Happy Anniversary, LOST: An Ode to 815

Five years ago today, when LOST debuted on ABC, I had no idea that a television series would so strongly affect and alter my life. The fact that you're here, that you take the time to visit Lost-specific sites, leads me to believe that you probably feel the same way. You, as they say, are my people. The dedication and fervor of Lost fans has grown tremendously over the last five years; I am inspired by and appreciate the online community every single day.

On the anniversary of the crash of fictional Flight 815, I find myself feeling rather sentimental. Last night I was in serious contemplation mode, and wound up writing this silly little ode to our favorite show.

Pilot Seth Norris is not scheduled to fly;
Frank J. Lapidus was supposed to be their guy.

September twenty-second, two thousand four.

A plane left from Sydney, and ended up on the shore.

Jack's on the airplane, 23A.

Drinking his vodka en route to LA.

Charlie's in the restroom, getting a drug fix.

They hit light turbulence, or so Jack predicts.

Kate's in handcuffs, drinking her OJ.

In custody of the Marshal, she didn't get away.

Below on an island, a man named Desmond Hume

Didn't enter numbers, thus 815 went...boom.

He unleashed a force quite electromagnetic.

An event accidental, or possibly prophetic.

Oceanic Airlines flight Eight Fifteen,

Breaks apart and disappears, never to be seen.

Tail section in the water, Bernard up in a tree,

Fuselage on the beach, red shirts yelling "help me!"

Jack's in the jungle, party of one.

Christian sends dog Vincent, "go see my son."

A bald man on the beach discovers he can walk;

Previously in a wheelchair, this comes as quite a shock.

Claire is eight months pregnant, sitting among the debris.

Hurley helps her; his first words are "oh, you got to be kidding me."

Pretty boy Boone tries to revive a Rose,

While his spoiled 'sister' Shannon is less than composed.

A monster of sorts is heard but not seen,

Could be animal, man or even machine.

Five years ago tonight, LOST changed TV.

They had us at "Walt!" and "guys, where are we?"

Upon Season Six, we're not sure what's next;

Except that it involves a little place called LAX...

I would love to hear your stories; where you were on 9/22/04 and your experiences watching Lost for the very first time. Share your thoughts in the Comments, and thank you for acknowledging and celebrating this day in Lost history with me!

-Jo

Lost Rewatch Week #15: Not in Portland, Flashes Before Your Eyes, Stranger in a Strange Land & Tricia Tanaka is Dead

(subtle island visual product placement for AT&T; more bars in more places)

Welcome to this week's edition of the Lost Rewatch! This particular batch featured two of my favorite episodes of all time (Portland & Flashes), one very poignant, overlooked episode (Tanaka), and the first of the only two "worst of Lost" episodes (Stranger). 


Alternate Reality Bites


In the Room 23 brainwashing video on Hydra Island, there is a reference to Jacob in the past tense. 

Was that video was created to prepare people for the time shifts they were going to experience while living on the island?  Does it indicate an alternate reality in which Jacob is actually dead...or just the one we're about to discover after NotLocke stabs him in the foot of the statue?


One of the more fascinating aspects of Desmond's conversation with Eloise Hawking during Flashes is the possibility that what he believes versus what she knows may also be/come true...."There is no island, there is no button. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her."


In Tricia Tanaka, Hurley's dad tells him that "in THIS world, you've got to make your own luck." That statement reminded me of the new Hurley commercial that they debuted recently at Comic-Con, because he says that "ever since I won the lottery, I've had nothing but good luck." In the universe we're familiar with, we know that is not the case....


Anagrams R Us

Mittelos = Lost Time, a hint of the shape of things to come.


Behind the Wheel


[Frequent Rewatch readers, please excuse the repetition, as I have mentioned this previously]

I know I am not the only one now considering whether it was Jacob himself driving the bus that took out Juliet's ex-husband, or any number of the other vehicles that have hurt or killed people off island. In many cases, these 'accidents' are how and why some people wind up on the island. I previously posted a comprehensive list of said accidents here. 



Crossing Paths


During his flash back in time, Desmond runs into Charlie playing guitar in front of Widmore's office in London. 

It is sadly ironic that Charlie is singing "maybe, you'll be the one to save me," given his future demise due to a Desmond vision. 

