LOST Ab Aerterno, first thoughts

Looks like my thoughts from last week gained some traction this week.

We'll start there after this epic, epic episode.

Perhaps Jughead does play a role in the split, but I maintain that the split doesn't happen unless Jacob is dead. Remember, Jughead didn't go off until after Jacob was killed.

Jacob tells Richard that the Island is a cork keeping evil inside. When Jacob gives the bottle to Esau/The Man in Black, Esau doesn't remove the cork to free the wine that represents himself (and interesting that wine is used to represent him, considering that wine in Christianity represents the blood of Christ), but instead breaks the bottle. Making Jacob the bottle in this analogy.

The Island is the cork, but Jacob is the bottle, and Esau frees himself by destroying the bottle, by killing Jacob.

The implications of this is rather huge.

At the end of the episode, Hurley tells Richard that his wife said one more thing. "You have to stop the Man in Black. Stop him from leaving the Island. Cause if you don't... We all go to Hell."

My friend Kristen tweeted a few things during the episode that I found interesting, especially since I was in class and had no idea what she was referencing. Well, I felt pretty good about the last thing she tweeted as the show was ending and as I was on my way home to watch it...

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG #LOST"

But what interested me was this tweet...

"I'm gonna be REALLY ticked off if #LOST is going where it seems to be going...."

As soon as the episode ended, I called her to see if what I assumed she meant from that tweet (not knowing exactly where it occurred within the episode) was what she meant from that tweet.

It was.

She sent it after Esau told Richard that they were in Hell and that he was dead, confirming what Richard believed he had been told by his deceased wife.

Of course, the episode continued, presumably moving on from this explanation (which at this point would seem unfair), and Kristen would be able to send her OMGOMG tweet.

Now, here's the thing.

I think that this explanation is actually a true one.

I think that the show with this line actually gave us an answer.

Yep.

Just not for the Island.

I think that the answer provided is for the LA X Timeline, for the Flash Sideways world.

If LA X is of a world without Jacob, a world where the cork is at the bottom of the ocean, then it is a world where the evil has escaped into the real world. It is, as Hurley described it, Hell.

So, while many people have been theorizing that Sideways World, LA X Timeline, is an epilogue post-Island, I now say to them that I believe it is the exact opposite. It is Hell, that which our LOSTies must try to avoid, try to keep from becoming the true reality. That is what the show is now about, keeping the cork in the bottle, keeping the monster trapped on the Island.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOM as my friend Kristen would say.

There is more to get to from this episode.

We got some answers,specifically how and why Richard was brought to the Island, how the Statue was destroyed, and how the Black Rock got to the middle of the Island (which by the way was waaaaaay simpler than I think anyone theorized, and while some people might be disappointed by that, I think it is pretty funny, good job LOST).

There was some interesting Smokey stuff in this episode as well, and even though we know a whole hell of a lot more about Ol' Smokey than we did prior to this season, it seems to me that Darlton are holding to their promise that we will learn something new each and every time Smokey makes an appearance. I now think that it is safe to say that dead people appearing to their loved ones on the Island when they aren't really on the Island are definitively courtesy of Smokey.

When Smokey does his whole Photography Flash thing, he is somehow getting into the mind of the person he's flashing so that he is able to project back to them someone from their past.

I will reference Eko and Smokey presenting him with his brother Yemi after Eko confronted the Smoke Monster earlier without getting killed.

Pretty much the exact same thing happens in this episode to Richard.

There are more similarities as well. Eko felt guilt for Yemi's death, Richard felt guilt for Isabella's. I think that that is important for a few reasons.

One, the show is clearly on some level about redemption. I don't think anyone would argue that redemption is not an important theme in the show.

Jacob and Richard have a talk about redemption. When Richard is offered the job, Jacob asks what he wants, he says he wants his wife back, Jacob says he can't do that, then he asks if he can be forgiven of his sins so that when he dies he doesn't go to hell, Jacob says he can't do that either.

