Bend it Like Bentham: LOST Season 4 Finale Theories & Thoughts

Wow.

I wasn't sure that they could top last year's flash forward finale, but tonight...the writers, producers and actors have gifted us with two of the most compelling and intense hours of television in a very long time. The nominating committees should just hand over Emmys to Michael Emerson (Ben) and Yunjin Kim (Sun) right now.

I attended my very first Lost party, and it was quite an entertaining experience. Thanks to host SB and her hubby, as well as JK & OM, EF & GM, KM and SK! I will post photos from it tomorrow, including Dharma water bottles and a special 'appearance' by Charlie, Kate and Jack.

But now, on to the real reason you're here...

Here are some initial thoughts, theories and questions about "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3." Given that I only began blogging at midnight, please excuse any spelling or grammar errors in advance, as well as repetitive thoughts or lack of structure.

BEN

Did he ever get his weapon (the black baton) back from Locke? Why did he give it to him in the first place?

If Ben really intends to kill Penny to avenge the death of Alex, but the Oceanic 6 are all on Desmond's side, how will that work?

It still bothers me that Ben knew Desmond was on that island for 3 years in the Swan hatch, and he had to know that Des was Penny Widmore's boyfriend...so why didn't he ever acknowledge that or try to use him as another piece in his game with Widmore?

When he originally had Michael as his spy on the freighter, he told him not to detonate his bomb because there were innocent people aboard. Was his sudden disregard for those same lives tonight simply a response to 'changing the rules' of the game with Widmore, because his daughter was killed?

Ben said that whomever moved the island would never be able to come back. How did he actually leave it in the first place? When we see him in Tunisia, he's wearing that same parka and it's a year after the Oceanic 6 are rescued. Did it take him that long to leave?

Besides poisoning his own father with gas, we've never actually seen Ben kill someone himself. He oversaw the Dharma purge and had a large hand the deaths of many others, but this was a first.

Is Ben still communicating with someone on the island? How else would he know about those left behind and instructions for return? Is Richard Alpert still able to be in both places?

CHARLOTTE

Is she Annie, Ben's childhood girlfriend? She has been to the island before, and she's looking for the place she grew up. But although they both have red hair, Charlotte is far younger than Ben (unless the island has aged him and leaving the island has affected her). Besides, Ben shot Charlotte immediately after Locke and his group found her in her parachute. Not only would Ben probably recognize her, she would make some kind of gesture to indicate that she knew him.

Until now, it seemed that only Widmore and Ben knew how to locate the island. So how did Charlotte know as well? She may be way more connected to Widmore than we ever imagined...

CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD

He showed up to tell Michael that his work was done...meaning, the island will let him die now. Will he do the same when it's Locke's time to go?

He is a messenger of death; that is why he also appeared to Claire, to accompany his daughter to the other side because she did not survive the house explosion.

Have the whispers accompanied Christian's presence before? They were heard right before he appeared before Michael on the freighter.

CLAIRE

Can we all agree that she's dead now? Thank you.

She's also eaten a few sandwiches, but that's beside the point.

If Ben is insistent that they all have to go back to the island together, then why is Claire asking Kate not to take Aaron back with them?

DANIEL FARADAY

Now that the freighter is gone, is he going to return the Zodiac raft back to the island?

DESMOND

Was his future flash about Claire a total crock? Did Charlie die in vain? Did Desmond only see Penny in his future, and make up the part about seeing Claire and Aaron get in a helicopter?

Does he also have to go back to the island? Ben didn't specify exactly who, except to say that they all had to go together.

FRANK LAPIDUS

Will he be the one to eventually pilot all of them back to the island?

HURLEY

Did anyone else think that his chess partner was going to be Jacob? We've certainly seen an empty chair before, where a ghost took up residence.

JACK


Dad's death + subsequent visits from beyond + prescription drug abuse + illegitimate sister he never knew (and abandoned on the island dead and alive) + island lie creator = guilt, downward spiral and excessive unkempt facial hair.

JEREMY BENTHAM/JOHN LOCKE

What is the significance of his pseudonym? Was Locke 'The Economist?' [the real Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher {like the real John Locke} and social reformer; an advocate for economic freedom]...

As Jeremy, Locke visited all of the Oceanic 6...and Walt. So does Walt have to go back to the island as well?