Locke's box company boss Randy is also the manager of the Mr. Cluck's where Hurley worked until he won the lottery and purchased that particular fast food franchise...making Randy his employee. Hurley owned the box company, which means that Locke was his employee too. I wonder if he gave Randy the box management job after Clucks was destroyed by a meteor...


Enter the Matrix


I immediately followed my rewatch of Flashes Before Your Eyes with The Matrix (1999), because I noticed more than a few similarities between the film and Lost, not to mention between Desmond and Neo. 

The most obvious homage to the movie was Eloise Hawking on the bench with Desmond, attempting to warn about his future just as The Oracle did with Neo. Other Lost/Matrix comparisons include:

• Neo is instructed to follow the White Rabbit
• An Agent says to Neo, "you think you're special, that the rules do not apply to you."
• Morpheus: "Do you believe in fate, Neo?" and "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."
• The 'dream world' vs. the real world
• A jealous Cypher, to Trinity: "I don't remember you ever bringing me dinner." (Like jealous Ben to Juliet, "You never made soup for me.")
• Morpheus: "If you are not one of us, you are one of them."
• Trinity: "EMP, electromagnetic pulse; disables any electrical system within the blast radius."
• Cypher, to Neo: "you're here to save the world."
• Trinity: "Deja vu is usually a glitch in the matrix; it happens when they change something." (deja vu is mentioned twice in Flashes; once by Desmond and once by the pub bartender)
• The Matrix computers feature green text and the words "system failure"

Foreshadowing Dialogue


Not in Portland


Tom, about Ben & Juliet: "They've got history."


Richard Alpert: "Well, actually...we're not quite in Portland."


Richard Alpert: "We think you're special, Dr. Burke."


Juliet: "Whatever you think I am, I'm not."


Jack, to Kate: "Promise me that you'll never COME BACK for me." {she may disobey him in this case, but not when she decides to return to the island on Ajira 316...}


Richard Alpert: "We're very thorough in our recruitment process."


Flashes Before Your Eyes


Hurley, about Desmond: "That guy sees the future."


Penny, to Desmond: "Let's celebrate that fate has spared you a miserable existence under the employ of Widmore Industries."


Penny, to Desmond: "You're a good man."


Penny, to Desmond: "WHERE are you?"

Eloise Hawking, to Desmond: "Breaking her heart is what drives you, in a few short years from now, to enter that sailing race to prove her father wrong, which brings you to the island, where you spend the next three years of your life entering numbers into the computer until you are forced to turn that failsafe key. And if you don't do those things, every single one of us is dead."


Hawking: "That man over there is wearing red shoes. Just thought it was a bold fashion choice worth noting." [of course she knows exactly what donning his version of Red Shirt signifies]


Desmond: "This isn't really happening, is it? You're my subconscious."
Hawking: "Am I?"


Hawking, to Desmond: "The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die, just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to; you it because you're supposed to. You may not like your path, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing that you will ever do." (insert your Fate vs. Free Will thoughts here)

Penny: "Don't you dare rewrite history."
Desmond: "We are not supposed to be together."


Desmond, off island: "I can still change things."

(screen shot from Room 23 video)

Desmond, on island: "No matter what you do, you can't change it."


Desmond: "You're a good man, Charlie."

Desmond, to Charlie: "I wasn't saving Claire, I was saving you. You dove in after Claire. You tried to save her but you drowned. When I saw the lightning hit the roof, you were electrocuted. I've tried twice to save you, but the universe has a way of course correcting and I can't stop it forever. I'm sorry, because no matter what I try to do...you're gonna die, Charlie." (this is where I'd normally insert my Crazy Charlie Theory, but at this point most of you are already familiar with it and I sound like a broken record)


Stranger in a Strange Land


Tom: "You see this glass house you're living in, Jack? How about I get you some stones." 


Kate: "What did you do with the people that you took, the kids?"
Karl: "We give them a better life."
Kate: "Better than what?"
Karl: "Better than yours."


Oceanic 815 Flight Attendant Cindy, to Jack: "We're here to watch."


Ben: "We had an excellent surgeon, his name was Ethan."


Ben, about Juliet: "No matter what she's done, no matter what you think, she's one of us."


Achara: "I am able to see who people are. This is my gift."


Jack: "Do you see who I am? Who am I?
Achara: "You are a leader, a great man. But this makes you lonely and frightened and angry."