But just before this part of the conversation, Jacob has something else to say about redemption. He says that he brings people here because Esau "believes that everyone is corruptible because it is in their very nature to sin. I bring people here to prove him wrong. And when I bring them here... their past doesn't matter."

Although Richard doesn't hear it, Jacob is saying that regardless of what sin occurs, or has occurred in the past, he believes that people are capable and ready to do what is right, "to help themselves, to know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them". Why should Jacob have to step in? In other words, Jacob is saying that he has given humanity the access to free will, in order for them to prove Esau wrong, he believes that they should do it without his interference.

Later, of course, we see Jacob taking a slightly different path. He still is big on free will, but he definitely does some stepping in.

However, he never does so with coercive power.

I'm not sure how many of my readers are familiar with Alfred North Whitehead and Process Theology, and it might just be because we spent a majority of my Kazantzakis class tonight discussing Whitehead and Process Thought, but it seems to me that Jacob is definitely in the mold of the Process view of God. There is also a lot of other stuff going on, including a very Dualistic thing happening, that whole Good and Evil aspect which doesn't really fit with Process Theology or most modern Christian theology at all, but as for the core of who Jacob is and how he acts, I think that Process Theology might have some interesting things to say.

Process thought in a nutshell is responding to and arguing against the idea of God as the Unmoved Mover, the idea put forth famously by Aristotle, the idea that God causes motion and change, but is unmoved and unchanged by anything.

In Process thought, God is very present with us, God changes with us, God is active with us.

However, God is not the omnipotent God of classical theism. Alfred North Whitehead says in his book Process and Reality that God does not have coercive power, but instead has persuasive power.

Whitehead explains the issue of our understanding of God’s power as being related to the power of Caesar. “When the Western world accepted Christianity, Caesar conquered; and the received text of Western theology was edited by his lawyers.” Whitehead argues, “The Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar.” Because Caesar’s unlimited power was of a coercive nature, the belief became that God’s power must also be coercive, and unlimitedly so. However, Whitehead argues that this is incongruent with God. Instead, God's power is persuasive.

So, we've seen Jacob change, like the God of Process thought, and we've seen Jacob persuade those he has chosen as opposed to forcing them to follow through with his plans, and he has repeatedly talked about his belief in the free will of those that he has chosen.

What I guess I'm saying is that I am now fully on board with Jacob being the God-type character of the show. What his having been killed says about that... well, in this post I've already quoted Whitehead, I suppose we'll leave Nietzsche for another time.

What is interesting, however, is how Richard falls into this. Jacob and Richard in their talk discuss how Jacob doesn't want to step in to which Richard replies that Esau therefore will. Jacob asks Richard to do that for him, be his representative to Jacob's chosen people. If Jacob in this scenario is God, does that make Richard the Jesus-type?

I certainly think that that argument can be made.

After all, Jacob literally baptizes Richard just before this discussion, he says that he is unable to redeem people of their sins perhaps intimating that Richard will be able to do that in Jacob's place, and then he gifts Jacob with everlasting life.

Seems like a fit to me.

I don't think that LOST is strictly, however, a Christian show. I think that there are a lot of Christian themes throughout the show, but there are also a lot of Hindu, Buddhist, and classic mythic themes being played out as well (including a lot of the Egyptian myth, such as the statue, the hieroglyphics, and Richard's home, the Canary Islands, named after the original inhabitants who worshiped dogs and mummified them, something that has distinct ties to the Egyptian god with a dog's head, Anubis, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, who was replaced by Osiris, and if power struggles between leaders of a place that is often tied to the afterlife isn't LOSTian, I don't know what is). The point is that there is a lot more than just Christian themes going on here, so I don't think that we can take the Jacob is God and Richard is Jesus comparison too far, but I definitely think that the show wants to make the case that those archetypes work for Jacob and Richard at least to some extent.

