Comment Policy Change

For years I have allowed Anonymous comments on all of my sites, but the time has come to change that policy. I apologize to the 99% of you to whom this does not apply, but unfortunately a few less than polite comments lately have forced me to reconsider. 


It has been my experience as of late that those who feel the need to be rude and/or attack me personally in Comments are not courageous enough to leave their names, email addresses or website URLs in return. I will no longer post or respond to the offensive.  


Those of you who frequent this site are familiar with my style, and know that I am open to all feedback and criticism, as long as it is constructive in nature. That is why I've always chosen to moderate comments before publishing them; I do not want this to be a site where readers disrespect me or one another for sharing our thoughts about the show. I will gladly approve comments which disagree with something I've posted as long as they offer an alternative thought or solution, and avoid personal attacks on either me or fellow readers.


I am going to repeat a few statements that apparently I need to reiterate more often. There is a reason that I label a Crazy Theory of the Week with the word Crazy. This is a purely speculative site, and I never assert that my thoughts and theories are right or the best. In addition, I am not a shipper; relationships are my least favorite aspect of Lost, hands down. As someone who has dedicated five years of my life to theorizing and writing about this series, I am entitled to both love and loathe specific characters. That being said, I do not let that affect my analysis of each episode. I am far more interested in each character's possible motivation than I am with their partner of choice.


If you are upset with my policy change, I encourage you to simply not return. Visit other Lost blogs and forums instead, where comments are never moderated. 


For those of you who would like to continue leaving comments, you may do so using any of the following accounts: AIM, Blogger, Google, LiveJournal, OpenID, Typepad and Wordpress. 


Thank you in advance for your understanding.


-Jo

"Follow the Leader" Analysis (Part 2), Addressing Your Comments & a Season Finale Wish List

Please excuse the delay; with family in town for Mother's Day and the finale this week, I haven't had as much time as usual to dedicate to this.

But before we begin, a friendly reminder that this is a strictly SPOILER-FREE site. It may be tempting to post a spoiler or a theory based upon something you've already read or viewed online, but I encourage you to please restrain from sharing any information here that you know for sure is in the Season 5 finale. My readers and I thank you in advance!

So let's get to some theory detonation and pre-finale energy negation, shall we?

ELLIE/ELOISE HAWKING

Nurblvr makes an interesting observation about Hawking. This is a woman resolutely in charge of men. In 1977, it is not very shocking concept because of the feminism and women's liberation movements. That young Ellie wielded a great deal of power back in 1954, however, may speak more to her ancestry and possible links to the island than her actual position among the military stationed there...

Nurblvr also seems to think that Hawking and Ben have more of a history than we know about, and that she had something to do with young Ben's recovery. Their interaction in 2007 Los Angeles is relevant, because Hawking is far more in the know and in control than Ben at that point in time (with regard to how to return to the island, etc.). I am now wondering whether or not Ben knows that Widmore is Faraday's father. What a tangled web they've all woven.

FARADAY

Judging by the comments, the consensus seems to be that Faraday did not know about his death ahead of time.

I would argue that it was against character for him to bring a loaded gun into a hostile situation (pun intended), that guns and violence are usually a last resort for the twitchy, gentle scientist, and that he knew he needed to provoke someone into shooting him in order for the events we're about to see unfold.

JACOB

1MileToGo: I never thought about the ash surrounding Jacob's cabin as a security measure to keep Smokey at bay, but I like the direction you're heading in. I've often wondered what the connection between Jacob and Smokey is, given that they're clearly the most mysterious and intimidating spirits on the island.

JUGHEAD

Clarification time: when Faraday encountered his young mom Ellie in 1954, he simply inquired if their people had access to concrete. Thus, my initial statement was that perhaps Faraday already knew about the tunnel system beneath the island. Given the number of maps and notes he had in that notebook, it would not seem out of place for him to be familiar with the entire blueprint of and under the island.

Mark is the first of many to bring up the possibility that the island's infertility issues may very well be tied to the fact that a hydrogen bomb has been living beneath the primary residency. As for an explanation as to why Ethan Rom survived - I have a feeling we'll find out in a few days. He has the distinction of being the one of the only Others/Hostiles to have survived Ben's 1992 purge. But I think his birth and life have more to do with his mom Amy, because I believe she is a double agent, living and working as an Other but originating as a Hostile (like Ethan and Ben in the future).

JULIET

I have a bad feeling. It is unsubstantiated and I hope that I am wrong because she is my favorite character; I would miss her presence tremendously in Season 6 if they chose to kill her off. IF Juliet departs, is it too much to ask that she live? There is no such thing as truly happy resolution in Lost land, but I would be fine if she somehow returned to the real world. So cosmos503...I hope you're wrong!

Phil broke the golden rule. On the island over the years, there have been many acts of violence and unfortunate deaths, but you just don't hit a woman (let alone my girl Juliet). I hope that Sawyer or Smokey rids us of that small security specimen by season's end.

