers being broadcast from the tower? Presumably DHARMA did it. We know that Sam Toomey heard the numbers also being broadcast on some island, but that was during WW II which we believe was before DHARMA. Sam Toomey was a guy in Australia that Hurley went to see. That is why he was there when he boarded the doomed flight 815. So who broadcasted the numbers during WW II and why?
Why does Sun tell her daughter that she has a new friend for her? Is she planning on taking Aaron back to Korea?

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on The Little Prince

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This is the name of a fairy tale about a small boy who lives on a planet by himself. I took this to mean Aaron in this episode.

OPENING SEQUENCE
We see Kate and Jack on the boat bringing them home, and Kate tells Jack that she has always been with him. However, by the end of the episode she is in stark disagreement with Jack because Jack sides with Ben. I think the opening scene was to put a bit of irony into the episode.

OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
Sun receives a package at her hotel room. Among other things there is a gun hidden in the items. Fedexing a gun is not unheard of at all. A law enforcement officer from Atlanta told me that whenever he and his compadres fly anywhere, they fedex their guns to their hotel since they cannot take them on the plane. We should note though that Locke was able to get his knives on the plane by checking them.

WE LOVE TO BLEED AND IT SHOWS
At first only Charlotte gets nosebleeds from the time travel, but then we notice Juliet and the chinese guy are also now getting them. Faraday had no idea why only Charlotte was getting sick from time travel, but now it seems whatever it is is spreading. Will everyone eventually get the nosebleeds? Will they all die if untreated?

ORCHID RUN
The group on the island is moving back to the Orchid station. It should be noted that we have already seen Faraday with DHARMA in the 1970s at the Orchid station when they discover the wheel time-traveling room. Along the way we see the light beam from the hatch that Locke encountered in an ealier time frame. Locke says that at the time he thought the light meant something but then said it did not. This shows Locke was wrong and not every "vision" he has is correct. Sometimes a beam of light is just a beam of light. Locke has evolved over the course of the show.

WHO DEY?
Who were the people who landed in boats on the island and later were shooting at our heroes in a stolen boat? We will call them the boat people. The only clue is a bottle labeled with the logo of an Indian airline. No large ships were seen in the area so how did those boats get there? When Juliet shoots at them you only see these dark silouhettes. In a later episode, expect the identity of these individuals to be revealed. It should also be noted that they also like to drink DHARMA beer. Also when they time flashed out of danger why did the boat they were paddling also time travel? Would it not have stayed in the same time frame while the bodies of our heroes went on? Of course they would have been in big trouble materializing in the ocean in that storm.

THINGS TO DO IN LOS ANGELAS WHEN YOU'RE SCREWED
Who sent the guy to shoot Sayid? The list of suspects include: Ben - he and Sayid do seem to be at odds. Widmore - of course mister evil himself. Someone else? Sayid has killed a few people. He may have picked up a few enemies. Your thoughts? It is clear that even Sayid has no idea who sent the gunner because he asked him who sent him. Although he refers to the address in his pocket which turns out to be Kate, do not look for Kate to be the culprit. Kate was his next target. By the way the events taking place in L.A. are not in the same time frame with events happening on the island, and I do not mean just because they time travel. On the island Locke has not left yet. In L.A. Locke has already arrived and is dead or perhaps is in a state of hibernation. Look for Locke to be revived later.

WHOSE LINUS IS IT ANYWAY?
Ben is found to be the one who wants custody of Aaron. But Ben has no more legal right to Aaron than Kate does. So why then does the lawyer of Ben talk about the transfer of custody of Aaron? The answer is simple. Ben has no intention of getting custody. Ben is doing this to create a dangerous situation for Aaron so that Kate will want to flee back to the island. It is all a ruse. And it seems to have worked. At the marina we have Jack, Sayid, Kate, Sun and Aaron. The body of Locke is there also. The only one missing is Hugo who should be released from jail shortly. Since his plan worked, he went ahead and told Kate he did it.

THE CRASH OF DANIELLE
The boat of Danielle crashed in 1988 so that is what year it is when Jin wakes up on shore. In the wreckage Locke finds a container that says Besixdouze. Douze means twelve. When Danielle meets Jin 16 years later does she remember meeting him in 1988? No. Will Jin die in 1988? Unclear. He probably will just time travel out. Her compadres on the other hand. Expect one of them to lose an arm before the whole bunch gets wacked off by Danielle after they all contract some disease.

ODDS AND ENDS
Bet that Ben has a long relationship with that lawyer. This is not the first time they have worked together.