Another thing that really struck me about this episode is the fact that it greatly resembles the Darren Aronofsky film The Fountain. You probably know Darren Aronofsky from the films The Wrestler or Requiem for a Dream or maybe even Pi (which also has a lot of themes in common with LOST), but chances are good you haven't seen or even heard of The Fountain which is a shame, because it is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Without giving too much away, The Fountain is about a character named Thomas (played by Hugh Jackman) and his wife Isabel (yes, Isabel, played in the movie by Rachel Weisz who bears a bit of a resemblance to Mirelle Taylor who plays Isabella in this episode). In the movie, the two characters are together in three distinct time periods, the year 1500, the year 2000, and the year 2500. In 1500, the characters are (like Richard and Isabella) in Spain. In the year 2000, Isabel is dying and Thomas is trying with all his might to cure her (like Richard and Isabella). And in 2500, Thomas is attempting to reunite himself with Isabel and has found a way to have everlasting life (like Richard, still searching for Isabella). It is too big a coincidence to ignore, so I will share with you the themes of the film and let you make of that what you will.

The idea of the movie is that death is an important part of life. That ultimately it is death that makes us as humans special. Jackman said of the movie, "The moment Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, humans started to experience life as we all experience it now, which is life and death, poor and wealthy, pain and pleasure, good and evil. We live in a world of duality. Husband, wife, we relate everything. And much of our lives are spent not wanting to die, be poor, experience pain. It's what the movie's about." The same could be argued about LOST.

Aronofsky says of the film, "If [Adam and Eve] had drank from the tree of life [instead of the tree of knowledge] what would have separated them from their maker? So what makes us human is actually death. It's what makes us special."

Pretty interesting stuff when you compare it LOST. And anyway, it is a fantastic film and very worth seeing if you haven't seen it before.

One last point that I'd like to make, although you probably noticed it yourself, when Esau sent Richard to kill Jacob, he did so with the exact words and actions that Dogen used when he sent Sayid to kill Esau. Interesting.

Until Next Time, thanks for sticking with me through this massive post. I wonder what we're all going to do when LOST ends? Probably better not to think about it.

LOST The Substitute, first thoughts

I’m super busy these days with work and school, and therefore I will apologize in advance for this post not being as in depth as the episode deserves. Ultimately I am only going to touch on a few of the important points brought up by this outstanding Locke-centric episode.

As always, if you aren’t caught up there are SPOILERS throughout the post!

The title of tonight’s episode is The Substitute, which harkens to the titles of episodes in the last couple of seasons, The Variable last year, and the incomparable The Constant in season 4. Both of those episodes were time travel related, this one, not so much, but constants and variables are much more similar in mathematical equations than substitution. After all, in an equation, constants and variables are parts of the equation. Substitution is a method in which you can solve the equation.

Fitting since we are coming to the end, it is about time some things start getting solved!

Of course, as many answers as we may have gotten in this episode, there are still many questions. Let’s touch on a few of both, shall we?

LA X TIMELINE

Nice to see Helen again, and she touches on a few important points in the episode. She talks about destiny and that Locke was perhaps meant to meet Dr. Jack, which we of course know to be true. Also, Rose, Hurley, and Benry are people that Locke is inexorably tied to.

On the Island timeline, Locke has always been the Man of Faith, whereas for the longest time, Dr. Jack was the Man of Science. Lately, Dr. Jack has been moving into the void left by Locke’s death, but in the LA X Timeline, Dr. Jack (along with Helen) believes that nothing is impossible, but Locke, always he of the “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!!!!”, has apparently become the Man of Science and willing to accept that there are things that he can’t do. If Dr. Jack is truly the Man of Faith in the other timeline, then we still have the important combination of a Man of Science and a Man of Faith which has always been at the heart of this show, and there remains the idea that if they can come together and work together, anything could be accomplished, Island or No Island.

ISLAND TIMELINE

The Numbers-

So, if we can trust Esau-Locke, there are “Candidates” for replacing Locke and, surprise, surprise (not really a surprise), they correspond to the Numbers.