Tricia Tanaka is Dead


Hurley: "Death finds me, dude."


If These Walls Could Talk

In addition to never finding out what Ben told Kate after their beach breakfast earlier in S3, I have always wondered what Ben said to Juliet when he asked for three minutes alone with her in the middle of his spinal surgery. Of course I don't believe it was as simple as instructions to help Kate and Sawyer escape and receive a passage home in return. (Not in Portland)


Knocked Up


A third pregnancy test pops up in S3; Sun's, Kate's, and now Rachel's (Juliet's sister). 

Is it a forgone conclusion at this point that hers was also from Widmore Labs?


LOST Book Club


Other guard Aldo was reading A Brief History of Time by physicist Stephen Hawking, outside of the Room 23 building on Hydra Island. 

That this book appeared only one episode before we meet Eloise Hawking, mother of physicist Daniel Faraday, is no mere coincidence.


Ouroboros


I wrote about this back in January, but it is worth exploring again because it only appears in Flashes. [sidenote: I first became aware of the ouroboros when Scully got a tattoo of one on The X-Files.]

Eloise Hawking is wearing an ouroboros pin during her first encounter with Desmond during his flash back in time. There are many interpretations of what the symbol represents, but most versions feature a snake swallowing its tail, illustrating return and the cyclical nature of life. However, Hawking's snake is not; the open nature of hers may indicate the ability to travel back and forth through time without getting stuck. 


Parallels


This is certainly not a new point, but I belatedly realized that Des wanted to work for Widmore in order to win Penny's hand in marriage just as Jin worked for Paik in order to marry Sun. 

In addition, Hurley's dad enables his eating habits from a young age ("live a little, it's just a candy bar") just as Jack's dad influenced his son's drinking habits, without question. Yes, I realize that the latter is an inheritable disease, but I'm just pointing out another Daddy Issue parallel!  


Ben's note to Sheriff Isabel, to commute Juliet's execution, says that "the rules do not apply." That is what Faraday said about Desmond. 

In Tanaka, we see Sawyer step on a dart that pierces his foot while he is walking through the jungle with Kate. In The Lie (S5), we see Sawyer step on a sharp stick that pierces his foot while he is walking through the jungle with Juliet. 

If we didn't already know that the infamous 4 toed statue that houses Jacob is allegedly Tawaret, I'd swear they were leading up to it representing a version of Sawyer from a previous life. :)


Room 23


We've now seen Karl held against his will in Room 23, and in the Missing Pieces mobisode Room 23, Ben and Juliet discuss Walt's activity in there. 

Of course now I'm thinking about who else may have been subjected to the hypnotic brainwashing, including Flight 815 attendant Cindy and the Tail Section kids Zach and Emma.  


Significant Moments/Firsts


We meet Richard Alpert for the very first time in Miami, as he is attempting to recruit Juliet to work for Mittelos Bioscience. 

We are introduced to the Clockwork Orange-influenced Room 23 on Hydra Island, where Alex's boyfriend Karl was being brainwashed. 


An Other kills and Other (Juliet shoots Pickett).


We see Ethan off island. 


Eloise Hawking makes her first appearance. 


We learn that the Others had a Sheriff of sorts, even though she was never seen or heard from again. [sidenote: anyone else remember & love Diana Scarwid from Mommie Dearest and then Wonderfalls?]

We see Cindy for the first time since she disappeared in the jungle while trekking with Ana Lucia & co. We also see 815 Tail Section kids Zach & Emma for the first time since they were kidnapped off of the crash beach. 

We don't know that it's Ben's father yet, but we meet Roger Linus as a skeleton in the Dharma van that Hurley discovers in the jungle. 

Tattoo You


Add to my list of Lingering Lost Questions (and I do have one; it lives on my iPhone): what is the significance of Juliet's back branding symbol? 

When I saw Stranger in a Strange Land for the first time, my immediate thought was that it resembled the map on the Swan blast door, but now I'm thinking that it may have something to do with her role in the Jughead detonation and future (both on and off the island).


The Visual & the Visceral

When Desmond wakes up in his London flat after turning the Swan failsafe key and experiencing a flash back in time, he is wearing a painters jumpsuit resembling his Dharma jumpsuit; he is lying on the floor covered in red paint which he believes at first to be blood. 

