My Serious, Logical Thoughts on The Incident parts 1 and 2

TITLE
The long awaited “incident” episode first mentioned in the episode Orientation in season two. That single episode has become a foundation because many things refer back to it such as electromagnetism, polar bears and of course the incident.

A FIST FULL OF JACOB
Jacob doesn’t seem to age as he looks the same a hundred years ago as he does today. Note the opening sequence. As Jacob talks with the as yet unnamed man, they watch a ship in the distance with sails. This ship is undoubtedly the Black Rock and the unnamed man says that he brought the ship here and that it would be the same again. Why does this man want to kill Jacob so much? Is it because Jacob forcefully holds him on the island? Why can’t he just kill Jacob himself? We may have a slight clue from the episode where Ben comes into the bedroom of Widmore. When Widmore talks about Ben killing him Ben says “We both know I can’t do that.” Is the reason Ben can’t kill Widmore the same reason this guy can’t kill Jacob? Who is Jacob and how long has he been on the island? Why doesn’t he or Richard age?
When Ben brought Locke to meet Jacob he brought him to the cabin. The man we glimpsed in that episode looked nothing like Jacob. He was an older man with a scraggly beard. There was an old man who lived in a shoe and his name was Jacob. Jacob does not live in the cabin. I wonder. With Ben’s admission that he has never seen Jacob, was he taking Locke to Jacob at all? Was someone else in the cabin besides Jacob. When the plane crash survivors show up at the cabin, they notice that a barrier of what looks like mud around the cabin has been breached. Does this mean that whoever was in the cabin got out? Who was it? We also saw this barrier when Ben and Locke visited the cabin together but there was no breach in it. I would guess that the person in the cabin was the unnamed person we saw in the first scene on the beach, but if so then why is it that the plane crash survivors are bringing the body of Locke to this man? It makes much more sense that they would bring it to Jacob. But if they are bringing it to Jacob then why not go directly to the shoe? Why stop at the cabin?
Jacob seems to be everywhere in the past lives of our heroes. We see him with Sawyer when Sawyer was a kid. We see him with Kate when she was little. But why does he visit them? Is it because he knows their destiny in the future or is it because he travels back in time to visit them in the past knowing some day they will come to the island in the future? Did Jacob choose them to come to the island or does he know that they will in the future? We get an answer to this question in the first scene when the unnamed man states that Jacob brought the ship (Black Rock) here. Jacob must have the power to bring people to the island. He also has the power to leave the island at will apparently as we saw him in the cab with Hurley. This was a fairly recent event so somehow he got back to the island after talking with Hurley on the mainland. Notice that Jacob gives Hurley the guitar case. This is the one Hurley clings to in the water after he is abruptly transported to the 1970s. The reason is because this is replacing Charlie’s guitar case so that the 316 flight will look more like the 815 flight.
So how did Jacob get back to the island so quickly after talking to Hurley? There is no evidence that Jacob was on flight 316 so how did he get back? It almost seems like Jacob has the power to teleport on and off the island. If so then why doesn’t he teleport away before Ben stabs him. Also it seems odd that you could kill Jacob at all. I guess he’s not exactly like the highlander.

INCIDENT
As predicted by many fans the hand of Peter Chang was injured in the incident. Though most people thought it was his entire arm that got ripped off. Again this goes back to the Orientation video when Chang does not seem to use one of his arms. This scene was pretty exciting, but I was very sad to see Juliet go. Don’t worry you can see her in a new series called V premiering this fall. It pretty much guarantees she won’t be back as a major character next year.
So what you have all been waiting for. Did blowing up the bomb change the past? And the answer is ….

….

No! Blowing up the bomb is just part of what was supposed to happen. Juliet is for sure dead. Everybody else should be ok. Let’s hope the bomb was buried deep enough when it went off that it didn’t hurt anybody on land above. This may be true but you have to wonder if the explosion will cause the land above it to implode. The reason why the past cannot be changed is because if it was then this show would really stink. Imagine the next episode showing flight 815 landing in L.A. and they never get to the island. That would pretty much be it right? Nowhere to go after that.
I though it was crazy that first Sawyer tries to stop Jack then help Jack just because of what Juliet said. That was a 180 if I ever saw one. Though their reasoning was sound, the science was wrong because you can’t change the past. Yes, I know Faraday said you could, but he was wrong. The past is fixed. Anything you do to try to change the past just becomes part of what already happened. We have seen no evidence that the past can be changed.
The scary part is that when Sun confronts Richard about her husband and friends in the 1970s Richard says that he watched them all die. This does not bode well. Is he speaking of the series finale in which everybody in the past dies? It would be unthinkable to see Jack die so soon when we have another season left.

WHAT IS THAT SYMBOL?
The statue is holding an Egyptian symbol in one hand. This symbol was also around the neck of a DHARMA member who was killed by THE OTHERS when Sawyer and company first arrived in the 1970s. They managed to save the wife of this guy. This may imply that the statue was intact during the 1970s or that DHARMA has seen the symbol somewhere else on the island such as the temple. Or of course it could also be an amazing coincidence but I don’t think so. There is also the slight possibility that DHARMA itself is somehow based on either Egyptian religion or its past because in the hatch when the counter ran down a set of four Egyptian hieroglyphics appeared. The same hieroglyphics also appear on the temple, but the connection between the symbols, DHARMA and the temple has never been revealed. The DHARMA people don’t seem to be religious folk. They seem to be scientists not religious leaders. Perhaps in a future episode this will be one of the twists where we see that DHARMA actually is based in an ancient religion from Egypt. Another idea is that those people who are involved in this mystical religion are drawn to the island somehow. When Jacob is spinning the tapestry at the beginning of part one, he puts ancient Egyptian and also Greek symbols in it. Is Jacob that old? In the cabin we also see part of a tapestry knifed to a wall. On the tapestry is a picture of the Egyptian god Taweret.

IS IT ALL BLACK AND WHITE WITH YOU?
The dark versus light theme first introduced in season one makes a subtle appearance here in the first scene where we see Jacob in white and an unnamed man in black. Based on what happens at the end one gets the feeling that Jacob in white represents the good guys and the man in black (not Johnny Cash!) represents the bad guys. This theme has been revisited several times throughout the course of the series. Not really sure what it means. There is Ben’s replay to Michael when he asks who are you people. “We’re the good guys” Ben replies. When Lapidus asks Bram who they are he says “the good guys”.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
Perhaps the island is neutral territory – a testing ground in a conflict between ancient gods. This theory would satisfy the light versus dark theme and at the same time explain why the man in black cannot kill the man in white. He can’t because the island is neutral ground. Similar to “holy ground” seen in the Highlander series. But there is a loophole. Someone who is not a god can kill one of the gods on the island. Ergo Ben kills Jacob. The smoke monster is a creation of the gods designed to protect the temple from moral impurity. Anyone found to be “bad” can be killed by the smoke monster. This would also explain how the man in black can masquerade as Locke. Because he is a god. So who are these gods? They could be Ra, Hippophus or any of the ancient Egyptian gods or perhaps the Greek gods like Appollo, Zeus and so forth. This theory has the added benefit of hearkening back to a Star Trek episode called “Who Mourns for Adonis” in which the Star Trek crew meets the real Apollo. And as an even greater benefit this would tie in the Apollo candy bars! Note the scene when Jacob meets Jack. Jack is buying an Apollo bar. I believe that nothing on LOST is an accident and that includes the names of candy bars. Remember in season one when Sawyer read a book called a Wrinkle in Time. We didn’t have time travel in season one and now look where we are!
By gods I don’t mean God the creator of the universe, but these are humans who have evolved over time with special powers that make them seem like gods to ordinary people. Think of the TV show “Heroes” on NBC. The idea was also used in the movie Hancock. And now these beings have a disagreement with each other. One group believes that ordinary humans are redeemable despite all their flaws. Another group believes that ordinary humans are unredeemable and should be disposed of. The island was created to be a neutral zone, a testing ground and a place of worship. The gods bring humans there to worship them, and share with them some of their powers. They want to test mankind to see if we as a species are redeemable. Think Next Generation Episode “All Good Things”. The good gods have brought people to the island for centuries trying to prove their point but it always fails. Humanity always reverts to their most basic side. When you see the two men on the beach at the beginning they discuss how this always fails. In the distance we see a ship coming to the island with more people. It will be another experiment that will fail. THE OTHERS who are on the island today are people brought to the island by Jacob to be part of his experiment. They are the followers of Jacob.
The electromagnetic anomaly may be a power source of the gods. The time travel room was built by ancient peoples who worshipped the gods on the island. The ability to time travel was provided by the gods. They also built the statue. The statue is Egyptian goddess Taweret.