4- John Locke
8- Hugo Reyes
15- James Ford
16- Sayid Jarrah
23- Shephard (I’ll argue against this actually being Jack in a moment)
42- Kwan (and my argument for Shephard will also answer who is meant by Kwan)

Each of these correspond to someone that Jacob touched in the Season Finale last season, but the problem is, Jacob touched both Sun and Jin, so which one is Kwan and why did he touch them both? And Jacob also touched Kate and yet she is not here.

The solution… Jacob was touching the parents of 23 and 42, not the people actually named by 23 and 42, therefore, 42 is Ji Yeon Kwan, not Sun or Jin, and 23 is actually the baby of Jack and Kate, not Jack or Kate. There were many theories last season that when Kate got on the plane (Ajira flight 316) she was pregnant with Jack’s baby. On that flight, there was also a lot of talk of substitutions (there’s that word again) being made for people who were on flight 815 to turn flight 316 into another flight 815. Sayid was in handcuffs like Kate was in the original flight. Hurley had a guitar case like Charlie did in 815, Locke was in a coffin like Christian was in 815, Benry was late and barely made the flight like Hurley in flight 815, so it makes sense to think that Kate was pregnant like Claire was in 815.

So, the kid that Esau/Locke and Sawyer saw in the jungle would be the replacement for Jacob, one of the candidates, and therefore the child of Kate and Jack. Of course my original thought upon seeing that kid was that he was Aaron, and that is still possible. Aaron is, after all, technically a Shephard, and he was raised (for a time at least) by Jack and Kate, making him in a way, the child of Jack and Kate.

Until Next Time, I do love that every season we see a part of the Island that we have never seen before, and the home of the lists was an awesome revelation this week.

LOST The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, first thoughts

Okay, big question to lead of the post today after last night's show and as always *SPOILERS*...

Where is Sayid?

Seriously.  Dr. Jack, Kate, and Hurley are all back in Dharma time.  Frank and Sun have taken a boat to head back to the beach and LOSTies base camp.  Locke is enjoying his resurrection and bothering the new castaways.  And Benry is beat up in a hospital bed.

But where the frak is Sayid?  That's the question I have.  I guess the most logical explanation is that he disappeared in the time shift also and is somewhere on the Island in Dharma time.  That would be my guess.

Watching last night's episode was the first time I've seen Abbadon since seeing every episode of The Wire.  So all I can really say to his death is...  CEDRIC!!! NO!!!!  But seriously, Abbadon is still a very interesting character and I hope we get a little more about him in flashback.  Clearly he works for Widmore, which I think we'd all pretty much surmised anyway, but his job is to, as he puts it, get people to where they are supposed to be.  We saw him direct Locke to the Island by suggesting the Walkabout.  I wonder if he had a hand in any of our other LOSTies routes to the Island?  Either way, it seems like he is being as hands on as he always yelled at McNulty for being.  (I know, I know, in LOST he isn't Cedric Daniels.  Or the guy from Fringe.  Or the dude in the Cadillac commercial.  Seriously, you're a main character in The Wire and Fringe and one of the most intriguing characters on LOST.  Do you really have to do a Cadillac commercial?)  He at least approached Hurley, although we haven't seen him with anyone else that I recall.  But he was directly responsible for Faraday, CS Lewis, Miles, and Frank being on the Island.  It isn't like I could complain if that's the last we see of him, because there is enough of an answer there as to who he is and why he was around, but he intrigues me enough to want some more as well.

So, mister "you have my condolences" is named Caesar.  And has obviously become the leader of this new set of castaways.  Perhaps inevitable considering his name.  He seemed to be looking for something a little specific while digging around in that Dharma station if you ask me.  I don't think that it was coincidence that he was on that flight.  If I had to guess, he works for Widmore.  We already know that Widmore was watching all of the O6.  If they were all getting on the same plane, it wouldn't surprise me that Widmore got one of his own people on that plane as well.

