LOST Lighthouse, first thoughts

"Someone is coming to the Island, I need you to help them find it."

In case you haven't noticed,this season is following a very similar pattern with the first season. We have the Jack-centric two part opener, followed by a Kate is a fugitive episode, followed by a Locke in a wheelchair wanting to go on a Walkabout episode, that could describe either the first season or this, the last season.

The fifth episode/hour of season one was called White Rabbit, and it was the episode where Dr. Jack sees his dead father walking around on the Island and he follows him, to find the caves, the Adam and Eve skeletons, and the water that would save their lives. He also found his father's empty casket which he proceeded to smash up.

All of that is touched on in this episode.

White Rabbit of course refers to a character from Lewis Carrol's Alice books, and in this episode, Jack reminisces about reading Lewis Carrol to David, which is interesting, because he also read that to Aaron, which caused Kate to talk about what a great dad Jack is. This is shown throughout the LA X timeline as he interacts with David as well as discussed by Jack and Hurley on their Season 1-esque trek through the jungle to yet another new feature on the Island. More on it later.

That episode in Season One gave us our first look at an Infected by the Darkness person, Christian Shephard. Now we get some up close and personal with another, Claire Littleton, Christian's daughter, Jack's sister, Aaron's mother. She is giving a serious Rousseau vibe. Like Sayid (and Christian for that matter) Claire died and was taken over by this infection. (Making her line, "If there's one thing that will kill you out here, it's infection," nice LOSTian irony). Claire was inside one of the barracks in New Otherton that was blown up by Krazy Keamy and the mercenary tribe. Sawyer dug out what appeared to be an alive Claire, but slowly it became clear that something was different if not wrong with her. If you recall, she actually left Aaron behind to go with Christian, which makes it interesting that she is on such a search for him now. Before she left with Christian, Miles seemed very interested in her, and as someone who speaks with the dead, I'm sure his spidey-sense (or whatever the ghost-whisperer version of that is) was going crazy.

So, it isn't much of a surprise for us to hear a couple of episodes ago that Claire is infected like Sayid (and Christian), and ultimately it isn't much of a surprise that we get to learn a little more about her since this episode is connected to the episode we first saw a dead man walking.

Finally, speaking about Claire, it seems that she doesn't see Smokey as Locke like everyone else does, but perhaps sees him as he is.

Moving on to the other dimension, this episode, along with The Substitute, allows us an in your face look at some of the changes in the LA X dimension. Jack has been married, like in the Island timeline, and is now divorced, like in the Island timeline, but here he has a teenage son, named David. David, of course, is an important part of the Hebrew Bible (also referred to as the Old Testament by us Christians) and also important to the lineage of Jesus Christ. David, before becoming king was a shepherd. Jesus also often used shepherd imagery. In LOST, David and Christian both have the last name of Shephard, and both have important biblical names. You could also make the argument that the name Jack fits into this as well, since Jack can be a nickname for someone named John, and Jesus' cousin, who foretold his coming and his importance was named John (and referred to as John the Baptist). Okay, Bible lesson over for this week.

Back to the timeline differentials, last week, Locke and Helen were still together, and more importantly, Locke and his father were not estranged.

Despite the differences, the timelines still appear to be bleeding together at least in the LA X timeline. Jack examines his scar from having his appendix out, which occurred in the Island timeline in season 4 in the episode Something Nice Back Home, but apparently occurred when he was 7 or 8 in the LA X timeline. While he remembers that this surgery took place as a child, the reality of that scar and the surgery preformed by Juliet is tickling at his brain.

It is interesting that in the LA X timeline, Dogen, who has a child of his own, is at the same recital that David is at. Apparently Dogen and Jack are as connected as any of the other LOSTies.

Finally, the Lighthouse. We finally know how Jacob was able to keep an eye on his candidates, and perhaps even discover by looking in the mirror who those candidates are (and what number they correspond to). The name connected to 108, the number that they were supposed to turn the dial to, by the way is Wallace, and (sadly since that is the last name of my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew although perhaps being a candidate isn't the best thing ever) was crossed out. We haven't yet been introduced to anyone on the show with the name of Wallace.

Also of note are the crossed out names on 109, Friendly, oh how we miss you Tom Friendly, 117, Linus, being everybody's favorite bad guy Benry, and 124, Dawson, either Michael or Walt.