And I must politely disagree with those of you who believe that the blond Other woman on the beach with Alpert in 2007 is an older version of Juliet (see far right in photo below). I realize that the time travel element creates windows of possibility where they'd never before existed, but my main point of contention is that Juliet wouldn't have advanced in age in such a dramatic fashion. Then again, one of her flashback episodes was called The Other Woman. Wait, now I'm actually contemplating whether or not that mysterious branding she received on her lower back as punishment for killing Pickett is related to this...damn you, conspiracy theorists! :)


KATE

It seems I have struck a nerve or two with my consistently negative Kate commentary. While I do not feel it is necessary to apologize, I will say that I never intend my sarcastic perspective about her to ever be offensive. Cosmos503 reminded me that the series is about redemption and rebirth, and I admit that I need to apply that concept to Kate more often.

Yvonne makes a good point - that if The Incident results in flight 815 landing safely in Los Angeles as originally planned, Kate would be arrested and incarcerated. It certainly says volumes about her character that she would choose to endure many more years of island misery than to return to the 'real world' to face jail time.

By the way, something is off...there is no way that Radzinsky would let Sawyer and Kate off the island together. They both know how to find the Hostiles, and Radzinsky wouldn't simply have faith that Sawyer drew him the right map. Someone (probably Horace) arranged for Kate to get on that sub, but I highly doubt it was Radzinsky.

LOCKE

Ashlie - I completely agree that the island's time shifts seem to benefit Locke's journey; further proof of his destiny.

Hillary and Katie H touch upon a question that many of us seem to have - whether Locke is acting so confidently because he really does know his purpose now, or whether he is actually dead. If we are to believe the mantras that they keep repeating, then dead IS dead and what happened, HAPPENED. And I keep thinking about this conversation in the episode Dead is Dead, when Locke briefly disappeared into the jungle immediately following Ben's unleashing of Smokey from the drain inside his secret lair:

BEN: "Where did John go?"
SUN: "He said he had something to do."
BEN: "Did he say what it was?"
SUN: "No, I didn't ask. Jack must have lied. About Locke being dead."
BEN: "Jack didn't lie, John was dead."
SUN: "Just because he was in a coffin doesn't mean that he couldn't have faked his dea-"
BEN: "Trust me, I'm sure."
SUN: "So you knew this would happen to Locke if we brought him back here?"
BEN: "I had no idea it would happen. I've seen this island do miraculous things. I've seen it heal the sick, but never once has it done anything like this. You don't get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living hell out of me."
BEN, after hearing rustling in the bushes: "You may want to go inside."
SUN: "Why?"
BEN: "Because what's about to come out of that jungle is something I can't control."

And out walks Locke.

In Follow the Leader, this exchange now takes on a new light as well:

BEN: "This must be quite the out-of-body experience."
LOCKE: "Something like that."

When Locke says that he is going to kill Jacob, is it possible that he plans to set him free, that he's going to act upon Jacob's initial plea ("help me")? Will this set off a series of events that lead to The Incident; is the detonation of Jughead a purposeful distraction but not the true cause of what is about to happen?

MILES

It seems that most of us are hoping to see our favorite ghostbuster chat up the recently deceased physicist in the season finale.

Out of any of the characters on the island in either era, it seems to me that Miles could be the most useful when it comes to detonating Jughead and changing their destiny; he has the ability to communicate with the dead, and may have done so upon first landing on the island in 2007, gleaning key information that will come in handy before or during The Incident. Perhaps he spoke with dear old dad...

RADZINSKY

I am amused by the general dislike of this character; it reminds me of the vitriol toward Ana Lucia. But I like him, especially because he serves a greater purpose that we know about but have yet to witness: he creates the infamous hatch blast door map.

Yes, Radzinsky is uptight and paranoid, but wouldn't you be if you were creating a station in Hostile territory, if your co-workers were dying during construction of said station due to electromagnetic forces that rip fillings out of your gums and into your skull, if you were infiltrated by a group of strangers, if your current leader was a hippie pacifist, etc.?

Desmond's former hatch mate Kelvin said that Radzinsky killed himself in the Swan, so I hope that we at least find out how and why he winds up stationed there in the first place.

RICHARD ALPERT

1MileToGo brings up an interesting possibility - that Richard is related to Jacob. We've certainly never seen Richard at or near Jacob's cabin, and he expressed a mixture of both fear and hesitancy on both occasions when Locke has demanded to see Jacob (The Man Behind the Curtain and Follow the Leader).

Nurblvr wonders why Ben refers to Alpert as an advisor when he seems to follow more than lead, and I tend to agree. In my opinion, Alpert is more of a passive aggressive island advocate than anything else. 1MileToGo is on the same page, because he thinks that Alpert may be a physical manifestation of the island that can't directly affect any outcome. I highly recommend that you all revisit his comment from the first Follow the Leader post, because 1MileToGo also outlines in detail the possibility of Alpert as a genie of sorts (as well as Jacob and Smokey)...

So in 1977, Alpert knows what happens in 2007 (thus, his comment to Sun that he watched her friends die). I am a tad confused as to why he'd remember the events from 30 years ago but fail to recall meeting Locke and Faraday during earlier era encounters. Either his selective memory is an act, or a character discrepancy.

Random thought: the tiny ship he was constructing in the bottle is the Black Rock. Of course many of us theorize that the Ageless Wonder was an original captain or crew member on that ship, so his little hobby makes sense.