In yet another Wachowski movie, Bound (1996), there is a scene featuring Joe Pantoliano splayed out on a floor of white paint, and his blood looks red paint.

It seems that Widmore purchased some art from Aaron's baby-daddy. There is a painting in the back 0f his office that also appeared in Thomas and Claire's flat. [sidenote: director Jack Bender is also a very talented artist; I believe that he painted that piece, as well as the main Namaste one in Widmore's office and the mural in the Swan.]

Even though they are different vessels, Widmore has a model of a sailboat in his office, and Alpert was seen working on a model of a ship while on the island. 

In Flashes, a man in red shoes gets crushed in Desmond's flash back in time during his encounter with Hawking.

 In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East is crushed beneath Dorothy's house. 

Immediately after being humiliated and insulted by Daddy Widmore, who asked Desmond if he had any military experience, Des pauses at a military recruitment poster with the tagline, "become a man you can be proud of." 

On the island, Juliet receives a lower back brand as a form of punishment. In Thailand, Jack receives a tattoo after he forces Achara to mark him with her interpretation of who he is. Ironically, his tattoo describes Juliet's true role in the end: "he walks amongst us, but he is not one of us."


Vincent brings a skeleton arm to Hurley on the beach, just as he brought a Virgin Mary statue to Charlie. 

One of my favorite moments in Tanaka features a moment of levity from the characters and actors themselves. If you watch closely during the scene when Hurley and Charlie are talking with Sawyer at the Dharma van, you can see Dom Monaghan trying very hard not to crack up but not succeeding. 

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat


There is a larger boat that transports the Others from Hydra Island back to the main island. It just seems odd that we haven't seen it since. 

Then again, we haven't seen Desmond's sailboat since the Others took it from Sun. For all we know, there is a giant (yet hidden, naturally) boat warehouse storage facility somewhere else on that damn island. 


Who Killed Roger Rabbit


We are already familiar with Ben and his bunnies. I just love that Ben's dad (Roger) drove a Dharma van with a rabbit's foot on the keychain.  


X-Ray Vision


I suppose I must now concede that the Others had an operable x-ray machine on the island. Last week I questioned where Ben's back x-rays had been taken, but it seems to me that the mystery woman's x-rays that Alpert presents to Juliet were probably taken on the island. 

Looking at the womb on the x-ray, Juliet assesses that the woman was in her 70's, yet Alpert says she was only 26. The decomposition that Juliet mentions is probably a result of either proximity to or living on the island. 


Admiral Anderson MacCutcheon


Widmore refers to the retired Navy officer and whiskey namesake as a "great man," which is how Ben describes Jacob, and Penny describes Desmond. 


I have a feeling that MacCutcheon himself may have been to the island, perhaps on the Black Rock. It is also worth noting that Leonard Sims and Sam Toomey were also in the Navy, and they were the source of The Numbers. 


Desmond


In Flashes, we learn that Desmond has three brothers and that he took care of them after an unknown incident involving his father. Because I take Faraday's statements at face value (that Desmond is "uniquely and miraculously special" and that the rules do not apply to him), I have to wonder if his father is/was anyone of interest to the island. 


Donovan


Of the many side characters that we've been introduced to over the last five seasons of Lost, Donovan may be the most important. Not only is he a physicist based in England (like Faraday was; they HAD to know of one another), he was the only person that Desmond told about the island...IN THE PAST. 

On top of those facts, he actually says to Desmond, "there's no such thing as time travel." 


Hurley


One of the reasons that I really like Tanaka is that it represents yet another touching performance from Jorge Garcia. 

Hurley wants to fix the van on the island because he was never able to fix up that car with his father. He had not closed the door on that chapter of his life before crashing on the island, and his joy at being able to drive that van around was the closure that he needed. 


Jack


One of my goals for this Rewatch was to try and give Jack a chance from the beginning again. I've never been a huge fan of his character, and these earlier episodes merely amplify exactly why; Jack is fueled by blind jealousy and seemingly can't help himself. There is an ugly pattern, and alcohol is usually involved: Sarah (his stalks his ex-wife to find out who she left him for), Achara (he follows her to her workplace & gets himself beat up as a result of forcing her to tattoo him) and Kate (off island, he goes into a rage and they break up after overhearing her talk about doing a favor for Sawyer). 


