Christian in the Cabin...Further Thoughts About Episode 4.1

Before listing out additional thoughts about last night's fantastic new episode of Lost, I wanted to share a few photos from one of my readers (hi Sara, thanks Jaime!). She made Dharma labels for bottled water and chip dip at her Lost party last night, in addition to island cupcakes. Awesome.

And now, on to additional questions and theories about "The Beginning of the End," the first episode of Lost, Season 4:

• Hurley went with Locke, separating himself from Jack and Kate. So how did he wind up being rescued? Was anyone else from Locke's group rescued as well?

• Charlie repeatedly told Hurley that THEY needed him. Assuming he's referring to those left on the island...why Hurley? Jack used to be the de facto leader. Locke seemed to become one himself. But Hurley? Very intriguing.

• Before the survivors divided into two groups, Jack insisted upon dragging Ben around so that he could watch them get rescued. So why let him go with Locke now?

• We are assuming that the Oceanic 6 refers to six survivors from Flight 815, but that may not necessarily be the case. There may have been more survivors, but perhaps only 6 of them were designated as heroes.

• Did any of the non-815 group get rescued (Desmond, Ben, Juliet, Alex, Karl), and if so, how did they explain where they'd been? If any of them were rescued, were they part of the big lie? Were they counted as one of the Oceanic 6?
  

• Desmond knew that Naomi's boat wasn't sent by Penny to rescue him. However, Naomi had that photo of him and Penny with her when she crashed on the island. So did Desmond go with Locke to avoid the impending danger of the freighter crew, or did he stay with Jack to see what their connection to Penny was?

• Did the person in that infamous coffin actually commit suicide, or were they killed by Oceanic for talking about the island?

• If Claire is one of the Oceanic 6, and baby Aaron was rescued along with her, would he count as one of the 6? Similarly, if Jin and Sun were rescued, what about their baby? And if Kate IS pregnant, her child is a possibility as well.
  

• What happened in the time between this new flash forward and the one we saw at the end of last season? Last night, Jack did not want to go back at all, but Hurley did. Later, in his self-destructive gruff beard phase, Jack pleaded with Kate to go back, but she didn't want to at all.

• I looked up the significance of the name Matthew Abbadon (the Oceanic attorney...or so he says). Apparently, Abbadon is translated as 'destruction' in Hebrew. There are additional biblical implications of both his first and last names, but I am so not an expert in that area, and won't delve into it. Feel free to Google or Wikipedia for yourselves.

• Matthew Abbadon is an anagram for WHAT BAD BOAT MEN, among other similar variations.
  

• Just what kind of 'upgrade' was Abbadon offering Hurley? The kind where he would end up in a coffin at a funeral that no one attends?

• It strikes me as strange that people would ask plane crash survivors for their autograph. What story has been told to elevate the Oceanic 6 to that level?

• Hurley told Jack that he wished he'd gone with him instead of Locke back on the island, but that would have meant ignoring his buddy Charlie's warning. Perhaps we are to infer that either Charlie was wrong or Penny was lying.

• While being interrogated at the police station, the detective asked if Hurley had ever met Ana Lucia. It was as if he wasn't aware that the survivors spent a good deal of time together on the island, that they were rescued shortly after crashing. Does this validate the popular theory of a time/space continuum?

• Is Naomi's satellite phone simply a long range radio, or is it an actual functioning phone? If so, why haven't any of the survivors attempted to call home?

• In last season's finale, Ben told Jack that if he called the freighter, "every LIVING person on this island will die." They have emphasized the hell out of that line, replaying it over and over in all recaps and promos. Ben knows that the dead reappear on the island; he chased his own mother into the jungle after all.

• In Jack's flash forward, when he referred to his father as if he were still alive, it was because he actually sees him and thinks everyone else does as well.

• Why didn't the freighter helicopter simply land on the beach out in the open? Why drop a crew member in via parachute, risking his life (especially after hearing Naomi tell them that she pierced her lung when she landed in a tree on the way down)?

ADDITIONAL CRAZY THEORIES

• Until now, I was convinced that Ben instructed Kate to get pregnant or he'd kill Jack or Sawyer (per their mysterious breakfast on the beach at the beginning of last season). But perhaps Kate stole the phone from Jack because Ben's instructions were to prevent Jack and the survivors from ever having the opportunity to leave the island.

• Kate isn't a fugitive upon her return after rescue...because she took/stole the identity of someone from the island who had perished during the crash, someone without any family.

• In the future, Kate is taking care of Aaron. Either Claire was left on the island or died, and Kate became his surrogate mother (the only viable candidate among the Oceanic 6). Aaron was one of the Oceanic 6, and he is the 'him' that Kate referred to in the flash forward with Jack.

• After Locke threw a knife in Naomi's back and disappeared, he went to Jacob's cabin. Jacob had asked him for help, because he was being held hostage in that cabin by Ben. Locke wants to overthrow Ben and take his place as island leader, so he is teaming up with Jacob to do so. It was Locke's eye that Hurley briefly saw through the cabin window.

• Ben pulled the knife out of Naomi's back (there is no way she could have done it herself). Naomi wasn't aware that Locke acted on his own when he tried to kill her, so she crawled over to Ben for help instead of drawing attention from the group of survivors who were focused on Jack's phone call. She took the knife with her. It was probably Ben's idea to leave two blood trails to throw them off of her scent.

• I thought I saw a very quick flash of the Black Smoke Monster by the helicopter. My theory is that it scanned it, liked/trusted what it saw and let it through the invisible island barrier. That is why it didn't crash like Naomi's copter. Although I'm not sure why Smokey wasn't pleased with hers...
  

• I'm not a huge believer in the prevailing Purgatory theory, but perhaps no one can give birth on the island because everyone there is already dead. Thus, new life is impossible. I know, that leaves no explanation for the flashbacks or flash forwards, but it's something to contemplate.
  

• Hurley sees dead people. That is why he saw Christian Shepard in Jacob's cabin. And not because Jack's dad was still alive.

• Ben was in the coffin. He killed himself because he was rescued against his wishes, and wanted to remain on the island. Jack was distraught about his death (but not Kate or anyone else) because Ben represented belief in the island, which Jack clearly denied until it was too late.

• Naomi said that the wreckage from Flight 815 was discovered at the bottom of the ocean. The freighter crew's mission was to put it there. That is why the guy who parachuted in to Jack and Kate is seen saying in next week's episode, "rescuing you isn't our primary objective." And that is also why the guy who answered Jack's call from the freighter wasn't surprised to hear him say that he was a survivor of Flight 815; he knew there were some, but his crew was responsible for covering that fact up.

Thoughts? What did I miss? What did you like/dislike about the episode? Don't be shy, leave your own theories or comments!