Jacob certainly didn't seem too dismayed that Jack destroyed the lighthouse, but then I guess Jacob doesn't really have any use for it anymore anyway.

Until Next Time, next week's episode is called Sundown, which leads one to believe it will be Sun-centric. This would also make sense since the episode after White Rabbit was a Sun-centric episode entitled House of the Rising Sun. I wonder if this will continue the week after, since that episode was a Charlie-centric one and he is dead on Island. Can't wait to find out!

LOST Theories on Claire

I've been saying since the episode of Eggtown that Claire had to die, one prevalent theory now is that she already has.

Two episodes ago, Claire's bungalow was blown to smithereens by the mercenaries.  Some argue (and the argument is a good one) that she actually died in that explosion, and the "Claire" that Sawyer rescued from the wreckage was actually her ghost (much like the ghost that Dr. Jack has seen of his father, or that Hurley has seen of Charlie in his flash forward).

It would explain the fascination that Miles seemed to have last week regarding Claire, as he is clearly drawn to the dead, but this vision of a substantial ghost able to walk, talk, and hold a live baby, is different then any ghost he's seen or communicated with before causing him to be unsure of exactly what is going on, but knowing that something is, so he keeps a close eye on her trying to figure it out, causing Sawyer to institute his 25 ft rule.

At one point, Miles tries to touch Claire, offering to help her navigate a trail, but is stopped by Sawyer, I think it is because there is something about her that has drawn the interest of his "ghost-sense" and he felt he might be able to understand it more clearly if he touched her.

We now know that the ghosts can hold babies, as we saw Dr. Daddy holding his grandson before he took Claire with him.  If she's dead but doesn't know it, that could be what Dr. Daddy has come to explain to her.
The other possibility is that she isn't dead, and in fact won't die at all.  The reason that she isn't with Aaron as one of the Oceanic 6 is that she is still missing when the "rescue" happens.  This could also explain why
Sawyer isn't off the Island, because he refuses to go without her.

Miles could still be interested in her, because he sees something about her that has drawn Dr. Daddy to take her away, some affiliation she now has with the Island due to her near death experience in the bungalow.

My feeling is that one of these will be true, meaning that either Claire isn't going to die or that she already did.

Until Next Time, hopefully we'll finally find out a little more about Jacob tonight, and I wonder if Locke's flashes will be your typical flashback or if we might get the first ever flash forward not involving the Oceanic 6.

LOST Meet Kevin Johnson, predictions

Big episode of LOST tonight, the last for over a month.  We get to learn a little about where Michael has been and what he's been up to, which is exciting.

We also lose someone tonight according to the previews, so the big question is, "Who will die?"

If you've been keeping up with my LOST posts, you should know where I'm going to fall on this one.

My Dharma paycheck is on Claire.

I just don't see anyway that she and Aaron are separated unless she's dead.  Don't get me wrong, I'll miss her, but maybe she can get a ghost like Charlie apparently had in "The Beginning of the End" and they can be happy again.

I'm betting that they make it seem like Jin is going to die first, though.  Because they showed his grave site last week, a lot of people are predicting a Jin death.  Doc Jensen of EW.com has Jin's odds at 5-2, second only to Carl.  A Carl death wouldn't surprise me, but it also wouldn't be worth the hype, so I'm not considering him a possibility.  His reason for it not being Claire is the emotion and drama involved in Kate trying to reunite Aaron with his real mother on the Island.  How is that better then Sun trying to reunite herself to her husband and introduce her baby to her husband?  Jin staying alive makes more sense and provides more emotion and drama then Claire staying alive.  And the fact that we saw his grave means absolutely nothing, since the grave said he died on Sept 22, 2004 and we already know that that is a lie, why wouldn't his death be a lie as well.

The other thing I'm predicting for this episode is that Michael is the man in the coffin from Dr. Jack's flash forward in last season's finale.  If the episode doesn't tell us that right out, I'm thinking that it will give some big arguments towards that theory being correct.

Until Next Time, thank goodness for Tivo, as I can take an hour long brake from Basketball for LOST and then come right back to it, right where I left off.

LOST Eggtown reveal discussed some more and other LOST thoughts

I've already stated that I wasn't a big fan of the episode Eggtown (especially considering how great The Economist was the week before and the fact that I believe The Constant the week after was the best LOST episode ever), but I suppose we need to take a look at the ramifications of the supposed shocker ending as was brought up to me by a friend in response to my last LOST post.