ROSE AND BERNARD
It was great to see them again. I thought they might be hiding out. By the way, nice cabin they made all by themselves. How do they get their food?

OTHER STUFF

Anyone notice how Sayid seems to enjoy shooting people? Just an observation.
What happened to the rest of the statue? Is Ben lying when he says he doesn’t know? Yes, probably.
Why do the new folks from flight 316 ask the question what lies in the shadow of the statue? It makes you think they are part of a secret organization. Obviously they have been to the island before and they know about Richard. We see Llana speaking to Jacob when she is in the hospital. Jacob asks for her help and she says yes.
One of the DHARMA members is named Horace which is also the name of the Egyptian god.
The smoke monster in the form of Alex told Ben to do everything Locke said. But that is not really Locke! So even the smoke monster seems to be fooled by this ruse.
In flashbacks Jacob touches Saywer, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Jin, Hurley and John Locke. When he touches John he seems to come back from the dead, but not necessarily so. Notice that each person Jacob touches returns to the island.
Jacob appeared when Nadia was killed and played a part in her death by distracting the couple. Or was he saving Sayid?
There is a flashback to a young Juliet but Jacob does not appear.
If Ben lied about Jacob being in the cabin they why the place erupt due to an invisible force when Locke lit the lamp?
When Sun finds the ring with DS on it. It’s Charlie’s Drive Shaft ring. They got the name from their ancestor Dexter Stratton.
There is another biblical reference when Ben refers to Locke as Moses.
What did Jacob mean at the end when he said “They’re coming”. He may have meant the other gods.
The whispers we have been hearing on the island since season one are the voices of the gods talking to each other.

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Follow the Leader

TITLE

Refers to Locke as the new leader of the OTHERS and also refers to the OTHERS as they blindly follow Jacob even without seeing him.

YOU’RE DA BOMB

The last time I saw a bomb in a temple was in the movie Beneath the Planet of the Apes. That did not end so well. I wish that Jack had asked Richard about the hieroglyphics on the stone supports in the temple. So the plan then is to detonate the bomb and destroy the electromagnetic anomaly thus altering the future. The problem with this is that when you try to do that your actions simply become part of the future you already know. Just ask Sayid. He thought he changed things by killing Ben. However Ben survived and thanks to Sayid became a permanent member of the OTHERS. Maybe the only reason Ben is Ben is because of Sayid.

Perhaps when Jack attempts to use the bomb to destroy the anomaly he actually causes it. Or an even more likely explanation is that his plan fails or he is too late. Remember when Desmond was in the hatch, and he turned the key that blew up the anomaly? Well, what he could have been blowing up was Jughead the very bomb we see in this episode and have seen before. So the bomb is detonated by Desmond destroying the anomaly but it is too late to save Oceanic 815 from crashing. Also does anyone really want to see the past five seasons negated ala Quantum-Leap style? I think not.

BEN DOES HE EVER SPEAK THE TRUTH?

Ben tells so many lies it’s hard to tell when he is speaking the truth. When he tells Richard “Why do you think I tried to kill him” he is implying that he knew Locke was going to be trouble as the new leader of the OTHERS. But wasn’t the reason because Locke had to be dead on the plane to take the place of the father of Jack who was also dead on the original flight? It looks more like Ben is trying to get on Richard’s good side. He has done this just recently with Caesar. He got on his good side and spoke badly about Locke but then he killed Caesar after stealing his gun. And we see Ben talking with Locke and acting like he is all on his side and if Jacob wants to help reunite him with his friends he’ll help.

THE INCREDIBLE MISTER ALPERT

When Richard comments that there is something different about Locke, Locke responds with “I have a purpose now”. So why does Locke suddenly want to kill Jacob? His comments to the OTHERS that they are all taking orders from a man they have never seen implies that he is trying to rescue them from some kind of man whom they blindly follow. Who is this Jacob really? Does he really have their best interests at heart? What is his goal?

There is a striking similarity between this situation and the Twilight Zone episode Old Man in the Cave (1963). In this episode a group of people who have survived a nuclear war take directions from an unseen man in a cave. There is a mediator between the man in the cave and the people. Only one guy who ever goes into the cave to talk to the man. Then he comes out and tells the people what the old man said. The Old man says not to eat the food they have. The people eat the food anyway and die. At the end of the episode we find out that the old man in the cave is a computer. Richard Alpert sounds a lot like this mediator guy since he seems to be the only person who knows how to find Jacob. Ben says that Richard has been at this job a long time. But how long? Can you say four-toed statue? Richard may have been alive back then when the statue was built. He was granted immortality by the island to serve the island kind of like an island priest. He may be thousands of years old.

Notice the shock on the face of Ben when Locke states that Ben has never seen Jacob. Ben does not contradict him and says nothing. The last time Ben and Locke confronted Jacob together Ben certainly acted like he was talking to someone in a chair while Locke saw no one. Then Jacob spoke but only Locke could hear him. Ben heard nothing. Jacob said “Help me” to Locke. We got just a glimpse of Jacob. He was an older man with a gray beard dressed in shabby clothes.

The statement of Locke that he wants to kill Ben seems surprising and contradictory. After all was it not Jacob who chose Locke to be the new leader? Jacob or the island? I thought the two were synonymous. One interpretation of the “help me” statement from Jacob to Locke is that this is a plea for Locke to kill him. That would explain a lot. Perhaps Jacob is being kept prisoner by the island or Richard and the only way out for Jacob is to die. After all, have you ever seen Jacob outside of that shack he lives in? It could be his prison cell.

AWKWARD

On the sub La Fleur is handcuffed in the same room with two women he was slept with.

I WATCHED THEM ALL DIE

Richard makes the comment that he saw Jack, Hurley and Kate die. That doesn’t sound good at all so let’s hope he is wrong. Kate ends up on the sub with Sawyer and Juliet so she seems to be getting away. In order for Richard to see her die she would have to return to the island. How is that going to happen? Will the sub have a mechanical problem and want to turn back? Also did anybody notice that Lafleur, Juliet and Kate were conscious for the sub journey? Always before when people were in the sub they had to be unconscious. Recall Juliet’s first ride when she drank the knockout juice and also that is how Hurley, Jack and Kate were able to infiltrate DHARMA because nobody on the boat saw them because they were all asleep. Jack and Hurley are still on the island so he could still see them die. So how are we going to get out of this dilemma? Because we can’t have Jack die. There are possibilities:

• Richard saw a large group of people killed and assumed they all died. This could happen if the bomb goes off and he assumes they are nearby and they are not.
• Richard was told to lie in the future about what really happened to Jack, Hurley and Kate for some reason. Recall Richard takes directions from Locke about how to deal with the other time-traveling Locke who appears. Could he not also take direction from other time travelers? But why would Jack and company want to lie about what happened to them? Because they don’t want anyone coming after them. They think it is too dangerous.