THE SUB

Julie J emailed me about how the sub gets from the island to Ann Arbor. I responded by telling her that I think the sub is and always has been nothing more than a rouse; that in actuality, the island is located closer to the U.S. than we've been led to believe. It was always suspicious to me that they drugged Juliet for the journey there, as well as all new Dharma recruits before her. Even though we do not see them drug the women and children who just evacuated the island quickly on the sub, I wouldn't be surprised to see them (attempt to) administer the tranquilizers to each passenger this week.

So why do I doubt that the sub is an actual means of transportation to and from the island? I'm not too familiar with submarines, but I don't imagine that one would have enough fuel to make a non-stop trip from the island to Michigan. Also, given the frequency of off island trips taken by Ben, Alpert and big Tom over the years...the sub must not have been their method of transport (and obviously they didn't turn the Frozen Donkey Wheel and wind up in Tunisia every time).

In addition, one of my lingering Lost questions is why Locke was soaking wet after blowing up the sub in Season 3; the sub was docked at the time so there was no need for Locke to get in the water...

THE TUNNELS

Les, you are correct my friend! That is how I know and appreciate that you're a long time reader...you know that I've been insisting for years that the island has an underground system. :)

When Alpert mentioned that some of the Others were at The Temple, it made me wonder if he meant beneath it. I have a feeling that The Temple is Tunnel HQ, and that Smokey has been an occupant longer than anyone or anything.

THE WHISPERS

Hillary - when we were introduced to the time travel element season, I jumped to the conclusion that The Whispers are the voices of island residents past, reaching out from various eras to warn either their future selves or other visitors of the dangers.

CRAZY THEORY OF THE NIGHT

Juliet is pregnant. That is why Sawyer uncharacteristically chose to negotiate a spot for the both of them on the sub leaving the island, rather than stay and fight with/for their friends.

SEASON 5 FINALE EXPECTATIONS/PREDICTIONS

These are some stories/theories I'd love to see addressed or resolved:

• Amy: double agent Hostile or simply strange Other Mother?
  
• Ben's mystery box from the hotel vent: contents?
  
• Bram & Ilana: who's team are they on?
• Dr. Chang's arm: does he lose it in The Incident?
• Charlie Hume: Charlie Pace? (I won't be giving up on this one anytime soon)
  
• Claire: alive or dead?
• Desmond: Does he return to the island? With Penny & Charlie?
• Hurley's guitar case: contents?
  
• Jack: reuniting with ghost dad Christian
  
• Jin and Sun: back together
• Kate: pregnant with Jack's child?
• Little Linus: does he remain in The Temple; where is he during The Incident?
• Locke: dead/manifested as Smokey, or alive & overconfident?
  
• Penny: does she find out that Faraday is her half-sibling?
• Rose, Bernard and Vincent: donde esta?
• Sayid: will the island punish him for shooting Little Linus?
  
• Sun: what, if any, deal did she make w/Widmore before returning to the island?

Of course as soon as I publish this I will think of more. But I will manage my expectations and be thrilled if they touch upon any of these points. The Lost season finales never cease to amaze me and take me in directions I never thought possible, so I look forward to Wednesday night with great anticipation and joy.

I am going to avoid Twitter, Facebook and other Lost sites as much as possible until after the finale airs on Wednesday in order to continue avoiding any spoilers. But please join me, DocArzt, Erika Olson (LongLiveLocke) and sl-LOST on Wednesday for a spoiler-free, pre-finale LIVE CHAT with Ryan on Zap2It's Guide to Lost!

Are you ready for the big finish? What questions would you like to see answered?

Revisiting "He's Our You" & Your Comments

For him the architect of all
Unroofed our planet's starlit hall;
Through voids unknown to worlds unseen
His clearer vision rose serene.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Benjamin Peirce"

I don't have time to post many photos to accompany this short second round of questions about "He's Our You," but I wanted to share some new thoughts before the next new episode on Wednesday. Thank you so much for your very insightful comments! I really enjoyed reading and responding to them every week.


BEN'S LIST

When Ben found out he had a spinal tumor (2004), he devised a plan to use Michael (with Walt as bait) to trap Jack so that he would perform the surgery to remove it. The four people on the list that he gave Ms. Klugh to give to Michael were Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer...and all four are currently stuck in 1977 with young Ben. Will we find out that his list relates directly to his interaction with them in the 70's? He could have observed the love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer - and remember how easy it was for Ben to manipulate all three once he had them in cages on Hydra Island. He would also figure out rather quickly that Hurley is the odd man out, but a useful messenger.

Nurby - I am so with you regarding the infamous breakfast on the beach between Ben and Kate shortly after she was captured in Season 3. We have yet to find out what was said, but I agree that it is still relevant and significant!

Josh - I used to think that Ben had no idea that Flight 815 would break apart above New Otherton in 2004, but Matthew Abaddon's admission about making sure that Locke was on that flight changed my mind entirely. Locke couldn't have been the only one who was purposefully placed on that fateful plane, and Ben's sarcastic remark about a spinal surgeon dropping from the sky almost convinces me that he knew Jack was coming. And now we know why Sayid was on that flight...

Upon a second viewing of the episode, this particular line of dialogue from Ben to Sayid grabbed my attention because of the double entendre: "You are capable of things that Other men aren't."

Kristiano1, I thought the same thing after watching again - that when older Ben went to Sayid in the Dominican Republic, it certainly seemed like he knew/remembered that Sayid had shot him as a child.