Rachel & Julian


IF there is a reset of any kind due to Jughead's detonation at the bottom of the Swan shaft, and WHENEVER we see Juliet alive again...I would really love to see her finally meet her nephew Julian. Her medical breakthrough helped her sister Rachel conceive, even while undergoing treatment for cancer. She left to work for Mittelos under false pretenses and missed her sister's birth and first few years of Julian's life. 


Richard Alpert & Jacob


Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that Alpert went back into the real world to recruit only two people to the island, Locke and Juliet. I know believe that Jacob instructed him to test Locke, but now I'm wondering if Jacob had a specific purpose in mind for Juliet other than the obvious fertility miracle worker angle. And no, I do not believe that he brought her there just to eventually travel back in time and detonate a bomb which may or may not cause a reset.

It stood out when Alpert told Juliet that "we're privately funded; privately funded means freedom." Do we know who funds Alpert, Ben and the current Others' frequent off island trips and recruitment efforts? It isn't Widmore, as he was sponsoring Faraday's research in order to even find the island again. And in 2001 (when Alpert first met Juliet), it seems unlikely that the DeGroots/Dharma were still involved. We later see Ben's secret spy room with the drawer full of international money in New Otherton, so someone is stealthily supporting 'the island' behind the scenes. And what is Jacob's role in all of this?
---
Thanks again for playing and reading along as the Lost Rewatch continues - I really do appreciate your support and comments! If you are interested in different Rewatch perspectives from those who are also still participating, I encourage you to visit All About Lost, Lostaholics and Tubular. 


Have a great weekend!

The Island of Lost Maps: An Unofficial LOST Book Club Recommendation

The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime, written by Miles Harvey, is about the strange and nefarious world of classical map theft.  While most of this book has relatively nothing to do with Lost, there are a few key passages of note.  Special thanks to fellow Lost fan Glenn S. for bringing it to my attention!


For your consideration and interpretation:


"I see a planet strikingly different from our own, a world full of blank spaces and nevernever lands. The Arctic region is a massive donut of land, broken up by four rivers that lead into a polar ocean, through which water was thought to flow to the center of the Earth. From this strange sea rises a giant MAGNETIC BLACK ROCK."  


After reading the book, Glenn suggested that I research the Inventio Fortunata, which is an ancient book that describes the North Pole as a magnetic island. The book went missing in the late 1400's, only to be summarized in a second text by a traveller named JACOBUS, who believed that "if vessels once enter, they cannot be driven back by the wind." In addition, there are some who believe that Jacobus was trying to prove that this magnetic region directly correlates to the function of a COMPASS. 


Glenn is convinced that the Lost island is the "magnetic" North Pole of lore (which would account for the useless compasses), and that exiting the island through a river that flows through the center of the earth somehow leads you to Tunisia, Australia or Egypt. Given that we don't see how one arrives in Tunisia after a turn of the Frozen Donkey Wheel, that "Australia is key" and that there are Egyptian hieroglyphics and influences all over the island, I am a fan of Glenn's line of thinking. 


In a recent Rewatch post, I analyzed the many cold locales and items that have been referenced on Lost over the last five seasons as they relate to one of my crazy island theories, which is why Glenn contacted me about this book. I appreciate the recommendation and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, my friend!


If any of you have read the book or want to offer your insights and thoughts - be my guest! 

Lost Rewatch Week #14: Further Instructions, Every Man For Himself, The Cost of Living & I Do

Hello, and welcome to this week's installment of the Lost Rewatch! As illustrated by the comments from last week's post, I am not perfect (and neither is my memory). I appreciate those of you who correct me when I'm wrong about factual events from the various episodes, and encourage you to continue to do so in the same constructive manner! Of course this project is meant to merely entertain and keep us occupied as we await the last season, and for me the most rewarding part is your feedback.

So let's break open our cage doors and have at it...


Alternate Reality Bites?

The scene in Locke's vision of a happy Claire, Charlie and Aaron could very well be one of the last images we see in S6. 

In the reality/dimension we've seen, Charlie sacrificed his life because he believed Desmond's vision of Claire and Aaron getting rescued via helicopter. Perhaps that is exactly what happens, only Charlie is still alive and accompanying them. [sidenote: Dom Monaghan's appearance at the Comic-Con Lost panel further fueled my hope that this may come true.]