Did Locke really commit suicide (as his obituary said)? Was the island done with him, and that's why he died this time?

He visited all of the Oceanic 6 at some point. Was he alive when he did so? Was he paralyzed again upon return to the real world?

How did Locke get from the island back to the real world in the first place?

When Locke takes over as the new leader on the island, does he control Smokey?

If Richard and co. find out that Sawyer killed Anthony Cooper and not Locke himself, will that make a difference in how he is viewed and respected?

Will Richard remind him that they'd met before on several occasions, that he was there for Locke's birth and had been trying to recruit him to the island for years?

Why was Locke, as Jeremy Bentham, being buried in Los Angeles? We know that all of the Oceanic 6 except Sun are living in that area after rescue, and Locke lived in Orange County. Was he also living there?

Locke Box theme: he worked at a box company, his dad appeared in a magic box on the island, and he wound up in one prematurely.

JIN

Is it possible that he jumped off the freighter when the helicopter left without him, knowing that the bomb was about to go off? Would he have survived that, given the proximity to the explosion and debris?

JULIET

Are they setting us up for a Juliet/Sawyer love connection next season?

Not that they don't have other tasks at hand, but do Ben or Jack ever interact with or find out about the status of Juliet's sister and nephew?

KATE

When Kate took the deal after her trial, one of the conditions was to remain in the state. She agreed because she had no intention of returning to the island. So was the district attorney on Widmore's or Oceanic's payroll? Was that why she was so insistent upon Kate staying put?

Who called her in the middle of the night, seemingly to warn her about an intruder? Did this person know it would be an apparition? Was it 'the whispers;' do they make house calls as well?

MATTHEW ABBADON

Where was he and what is his real role in this whole thing? Is he on Team Ben or Team Widmore?

He was responsible for choosing the Freighter Four (Faraday, Charlotte, Frank & Miles). Obviously Charlotte was selected because of her previous experience there, Miles to communicate with the dead and learn some island secrets, Daniel Faraday to deal with the science behind it all, and Frank to simply pilot them all.

Does he know that they're all heading back to the island? Is he responsible for the team who are trying to prevent it (and failing miserably due to assassin Sayid)?

MILES

Why is the island 'exactly where he's supposed to be?'

Will we see him interact or communicate with the many dead folks on the island next season?

Will there be some sort of resolution to his failed attempt to blackmail Ben for $3.2 million?

That is one little dude with a whole lot of knowledge about his fellow Freighter folk. How did he know that Charlotte had been to the island before? What else does he know, and about whom?

PENNY

When Jack told her that they had to talk, and presumably agree upon a lie for everyone involved, was she aware at that point that her dad was implicit in the entire thing?

Did her listening station being situated in a snowy locale have anything to do with the cold area beneath the Orchid where Ben went to move the island?

How does she get an entire crew to keep quiet about the Oceanic 6 (plus Desmond and Frank)? How does she convince them to go along with the plan to take them 3,000 miles away and put them on the raft?

SAWYER

What did he whisper to Kate before jumping out of the helicopter? Did it have anything to do with his daughter Clementine? And if so, was that the secret errand she was doing for Sawyer in the future, when she and Jack got into a fight?

If he thinks that Kate and the rest were killed on the freighter, how will it affect him? He finally exorcised his demons by killing the real Sawyer (Anthony Cooper), and now his one true love is gone too.

Talk about redemption...Sawyer wins the award for Most Improved. He never would have topped my list of Most Likely to Make a Huge Sacrifice.

SAYID

When he and Kate are captured by Richard Alpert and the hostiles, at what point do they make a deal to help Ben in exchange for a helicopter ride off of the island? Who initiated the deal?

When he comes to get Hurley, he wants to take him someplace safe. Where is the only place safe from Widmore? The island.

SUN

Does she possibly have enough money now (even together with funds from the other Oceanic 5) to buy a 'controlling interest' in Widmore Industries too?

When she said that there were more people who had left the island than just the Oceanic 6, was she referring to Ben or Desmond? Daddy Widmore had to know that Penny was reunited with Desmond, but he also knew that Ben was out and about as well. Could she have been referring to the Freighter Four as well?

Widmore thinks that Sun is helping him. Is she going to try and protect Penny from Ben? Is she working with Ben or Penny?