Back in season 1, in the episode "Raised By Another", Claire was told by the psychic Richard Malkin that she had to raise the baby herself because her goodness must influence the baby.  She refuses to listen, but finally decides to take his advice when he apparently has changed his mind and tells her there is a couple in Los Angeles who can care for the as yet unnamed Aaron.  She is given a ticket on Oceanic Flight 815 and told that it can be no other flight.  Claire wonders at the end of the episode (as do we) whether the psychic knew that the flight would crash and she would be forced to raise the baby herself.

However, in the season 2 episode, "?", Eko is researching a supposed miracle involving the daughter of Richard Malkin.  During Eko's investigation, Malkin admits to Eko that he is a fraud and not a genuine psychic.

So, which are we to believe?  Is Richard Malkin a psychic as reported in Claire's flashback of him or a fraud as reported in Eko's flashback?

I think that this is an important question, because if he is a psychic, and was therefore correct in asserting that Claire needed to raise Aaron, then we have a serious problem in the future considering that Aaron is being raised by another, Kate.  Especially if it is imperative that Claire's goodness influence Aaron.  While I like Kate, I don't think you could make the argument that she has the same inherent goodness as Claire.  Sure, she's had reasons for doing the things that she's done, and I wouldn't consider her evil, but she has committed evil deeds, and therefore, I doubt she fits the bill for the inherent goodness necessary in raising Aaron.

Things we've learned since then actually support the idea that Malkin was a psychic and did foresee something which made him believe that Claire had to raise the baby herself.  If he had that vision (or flash akin to Desmond's visions of the future) then he would have seen a catastrophe caused by someone other then Claire raising the baby.  But we learned in the season 3 episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" from Ms. Hawking that the universe has a way of course correcting.  Therefore, if Malkin did foresee Aaron being raised by another, despite his attempt to change that future by putting Claire on a plane destined to crash on the Island, the universe will in the future course correct to make sure that Aaron is raised by someone else (Kate), and most likely that isn't a good thing.

Anyway, these are some of the thoughts I had about the reveal that Kate would be raising Aaron as her own in the future.  Thanks Adriane for bringing the issue up.

One other little thing to think about, I read that we'll know the entire Oceanic 6 by the end of episode 7 of this season.  That's the episode next week.  Assuming (which is always dangerous as the very same Adriane who inspired this post once pointed out in Chemistry 2 back in high school) that we are only aware of 4 of the 6, Dr. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid, that Aaron doesn't count because he didn't actually have a ticket on the plane, and that Benry Gale isn't one of the 6 by having taken over a dead passengers identity.  Assuming all of that, we would have two members of the Oceanic 6 still left to discover.

Based on the previews for tomorrow's episode, I think that it will be a Juliet episode.  I don't believe that she is one of the Oceanic 6 either (as she wasn't on the plane).  Therefore, I am going out on a bit of a limb to predict that the last two will both be identified in next weeks episode.  This leads me to believe that they are connected, which narrows it down considerably.

Of the people left on the Island, the only twosomes would be Sun and Jin or Rose and Bernard.  I think that we can safely eliminate Rose and Bernard partly because they are technically supporting characters and also because Rose believes if she leaves the Island, her cancer will return.  Sun and Jin make sense, because they are in the Dr. Jack "please rescue us" group, and Sun believes that she will die due to her pregnancy if she doesn't get off the Island adding some incentive for their wanting (and needing) to leave.

So, Sun and Jin would make sense whereas Rose and Bernard wouldn't, but I'm not going to pick either of those twosomes as my guess for the last two members of the Oceanic 6.  No, my prediction for the last two members is actually Michael and Walt.

Forgot about them, didn't you.  A large part of me thinks that it is possible that Michael is also Benry Gale's man on the freighter.  After all, Frank left the Island on the helicopter on a bearing of 305.  Benry Gale sent Michael out on a heading of 315.  It doesn't seem impossible that Michael and Walt ran into the freighter coming in.

The biggest reason I have this belief is that Harold Perrineau

Of course, we could find out tomorrow night that I'm completely off base, but at the moment I'm feeling pretty good about this prediction.

Until Next Time, hit me up with your thoughts on who the last of the Oceanic 6 are.