So take heart. Jack and stuff might still be alive in the past and not be killed as Richard says.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Hey anybody wonder what happened to Bernard and Rose? Last we saw of them they were time flashing with everybody else. Would they not have time flashed to the 1970s with DHARMA. Here are my ideas where they are:

• They are dead
• They time-flashed to the 1970s but hid out with the hostiles instead of DHARMA
• They time-flashed to the 1970s but hid out on their own

WHAT ABOUT ETHAN?

Is Ethan who is a baby on the sub? Since they evacuated all non-essential personnel that would include Ethan. But we know Ethan will be on the island in the future. This is a strong hint that this sub is not going anywhere. It must be coming right back. The hostiles are fond of stealing children so they must steal him at some point in the future.

Compasses don't work on the island. It looks like Locke has forgotten about that and also his statement to Sayid that he no longer needs a compass.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
What is your theory on where Bernard and Rose are? Post!

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on The Variable

TITLE

Refers to the comment of Faraday that they are the variables. In mathematics a variable is a quantity that can potentially take on more than one value. Usually the variable is denoted by the proverbial x. For example in the equation x² = 25 x can be 5 or -5. A variable is the opposite of a constant. Note that there was a previous episode called the constant. There are lots of constants in nature. A few of them are the gravitational constant of the universe having to do with gravity, Coulomb’s constant having to do with the electric force and Planck’s constant having to do with the energy of electromagnetic particles.

I FORGET IF I REMEMBER YOU

Faraday appears to be suffering from short term memory loss. This concept has been the subject of at least two movies: 50 first dates and Memento. Eloise and Charles say that the island will heal him of his memory loss but does it? When we first saw Faraday we really don’t know that he has this affliction and by all accounts he does not seem to suffer from it on the island though people do think Faraday acts kind of weird. Notice the comments between Sawyer and Miles about how Faraday is weird. It is possible that the island does cure Faraday though we never actually see any transformation. The island does heal. Locke was healed of his death!

ELLIE AND DESTINY

Ellie knows full well that she is destined to send her son back to the island to be killed by her. Quite a sacrifice. That is why she says that for the first time in a long time she does not know what is going to happen next. That is because in the past when she encountered Faraday she encountered her son from the future so she got insight into her future. She says that it is her job to keep Daniel on his path. That is why she steers Daniel away from relationships. She knows what is going to happen to him and that he has no future. She knows what he is destined to do and she must make sure he does it. Interesting is the line where Daniel says I can make time. Is he referring to making time to do both music and science or does he mean literally making time?

Eloise knows it is critical that the Oceanic six (except Aaron?) return to the island. If they don’t go back something awful will happen. We don’t really know why. Ellie refers to a conflict that is bigger than any of us. Desmond got in the middle of that conflict which appears to be between Ben and Widmore. Somehow the ramifications of this conflict are dire. If the wrong side wins it may mean the end of the world. We know that Widmore was banned from the island, but we never see why Ellie left. Also why are the stakes of this conflict so dire? It looks like just a spat between Ben and Charles. And what do the LOSTaways have to do with it? One gets the feeling that we are seeing some kind of cosmic battle but we are not getting the full story. I wonder if this battle actually goes back centuries. We get the feeling that the presence on the island is very old after seeing the statue and temple. And does go back to the light versus dark theme that was presented to use in season one. Some examples: They found light and dark marbles on the bodies in the cave. Locke refers to light and dark pieces when discussing backgammon. As a side benefit Locke also mentions how old the game is thus hinting at a very old conflict. Could this be the same cosmic conflict going on now? Could be.

YOU CAN’T SEE IT IT’S ELECTROMAGNETIC. I’LL TEACH YOU THE ELECTRIC SLIDE

I wonder if it has something to do with the electromagnetic anomaly? Because flight 815 crashes, the anomaly eventually gets blown up by Desmond when he turns a key. Perhaps Desmond detonated Jughead, the hydrogen bomb on the island. That was Faraday’s plan anyway. The thing is that the bomb is currently only known by the OTHERS and only they know where it is. So that means to get it DHARMA would have to negotiate with the OTHERS. The problem there is that the OTHERS don’t know about the hatch and pressing the button to save the world. There has been no indication that they have any idea about the true purpose of the hatch and pressing the button. Notice the reference that Faraday makes about DHARMA having to cement up the anomaly in the Swan hatch and then keeping the energy at bay for 20 years. In the Swan hatch we saw buckets right outside of a concrete wall. When Jack got too close to the wall the metal necklace he was wearing moved toward it. An effect caused by the anomaly. Recall the DMARMA guy that was killed when the gold tooth he had shot up through his head.

WHATEVER HAPPENED HAPPENED

Notice the scene with Faraday and Chang bumping into each other in the tunnel. We have seen this incident before in a previous episode. Faraday seems to flip in this episode now believing that time can be changed despite having said whatever happened happened. In my novel, Chaotic Planet: Origin I refer to this kind of thinking as chaotic. The belief that time cannot be changed I call deterministic. Daniel flips from being a determinist to a chaoticist because he realizes that the time travelers are the variables and they can change things. But notice how Faraday’s plan fails hinting that determinism still reigns. Daniel didn’t change anything. He was unable to get to the bomb and detonate the anomaly thus preventing flight 815 from crashing in the future. His flipping also is the reason why he says his mom was wrong when she told Jack it was his destiny to come back to the island. What made Faraday come back to the island was he saw the pictures of Jack, Hurley and Kate as new recruits for DHARMA. He came to the conclusion that they were variables not constants and that the past could be changed. He was wrong. Whatever happened happened seems to be the rule.

It should also be noted that people can also be constants as well as variables. Desmond Hume was the constant for Faraday. Faraday wrote that in his journal. You see Faraday get that journal as a graduation gift in this episode. Also Penny was the constant for Desmond when he got “infected” by the island.

INCIDENT

Looks like we are finally going to get a look at the incident first spoken of in the episode Orientation. Chang refers to an “incident” which we have never actually seen. Faraday speaks of this incident now. It has been often theorized that Chang would lose an arm in the incident though Stew did say Chang was at home just before the shootout. He still has time to show up at the Swan hatch before the incident.

DON’T CRY FOR ME DANIEL FARADAY

We get insight into why Daniel Faraday cries when he sees the plane at the bottom of the ocean. Daniel tried his own experiment on himself. That is what gave him the short term memory loss and what got him dismissed from his job at Oxford. Remember Ellie the animal he was doing experiments on. Ellie is also the name of his mom though now she goes by the more formal Eloise. When she was on the island she was Ellie. When Daniel did the experiment on himself he may have got glimpses of both the past and future. Thus he could have subconsciously known about flight 815 already. Recall the deleterious effects that the island had on some of the freighter people. Their radio operator for example died after getting too close to the island. Before he died he experienced time travel as did Desmond. Though really only his mind traveled while his body stayed where it was.

THIS IS THE OPPOSITE, NO, THIS IS

I have detected several opposites which I will list here

• Opposite theories of time travel determinism versus chaoticism
• Light versus dark
• Destiny versus not your destiny
• Science versus faith

We learn that Charles Widmore is also the Father of Faraday. Makes one wonder why his name is not Daniel Widmore. Probably because Eloise and he had a falling out and she probably got married to someone else named Faraday. But there is another idea. As far as I know there is know there is no Faraday constant but there is Faraday’s Law which has to do with a voltage produced by a changing magnetic flux through closed loops. It is electromagnetism. Since there is an electromagnetic anomaly on the island his character is aptly named. Ellie knowing the future could have given her son the last name of Faraday though this assumes that she has some idea of the electromagnetic properties of the island. That’s not too far a stretch.

