My Serious, Logical Thoughts on The Variable

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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

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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

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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?