The security camera watching the jail cell would have captured young Ben's release of Sayid...Ben must have disconnected it.

Daddy Linus is a first class a-hole, but what will his reaction be when he finds out that his son was shot?

Ashlie wonders if perhaps Ben is also undead or ageless (like Alpert), and if course correction plays a role. Ben has certainly escaped death on many occasions, from the tumor to the relentless beatings at the hands of the Losties and Keamy, etc. Matt takes it one step further, and I love it - the island is constantly trying to kill Ben but fails to do so.

Geez - I always thought that Widmore was the economist, and not Ben. But Ben has said that he can't kill Widmore, and the economist was on Sayid's hit list, so I'm probably way off.

FARADAY

SisterCinematicallyCorrect - hi and welcome! As for Faraday's whereabouts, I believe he's still there in 1977...just secretly working and living on a different part of the island. We've seen him as Dharma Dan down below where they're building the Orchid, so I am guessing that he disappeared from Jack & co. to proceed with his secret spy time travel work (as outlined in his notebook).

I am actually quite looking forward to when Faraday and Pierre Chang/Dr. Candle join forces to create that video about the future.

ILANA

When she reveals herself to be a bounty hunter of sorts after kicking Sayid's ass (see photo below), she tells him "you're going to answer for what you've done." It sounds like retribution for changing the rules (shooting young Ben), not revenge for killing Avellino on the golf course.

I am starting to think along the same lines as lectric74, who believes that Ilana was more likely to have been hired by Widmore than Ben. Conversely, I also like Geez's idea that if she is working for Ben, perhaps Caesar is working for Widmore.

JACK

Will Janitor Jack work with or meet Deadbeat Dad Linus? There only seem to be a handful of Dharma janitors after all. Seems to me that Sheriff Sawyer assigned the Doc this position not as punishment, but as someone who can monitor Ben's dad (with or without knowing that is his task at hand).

When Juliet is staring out the window at Kate's house, she emerges with Jack. And when Sawyer knocks on Kate's door later that night, it seems like she has company. Are Jack and Kate shacking up again and playing house now too? Note to Freckles: it's not a competition.

OLDHAM

Is he a precursor to Jacob? He lives on the outskirts and also seems to have an aversion to modern technology.

Does Oldham die in Ben's 1992 Purge?

RADZINSKY

I am surprised that Sayid's mention of arrival on the island via plane did not ring a bell with Radzinsky (given that Jin recently demanded that he call all Dharma stations to find out if they'd seen an airplane land on the island).


SAYID

Why does he mention the Dharma stations/hatches in past tense? The Flame and the Swan were blasted and out of service, but not the Pearl.

"THE WAR" vs. "THE INCIDENT"

By now we know that the season finale is called "The Incident," but what of "the war" that Widmore warns Locke about? (thanks to SisterCinematicallyCorrect for reminding me about that!). Do Sayid's actions set off the war between the Losties and the Others? If so, where do the Hostiles and Richard Alpert fit in?

SoFutureGeneration believes that the future may have been changed by one of these events, as evidenced by the abandoned Dharmaville that Sun and Lapidus enter in an unknown era. So will we discover that the future is altered by Sayid shooting Ben, or by the Incident?
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Apologies for the brevity. Feel free to comment on any of the above and I will try to address your thoughts in the next blog or two. More to come after this week's episode!

If You Seek Amy: Revisiting "Namaste" & Your Comments

I think 17 comments is a new record for an episode blog, so thank you very much to all who contributed! After reading all of your thoughts about "Namaste" and also watching it for a second time, I thought it deserved another post. Let the analysis begin.

AMY

I don't know any woman who would be chilling out on a hammock only 12 hours or so after giving birth, let alone one on an island who's child was delivered prematurely by a mechanic slash fertility doctor while her husband was sobering up after missing the birth of his son. I'm just saying...

Also, why is it that Amy seems to be the only person in Dharmaville who does not wear a jumpsuit? She wasn't wearing one when Paul got shot during their picnic, but he was. We know she had a job in the processing center...

BEN & JULIET

Aunt J-ha makes a compelling point about Ben's obsession with Juliet; that his infatuation started back in the 70's when he first saw her and developed a crush. I love it, and think that the entire recruitment process to get her to the island (meeting with Alpert via Mittelos, ex husband killed by bus, etc.) was fueled by Ben's lifelong desire to reunite with her. Not to mention the creepy portrait of the woman with the long blond hair in Ben's New Otherton house, and that various people kept telling Juliet that she looked like 'her.'

And yes, I realize that the woman in the painting looks more like Renee Zellweger than Elizabeth Mitchell. ;)

HORACE

Wezeralus - I still believe that Horace did die in Ben's 1992 purge, which was 12 years prior to his 2004 ghost appearance during Locke's dream. And although he did have a nosebleed when he was talking to Locke, I believe it related to his death by gas rather than time travel.

ILANA

I know that many of you will disagree with me here, but when Caesar went to check on Ilana after they landed on the island, it seemed she mumbled the word 'Sarah.' Some might argue that she said 'Jarrah' because Sayid was in her custody before the flash/crash. There have been two women named Sarah on Lost thus far; Jack's ex-wife and Ana Lucia (who was given that alias by Christian Shephard when they went on a drinking binge together in Sydney). It would certainly be fascinating to find out that she has a connection to either...