ODDS AND ENDS

Young Faraday says the metronome has ticked 864 times. 8 and 4 are Hurley numbers. The fence code 141717 has one Hurley number in it, 4.

The comic book Widmore moves is called “WIRED” and says “Get Real” on it.

When Ellie shoots Faraday she may already be pregnant with him.

Eloise warned Faraday about relationships because she knew he would soon be dead. That is why she said that any relationship he had would only hurt someone. He wanted to have a relationship with Charlotte and things ended badly with her though Ellie couldn’t have known about Charlotte.

The shootout between DHARMA and the LOSTaways reminded me of the shootout at the OK corral.

When Faraday is speaking to jack outside the sonic fence he says “Anyone of us can die jack”. And true to form Faraday was dead by the end of the episode.

Why don’t DHARMA members use the lamppost to go back to the island? The Swan hatch was still getting resupplied before it blew up. Recall the flat of supplies that dropped in on a parachute. So that means that there are still some DHARMA members out there somewhere. Who are these members? Alvar Hanso? The Degroots? It isn’t the OTHERS resupplying the hatch because the supplies had the DHARMA logo on them. It can’t be Charles Widmore because he does not know where the island is. So that means that Charles does not know about the lamppost, but Eloise does. She keeps secrets from him. The only person we know for sure who knew about the lamppost before was Eloise making her a likely candidate.

VOTE NOW

Would you like to see the final episode of LOST where they change the past so that flight 815 never crashed on the island? Vote Yes or No here! I want to hear what you think!

WHY I VOTE NO

I vote no because it would negate the past five seasons of the show. This is what happened on the series finale of Quantum Leap where time travel was definitely chaotic.

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Some Like it Hoth

TITLE

This is a Star Wars reference. The planet Hoth appeared in the movie the Empire Strikes Back. It was a cold planet. Hurley’s screenplay refers to a scene in the movie which took place on Hoth. The title Some Like it Hoth is actually a paraody of the title of a movie called Some like it Hot starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon 1959. You can also see the parody None like it hot in the movie An Inconvenient Truth starring Al Gore.

 

WHAT IS IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATUE?

Who are these people who keep asking the question about what is in the shadow of the statue? We saw the statue in a time flash and Miles noted that they went back in time a long time ago. Is the answer the temple? The fact that Lana (the bounty hunter who captured Sayid) knows this question and it matches the question that the guys in the van asked Miles tells us that Llana knew they were headed to the island all along. Notice Bram the guy in the van also was on flight 316! He is now holding a gun with Llana. This team opposing Widmore is probably the OTHERS. We know that members have been on the mainland before. One of them was captured by Widmore and apparently killed. We saw this on a video. How did the van guys know about the father of Miles? Was Peter Chang killed in the DHARMA purge? We never actually saw his body. He could have survived. Perhaps if Miles gets to know his father he can convince him to leave the island. It was nice to see Naomi again. Recall she was on the freighter that came to the island. She was killed by Locke when she tried to call the ship. The island told him to do it. Did you notice the price offered to Miles to go on the freighter? It was 1.6 million dollars, and 16 is a Hurley number. That was a rather strange amount don’t you think? And we get to hear all the Hurley numbers when they are stamped on the hatch. Hurley was kind of right when he foretold that the numbers were bad when he first saw them on the hatch. The hatch came to a bad end.

 

INCIDENT

Finally we get to see the “incident” referred to in the swan hatch orientation video we first saw in the episode Orientation. This was kind of flat for me since I was thinking the incident was something much more dramatic even though a guy did die. And we never got to actually see the incident happen. Note also that the swan hatch is being built in a region where they are not supposed to be. It is remarkable that they could pull this off under the noses of the OTHERS without them knowing about it. But all evidence points to the OTHERS not knowing about the swan hatch. They did keep the site hidden behind greenery and a locked fence. The incident seems to be the discovery of the electromagnetic anomaly. Horace refers to this on the phone when he talks with some one about the incident. Or it could be that DHARMA created the electromagnetic anomaly by their experiments. The orientation video did mention experiments in this area.

We learn that Peter Chang is the father of Miles. There are a few other father-sun relationships in the show:  Jack-Christian, Hurley-his dad, Locke-his dad and now Miles-Chang. There are so many of these that it has kind of become a theme of the show in some ways. 

OTHER STUFF I NOTED

If Hurley gets his script purchased by George Lucas then he will make millions thus becoming a millionaire again. Though he did make changes. Though Lucas could edit the script after purchasing.

 

The Orchid hatch makes an appearance this time as it is being built. We know that the Orchid actually sits atop the wheel-time room. This is the wheel that Ben turned to move the island.

 

Miles is a true medium like Jennifer Love Huett or Patricia Arquette. Hurley does not really speak to the dead but speaks to the monster who impersonates dead people. That is why their experiences with the dead are so different. Note that Miles never sees the dead and it is just a feeling while Hurley does see them. Does the gift that Miles has have anything to do with his father? Did Miles obtain this gift while he was on the island? We know that Desmond obtained his gift of foresight while on the island after the swan hatch blew up. Perhaps young Miles got to close to some anomaly on the island and he got the power to speak to the dead.

 

When Jack is erasing the blackboard we see that stuff about Egypt is written on the board. This agrees with the symbol we saw on the dead husband of the now-wife of Horace and the several instances of Egyptian Heiroglyphics in many episodes. It’s a strong indicator that DHARMA has Egyptian overtones at least to some degree. Do they also buy into any of the religions of ancient Egypt? Do they worship the sun god? The statue seen in the timeflash by Miles, Sawyer et. al. did not look like any particular Egyptian god. But usually if you build a statue of that magnitude it is built to someone or something important to you. But what is this thing with four toes?

 

Peter Chang seems pretty happy with his wife and kid. Does that mean that the mom of Miles lied when she said he wanted nothing to do with them or does something change to make him not want them?

 

It is confirmed in case you did not believe it before that Widmore was the one who faked the plane crash. I knew this before but it was nice to finally have them show it here. When Miles sees the dead guy we learn this guy was on his way to Widmore with a P.O. about a plane and something else about graves. The man is dead. Did Widmore kill him because he knew too much?

 

This is not the first time a blackboard has been used to show clues. They did the same thing in a scene with Mr Abaddon and Hurley when he was in the institution.

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Dead is Dead

TITLE

Refers to a comment Ben made about Locke. He says dead is dead and that he has never seen the island do this before.

 

OTHER BROTHER FROM ANOTHER OTHER

We learn how Ben became one of the OTHERS. Apparently it had something to do with entering the temple. Probably this had something to do with the monster that lives in there or the security system as they call it. We know that the OTHERS have rules so that they all live by some kind of code. This has been referred to in a previous episode when Ben confronted Widmore in his bedroom. In that episode, Ben stated that they both knew that Ben could not kill him. When you think about it, the reason why is probably because members of the OTHERS are not allowed to kill other members. What else would prevent Ben from just blowing Widmore away? He was right in his bedroom with no witnesses! In this episode we see the Charles is banished from the island because he broke the rules. This contradicts a statement Widmore made to Locke when he said he was tricked into leaving the island. He was not tricked he was banished. Again an indication of rules. The rule he broke apparently was having a child with an outsider. That would make the OTHERS a very close knit group. Since their organization has their own temple one gets the feeling that they are kind of a religion. But exactly what the monster is and how it came to be part of this religion is unknown. We do know it has the power to judge you – even if you are not a member! Remember Eko. He was not a member but was still judged and killed by the smoke monster. Why? Recall that Eko murdered one of the OTHERS when they came into their camp. Maybe the smoke monster protects as well as judges members of the OTHERS. It killed Eko for killing one of their own. Juliet also killed a member of the OTHERS when she shot Steve. She was put on trial for it. Got branded but was not killed. Karl said “We’re pretty strict about killing one of our own.” Sawyer has also killed several others including Tom and some whose names are unknown. Does the same fate await Sawyer?