But, how much does Widmore know about Benry's activities?  Does he realize that it is he who gave Benry access to return to the Island?  Widmore told Locke to look for Ms. Hawking.  Locke told it to Benry, who then killed him and then went to hang with Faraday's mother.  I find it interesting that it is through his mortal enemy Widmore that Benry found his way back to the Island.  If you asked me which side I was rooting for in the eternal struggle between Benry and Widmore I wouldn't hesitate to tell you neither.  I seriously think that they are both evil and out for themselves, neither is really on the side of our LOSTies or even the Island.

So, everyone is back on the Island now except for Desmond, Walt, and Aaron.  A few times in this episode it was mentioned that Locke was supposed to bring EVERYBODY back.  Obviously, things can't get back on track (the record won't stop skipping as it were) until these three are back as well.  I, like a lot of you, think that the person Benry went to confront before boarding the plane late (Hurley style) last week was Desmond, in part to try and convince him (or kidnap him, either way) to get on that plane, but also in large part to keep his promise to Widmore by killing Penny.  Obviously I don't think that he succeeded, and I hope that Desmond kicked his ass, but if he did succeed, then Desmond will no doubt be hell bent on revenge, even returning to the Island to get it.

Walt is obviously still connected to the Island by having dreams of events that haven't occurred yet.  We've now seen Locke on the Island with strangers while wearing a suit, but they don't want to kill him yet.  Since Walt saw that though, I figure it will happen soon enough.  Especially with him being all creepy about having been dead.  I don't know that I would tell that to complete strangers, John.  No doubt his dreams about current events will somehow bring him back to the Island as well.

As for Aaron, the question is, of course, who Kate left him with.  My money is on Cassidy and Clementine, Sawyer's ex and his daughter (also, clearly the people he told Kate to go check on when he jumped off of the helicopter to save them all.)  As soon as either Widmore or Benry figures this out, I have no doubt that Aaron will be on the way to join them all.

Benry the Island would have to be finished with him, right?

Until Next Time, where do you think Sayid is?  Because that is the big question after last night's episode.