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Jughead

TITLE

Comes from the name of the hydrogen bomb Jughead. This is not the first time that unusual names have been given to bombs. The bombs dropped on Japan were named Fat man and Little Boy. If the others buried the bomb and most likely they did, is it still on the island now? Does it pose a threat? Does the buried bomb have anything to do with the electromagnetic anomaly that was associated with the swan hatch? I would think no because although Faraday suggested to bury the bomb in concrete, and the anomaly was also contained in concrete, the bomb would not have been classified as an electromagnetic anomaly even though it was leaking. Also one bomb would not destroy the world.

50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

When Ana Lucia and Goodwin were talking about the knife they found, it was mentioned that the knife was army issue and about 50 years old. Now we know why. Because the army was on the island in the 1950’s testing bombs.

HOW DID THE ARMY FIND THE ISLAND?

Not answered but we can theorize that they found the island by accident. Here are some other ships that found the island by accident:

The Black Rock

The ship of Danielle Rousseau

Flight Oceanic 815

HOW DID THE OTHERS FIND THE ISLAND?

Unknown. Also unknown is when the Others came to the island and founded their group. Also who is Jacob and how did he get to the island? Is Jacob immortal? A crazy theory is that it all has to do with Atlantis! Alpert and Jacob were original Atlantians, when Atlantis disappeared into the sea they were just moving the island!

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

Alpert looks the same in the 1950s as he does today. If the saying is true “with age comes wisdom” then should not Alpert be the leader? But Ben became the leader over Alpert. Alpert said that the leader selection process begins at a very young age. Ben was recruited to be leader at a young age which agrees with statement of Alpert about early recruitment. Recall that Ben as a boy met Alpert in the jungle and asked if he could join the Others. Presumably the decision on who becomes leader is made by Jacob.

IT IS RUDE TO ASK HOW OLD YOU ARE (OR WHY ALPERT DOES NOT DATE GIRLS HIS OWN AGE)

How old is Richard Alpert? Alpert was present at the birth of John Locke and looked the same as he does now. Alpert also came to see Locke as a young boy. Now we know how and why. Locke had told Alpert in 1954 that Locke himself would one day be leader. He also gave Alpert his birth date. With this information, Alpert apparently was able to track down the location of the birth of Locke knowing what would happen in the future. Then he proceeded to recruit Locke for leadership in The Others. This brings up intriguing question like was Alpert there when the Black Rock crashed? Was Alpert part of an ancient society like the ones who built the four-toed statue? Atlantis anyone? Did Alpert and his people build the turning wheel the moves the island?

ADAM AND EVE

The dead bodies found in a cave referred to as Adam and Eve in season one were about 50 years old which fits the time period in this episode. These two bodies could be dead soldiers, dead Others or even dead LOSTaways. Which brings up the question if LOSTaways die do they still transport through time? If the answer is no then the bodies in the cave could very well be LOSTaways who were killed at some point in time. In this episode 3 LOSTaways were killed by land mines. And just how many of the LOSTaways are left on the island? By the time they reach the Others camp in 1954 there is only Sawyer and Locke accounted for (Juliet, Charlotte, Faraday and Chinese guy do not count as LOSTaways). Everybody else is either dead (like Neil) or unaccounted for. Where are Rose and Bernard in this episode hmmmm? They were not at the rendezvous point or with Locke and Sawyer. We will assume that Rose and Bernard along with a few lucky survivors are elsewhere on the island scattered about. Perhaps they did not hear Sawyer scream out the rendezvous point?

LATIN

What is the deal with speaking Latin? This is the first time we have heard Others speaking it. Scientists and doctors like Juliet use Latin to classify things. Everything from insects to even stars are classified using Latin (Stars use Latin with Greek). This is because Latin is a dead language and therefore not subject to change. That makes it easier, and scientists all over the world can use the same name for a species regardless of what language they personally speak. The last time I heard Latin really used in a movie was the Passion of the Christ when the Roman soldiers spoke it in the movie. You can also see it in old episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation. Some of my favorite Latin sayings are:

Cogito ergo sum = I think therefore I am

Sumus quid sumus = we are what we are

TRISHA TANAKA IS DEAD BUT TERESA SPENCER IS STILL ALIVE

What exactly did Faraday do to Teresa Spencer that put her in the state she is in? As we saw in the episode The Constant those who got too close to the island experienced time travel of their own but seemingly only in their mind. The radio operator for example traveled through time while his body remained in the present. The same thing happened to Desmond. We also saw it happen to Eloise in the lab of Faraday. Undoubtedly Faraday tried a human experiment on the unfortunate miss Spencer and this is the result. She is forever skipping through time in her mind while her body remains. Notice that Charlotte also suffers from time travel in this episode. We learn that Widmore funded the research of Faraday. Widmore learned about the properties of the island while there ergo time travel and such and was probably trying to use the research of Faraday to find a way back to the island. Else why would a rich powerful man fund research like that? It goes toward motive. What does Widmore want more than anything? To get back to the island or more likely to control the island. Just look at the enormous sums of money he has spent. He hired the freighter and mercenaries and faked a plane crash! No cheap thing! This man is driven. I do not believe rumors that Ben faked the plane crash.