JACK

When Jack was being processed by Pierre Chang, wouldn't he recognize him as Dr. Candle from the Orientation film that he and Locke watched in the Swan? Wouldn't that bell have gone off in his head after watching Candle in the Barracks video that was playing before he got processed?

JULIET & SAWYER

Perhaps this is wishful thinking, but when Juliet responds to Amy's inquiry about when she and Sawyer might consider having a baby together ("TIMING'S gotta be right"), it made me wonder if she meant era. Of course I would much prefer to find out at the end of the series that she and Sawyer stayed together and had a baby rather that he and Kate...

LAPIDUS

When Ajira flight 316 started to lose power and Lapidus realized what was happening, did he attempt to reprogram the plane to follow Faraday's coordinates? I realize that he didn't have much time, but he certainly had experience attempting to avoid crashing on or near that island when he piloted the freighter helicopter...

PRODUCTION/CONTINUITY ERRORS?

There is great debate whether or not the woman who briefly appears behind Sun as she talks with Christian is a production error or if she is Claire, Charlotte, Annie, etc. In this day and age of HD, and with the intense fan scrutiny, I would be very surprised if it was an error.

1MileToGo made an excellent point about Dr. Marvin Candle as well...he was wearing a Swan lab coat in the Barracks video that played while new Dharma recruits were getting processed, and yet that hatch wasn't built yet. Simple continuity error?


RADZINSKY

1MileToGo noticed that Radzinsky was paranoid about the Hostiles finding out about the Swan. Was it because of what they were planning to build it atop of?

It seems quite significant that Radzinsky says to Sawyer:

"This whole thing is an act, and we either play into it or we don't. We can end this right now."

He may have been referring to Sayid, but that statement is far too relevant given what we've witnessed over the last five seasons; the Others' fake Hostile facial hair & costumes, fake Other village near the water where Walt got to see Michael, Inman's fake hazmat suit purpose, etc. Given that Radzinsky eventually draws the hatch blast door map, perhaps he starts to question his purpose and use on the island...

SAWYER

I know that they haven't had the opportunity to spend much time together yet, but I'm wondering when he'll ask Kate about that favor he whispered before jumping out of the helicopter, and if we'll find out whether it relates to his daughter Clementine.

SMOKEY

lectric74 believes that the Black Smoke Monster was briefly visible when the door opened behind Sun and Lapidus in the deserted Dharmaville rec room, which may indicate that Smokey controls Christian. I'm not sure if it controls him, but Christian may certainly be one of Smokey's many manifestations.

Tyler is wondering if there was something else in the bushes as Sun and Lapidus walked down the dock, and if that entity (separate/different from Smokey) first appeared in the pilot episode of Season 1. I like that possibility, and wonder if it is yet another security system...

SUN

Upon a second viewing of this episode, I noticed the parallels between Sun's second arrival on the island and Rose's initial one. Both were playing with their wedding rings and worried about their husbands right before the planes went down, and both were on the beach staring out at sea afterward...knowing that their spouses were still alive and somewhere on that island.

THE SWAN HATCH

lectric74 noted that the energy beneath the Swan is electromagnetic in nature, rather than nuclear. Even though it would then seem that Jughead was not buried under there, Faraday's instructions to his mom (young Ellie) about the bomb in 1954 seemed very significant:

"Do you people have any access to lead or concrete? There's a crack in the casing. It needs to be filled with lead. You need to take it off this platform carefully and bury it. You do what I say, you bury it, it won't go off. Bury it, and everything will be fine."

Because the very mention of concrete brings to mind the sealed off sections of the Swan that Sayid and Jack explored in Season 1:

"The last time I heard of concrete being poured over everything in this way was Chernobyl."

Chernobyl was a NUCLEAR power plant. When that disastrous accident occurred, massive quantities of radioactivity was released. To me, that will be "the incident" on Lost that we have yet to see.

WHAT HAPPENED, HAPPENED?

1MileToGo thinks that it's possible that the Others never moved into Dharmaville; that the Losties in 1977 may have changed what happens in 2007. I like that idea, but I am not exactly sure WHEN Sun and Lapidus were.

Anonymous 3 is thinking that perhaps the "purge" and "the incident" never happen; that by changing events in the past, the Losties somehow prevent catastrophic events in the future. He/she reminds us about Locke's constant talk about destiny on the island, and that it's possible that none of the 'bad' things happen down the road because of what we're seeing now.

YOUNGER VERSIONS OF SELVES

Anonymous 1 was the first person to point out the possibility that Ben, Sun and Lapidus were not stuck in 1977 with the other Losties because they were already there as younger versions of themselves. To which I say, bravo! We've already seen young Ben with Sayid, and given Mr. Paik's wealth and mystery history...it seems entirely plausible that he worked with Dharma in the 70's and young Sun spent some time on the island with the family. Side note: perhaps young Sun taught young Charlotte how to speak Korean. As for Lapidus, since we know relatively nothing about him, that door is wide open as well.