Benjamin's Bunnies

In Every Man For Himself, Ben pretends to kill a white rabbit with the number 8 on its back, only to reveal it as a hoax later.

In addition to the obvious nod to Alice in Wonderland, there are other bunnies that we've seen over the years on Lost:

• Aaron's poster at Kate's house is of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (There's No Place Like Home, Part 2)
  
• Alex skins a white rabbit for dinner (Greatest Hits) 
• Ben's rabbit dinner, from Chef Locke (The Other Woman)
• Charlie's bunny slippers (Fire + Water)
  
• Coast Guard pilot's white rabbit's foot (There's No Place Like Home, Part 1)
  
• Hurley's white rabbit's foot on the Camaro keychain (There's No Place Like Home, Part 1)
• Hurley finds a white rabbit's foot (Tricia Tanaka is Dead)
• Looking Glass station logo features a white rabbit
  
• Miles discovers a key under white rabbit statue (Some Like it Hoth)
• Orchid Orientation Film features Dr. Chang holding a white rabbit with the number 15 on its back
  
• White Rabbit (the title of an episode in S1)
• Young Ben's baby white bunny (The Man Behind the Curtain)

In addition, the book that both Sawyer and Ben mention (Of Mice and Men) is chock full of rabbit references. 

And in Stephen King's fantastic book On Writing, he recommends a writing experiment that encourages analysis of a white rabbit with the number 8 on its back, and it relates to telepathy...

Foreshadowing Dialogue

Further Instructions

Boone, in Locke's vision: 

"Someone at this airport is in danger. You're the only one who can save them."

re: Aaron, Charlie and Claire: "They'll be fine...for a while."

re: Desmond: "Forget it, he's helping himself."

re: Jack, Kate and Sawyer w/Ben: "There's nothing you can do for them. Not yet."

Boone, to Locke: "First you have to clean up your own mess. Clean it up, John. They've got him. You don't have much time."

Locke, to Charlie: "Bad things happen to people who hang around with me."

Mike the Pot Farmer: "John's a very special guy."

Locke, to Mike: "I can fix this." (oh okay, Jack)

Undercover Eddie: "They chose you."

Locke: "Why?"

Eddie: "A psych profile said you'd be amenable for coercion."

Eddie, to Locke: "You're a good man." 

Locke: "Sorry I gave up on my faith in the island. I messed up. Now our people are captured. I could have gone with them, protected them. I could have saved them."
Eko: "You can still protect them, you can still save them."

Every Man For Himself

Ben, to Sawyer: "We're not killers, James."

Ben, to Saywer: "The only thing we put inside of you was doubt."

Ben, to Saywer: "There's nowhere to run. We did all this because the only way to gain a con man's respect is to con him."

The Cost of Living

Ben, to Jack: "We had such a wonderful plan to break you, wear you down until you were convinced we weren't your enemies, get you to trust us. And then of course we'd lead you to believe that you were choosing to do so. Whatever we asked you to do."

[sidenote: I recommend that you read a very cool Fate vs. Free Will post that was submitted to me immediately following the S5 finale]

Jack: "You want me to save your life?"
Ben: "No, I want you to want to save my life."

Village vaccine woman, to Eko: "You're a good man."

Juliet: "Free will is all we've really got, right?"

Altar boy: "Are you a bad man?"
Eko: "Only God knows."

Village vaccine woman, to Eko: "One day you'll be judged for what you did."

Eko: "I ask for no forgiveness, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. I did not ask for the life that I was given but it was given nonetheless. I did my best."

I Do

Jack, to Ben: "I didn't say I was going to do it. I just want you to understand how you're going to die."

Ben, to Jack: "See you on the other side." [sidenote: this phrase was also uttered by Cooper to his son Locke and the sub captain in the S5 finale]

Pickett: "Shephard wasn't even on Jacob's list."

Jacob's List(s)

We know that Jack isn't on his list, and we find out in an episode later this season (Par Avion) that Kate, Locke and Sayid aren't either...and yet we saw in the S5 finale that Jacob had visited each one of them off island.