 

BEN THE LIAR

Ben tells Locke that he knew the island would bring him back to life, but he tells Sun that he had no idea that it would happen. Ben fakes being a friend to Caesar only to steal his gun and shoot him with it later. He lies again to Caesar when he seems so surprised that Locke would say he killed him. Ben is certainly the master manipulator.

 

BABY COME BACK

We see the scene where Ben stole the baby from Danielle. He still thinks she was crazy but we know that she was not. Her crew really had something wrong with them. Recall my theory that the crew was transplanted with new personalities and became different people. Note a young Ethan coming with Ben. Ben’s original mission we now know was to kill Danielle, but instead he steals the baby. Widmore wanted her dead, but Ben says that that was his desire and not the islands. Thus began the war between Ben and Widmore. It all started with baby Alex. Also note that years later Danielle captures Ben in a net. She tells Sayid that she has captured one of them. Now we know that Danielle had met Ben before and that is how she knew Ben was one of them. Most likely she would remember the face of the man who stole her baby. Though it was dark.

 

JUST A LITTLE INFO

We learn why Ben killed Locke rather than just let him hang himself. It was because Ben had to get some info from Locke before he died. This info I believe was the location of the church where the lamppost was.

 

MONSTER MASH

Ben summons the monster by opening a secret door in a DHARMA house. Does this mean that the DHARMA folks knew about the monster and used this room to summon it? What a weird way to summon. You drain some water and then speak into it? How does that work? Based on the Egyptian hieroglyphics we have seen on the temple and also in the room where Ben summons the monster, perhaps the religion of the OTHERS has an Egyptian origin? Perhaps they are worshippers of one of the Egyptian gods such as Ra or Anubis? Note that the ancient Isrealites had a relationship with Egypt and escaped from there to the promised land. Aaron was the brother of Moses the leader of the Isrealites who led them out of Egypt. And we have a character in this show named Aaron. Coincidence? I think not! We are missing a Moses character.

 

TEMPLE OF DOOM

When Ben is in the temple to be judged we see an image on a wall that is surely Egyptian in orign. We see a figure with the head of an animal looking at something which could be the monster coming toward it. It looked kind of like a snake. The images we see of Ben’s past within the monster itself echo, well, the experience of Eko when he encountered the monster. We saw images of Eko’s past in the monster then. The appearance of the dead Alex is yet another appearance of a dead person on LOST. We know several dead people have appeared to Hurley including Charlie and Eko. Eko’s brother also appeared to him. But it should be noted that these are not really the spirits of these dead people but rather the smoke monster impersonating these people. We know this because the figure who looked liked Eko’s brother said he wasn’t. So Hurley does not really have the ability to see dead people aka The Sixth Sense but rather the monster impersonates these people.

Note the holes the monster comes out of. They were constructed there for this purpose. The thing Ben is being judged for here is killing his own daughter. Although when he encountered Widmore in his bedroom he says it was not his fault. He now admits his fault.

Ben and company moved into the barracks after the DHARMA people were murdered. Locke says that this does not seem like something the island would want. So it seems Ben puts his desires above the island’s sometimes. Don’t you love the reversal of Ben and Locke. Locke knows the secrets now and Ben has to ask the questions.

 

OTHER STUFF I NOTED

Note the remark Widmore makes to Ben that if the island wants Alex dead then she will be dead. This sort of foreshadows the death of Alex, but was it the island that killed her? Wasn’t it Ben? Because that is why he was judged. Also Ben was not banished from the island as Widmore try to foretell.

 

We learn how Ben got beat up before he got on the plane. It was Desmond. When Ben see Charlie it reminds him of himself when he was young and the relationship he had with his dad.

 

When the smoke monster arrives the torch goes out. When it leaves it lights back up.

 

When Llana asks Lapidus “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” we are reminded of the statue we see on the island which we believe is very old. This implies a connection then between Llana and the island. But how could this be since she was just a bounty hunter and had no idea they were on their way to the island? Or did she?

 

Does DHARMA know about the smoke monster? Do they know what it is?

 

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Whatever Happened Happened

TITLE

Refers to something Faraday said. You cannot change the future by altering the past because whatever happened happened. I call this determinism.

THE HAPPENING

The title is especially poignant here because of what Sayid did. Sayid thought that by shooting Ben he could prevent future events caused by Ben. Actually what Sayid did played into the hands of fate so what Ben does in the future can be blamed on Sayid. By shooting Ben Sayid sets in motion a series of events that lead Ben to be taken to the temple where he becomes evil Ben. By trying to stop Ben he creates Ben. The irony!

Miles and Hurley have a great discussion on time travel. The only thing they cannot answer is why Ben does not seem to remember Sayid. That question is later answered by Richard Alpert.

INVASION OF THE BENNY SNATCHERS

When Sawyer and Kate take little Ben to Richard Alpert, Richard says that if he takes him that Ben will forget these events and will always be one of them and that he will lose his innocence. Then he takes Ben into the temple. This is what he means. When Richard takes Ben into the temple, Ben is healed of his injuries by the smoke monster, but he is also implanted with a new personality that is designed to serve the smoke monster. Ironically smoking saves Ben. Thank you for smoking monster. We saw this before when the crew of Danielle went underground underneath the temple. When they came back out they had new personalities. So much so that Danielle said that her own husband was not him! This guy also tried to kill his own wife, but Danielle secretly removed the firing pin from his rifle. It may also be that Richard has been implanted with a new personality at some time in the past, and perhaps other members of the OTHERS, but not all of them. Both Alex and Karl did not seem to have alternate personalities. That is why the OTHERS had so much trouble with Alex and Karl. Perhaps it was only meant for the leaders of the OTHERS. Ben eventually does become the leader, and Richard is sort of in charge. Locke was also chosen to be leader. They may have been preparing him to be taken into the temple. It should be noted that the smoke monster has already gone after Locke once before and tried to pull him underground. Only Jack exploding dynamite saved him. If he had not, would Locke then have also been implanted with a new personality? And Locke wanted to go underground.

I WANT LESS OF WID NOT MORE

It is interesting to note that the guy standing next to Richard says “what if … Charles finds out”. Could this be Charles Widmore? We know that he was on the island in the 1950s and apparently still on the island in the 1970s. He may also be kind of in charge from the way they were talking about him. But Richard says he doesn’t answer to “them”. At some point Charles will be tricked into leaving the island. This is also evidence that old Ben lied when he said he did not know how Widmore knew about the island. Ben lied. No big surprise. Notice that Richard calls Sawyer James. In DHARMAville they said that Jim did not like to be called James. This indicates that Richard has a familiarity with Jim Lafleur. Does he know who he really is? Also in the future will Richard remember La Fleur when he meets Sawyer? Also Richard has been alerted to time travel when Locke met him in 1954 and told him that he would be born in 1956. Notice how he shows up at the birth of Locke in an episode.

WHISPER

We now finally know what Sawyer whispered to Kate on the helicopter just before he jumped. As I guessed, it was about his daughter Clementine and taking care of her. He has sent $$ to Clementine before. We saw this when Sawyer was in prison and helped con that crook into telling him where the money was. Ironically Cassidy calls Sawyer a coward by jumping even though it probably saved the helicopter. She says he jumped because of fear of being with Kate. Later Sawyer amazingly kind of confirms this when he says he had no business being her boyfriend. But he also says he has changed in 3 years.