If one cannot cross paths with themselves in earlier eras, then Miles is NOT Pierre Chang's child (thanks to Kalionan for questioning that!) because he's currently stuck in 1977. However, we do know that the baby is a boy, so it can't be Sun.
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Kris - I will totally create a lengthy list of lingering questions after the end of Season 5! As for Michael, yes - I believe he is long gone (and not only has the actor moved on to another series, he burned bridges by making controversial comments about Lost killing off many African-American characters). As for the whereabouts of flight attendant Cindy and the tail section kids, that is one of my longest running frustrations with regard to loose ends on the show.

Thanks again for your comments - keep them coming! Obviously most of what I write about is pure speculation, and I'm often wrong, so you keep me on my toes.

See you later this week!

Josh's JACOB Theory

One of my blog readers, fellow Lost fan Josh, sent me this very interesting theory about Jacob today. With his permission, I am posting it below! You'll see that I have responded to a few of his points as well.

So analyze & comment away! I only ask that you do so in the same respectful, constructive manner that you do for my theories if and when you disagree. ;)

In 1974, Paul was killed by two of the Others, but we do not know what they were going to do with his wife Amy. They put a bag on her head, which made me think that they didn't want her to know where they were going to take her, not that they were going to kill her.

I believe that Amy is Jacob's mother. They mention how all pregnant women were taken back to the mainland to give birth; taken off the island because as we already know, women were unable to birth babies conceived on the island.

So whether Amy was captured by the Others or saved by Sawyer & crew, she was still going to become pregnant and give birth to a baby boy ON THE ISLAND, TWO WEEKS PREMATURE (don't forget that both Ben and Locke were born prematurely as well).

Her baby, JACOB, was the only known child to have been conceived and born on the island, making him very special. In 1974, mom Amy was captured by the Others, which may explain why Jacob becomes their leader. But Sawyer & crew intervened, so Jacob may be raised as part of the Dharma Initiative, which would then change the outcome of the PURGE or the WAR that is coming (as mentioned by Charles Widmore).

I believe that when Jacob was older, he became the first person on the island to go into the well/Orchid and travel back in time. This would explain how, in 1954, Richard Alpert recognized the name Jacob when Locke told him that "Jacob sent me." If Jacob were a time-traveler that had contacted Richard for reasons still unknown, that would explain why Locke mentioned Jacob to Richard in 1954. Only Richard seemed affected; young Widmore and Ellie did not even flinch, as if the name had no meaning. This is probably because time-traveling Jacob only spoke to Richard about what he must do to preserve the island's future.

JACOB'S CABIN

Jacob is in the cabin because he is the son of Horace (who built the cabin). Horace brought his son to the secret cabin as a young boy, which explains the entire connection!

The cabin is always moving and cannot be seen by just anyone, because it no longer exists. Jacob has passed away but remains a very powerful spirit on the island; he is held prisoner in that cabin by the ash that surrounds it. I have read so many books and seen so many movies where spirits are kept in or out by some sort of ash or brick dust. Jacob, having passed/died but still being an active spirit, has the ability to toss objects in the cabin and reanimate dead bodies on the island, such as Christian Shephard (whose body has been missing from his coffin since Season 1) and Eko's brother Yemi (who died on the island in the small plane crash).

Jacob himself can only be heard in the cabin by the people who are aware of his existence. Locke, not really believing in Jacob, heard the “help me” faintly. Ben was concerned that Locke heard Jacob and wanted to know what he had said (because he is keeping Jacob trapped there). Ben must keep Jacob contained within that ash/dust because he is so powerful, but also still needs to consult with him regarding the welfare of the island, which was Jacob’s original intent.

[Jo: we've yet to witness anyone but Locke hear Jacob speak; if he has communicated with Ben or Alpert, we've never been in on it]

Jacob is trapped in that circle of dust; he lives in a manifestation of the secret cabin he used to visit with his father as a boy. The same reason he can only be heard by the people who are aware of his existence is the same reason only certain people can see the cabin, like Locke, Ben, and Hurley for some unknown reason.

When Charlotte died, Faraday mentioned how her body moved on with the island and that they were stuck in place (living in normal time but in 1974). This would explain how the cabin was always moving before the donkey wheel was turned. Locke, who was looking for the cabin, was stuck in place (living in normal time - 24hr days, 365 days a year) but the cabin was always moving because it is exactly like the dead Charlotte (a spirit of the island moving along with it).

CLAIRE

This theory would also lead me to assume that Claire is dead, which in my opinion is the only reason she left Aaron behind and acted like she could care less about anything when spotted by Locke in the cabin. As another spirit of the island (like Christian and Yemi), Claire is being reanimated by Jacob as well,. Claire being dead and an active spirit (not nearly as powerful as Jacob) would explain why she doesn't seem concerned about Aaron. But in Kate’s dream, she is visited by Claire’s spirit, who is very concerned for the well being on her son.

CHARLIE

Charlie reappeared at the mental institution, that could have been Hurley’s schizophrenia. Jacob can use these bodies to talk with people, but can’t actually interact himself. That would also explain why, when Locke asks Christian to help him up (he has a compound fracture in his leg), he says “NO.”

[Jo: I would say that Hurley may have a mental illness or is just 'special,' but he does not necessarily suffer from schizophrenia. But I do love the idea that the deceased are being used as mouthpieces for Jacob, delivering messages to the Losties on and off the island!]