To my knowledge, the only two people that are confirmed on his list are Tail Section kids Zach and Emma (S4). So of course I have to wonder if Jacob is only concerned with the next generation of island inhabitants; the Tail Section kids plus the offspring of the 815 survivors (Clementine Ford, Charlie Hume, Ji Yeon Kwan, Aaron Littleton, Walt Lloyd). Perhaps Jacob recruits/lures generation after generation of families to the island in various ways (the Black Rock, Flight 815, etc.) to test them and prove his point to MysteryMan/Not Locke about the lack of progress.

London Calling

Of course we'll never find out, but I've always wondered if Eko's time in London working in the parish concerned or crossed paths with other characters who were from or worked in the UK at some point: Charlie, Charlotte, Desmond, Faraday, Eloise Hawking, Naomi, Charles Widmore, Penny Widmore and especially Brother Campbell (an associate of Hawking's who ran the monastery where Des met Penny).

Lost Book Club

In The Cost of Living, Juliet pretends to show Jack a video of To Kill a Mockingbird. At the beginning of this year I actually wrote a standalone article analyzing Boo Radley and Lost. :)

Parallels

In the pilot episode of Lost (S1), the very first image we see is Jack's eye, followed by a zoom out to show him lying in the jungle, disoriented after the crash of Flight 815.  The first thing he sees is Vincent.

In Further Instructions (S3), the very first image we see is Locke's eye, followed by a zoom out to show him lying in the jungle, disoriented after the Swan hatch imploded. The first thing he sees is a naked Desmond.

In Hearts and Minds (S1), Locke applies a paste to Boone that causes him to hallucinate, and he has a vision of his sister Shannon covered in blood.

In Further Instructions (S3), Locke applies a paste to himself that causes him to hallucinate, and he has a vision of Boone covered in blood. 

In The Glass Ballerina (S3), Other Colleen said to Sun, "I know you're not a killer."  In Further Instructions, Eddie said to Locke, "You're not a murderer."

In White Rabbit (S1), Jack discovers his father's coffin in the Flight 815 wreckage, but his body is missing.

In The Cost of Living, Eko discovers that his brother's body is no longer in the yellow plane.

In Whatever Happened, Happened (S5), Richard Alpert warns Kate and Sawyer that by taking a wounded Young Ben into The Temple to fix/heal him, "he's never going to be the same again." In I Do, right before going under the knife to fix his spinal tumor, Ben says "whatever happens, everything will be very different." That he adds "see you on the other side" after that statement made me ponder if he meant the other side of the Temple...

Separated at Birth?

I simply had to point out the resemblance between Nigerian gang warlord Emeka and former NBA star Dennis Rodman...

Significant Moments/Firsts

Nikki and Paolo speak. Sigh. 

Ben makes the very first reference to a submarine on the island. 

Ben uses his magical black wand for the first time. [sidenote: last year I dedicated an entire post to said baton if you're interested.]

We discover that the Swan implosion affected the island communications system, thanks to Big Tom ("...two days since the sky turned purple, we've been blind. Our comms are all down, I can't get them back up again.")

We find out that Saywer has a daughter (Clementine, with his ex Cassidy).

Kate admits that she loves Sawyer...even if she says she did so in order to save his life.

Juliet reveals that she is a fertility doctor.

Desmond saves Charlie's life for the first of many times, by rigging up the golf club to take the lightning strike instead of the tent he is in with Claire and Aaron. [sidenote: for a list of other such occurrences, see my Crazy Charlie Theory]

We see that Jack, Kate and Sawyer are being held captive on an entirely different island.

We get our first glimpse of Patchy himself, Mikhail.

Kate and Sawyer finally get in on, in the cage match of the century.

Smoke on the Water

IMMEDIATELY after Smokey appears to Eko at the stream, Locke appears across the way out of nowhere.

Also, right as Ben asks Jack if he believes in God, there is a very distinctive Smokey sound in the background...

True Blood 

 

In the last post, I wondered if the Hydra medical supplies included equipment for blood analysis (because the Others took blood from Michael, Kate and Sawyer).

In I Do, Jack notes from his charts that Juliet ran blood tests on Ben. So I guess that answers my question. 

The Visual and The Visceral

Undercover cop Eddie was donning a Geronimo Jackson tee. (Further Instructions)

In Deus Ex Machina (S1), Locke had a dream where a bloodied Boone repeated "Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs." 

In Further Instructions, Locke's paste-induced vision featured a bloodied Locke at the top of the stairs. 