LOST Season Finale theories and predictions

"He told me to move the Island" -John Locke So, what exactly does that mean? There's a couple of theories on this. One, it could mean move the Island in time.  This seems to be a popular theory online and amongst some of my friends, and being a sucker for all things time travel, I like it myself, but that can't be all of it. Krazy Keamy has threatened to torch the Island.  Even if John moves all of the Others to another time on the Island, the Island itself will still be there to torch and Krazy Keamy wants more then Benry Gale now, he's pissed at the Island because of our old friend Smokey. I've always thought that the Island isn't really in our reality. I've always believed that it is actually in a separate dimension from ours. As I pointed out last week, the time differential isn't stable or predictable.  Sometimes it's earlier on the Island then it is off of the Island, sometimes its vice versa. I think that is because the Island is in a completely different universe. However, it is accessible through certain wormholes, including one in the ocean that the freighter is currently in supposedly offshore.  If, however, the Island were moved... meaning, in my opinion, that the Island would be closed off from those particular wormholes, then the freighter would just be sitting in the ocean away from any land base whatsoever. Here's what we know. Dr. Jack was thrown a sat phone from the helicopter.  It was from Frank, but he probably thinks it was from Sayid or Desmond.  He knows that the freighter folk are dangerous so he'll be tracking them secretly, hoping to take down anyone dangerous. The helicopter is heading towards wherever it is that Benry Gale will be next, thanks to intel from Widmore given to Krazy Keamy. That means that Benry Gale, Locke, and Hurley will be met by the helicopter and Dr. Jack. Meanwhile back at the beach, Sayid will arrive in the boat to start ferrying survivors back there. Now to the theories. Sawyer will arrive with Miles and Aaron to the beach and will have Kate and Aaron head for the freighter while he goes back to look for Claire (despite the fact that she's dead).  Jin will make sure that Sun is on the transport as well.  It's a small boat, so Sayid's first load will be himself, Kate, Sun, and Aaron. Meanwhile, Locke, Benry, Hurley, and Dr. Jack with the help of Frank (and we can only hope, Smokey) will overpower Krazy Keamy.  Frank will take Dr. Jack and Hurley back with him to the freighter, leaving John able to move the Island. When Frank and Sayid head back to the Island in their two transports, Locke will already have closed the wormhole and they will be unable to locate it, meaning the only people to get off will be Dr. Jack, Sayid, Kate, Sun, Hurley, and Aaron, aka the Oceanic 6. Everyone else will still be alive (except Claire, because I'm fairly certain that she's been dead for a few episodes already), but still on the Island. Now, I want to leave you with some more thoughts on last weeks episode. Benry Gale's mother's name, Emily Linus. John Locke's mother's name, Emily Locke. Both were born 3 months premature. Their mother's first words after their births was "Name him...." Both have a strong connection to the Island and people connected to the Island were at each of their sides shortly after their birth. Benry appears to have been born in the early 60's whereas Locke was born in the late 50's. Let's call it about 5 years difference. So, about the time that Richard Alpert tested Locke and failed him for choosing the "Walkabout John" method of reaching the Island, Benry Gale was born. The Island tried at least one more time to recruit John to the Island through Alpert (using Mittelos Labs), but again John refused, perhaps subconsciously sticking with the "Walkabout John" plan.  About that time, Horace Goodspeed got his friend Roger "Workman" Linus a job with the Dharma Institute on the Island, causing him to bring little Benry. So, what does this all mean? Clearly, the Island wanted John Locke as its Leader and Liaison all along, but settled for its backup plan (Benry Gale, substitute leader of the Others) until Locke arrived. The second that Locke arrived, the Island didn't need Benry Gale anymore.  (Thank you very much for your service, we'll mail you your last check).  Immediately he lost his ability to speak to (or in fact even see) Jacob, he stopped having the dreams ("I used to have the dreams, John", said Benry Gale), and worst of all, the Island made him sick, giving him cancer in a place where, as Rose pointed out, you don't get sick, you get better. Seems like the Island has no need for Benry Gale to me.  Looks more like it was tossing him out like old garbage. I don't know about you, but I doubt that Benry's going to take this lying down.  If Locke is out of the way, Benry, the substitute, is necessary once again. I'd watch my back, Locke, if I were you. Until Next Time, part one of the three hour finale will air tonight.  Unfortunately next week will be a LOSTless Thursday, but then we'll be treated to a two hour finale on the Thursday after that.  See you after the show with my first thoughts.

LOST Cabin Fever, first thoughts

We'll start with the time differential.  I think that it is clear that there is no standard time differential, but that it varies.  While the Island and off Island are close in time, they can be up to hours, maybe even as much as a day, apart.

When Faraday did his rocket test, the clock didn't show up until half an hour after it was supposed to, but the Doctor's body showed up hours before he was killed, so the differential can go both ways, and there is probably no way to predict it.

Moving on.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what Benry Gale meant by saying Widmore "changed the rules".

To borrow an idea from Battlestar, "All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again."  More precisely, I think that there is a script that is supposed to be followed.  Those "in the know" basically know what is supposed to take place.  Benry Gale and Mr. Widmore are fighting for control of the Island, but there are certain things that are decided, and they have to make their play for the Island within those rules.  Killing Alex wasn't supposed to happen.

Benry Gale rarely seems surprised, and often it is said about him that he is right where he means to be.  If he knew roughly what was happening and what would happen, then getting yourself into the right position would be fairly easy.  And when something happened that wasn't supposed to happen did happen, that would explain the rare shock that we saw from Benry a couple of weeks ago, as well as the disbelief in the fact that the rules had been changed.