YOU THINK HE KNOWS THIS ISLAND BETTER THAN ME?

Now we know how Widmore knows about island. When Locke asked Ben how Widmore knew about the island Ben said that he did not know. Interesting Alpert knew Widmore on the island in 1954 and obviously would know how Widmore knew about the island since Widmore was there. We can only assume that Widmore was such a minor guy back then that Alpert just forgot him or that Alpert deliberately did not reveal to Ben how Widmore came to know about the island. In either case that is very strange. Why would Alpert withhold vital information about their enemy? Or another explanation is that Ben simply lied and Ben knows very well that Widmore used to be on the island. That is likely since Ben has lied about many things when it suits him. Most notably he lied about the smoke monster and about being Henry Gale. Notice how Ben controlled the smoke monster and used it to kill soldiers. This would explain why when Ben was in the bedroom of Widmore he said that he could not kill him. Perhaps Ben regards Widmore as an Other Brother and therefore will not kill him. However he had no qualms about killing the two girls in the Looking Glass. We have seen Widmore bidding on the diary of the first mate of the Black Rock. Since Widmore claims to know the island well he certainly knows about the Black Rock. Now the question is why does Widmore now say that the island is his? That is what he said to Ben when Ben confronted him in his bedroom. Did Widmore lead a mutiny against Alpert and was expelled from the island? After all he didn’t want to listen to Alpert in this episode. That would explain a lot. Widmore wanted to take over but lost a civil war and was forced out. Now he wants revenge. He wants to kill everyone on the island and get Ben. We need more information on the Ben-Widmore relationship. There has to be more there than we know.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Most but not all of the Others from the 1950’s have Australian accents except for Alpert and Widmore.
• Who is the blonde chick with the gun on the island? Will she turn out to be one of the Others of Locke in the future?
• Will they time travel to the boat arrival of Danielle? Might make a cool episode.
• The old 1960s series Time Tunnel is very similar to what is going on now.
• Mrs. Hawking is the mother of Faraday. This is the gray-haired lady we saw in the episode The Lie who told Ben he only had 70 hours to get all six LOSTaways back. Apparently there is a brief window where you can return to the island. Is there a wormhole of some kind? We also saw Hawking in the episode flashes before your eyes as the ring salesman and also in a picture on the desk of the head monk in the abbey where Desmond was.
• The son of Desmond is named Charlie - no doubt named after Charlie Pace whom he befriended and watched drown. Sniff sniff. Miss you Charlie.
• The Chinese guy uses his Ghost Whisperer talents in this episode when they cross the burial ground of the soldiers.
• Do not forget that Sam Toomey was on or near the island during WW II and heard the Hurley numbers broadcast. We may also see an episode about this.
• When the island moved did the other nearby island also come with it? I say yes. This is the other island where Sawyer and Kate were in cages.
• Jack and Kate never appear in this episode. A rarity.

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Because You Left

Welcome to the new webiste and to the review of Because You Left.

When Marvin Candle (not real name) wakes up it is 8:15 am. These are Hurley numbers and also the flight number of the plane that crashed. Candle puts on a record and its starts to skip. The skipping record foreshadows the people on the island skipping through time. In the cave we see the workman who was drilling into the "time room" I guess you could call it and starts bleeding and freaking out. The time travel quality of the island has deleterious effects. We have seen this before. When the radio operator and a friend went out into the boat near the island they eventually both died. Desmond almost died but made a phone call to Penny. She was his "constant" that saved him. Also note Faraday's female friend with the nose bleeds as they skip through time. She also is suffering from the time travel. Will she also die? LOST seems to mean now "lost in time". Years ago when someone posted that idea on the ABC board I did not believe it. And I have said for years that they were not lost in time. Well look where we are now? Skipping through time! There was actually a small clue of this some years ago. Sawyer was reading a book called "A Wrinkle in Time". Although we did not know it then it was actually foreshadowing what was to come. In the cave outside the time room we see Faraday. Is he still skipping through time with everyone else or is he on his own now? Is he part of DHARMA? Did he get a job there or just steal a uniform? What is his goal? Does he want to get into the time room perhaps to stop their skipping through time? Why else is he in there?