THE CASE OF AARON

The story of what happened to Aaron is revealed as is the reason why Kate went back to the island. Kate losing Aaron in the store seemed almost magical. Aaron disappeared in very little time. One might think he time flashed. But then you see him with a woman who mysteriously resembles Claire from the back. It is this incident that prompts Kate to return Aaron to his grandmother. One might think it was planned. Like that blond haired woman who was holding the hand of Aaron was instructed to take Aaron. She said she was about to make an announcement in the store about the lost boy but that seemed enormously quick. He went from disappearing to being with this woman in literally seconds. Also the direction they were walking in was also towards the exit. We also know that Ben was trying to get Aaron and even hired a lawyer to get him. So perhaps this was all a setup or perhaps I am just paranoid. You decide!

RETURN TO ME

The reason Kate wants to return to the island is to get Claire the mother of Aaron. This is very important since the psychic told Claire that she must raise him. We got the impression that if Claire did not raise him, if he was “raised by another” then something very bad would happen. Perhaps Aaron would then grow up to be another Hitler. In the bible Aaron became leader of the Israelites after Moses died. Does this mean that Aaron will also become a leader and if he is a good or bad leader depends on who raises him?

The flaw in the plan of Kate is that once she is on the island what is the plan for getting back? It was very difficult for them to leave the first time. Now that she is stuck in the 1970s she has no way to get to Claire. Their one hope is that Locke will return for them all. That is what they are waiting for – Locke.

Jack says the reason he came back to the island is that he was supposed to. But he does really know why. It seems that Jack is coming around to Locke’s way of thinking. The man of science is now becoming a man of faith. Jack refuses to operate on Ben because he thinks he is just getting in the way of the island and that the island will heal him. Again that sounds a lot like a Locke statement. Jack has been transformed so the winner of the science versus faith debate is faith.

CHANGELING

Roger Linus seems to admit what a bad father he is. He is guilty of child abuse as we have seen when Ben came into the cell area with broken glasses. Will Roger now change? If so it may be too late because his son is coming back changed. Eventually Ben will get revenge and gas his father and DHARMA to death.

LAND OF THE LIVING LOST

The statement of Locke at the end “welcome back to the land of the living” is sharp. It immediately informs Ben that upon seeing Locke that Locke is alive and Ben has not died. Otherwise he might have thought that he himself was also dead. By the look on the face of Ben he is surprised to see Locke alive which means that was not part of the plan. Also when Ben killed Locke he said “I am going to miss you John.” One might have thought that it was all part of his plan. That Ben killed Locke because he needed him dead to get back to the island but that Ben knew full well that the island would bring Locke back from the dead. But the expression on the face of Ben indicates otherwise. Ben could now lie and say that it was always part of the plan for Locke to come back from the dead. That might be wise considering what Locke might do to him. On the other hand Locke might not do anything to him but give him a talking to.

QUESTIONS

Slowly we are seeing the stories of how everybody got on that plane back to the island. We need to see Ben’s story now and why he was so beat up. My guess is that is has something to do with Penny since he vowed to kill her and Penny is on a boat right off shore. Perhaps there was a fight between Ben and Desmond. If so was Penny killed like Ben vowed to do?

Q

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Namaste

TITLE
An asian greeting. Used by DHARMA to welcome new members. You can also see it in the office of Charles Widmore written on a painting. Since he was once on the island, he may have known about this greeting and had it put on a painting in his office. On the other hand, it could all be an amazing coincidence.

WHY DON’T YOU KILL ME?
The copilot is killed and the pilot survives just like in the 815 crash. The difference is that the pilot of 815 was quickly killed by the smoke monster. Will Lepidus also be quickly killed off?

FARADAY, BERNARD AND ROSE AND CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU?
Notice that Faraday is no longer around. What happened to him? We have a couple of choices so let us address them:

He is dead
He left in the submarine
He time traveled out

Any of these options would work. The only evidence we have is one remark Sawyer made about Faraday when Jack asked if Faraday was here to which Sawyer replied “not anymore”. We do not have enough evidence to choose one. My best guess is that he time traveled out. Evidence for this comes from the scene where we see Faraday standing outside the time wheel room. He seemed very interested in the room as DHARMA uncovered it.
Notice that Peter Chang (a.k.a. Marvin Candle a.k.a. Edgar Halowax) already seems to know all about the room and what it does. That prior knowledge had to come from somewhere which supports my ancient civilization theory.
Now where are Bernard and Rose? We last saw them on the beach. Using logic they should also be in the 1970s being taken along by the time flashes like everyone else. The possibilities are:

1. They are part of DHARMA but we have not seen them
2. They are dead
3. They are part of the OTHERS

Let’s hope for choice #1.

SUN-SHINE AND DEAD-LOCK
Why did Sun not disappear off the plane into the 1970s with everyone else? After all, Sun was on the original flight 815. Should she not also disappear with the rest? I can see why Locke did not disappear because he is dead and taking the place of another dead man.

THE GHOST AND MRS. JIN
Notice the Christian is able to interact in our world. He can turn on lights and hold a photograph. So he is not some kind of ghost. He must be something else. Is Christian still alive as Locke alluded to previously when he confronted Jack about his father in the episode the life and death of Jeremy Bentham? If so then why did Christian not help Locke up after Locke was injured in a fall in the time wheel room? We cannot now use the excuse that he is a ghost and thus not able to interact with our world.

HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
How did Sawyer get to be head of security, and the rest join DHARMA after Horace was intent on sending them all away? He even said to Sawyer that he was not DHARMA material. Obviously he proved him wrong.

THE HATE BOAT
Look for the outrigger boats to make another appearance in a future episode. While our gang was time flashing on the island, they time flashed to a point where they found outriggers on the island, and they took one. Then another boat chased after them and Juliet shot at them. One possible outcome of this is that Juliet shoots somebody she knows.

BABY COME BACK!
The baby of Amy is named Ethan which will of course be Ethan Rom the surgeon spy on the LOSTaways. The OTHERS have made a habit of stealing children before with Alex being a prime example. Recall they stole her from Danielle Rousseau. What probably happened is that the OTHERS stole the children just before gassing DHARMA and killing all the adults. It’s a great way to get new members. Steal them as babies then they grow up being members of your group like they have always belonged there. No need to tell them where they really came from.

BACK TO THE PAST
When Christian says to Sun that she has a bit of a journey ahead of her, what does he mean? Is he suggesting that Sun go back in time to get Jin? Will our heroes be rescued or will they be gassed by the OTHERS when Ben goes on his purging? One thing is for sure, when 815 crashes we do not see old versions of Juliet, Hurley, Kate, Sayid, Jack, Jin and Sawyer. That does not mean they are not there. If they survive the purging which they know is coming then they could still be alive and living on the island as older people when 815 crashes. One wild ending to the show would be to see these oldsters watch as 815 crashes.

I LOVE OUTGASSING
What year did Ben gas DHARMA? Well Ben is 12 in the year 1977 and when the gassing happens he looks to be in his thirties. If he is 32 that puts the gassing in 1997. That seems really too late since we see antiquated computers, records and other outdated material on the island. Would they not have upgraded to CD’s by that time? So let’s say Ben was 22 at the gassing. That puts the gassing in the year 1987. Though there is no way that the actor who played Ben is 22 it would fit the time frame better. Actually it seems to have occurred even before that, as the equipment seems to be at the latest early 1980s. But if you say that DHARMA was gassed in 1984 let’s say, then you are at a time when Ben was only 18 years old! He was certainly not 18 when DHARMA was gassed. And also he seemed to call the shots too making him the leader. 1987 would also be one year before Danielle arrives which is why Danielle never mentions DHARMA. If Danielle had arrived when DHARMA was still around would she not have known about them and perhaps even interacted with them? Yet Danielle never utters one word about DHARMA in any episode. So the latest year the gassing could have happened is 1987 even though that still does not fit the age of the actor playing Ben. The only clue was have is when Ben mentions the purging by saying that “not long ago” I made a decision that caused the deaths of (40) people. But how long is not long? I think he said 40.