In House of the Rising Sun (S1), Jack discovered two skeletons in the caves (Adam and Eve) where they took shelter.  

In Further Instructions, Locke discovered the skeleton of a former Dharma employee in a polar bear cave, along with some toy trucks. [sidenote: who's Dharma kids were in there, are they still alive and were they hiding out as a family from Ben?]

In Every Man For Himself, Jack watches a cartoon featuring white swans. 

It just made me laugh to think about his relationship with the Swan hatch, both at its beginning and end. 

Apparently the Others are Tarantino fans. In Every Man For Himself, as the Others are about to shove a needle into Sawyer's chest, they reference Pulp Fiction ("No, you have to go through the sternum, like in the movie.")

In The Cost of Living, Ben and the Others dress in all white linen for Colleen's funeral. 

In the S5 finale, Jacob is wearing an all white linen shirt. Perhaps their cult-like attire is homage to the days of old, when the deceased were sent out to sea in earlier eras on the island. 

In Man of Science, Man of Faith (S2), young Walt appeared in the jungle to warn Shannon to be quiet; he was alive at the time but not where he was supposed to be. Shannon was killed shortly thereafter.

In The Cost of Living, a young altar boy from Eko's Nigerian church appeared to warn Eko to be quiet; he was alive at the time but not where he was supposed to be. Eko was killed shortly thereafter. 

X-Ray Vision

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we have not actually seen an x-ray machine either in the medical section of the Hydra or The Staff station on the main island. And yet Ben's x-rays are on display in the Hydra operating room. 

The obvious answer is that they were taken off island, during one of Ben's secret spy trips back to the real world. That Ben went back to the island after discovering that he had a spinal tumor in order to manipulate Jack into operating on him is proof that he knew Jack and Flight 815 were coming. Yes?


Ben


The look on Ben's face when Jack tells him he has a spinal tumor is fascinating. On one hand, I assume he knew. On the other, he seemed genuinely surprised...probably because the island (and Jacob) allowed it to happen. That should have been his first red flag that the man he honored and took orders from did not care for him as he thought. 

Charlie

I would just like to take a moment to highlight the serious Island Mullet that Charlie was sporting at the beginning of S3:

That is all.


Desmond

We get our first inkling of Desmond's future flashing abilities at the end of Further Instructions. 

It seems to have clicked on after the Swan hatch implosion launched a naked Des into the jungle. Imagine the possibilities if Des was back on the island in 1977 when his friends detonated Jughead in the Swan...


Juliet

In Juliet's 'Kill Ben, Volume 1' video, we are led to believe that she set up the camera and taped herself.

And yet, there are two different angles; one is on the cue cards and the other focuses on a fuller shot including her face. I doubt that the Others had Final Cut Pro on the island, so it seems that my favorite blonde may have had an accomplice.

It is also very interesting that she was wearing the same purple sweater in this video that she wore on the day of the 815 crash. Yes, I'm aware that they have laundry, but it stands out with regard to the timing. She hadn't met or assessed Jack yet in person, so to have the foresight and time to create such a video in the hopes of meeting a trustworthy person in captivity seems rather unlikely.

For what it's worth, I am on board with those who wish to see that Jughead's detonation in the Swan results in a naked Juliet in the jungle, much like Desmond after the Swan implosion. Quid pro quo. Bring on that parallel universe. :)

Kate

It is hard to discern, but I have to believe that Kate's pregnancy test was also from Widmore Labs (like the one that Sawyer gave Sun on the island). 

Locke

Locke seemed to take to Eddie like he did to Charlie and Boone; like a father figure. He tries to form/inform these young men, but not with great success.

I still believe that Eko's last words were twisted by Locke when he relayed them to Sayid and company. Eko probably said "you're next," and rather than admit that he was the target, Locke said that "we're next."

Yemi

When he appears to Eko in the tent and then again in the jungle, you can argue that he was either a Smokey manifestation or Mystery Man/NotLocke (it was confirmed at Comic-Con that Jacob has never taken the form of anyone else, alive or dead, so that removes him as a candidate here).

All we know for sure is that he was not Yemi, given that he said the following to Eko: "you speak to me as if I am your brother."
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Thank you for reading my perspective about this batch of Rewatch episodes! Please feel free to leave any comments, and I will see you back here next week. Have a great weekend!