Obviously Widmore has some of the same "right place, right time" understanding that Benry has, since he supposedly gave directions in a safe to Krazy Keamy detailing where Benry would be.  The Captain asked Krazy Keamy how Widmore could know such a thing, and Krazy Keamy answered, "He's a very smart man."  Someone who had some understanding of the future would certainly be able to be described as such.

Also it makes me wonder if Desmond's ending up on the Island was orchestrated by Widmore as a way to discover the Island's location.  He knew that Desmond would enter his race, crash on the Island, and destroy the Swan station setting off the electromagnetic signal that alerted Penny (and therefore probably her father as well) to the Island's location.

Which Dr. Daddy informs Locke can be changed.  Interesting.

John's connection to the Island has been there his whole life apparently.  Even causing him to draw a picture of the Smoke Monster as a child.  Awesome.

Alpert (who hasn't aged a day for even longer then we first surmised) was at his side shortly after his birth.
He then came and tested him as a child.  I had no doubt that he would pick up the sand, the compass, and the knife, but Alpert seemed surprised he picked up the knife.  I'm surprised he waited till last to pick it up.  I wonder why picking up the knife was a bad thing.

By picking up the knife, perhaps John locked (no pun intended) in his future.

If he had chosen something else, Richard would have taken him to the Island right then and there, raising him as one of the Others (or whatever they were known then, which would have been even before the Dharma group).

Although Richard gave him another chance in high school (through the same company that later would recruit Juliet, already pretending to be based in Portland) I think it was already impossible for things to change.

The knife represents what I'll call "Walkabout John", the Locke that we know, the Locke that we discovered tonight was set into motion by Abaddon.  I don't think it is wrong to assume that Abaddon doesn't work for the Island while Alpert does.  By selecting the knife, that meant that John would be sent to the Island through Abaddon's actions, not Alpert's.

Obviously Michael still has work to do for the Island as Krazy Keamy's gun jammed when he tried to shoot Michael.  I think that it is pretty obvious now that Michael will be the one in the coffin from last season's finale as he will finally succeed in killing himself after he helps save the Island and helps get the Oceanic 6 off of it.

If you haven't read my Claire post from earlier, check it out.  I'm leaning toward theory number one, as she freaked me out hanging with Dr. Daddy in the cabin tonight.

In case you can't remember, Horace who helped John find the cabin is the same guy who was there when Benry Gale was born prematurely and was the person who brought Roger Work Man (Benry's dad) and Benry to the Island to work for Dharma.  When the Purge took place, it was Horace who Benry went to and almost lovingly closed his eyes.

I find it interesting that both Benry Gale and John Locke were born three months early.

Finally, not related to the main storyline tonight, I found Desmond's comment worth mentioning.  He says to Sayid, "I'm not setting foot on that Island again."

Do you think that's true, or will Desmond be forced back to the Island before it is all said and done?

Until Next Time, the season certainly appears to be ending strongly as tonight's episode was fantastic.

LOST The Man From Tallahassee, first thoughts

I have got to talk about the episode of LOST that aired tonight. While many of the episodes this season have been weak (especially in view of the heights this show reached in its first season) tonight's episode blew away (like an exploded submarine) anything this show had ever done previously. I'm truly at a loss for words, but as a writer, I will attempt to fight through it and say a little bit about what I thought.

There are spoilers ahead, so if you're behind on LOST you should stop reading.

Okay, first of all, the big question that was actually answered this week (because lately the show has been promising answers while delivering crap, the security system you just have to go over instead of anything on the smoke monster, or stuff we pretty much already knew, Claire's dad is Jack's dad) is how Locke got paralyzed, and there was potential for this to be a big letdown. To put it mildly this was the exact opposite of being a big letdown. First of all, we got more of the Locke and his father storyline which is one of the best flashbacks the show has to offer. To have his father be directly responsible for his paralysis and through trying to kill him, no less, added a huge dimension to Locke's character. One we will get to see through due to the fact that Benry Gale has Locke's dad locked up. I haven't been this excited about the show after an episode's conclusion since the first episode, which I watched on DVD, allowing me to go ahead and immediately watch the next one when necessary. Man I wish it was already next week.