How does Ben possibly convince her to go back to the island? Perhaps by telling her that Jin is alive and well.

If everyone has to go back to the island, does that include her son Ji-Yeon as well?

WALT

Does he know that his dad Michael died, or does he think that he was left behind?

Does Walt recognize that Hurley also has special abilities or that he can see and speak with the dead?

Tall Ghost Walt appeared to Locke after Ben shot him last season. Are we to assume that it was a manifestation of Walt? Seems to me he probably doesn't time travel...

What does he really know about Ben and the island from his time undergoing tests and brainwashing?

When he visited Hurley, why did he refer to Locke as Jeremy Bentham too? Walt wasn't one of the Oceanic 6, but he obviously knows that they're lying about the rescue...so why play along and call Locke by a fake name?

CHARLES WIDMORE

If he knew about the Orchid station and the ability to move the island, does he also know how to relocate it? If so, was that one of the secrets obtained in the original Black Rock journal that he purchased at the auction?

THE VAULT

So if the Vault in the Orchid station contains negatively charged organic matter, causing the island to disappear when moved, was the Swan hatch implosion exactly the opposite - did it expose the island to the world for a brief time due to to positive electromagnetic matter? Same sound and sky, but different results.

How does the Vault relate to cloning, like the rabbits in the Orientation film?

DEAD PEOPLE WHO'VE APPEARED IN THE FUTURE

• Charlie Pace
• Christian Shephard
• Claire Littleton
• Mr. Eko (perhaps)

QUESTIONS THAT WE HAVE 8 MONTHS TO PONDER

Where did the island move to?

During an extended Oceanic press conference scene (which aired an hour before the finale), Jack lied and said that Boone, Libby and Charlie all survived the crash but died a short time later. Why those three?

Did they film the follow-up scene to last year's season finale at the same time (with Jack telling Kate that they have to go back and her yelling at him for it)?

Who the hell is captain of the island now that Ben and Locke aren't??

What has happened (on island) between the rescue and the three years it's taken to gather everyone to return there?

Did the Swan hatch implosion have anything to do with the crash of Flight 815 after all?

How are certain people's Constants going to be affected by this rescue?

How will Richard Alpert and the hostiles interact with those left behind? If Locke is their new leader, will he try to integrate all parties into a peaceful existence? What about the remaining Others who weren't killed, plus the Tail Section kids and Flight Attendant Cindy?

Who will be a threat to the island now? Will the Others/Hostiles and Flight 815 Survivors join forces to battle whatever or whomever Widmore sends their way next?

What does the Black Smoke Monster have to do with any of this? Does it simply serve as a security system for and on the island?

What is the significance of the hieroglyphics both on the chamber door in Ben's old house and down below the Orchid in the cold region? Do they relate to the Temple or the 4-toed statue? Are these are ruins from various moves and locations?

Was the Black Rock ship marooned centuries earlier when the island moved?

Why is it that when Hurley spotted the freighter, it was behind the helicopter? If they'd flown past it, they would have noticed it. Did the island move/purple sky affect the time discrepancy?

Do the people on the island know that it is moving when it happens?

Is the source of temperature below the Orchid natural or manufactured? Meaning...is it a man-made area with refrigeration, or is it actually located in a cold locale?

When the Oceanic 6 wash ashore in the end, who was there with a camera? The official Oceanic photo reflected that very scene. Was it staged or re-inacted later?

If Oceanic Airlines didn't concoct the overall lie after all, do they believe the story?

How soon after the Oceanic 6 were discovered did Oceanic get involved?

DID YOU NOTICE...

• Before killing him, Sayid gave the man in the car the time...8:15 (flight number, Hurley's numbers).
• Jack said to Desmond exactly what Desmond had said to him the very first time they met (running at the stadium years before Flight 815)...see you in another life, brother. Of course it sounded far more natural coming from Des in his Scottish accent.
• Jack told Locke that he doesn't believe in miracles, and Kate referred to Aaron as one.

---
Obviously, I need to watch that again. At least once.

I am far from finished. Stay tuned for further (and more lucid) thoughts on Friday or Saturday.

By all means, please let me know your theories and point out any discrepancies I may have posted above due to lack of sleep.

Good morning, good afternoon, and good weekend to all.