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I would like to thank Josh for sharing his detailed theory with us, and encourage all of you to do the same! Not everyone has a blog or likes to explore Lost thoughts with people via message board/forum, so feel free to email me and I'd be happy to post for all to ponder!

Revisiting "LaFleur" & Your Comments

I just re-watched the episode, and I totally appreciated all of your feedback from the last post. Here are thoughts and responses to some of your comments, as well as new questions that arose from a second viewing...

AMY & HORACE'S BABY BOY

SheilaLocke was the first of many to point out that logistically, Amy and Horace's baby boy could not have been Karl. Very true; I will blame the late hour of that post on my guess.

Doug thinks that perhaps their son could be Ethan Rom. Good call...that is far more plausible!

AMY & PAUL

If there was a Truce in place between Dharma and the Hostiles, why were they having a picnic seemingly outside of the safety zone and sonic fence? Were they being set up or tested, and if so, by whom?

WHY was Paul wearing the Ankh necklace? By the way, I think I'll start referring to him as Paul Ankh-a.

EGYPT

BrenKeller pointed out that in addition to Hurley's painting, the ankh necklace, the 4 toed statue and the hieroglyphics...Richard Alpert may be an immortal pharaoh. I like that idea, and Maven added that ancient Egyptians did use eyeliner (created from stones & minerals; to protect from the sun). Ashlie - it's true, I did some research too!

Barry also reminded me that there were hieroglyphics down in the Swan hatch too, on the countdown clock.

HORACE

What was he trying to do with the dynamite? He wasn't throwing it at the sonic fence...

At that time (in that era), who did he report to? The same person who determined if someone was 'Dharma material?'

HOSTILES

Why DID they murder Dharma Paul? Were they really going to shoot Amy as well, or just kidnap her? Doug aptly inquired what would have happened to her had Juliet and Sawyer not intervened, and whether or not they are indeed course correcting events.

Jin took a walkie off of the dead Hostile. Had we seen them using that kind of technology before? That they were using them at all makes me think that Alpert wasn't working with/for Jacob, given his dislike of modern communication.

JULIET

I really like Doug's theory that Ben's crush on/obsession with Juliet began when he was a kid on the island; he met her while she was there for the three plus years integrated into Dharma.

As I watched the episode for a second time, I realized that Kate NEVER had Sawyer's back; her relationship with him was completely self-serving. I really hope that we're not forced to watch Kate manipulate Sawyer's emotions and life again on the island, because Juliet has both his back and his heart...and I hope we don't have to see hers break.

OLIVIA (Horace's other wife)

Doug believes that Olivia was killed shortly after the Purge that we witnessed Ben oversee in "The Man Behind the Curtain" and that her death may have caused the Truce...but why wouldn't she have been killed in the Purge along with Horace?

Both Anonymous and Rlowene think that Olivia was Horace's first wife (before Amy). Although I am openly confused by the timeline, I tend to agree.

POLAR BEARS

Barry - it is just my assumption that the polar bears were used as experiments to turn the Frozen Donkey Wheel, primarily because of Charlotte's discovery of a Dharma polar bear collar at the island exit point of Tunisia.

RICHARD ALPERT

Nurby and Ashlie want to know why people other than Alpert are leading the island, and what his relationship with Jacob is. Me too.

If he buried Jughead (as Faraday instructed in the past), did he do so under the Swan?

ROSE & BERNARD

Rlowene asks a question which I think all of us are wondering...where the hell are Rose, Bernard, Vincent the dog and the remaining 815ers while Sawyer and co. are playing house with Dharma? In that same unknown location where Flight Attendant Cindy and tail section kids Zach & Emma have been?

SAWYER

How DID he know about the history of the Black Rock ship?

Three years ago, Sawyer looked at and approached Kate with lust and caution. He looks at Juliet with admiration and love. It's true - I am unable to conceal my hopes for the new couple.

After they reunite, how long until Sawyer asks Kate if she followed through with that favor he whispered to her on the helicopter before jumping out? Of course I'm hoping that it was about his daughter Clementine and we get to see his baby mama Cassidy again before the series ends...

SONIC FENCE

Presumably, it was created to keep the Black Smoke Monster out (because it is ineffectual on the Hostiles). So why does it seem that Smokey is unleashed from WITHIN the Barracks and safety of the sonic fence (from the secret chamber in Ben's future Dharma house)?

Earplugs. Really? That's all it takes to avoid being rendered unconscious by high-frequency sound waves? You'd think that the Others, Dharma and Losties would have figured out at some point during their time on the island that Smokey is averse to said sounds and attempted to create and implement similar sound-based deterrents.

STATUE

Doug thinks that perhaps Locke's last turn of the Frozen Donkey Wheel will result in an earthquake that topples the 4 Toed Statue. That is a logical possibility, and one that we might see in an upcoming episode. Although I still believe that the dormant volcano is someone involved...
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I may watch "LaFleur" yet again before Wednesday, if time permits. Thank you again for all of your comments and feedback on Facebook and Twitter!

Even though there is not a new episode of Lost this week, on Wednesday evening I will be participating in a live Lost chat on Zap2It with the awesome Ryan McGee (and possibly a podcast with DocArzt as well this week); stay tuned for details!