Secondly, Benry Gale told us a little more about the island. I don't know if we can take the idea of the "magic box" that manifests your every desire 100% literally, but the idea at least is intriguing. It would also explain quite a lot, the Horse Kate saw and Charlie's miraculously undamaged guitar to name just a couple. One of the things that I've wondered is if this were strictly a sci-fi premise, in that there is a scientific (if possibly far-fetched) explanation for everything on the show, or if some part of the island was in some way mystical, I'll get to that in a bit.

Taking just the first two seasons into account, I was beginning to lean towards a completely scientific theory. In fact I put the beginnings of one forth earlier this season. I argued that the show was a purgatory themed experiment, troubled people (and every character is certainly that) are forced to face their mental demons and come to terms with who they are, after which they were given their freedom in the form of death. I made this argument based on the belief that there is no other way off of the island. We still aren't sure that there is another way off of the island. It's possible to get to the island, but are we sure that anyone has ever left it? In the "Not in Portland" episode that brought us back from hiatus, we saw Ethan off of the island, but isn't it possible that he was a recruit that had yet to get to the island when he was working on getting Juliet there? Benry Gale told John tonight that the submarine was a comfort for those he had recruited, a sign that they could leave if they wanted, even though, he hinted, that was a lie. Maybe it isn't that Benry feared he would appear weak if he let Dr. Jack go, but he feared the mutiny that would occur if the non-native Others then realized that they could never leave. The real hitch in this theory of course is Michael and Walt. What is their fate, a question that from what I've read won't be resolved until next season, but until the show tells me otherwise I'm sticking with the belief that they did not get safely away. I still like this theory, but now I believe that the island plays a larger (and more mystical) role.

I believe that Darmha planned on using the Island for experiments of some kind, but when they started their experiments, they were unclear on A) exactly what they were dealing with in terms of the island, and B) the fact that the island was already inhabited. The island allowed Darmha to set up its stations, including somehow tapping into the electromagnetic force of the island which caused the need for the button, but retaliated after Darmha's usefulness had ended by releasing some sort of virus that wiped out the remaining Initiative members, as well as the rest of Russeau's team.

Whether the Purgatory like experiments are taking place on behalf of whoever is in charge of the Others (Benry's hinted at boss) or by the Island itself remains to be seen, but the fact that the Island is somewhat mystically sentient seems clear to me now. (However each week everything has the potential to change.) The Island has its own purpose, as evidenced by John being out of a wheelchair, and Benry Gale being in one. It seems to either answer to a higher power then Benry Gale or to be a higher power into and of itself. Desmond's flashes and even Hurley's getting the van to start through pure faith could be further evidence of the Island's mystical power. Maybe Desmond needs to unlearn what he thinks he knows about the certainty of his visions in order to finally save Charlie's life; maybe he, like Locke before him needs to believe in the power of the Island.

These are some of the things tonight's episode caused me to think about. An interesting theory I read, which I believe gained credence in tonight's episode, is the theory that Locke's father is the real Sawyer, the con-man who caused the death of Cast-away Sawyer's parents and turned him into the man Sawyer/James Ford is today. While in earlier episodes we saw Locke's father perpetrate cons, he was never specifically referred to as a con-man until tonight. Not only that, but we also learned that he's changed his name at least once, so why couldn't he have at some point gone by the name of Sawyer? If this is true, then I fell like this character has some tough times ahead of him, because not only will he have to answer to Locke for his past deeds, but I have to believe Sawyer will get a shot at him as well.

Until Next Time, This season took a huge turn for the better tonight, and I am greatly looking forward to see where it is headed next. If you are behind on, or God forbid have never watched, LOST, what are you waiting for? The first two seasons are on DVD and the entirety of this season is available at abc.com.