Here are my initial thoughts, theories and questions about tonight's episode...When Alex disarmed the sonic fence, did she purposefully punch in the 14J code to warn Ben? Are there various ways to disarm it?
BEN
Ben wound up in Tunisia on 10/24/05. Flight 815 crashed on 9/22/04. So now we know that the Oceanic 6 were rescued a year or less after they crashed.
Ben had been to Tunisia before. Was he involved with the extinct Dharma stations there, where Charlotte discovered the polar bear skeleton with the Dharma collar?
How did he receive the cut on his arm?
Ben specifically verified the date…he must have either teleported/time traveled to Tunisia [we know how island time differs from real time]. And he did so directly from the island – how else do you explain why he’d be wearing a Dharma jacket? Then again, he was dressed for the snow. Was he traveling to more than one location? Was he searching for Penny’s listening station, the one tracking electromagnetic anomalies?
Ben’s jacket had a new Dharma logo on it, as well as the name Halliwax. Edgar Halliwax was the name that Dr. Marvin Candle used in the new Orchid station Orientation video…
If Sayid hadn’t killed Widmore’s man in Iraq, what would Ben’s message to Widmore have been? Lock up your daughter, because Benny boy is back?
This drives me crazy…Ben monitored Desmond for years when he was in the Swan hatch. Ben knows everything about everyone. If he was so interested in Daddy Widmore, why on earth not use Desmond for information or bait to find/lure Penny? Ben’s lack of interest in Desmond doesn’t make sense.
This is the first time that Ben has lost at his own game, that he’s been caught off guard. He did not know that Keamy & co. were waiting at the Temple, or else he never would have sent Alex there with her mom and boyfriend. And then he tried his usual mind games to reason with Keamy, but he failed and Alex was killed.
Why didn’t Ben direct Alex to the sailboat and give her the coordinates to get out of that bubble safely?
Why was Ben dirtier after going to the secret chamber to summon the Black Smoke Monster?
Who drew/carved the design on Ben's chamber door? The same person who painted the Swan hatch wall? Did Dharma build the barracks village over an underground or pre-existing/pre-historic locale? Does it relate to the 4-toed statue?
BERNARD
Where was Rose?
Was he in the military? Between his secret knowledge of Morse code and his success with a gun (shooting at the dynamite on the beach, killing Others last season), it seems that there is more to this dentist than we thought…
BLACK SMOKE MONSTER
We’ve never seen the locomotive version of Smokey before, and obviously Ben unleashed it from the hidden chamber behind his hidden spy room.
Does Ben actually control Smokey, or does he simply take orders from Jacob and instruct Smokey to kill the ‘bad’ guys who aren’t on Jacob’s list?
So Locke was captured by Smokey in Season 1, but he wasn’t harmed. Juliet and Kate were scanned by Smokey last season, and also lived to tell about it (which is very interesting; even though she is a fugitive off island, Kate is considered one of the ‘good’ guys by Jacob…perhaps because he considered the murder of her father self-defense?). Smokey must have quite an extensive photo recognition database, loaded in by Ben with all of his intel about the survivors, others, freighter folks, etc.
Smokey did kill Mr. Eko, which is understandable given his murderous background and the island’s definition of good and bad. But why was it programmed to kill Seth, the pilot of Flight 815? What don’t we know about him? Did he have anything to do with the crash? Was he following orders? Frank Lapidus knew him…
Did Ben summon Smokey to check out the survivors on the beach that first night because Ethan hadn’t arrived yet? Is it only able to scan individuals and pairs rather than large groups at a time; is that why it didn’t go past the trees and onto the beach? Is it affected by or rendered immobile by water? It wasn’t dispatched to the Tail Section because Goodwin got there within an hour after the crash.
CHARLES WIDMORE
Did he arrange for Penny to be in a safe location only after discovering Ben on the island? If Ben had been able to travel to and from the island for years, why was Widmore only now taking strides to hide her?