As I Lay Dying: Revisiting "The Life & Death of Jeremy Bentham" and Your Comments

It is as though the space between us were time: an irrevocable quality. It is as though time, no longer running straight before us in a diminishing line, now runs parallel between us like a looping string, the distance between the doubling accretion of the thread and not the interval between.

William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

Round two.

I watched "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" again, taking notes of course. I also wanted to address many (but not all) of your great comments from last week's post. If I had more time, I would love to respond to all of you individually!

IMAGINARY/REAL/SPACE TIME MAP

Caesar found the map in the Hydra island office; in fact, he seemed to be looking for it. Are we all on board with Faraday as the author/creator of said map? IS there a correlation between that and the infamous Swan hatch door map? Are those on the island affected by time shifts depending upon WHERE they are located between the hatches at the time?

AARON

The lack of concern for his whereabouts is a tad disconcerting. Jack was more concerned with returning to the island and a roll in the hay with Kate than the well-being of his own nephew. Abaddon, Ben, Hawking and even Widmore were insistent that EVERYONE who had left the island had to go back, and yet none have inquired about Aaron. Seems beyond odd.

BEN

Ben must have known that Locke had to 'die' in order to serve as a proxy for Christian Shephard on the Ajira flight back to the island - that is why he killed him. I assumed that he also had to know that the island wasn't done with Locke, that upon returning...Locke would reanimate. Then why say that he'd miss him if it was only temporary? Ben has left Locke for dead before...

Who is Ben's off island man, the one who was watching the O6 for him?

BENTHAM/LOCKE

He'd never been to the smaller Hydra island, but he was staring out at the main island so he knew where he needed to be.

In a previous episode, the 2 outrigger canoes were shown to be back on the main island (before Sawyer and co. took off one one of them). So does Locke lead some of the new Ajira folk from the Hydra island over to the main island via outrigger at some point?

Upon a second viewing, it really struck me that Jack, Kate and Sayid were quite mean to Locke...

• Jack: "Have you ever stopped to think that these delusions that you're special aren't real? That maybe there's nothing important about you at all? Maybe you're just a lonely old man who crashed on an island."
• Kate: "I think about how desperate you were to stay on that island. And then I realized...it was all because you didn't love anybody."
• Sayid: "Why do you really need to go back? Is it just because you have nowhere else to go?"

They better be careful....Locke is the Island's boy, and destiny can be a fickle bitch.

CAESAR & ILANA

Assuming that Walt's dreams about Locke are about to become a reality, were these two on the flight to keep an eye on or harm Locke after returning to the island? Were they hired by Widmore or Ben?

CHARLES WIDMORE

Ashlie inquired why Widmore didn't try to get back to the island himself via an event window/flight like the Losties, and if there are consequences if he chose to return. She's also wondering if Ellie (young Eloise Hawking) was exiled as well, or wants to go back.

My guess is that Widmore has tried to return many times with no success. He certainly has the resources, but that he was exiled must be related to his inability to go back. As for Hawking, I agree with Ashlie that perhaps she feels it is her destiny to guide the others back rather than returning herself. Or it could be that her son Daniel Faraday is her eyes and ears on the island, and she serves their mission better by being at home base. I'm also convinced that she has an integral connection to Widmore that has not been revealed.

CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD

Did Ben know that Christian was a living ghost after the crash, that he spoke on behalf of Jacob? Did the two ever meet?

Nurby notes that possibility that Ben's story about Thomas the Apostle may have been about Jack's inability to believe that his father is alive, and not about his disbelief in Locke and his message.

FRANK LAPIDUS

Doug (aka 1MileToGo) found it interesting that Frank took the flight manifest and wonders who else was on the Ajira flight...Widmore? Walt? Ms. Hawking?

My response is - great question! I hope that all of them were.

HYDRA ISLAND

In Season 3, when Sawyer and Juliet were put to work after being taken by Ben and the Others, Juliet said that they were helping to build a runway. It seems that even back then, Ben knew exactly what was going to happen.

RICHARD ALPERT

When he told Locke that he had to die in order to bring back and save his friends, he had to know that Locke's death would only be a temporary means to do so; that the island wasn't done with him...right?

ROXANNE

Many of you asked who she is. We haven't met her yet, but Ilana mentioned her name as one of the passengers from flight 316.

I am interested to find out if she's working with Caesar and Ilana on some unknown mission, given that she was "scouting" the beach for them after the crash.

SAYID

Who were the people that Ben was having him assassinate for two years? Were they associates of Widmore's?

WALT

When he visited Hurley at Santa Rosa after Locke died, he questioned why everyone was calling him Jeremy Bentham. But from what we saw during their brief encounter, Locke didn't tell Walt about his pseudonym. So did Locke visit Walt again? If not, how did Walt find out?

And I agree with all of you that he not only needs to go back...he has (without knowing it) and will.
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Thank you again for your comments - I love the feedback and discussion. As a reminder, if you are not comfortable leaving your theories and thoughts using your name, feel free to email them to me and I will post them anonymously for you.

Oh, and if you're at all interested in hearing me ramble on about Lost (as opposed to just reading my usual stream of consciousness), click here to listen to my guest appearance on the Sci-Fi Party Line podcast.

Have a nice week! See you late Wednesday night, if not sooner...