SWAN SONG
When Sayid sees the swan hatch model it is before the swan hatch has been built. I wonder if any of our heroes will have to work in the swan hatch? That would be full circle. First they work in the hatch then it is destroyed then they travel back in time to work in the hatch. They may even have to watch the swan hatch orientation video for real.

DON’T I KNOW YOU?
In the last scene we see 12 year old Ben Linus give a sandwich to Sayid. But if Ben grew up knowing Sayid and the other LOSTaways in DHARMA, would he not have recognized them when they crashed on the island? Ben has given no indication at all that he knew Sayid or anyone before the crash. He may be simply hiding that fact. After all, Ben is a master manipulator. He may also believe that it would mess up the spacetime continuum to mention it so he doesn’t. Ben may not have the physics training that Faraday does and is therefore unaware that whatever happened happened as Faraday put it. There is yet another possibility that Ben actually does forget meeting these people as a young boy. Charlotte forget meeting Faraday but remembered at just the right time. Same thing happened to Desmond. He met Faraday but did not recall it until years later even after he met Faraday. He still did not know Faraday when he met him coming from the freighter even though he had met him on the island years earlier. Will Ben also have a moment where he suddenly recalls meeting the LOSTaways in DHARMA? In any event, young Ben is going to lose touch with the LOSTaways at some point because enough time must elapse before the 815 crash so he does not remember the LOSTaways.

COME ON BABY, LET’S DO THE TWIST
As a twist, Except for the LOSTaways currently working in DHARMA, Ben is the last surviving member of the DHARMA Initiative. Desmond was never a member but worked in the hatch. Kelvin was killed by Desmond.

ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN
What was the accident referred to in the DHARMA orientation video that led to the pressing of the button every 108 minutes? Look for this to be answered in a future episode. We may even see the accident happen. Look for it to involve electromagnetism and possibly hurt the arm of Peter Chang.

QUESTIONS
What was that moving in the bushes when Sun and Lepidus arrive at the dock in the boat? Answer: Christian.
Where is Claire? Last we saw she was with Christian and also in a dream of Kate.
Did anyone get a look at the arm of Peter Chang in this episode? Viewers have noticed that in the swan orientation video he seems to use only one arm. But did he hurt his arm before or after the accident in the swan hatch?

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on He's our You

HE’S OUR YOU

TITLE

This refers to a comment Sawyer made to Sayid that Oldham was their version of Sayid since Sayid was also a torturer. As a side note, the actor playing Oldham was once a star of the sitcom Newhart in the 1980s.

AGIRA, WE GET YOU THERE. SOMETIMES

So we finally learn how Sayid got on the plane. The big question is if Ben planned this. It could go either way. Either that woman was who she said she was or she worked for Ben and just wanted to get Sayid on that plane. It would be just like Ben to be this diabolical. We know that Ben flat out lied to Sayid when he was in Santo Domingo when he told Sayid that the people of Whitmore killed John Locke. Of course we all know that Ben did it. Ben lied of course because he needed to get Sayid back to the island. Note that the manipulation worked. Sayid does eventually kill the man staking out Hurley at the institution. The reinforces the idea that Sayid is a natural born killer.

There is also a third option. The island got Sayid on that plane by using the female bounty hunter. Recall when Michael was about to kill himself in New York, Tom showed up and told him that the island would not let him kill himself and of course Michael was never able to shoot himself despite trying. Also at the lamppost Mrs. Hawkins told Desmond that the island was not done with him yet. It is kind of like the island has a consciousness. You could also say that it was the fate of Sayid to get on that plane.

THY WORD IS A LAMPPOST UNTO MY FEET

We know that DHARMA used the lamppost to find the island, but how did they know that there was an island out there to look for, and how did they know what to do to find it? I have an idea. Go back in time thousands of years ago. On the island lived a group of people who worshipped a four-toed god. It turns out the being they worshipped was real. They even built a temple to him. Through the help of this being these ancient people built the smoke monster to protect their temple. The smoke monster is the judge. It reads your mind and judges you to see if you are “good” or “bad”. Bad people are terminated or if it can capture you underground, replaced with new personalities that are “good”. That is why Desmond said he killed one of the tailies because he was a “bad” man. The smoke monster killed Eko after judging him to be bad. The OTHERS are well aware of the smoke monster, statue foot and temple and what they mean. They do not really come out and say that to anybody in the show though. The only clue we have is when Ben orders Richard to “take everyone to the temple”. This being also has the power to bring back folks from the dead and heal folks. This entity is the island itself. It is for all practical purposes, alive.

The island also helped the ancient people build the time traveling wheel room for time traveling purposes. So what happened to these ancient people? They are still there they just evolved. These people are the OTHERS. They are the descendants of this ancient civilization. But perhaps some of these people were able to leave the island and carry away with them the knowledge of the island. Or they could have been banished from the island as Widmore was. Over time this knowledge was passed down from generation to generation. That is how DHARMA knew about the island. The Degroots and\or Alvar Hanso obtained this information about the island and scientists determined how to locate it based on the properties of the island.

To remind you, the Degroots are a man and woman team of scientists from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. You can see them in the DHARMA orientation video for the swan hatch. See the episode ORIENTATION. In this episode he’s our you when Horace discusses what to do with Sayid he says at one point: “.. or I call Ann Arbor” this is a reference to the Degroots who are in charge of DHARMA with funding from Alvar Hanso. This begs the question of what happened to the Degroots and Hanso? Are they aware of what happened to DHARMA? The evidence for this is scanty so we can only really guess. We do know that someone from the outside world knows how to find the island because the swan hatch was still being restocked before it blew up. That food drop had to come from somewhere. This is evidence that Hanso and the Degroots are able to find the island (the lamppost?). and send supplies there. Why then do they not send reinforcements? It could be that they have given up on the whole DHARMA idea after almost their entire DHARMA team was wiped out by the OTHERS. I say almost because DHARMA still had people in the swan hatch pressing the button. The swan hatch is most likely unknown to the OTHERS as DHARMA kept it a secret. What happened to DHARMA members in other stations is not known. They were probably also killed. It should be noted that recruitment for the DHARMA initiative continued well into the 1990s. We know this because the CIA agent who worked with Sayid in the first gulf war ended up in the swan hatch. This man said he joined the DHARMA initiative thereby confirming that it still has some kind of existence though not in form it used to in the 1970s. This means they could still have people out there recruiting.

THAT CANT BE RIGHT

So Sayid kills Ben Linus as a young boy forever altering the future. Now DHARMA will not be destroyed, Ben will not be captured by Danielle and so forth right? WRONG! What you are forgetting is that the island has power over life and death. The island will not let Ben die because it wants Ben to be the leader. Look for young Ben to have a miraculous recovery and wonder why Sayid shot him. The evidence for this is pretty conclusive. I present the following evidence:

The island healed Locke instantly from being crippled

The island brought Locke back to life

The island brought Mikail back from the dead twice

Faraday said that it did not matter what they did because whatever they did already happened. In other words you cannot change the future.

KILL BILL I MEAN BEN

So can you change the past by going back in time? According to Faraday the answer is no, and we should believe him. In my novel Chaotic Planet: Origin I address this very issue. In my novel there are two ideas about time travel. One is that you cannot change the future by going back in time because whatever you do just becomes part of the future you already know. I call this idea deterministic. The other idea is that you can change the future by altering the past. This idea I call chaotic. Which is correct? Find out in my novel available at www.qcms.biz.