TITLE
"Because You Left." Why do bad things happed just because six people left? What does that have to do with anything. A partial answer comes from the episode "The Constant". In this episode which I alluded to earlier Desmond must contact Penny by phone just to stay alive. This phone call also stops him from skipping through time. Perhaps a similar thing is happening here. The six people are the island's constant. Without those six people everybody will keep skipping through time.

Note the name on Ben's coat when he turns the wheel. It is Haliwax. I am pretty sure that one of Marvin Candle's fake names is Edgar Haliwax. He mentions it in one of the orientation videos.

NEAL FOR REAL
Neal also named frogurt has been mentioned before. In the episode SOS Neal was mentioned as owning the frozen yogurt stand. We never actually saw him.

REINVENT THE WHEEL?
Who made the wheel that moves the island when you turn it? Was it a modern civilization? Was it a future civilization or a past one? What if it was a future civilization that had advanced time travel technology and they built the wheel? Or was it an ancient society like the one that built the four-toed statue. They didn't understand the technology but built the wheel because they were worshipping the island and this was part of their religion?

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? (OR YOU CAN'T GET BLOOD FROM A KATE TURNIP)
Who hired the lawyers to get blood from Kate and Aaron? I know your first thought is Widmore. After all he is an extremely powerful man and yes that is a likely candidate but not the only one. As Sun mentioned whoever did it knows about the lie but is not interested in exposing it. They just wanted Aaron. Recall when mister abaddon visited Hurley in the institution he knew about the lie. He asked about the other survivors of the plane crash. So there are people who know. Abaddaon also was involved in sending the freighter people to the island hence it's Widmore. It may also be prudent to mention that Aaron is supposed to raised by Claire or very bad things will happen.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN, OF TIME AND SPACE
The island has moved not only in time but also in space. We know this because we see the plane from Africa crash on the island and also because in last year's season finale we see the island disappear. Now we have solved one of LOST's mysteries. How did a small plane from Africa end up crashed on the island? It's because the island went to the plane not the plane to the island. The island has a way of crashing planes and ships. Remember Danielle and her boat. The electronics went out when they got near the island. Probably something similar happened to the drug plane. Locke has seen the plane crash before in a vision in season one I think. In the general theory of relativity space and time are not separate but are combined together into one entity called spacetime.

QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
Why didn't Ethan remember Locke after he met him after crashing on the island? How did Alpert know where and when to find Locke? This one is partially answered. Locke will travel in time meet Alpert give him the compass and tell him Ethan shot him. But still Locke did not know the date he was shot so how did Alpert know the date to show up at the plane to treat Locke?

Sun wants to kill Ben and she assumes Widmore does also. But when Ben was in the bedroom of Widmore he says that he can't kill Widmore. Why? we don't know. It's like those two are playing a game with rules and one of the rules is that you can't kill the other. But Ben is allowed to kill the daughter of Widmore apparently. Ben has mentioned that the rules changed when his daughter was killed. So is Widmore allowed to kill Ben? Does this break the rules. Widmore has never said he wants to kill Ben. Notice how Sun has become this vindictive woman!

Why must Locke die to save the island? Is Locke really dead or is he just mostly dead? (See movie Princess Bride starring Cary Elwes(Saw)) We have seen drugs on the island when Locke drugged Boone and made him see visions. If Locke does know drugs then could he concoct something to make him look dead? When Locke's body is returned to the island will he be revived? What will happen if the six people don't return to the island? Will it be the end of the earth? What does the mother of Faraday have to do with this? Is the mother of Faraday the gray-haired woman we see in the vision of Desmond in the episode Flashes Before Your Eyes? If so she may be the key to saving everyone on the island. If the rules don't apply to Desmond then can he change time? What did Faraday read in his book that made him go to Desmond? Was it the phrase "Desmond Hume is your constant" that we saw previously in the episode The Constant?

TIME TRAVEL AND SUCH
Farady states that in time travel there are rules and you cannot change the future even if you wanted to when you go back in time. Time is like a string and you can travel to different parts of that string. This is different than time travel in back to the future and my novel Chaotic Planet Origin (available at www.qcms.biz). In those time can split onto different branches. See my novel. There's a whole chapter on just time travel called the Time Traveler's Handbook.

WHAT THIS EPISODE TEACHES US
The lesson to learn from this episode is always empty the dishwasher. Don't believe me? Just ask the guy Sayid killed.

ODDS AND ENDS
When Alpert says "what goes around comes around" refering to Ethan shooting Locke may be a reference to Charlie shooting Ethan. Ethan shoots Locke. Charlie shoots Ethan.

John Locke has now been shot twice on the island. Once by Ben and once by Ethan.

Q