Why was a man of his wealth and knowledge sleeping in an unsecured location, without an alarm or guard? He had to have known that Ben would show up at some point. Either he’s extremely overconfident or actually smarter than Ben. Only time will tell…
As usual, Widmore had a bottle of MacCutcheon scotch on hand. I believe that there was also a painting of the island in his penthouse.
Widmore said the island has always been his. Did he fund and oversee the original Dharma stations and teams? At what point did he become aware that Ben killed them all in the purge, and how?
Ben said to Widmore that “we both know I can’t kill you.” Is Widmore protected by the island?
CHARLOTTE
She was in Tunisia searching for the polar bear around the same time that the fake wreckage from Flight 815 was making headlines, which we can estimate was in late 2004. Was Ben there at the same time? Could she be another one of his moles; doe she work for Ben? Does she survive and get off of the island, and if so, does she work for him in the future like Sayid?
CLAIRE
Is she protected by the island? That girl should have died when her house was blown to pieces. If the island won’t let her die, that would indicate that she is alive and stuck there in the future, and that she probably gave Aaron to Kate upon her rescue.
DESMOND
Technically, Desmond would not be considered one of the Oceanic 6, as he was not on the plane. So it is very conceivable that he survives and gets off of the island. Does Ben somehow use him to help lure Penny out of hiding?
DR. RAY
In the last episode, the doctor warned Sayid and Desmond not to cross the Captain. Did Captain Gault kill him?
Was Dr. Ray killed because he became infected by the proximity to the island and subsequently became a danger to the crew?
Why would the freighter tell Daniel that Dr. Ray was fine?
JACK
Jack asked to speak with Bernard, which I initially thought was to discuss his illness…but then I realized that he’d probably consult with Juliet first (the only other doctor there). Jack took Bernard aside while Faraday was constructed a Morse code machine to before to contact the freighter. Did Jack know about Bernard’s military experience and ask him to interpret the freighter’s response back?
KATE
What on earth was the purpose of starting off this episode with Kate bathing and flirting with Jack? Talk about misdirection…
MARTIN KEAMY & FREIGHTER THUGS
In the last episode, Ben told Michael that the bomb didn’t detonate because there were some innocent (interpret: “good”) people on the freighter. Who? Captain Gault? Frank Lapidus?
If Ben unleashed the Black Smoke Monster to kill the 'bad' men responsible for shooting some survivors in camp, as well as Rousseau, Karl and his own daughter Alex, how and why does Keamy survive?
MILES
Had he been strung up with the grenade in his mouth the entire time? Did Keamy coerce Alex into telling them where Miles was being held?
NADIA
Was she killed because she knew too much about the island (from Sayid), or because Sayid broke the rules about what to say upon rescue, as set by whomever rescued the Oceanic 6?
PENNY
Is she aware that the freighter she’s been calling is her father’s? Does she know that it is close to the island where Desmond has been stranded?
Does Daddy Widmore explain the island and Ben to her? Does she realize that she’s in danger when he insists upon moving her to a hidden location?
I’d always imagined one of the last scenes ever on Lost (in Season 6) to be Penny’s reunion with Desmond. Let’s hope that Ben doesn’t actually find her.
SAWYER
Sawyer has transformed into Jack while over in Locke’s camp. He risked his life to save Claire, and then got protective of Hurley. Is this leading up to him sacrificing himself in order for Kate or any of the other five to be rescued? The episode is called “The Shape of Things to Come” after all…
SAYID
Did the rest of the Oceanic 6 attend his wedding to Nadia? Where did he find her? We’ve seen her in London (Charlie saved her from a mugging) and in Orange County (where Locke inspected her house).
After Nadia’s death, Sayid joined forces with Ben to eliminate Widmore’s men. Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sun are probably unaware that Ben was off of the island and that Sayid was working with him. Don’t they wonder where Sayid is? Doesn’t the media-hungry world at large also wonder where one of the most recognizable men in the world is?
LINGERING QUESTIONS
Where the hell are the tail section kids, flight attendant Cindy and the remaining Others hiding during all of this? They HAVE to be underground (I got very excited when Ben opened the secret door behind the wall in his spy office; I thought that it would lead to the underground village for sure).