WANTED: NATURAL BORN KILLER

One major point of this episode is to show that Sayid is a natural born killer. We see this even when he is a young child killing the chicken. Also notice that Sayid is disappointed with Ben when there are no more people to kill. A similar thing happened to Alexander the great. When there were no more kingdoms to conquer he cried. Though the movie by Oliver Stone does not show this. Sayid cannot accept that it is over. Somehow Sayid is convinced that he has come back in time to kill Ben and change the future for the better. Little does he know that he is only playing into the hands of fate because shooting young Ben is a part of the future that he already knows.

FUTURE EPISODES

We will see how Kate and Hurley got on the plane.

We will see what happened to Aaron. Is he being “raised by another?”

My Serious, Logical Thoughts on LaFleur

TITLE

Refers to the name that Sawyer has used for himself at DHARMA. Since Sawyer used to be a con man this comes natural to him. The name is Creole.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN LINUS

Now that they are back at DHARMA are they going to see Ben as a young boy? Will they even recognize him or know he is even there? Although we the audience have seen Ben as a young boy with DHARMA, there is no reason to believe that the LOSTaways have any knowledge about Ben ever being part of the DHARMA initiative. They have only encountered Ben as an adult being part of the Others.

LOVE DHARMA STYLE

Welcome to the love quadrangle (not just triangle). The members are Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Juliet. Let us review. After the plane crashed Jack got close to Kate and had talks with while bad boy Sawyer made no move on her. When Sayid tortured Sawyer he said he would divulge information if Kate kissed him which she did but Sawyer had no info. Later Kate kissed Jack in the jungle and Jack told Kate he loved her. When Jack, Kate and Sawyer were captured by the Others Sawyer slept with Kate in a cage while Jack watched on video. Later while being rescued by a helicopter, Sawyer whispers something into the ear of Kate and then jumps out. When they return home Jack and Kate at first cannot get together because Jack cannot cope with his nephew Aaron living with Kate. Later jack and Kate hook up anyway. Then they break up because Kate has to keep doing things for Sawyer. Later after something happens to Aaron (we do not know what) Kate tells Jack she will go to the island with him and she kisses Jack. Meanwhile back on the island Juliet and Sawyer time flash into the 1970s where they fall in love and are now apparently living together. Now enter Jack, Kate and Hugo arriving on the island and scene!

BERNARD AND ROSE WHERE ARE YOU?

Anybody wondering what happened to Bernard and Rose? The last we saw them was on the beach. Then those flaming arrows came and everybody was supposed to meet u p later. But we never see them again. Also there are probably a few people with Bernard and Rose from flight 815. I do not think the arrows killed all of them. Perhaps they are part of DHARMA now, but we have not seen them yet.

HORACE

We have seen Horace Goodspeed before (the guy blowing up trees). He has appeared to Locke in a vision, and we saw him in the episode the man behind the curtain. That is the episode where we see Ben Linus as a boy at DHARMA. Horace ends up dying at the end of that episode. We see him dead as he is sitting on a bench with his mouth open. This brings up the question: were the LOSTaways there when this happened and were they also killed? The LOSTaways have no idea that this event is going to happen. Locke knows about it as Ben showed him the dead DHARMA bodies. But Locke does not know the exact date that it happened. Will Locke be able to return to the island and save the LOSTaways?

HOLD THAT BABY

Juliet is a mechanic now and has retired from the medical field. Her retiring has a lot to do with her seeing those 9 mothers die on the island before they give birth. Amy gives birth ok despite the fears of Juliet. Which as Sawyer says means that whatever happens that causes the mothers to die happens after 1977. However Juliet should have known at least the strong possibility that it would be ok since in the episode D.O.C. she says that most women made it to the middle of their second trimester. Obviously Amy is well beyond that. The question is what happened on the island that will cause mothers to die sometime after 1977? Will the LOSTaways be involved in this incident? Is this the same incident referred to by Marvin Candle in the Swan hatch? That incident probably had something to do with the electromagnetic anomaly that the button pushers in the Swan hatch protected us from. Candle says that the incident occurred shortly after the experiments began so this may have happened already. If so are the button pushers there in 1977, the year Amy gives birth? The orientation video made by Marvin Candle for the Swan hatch is dated 1980 so the incident happens before that or in that year.

TIME KEEPS ON A SLIPPIN

The LOSTaways see a large statue in one time flash which they interpret as them having time flashed to a long ago time. We have seen the foot of this statue before. Sayid noticed it on the sailboat of Desmond when they were sailing to rescue Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer. The statue reminded me of an idol worshipped by some ancient culture. Ancient cultures were known to worship idols and erect statues to them. I am reminded of the Colossus of Rhodes and the statue of Zeus at Olympia. Both are wonders of the ancient world. The temple that we saw in the episode This Place is Death is probably the temple of this god. And this god has its own security system. Was the security system put in place by these ancient people? If so then how did they get the technology to do it? The monster (or security system) seems to have some kind of built in morality. The brother of Eko judges Eko and shortly thereafter he is killed by the smoke monster. Does this “god” have something to do then with ethical values? This statue has its back facing us but seems to have an animal looking head two arms and two legs. I wonder if we will see an episode about these ancient people, the statue and the temple? Also amy removes an Egyptian ankh from the neck of her dead husband Paul. Could this mean that the statue is an Egyptian god? Also in the Swan hatch after the counter goes past zero Something that looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics appear. We also see some kind of symbols on the temple. The question is what is the relationship between DHARMA and these symbols? Is DHARMA aware of the four-toed statue? Do they already know what it represents? It seems strange because DHARMA is supposed to be a group of scientists. What is up with the symbols?

LOOSE ENDS

According to Horace, DHARMA does not know about the Black Rock. This seems strange. That means that they are not familiar with the whole island. Do they know about the temple and smoke monster?

How can the Others get past the sonic fence? Well, it seems pretty easy. Apparently all you need is a pair of ear plugs! If so that would seem to be a huge security breach. Although there is a slight possibility that Amy set the fence to allow one person threw first and then activate, this theory falls by the wayside when Amy takes the ear plugs out of her ears.

What technology does the sonic fence actually use and do we have that technology today

Amy walks past the sonic fence ok presumably because of ear plugs in her ears, yet she still seems to hear Sawyer when he says “you first”. Also when did she put the ear plugs in? She probably had them on her because that is how the DHARMA people go through the fence when they want to leave.

The English of Jin has improved a lot in three years. That is good because now he can talk a lot more without the need for an interpreter.

At the end of this episode when Jack, Kate and Hurley arrive the year is 1977. We did not see Sun or Sayid. Look for the Sun-Jin reunion soon.

I heard the actor who plays Jin Daniel Dae Kim said his character was dead. I hope this is a mistake else Jin will be really dead soon.

We see the same kind of van that we saw in 316, Through the Looking Glass, The Man Behind the Curtain and Tricia Tanaka Is Dead. This is either the same van or one that looks just like it.

Horace seems to exert very little authority. LaFleur blows right past him to go talk to Alpert despite the objection of Horace.

Amy is not the only one we have seen give birth on the island. Claire gave birth to Aaron on the island.

Faraday sees Charlotte as a little girl. We know that he will warn Charlotte and her mother to leave the island.

Charlotte did not time flash to the 1970s with everybody else so that means dead bodies do not time flash, yet the rope Sawyer was holding did time flash and so did the boat they were paddling in at one point during a time flash. That means the body of Neal and other dead LOSTaways stayed in 1954. They were killed in the flaming arrow beach attack in the episode The Lie.

When Sawyer tells Richard that he killed his men that is not exactly true since Juliet shot one of them.

When Faraday says “no more flashes. The record is spinning again, they're just on the wrong song.” We see the comparison to the time flashes and a record playing as we saw in the episode Because You Left when a record of Marvin Candle gets stuck.

When Horace asks LaFleur if three years is long enough to get over someone this actually has a double meaning since Sawyer has not seen Kate for three years.

Q

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

TITLE

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

TITLE

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