How are Matthew Abbadon and Oceanic Airlines connected with Ben and/or Widmore?
LITERARY REFERENCES
Ben’s alias, Dean Moriarty, could refer to the name of the main character in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and Moriarty is also the name of Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis.
Widmore’s man in Iraq, Ishmael Bakir, could be a shout out Ishmael in Moby Dick, who is the captain’s right hand man.
Ben told the bellman at Widmore’s place that he was there to visit Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick. In the aptly titled novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, Dr. Kendrick is a molecular geneticist. The protagonists in this book are named Henry (Lost: Ben/Henry Gale) and Clare (Lost: Claire). Henry has a rare disorder which allows him to travel through time at the same age, visiting people from his future when they are younger. I think I remember seeing or hearing about this book in Juliet flashback last season…
CRAZY THEORIES OF THE WEEK
Shortly after and because Alex was killed, Ben went into that hidden chamber behind his spy office and traveled to the future to visit Widmore in his London penthouse. Because Widmore had “changed the rules” by killing Alex, Ben immediately went there to threaten Widmore’s daughter Penny in return and for retaliation.
Ben’s little black club is some kind of time traveling tool.
Ben killed Nadia because he knew that Sayid would work for him when he had nothing left in his life. His creepy little smarmy smile as he walked away from Sayid in Iraq said it all…
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More to come Friday night and/or this weekend. Feel free to respond to any of the above or post your own theories!
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8 comments:
Ooo! What a great episode! I just love this show. I was reading some other message boards and theories and came across this interesting idea. I cant take credit for it, but it's a good one...
Widmore and Ben are each other's constant and therefore can't kill each other.
It was an incredible episode!! Lost at its best. :) Very interesting about the name Halliwax - I didn't catch that!
Interesting point about Eko is that Smoky didn't kill him the first time it encountered Eko. I wonder why not?
Oh, and I think Charles Widmore didn't have any security around him because he *can't* die, just like Michael can't die.
And as far as Dr. Ray being fine - perhaps in the boat's timeline he hasn't died yet? Just a random thought.
Awesome episode!!
What about the opening scene with Hurley, Locke and Sawyer where they are playing War and Hurley says- "The key to the whole game is Australia." I thought that was brilliant foreshadowing. Not only b/c we now know this whole thing is just a huge game between Ben, Widmore and possibly Paik and/or Christian- but b/c we can go back and see what happened in Australia is the key to understanding the game. Also Ben kept saying- he changed the rules, he changed the rules. He truly believed Keamy would not kill Alex b/c of some code of honor or rule book set up amongst the players.
yay! i few more of my questions were finally answered.
my only question for you (at the moment( is what about Jacob's role in all of this? my roomate and i were talking and it seems that this episode was banking heavily on talking to jacob...like the rest of lock, ben and hurley's fate lies at the cabin with jacob.
just wanted to see what you think about that!
great post as usual though.
Just a question, when did Widmore start trying to hide Penny? Are you just assuming that he does after this episode or what? Or did I miss something (like when Penny moved apartments, though that was in 1996, somewhere there).
also, perhaps the dharma polar bear accidentally found one of their 'portals', so was then transported to Tunisia whether by teleportation/spacetime travel. charlotte need not be involved with Ben.
I thought the same thing about Ben traveling to visit Widmore when he went into the cubby hole - only thing that makes it difficult to beleive is that his face wasnt all banged up when he visited him. (Unless it is some kind of plastic surgery secret traveling device. HA)
Also Ben's arm was cut and Candle had no arm - is it a possibility that your arms can be damaged during flight.
Dharma Logo - doesnt it look like the maxwell stereo guy sitting in the middle?
I also thought it was funny you were calling it Smokey.
Good Episode.
When Keamy was staging his mutiny he showed Gault a device on his arm and said "I dont think you want to do that captain" because the captain had him at gunpoint. The device was a heart rate monitor. If his heart stops beating it sends a signal to the 500 pounds of c4 on the Kahana. He is using it because he knows Ben will not want to kill innocent people.
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