Eggtown, Part 2

OK, we talked about Kate's FF and the Aaron reveal last time, this time I want to talk about Ben and Locke and Miles.

But first, let's get a couple o' LOST fun facts out of the way! First, if you haven't already, check out this reverse audio of the bearded man who yells at Kate on her way into the courtroom. What do you think? Second, the book Sawyer is reading, The Invention of Morel, is about a fugitive who hides on a desert island, which is then visited by tourists. And the book Locke brings Ben is Valis, by Phillip K. Dick. If you really want to dive into that one, you might start here.

Alright, on to the meat.

I guess my first question is, why aren't Ben and Locke working together? Going back to "The Man Behind the Curtain", it could be concluded that Ben is a jealous guardian of his own power. Almost whining, "Richard doesn't talk to Jacob! Richard doesn't know where he is!". And of course, the scene at the end where he shoots Locke because Jacob said something to Locke that Ben couldn't hear. This is supported in "Eggtown", with Ben taunting Locke that he can't find the cabin, doesn't know what to do.

And Locke certainly has no reason to trust Ben, given the aforementioned shooting and leaving for dead. But if the safety of the island is as important to both of them as they say it is (and I believe it is), why aren't they working together for the greater good, instead of engaging in a power struggle? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Do they get this?

And what is up with Locke? I mean Ben is doing what he always does: being cryptic and manipulative. And if Locke knew what he was doing, if he was still following Jacob, or even Walt, his behavior would be understandable.

But he is, as Ben so wonderfully put it, "more LOST than ever". So why is he being so adamant? Why is he not more open to help? And seriously, the grenade in the mouth (BTW, that grenade is known as an egg)? I mean, has Locke flipped his lid?

Yes, I have, in recent posts, defended Locke. But this episode has me stumped. I still believe the freighter people are bad news, but I no longer have the same confidence in Locke to fix it as I once did. Ben, on the other hand...

Ben seems in control, even in the scene with Miles: "Yes, I know who you are, yes, I know who you work for." And he doesn't seem fazed by Miles request: "My present situation is a little restrictive". This is understatement. How is a week better than 2 days, in his present condition? But he seems to think it is.

Plus, Ben is obviously still manipulating and controlling in the off-island future, and he clearly knows what's going on in a way Locke doesn't. So I guess Ben, for all the beatings to the face he's taken as of late, and for all the rope around his limbs, is still confident and in control. Locke is desparate.

Unfortunately, none of this explains why their common goal isn't more important than their differences. When are we gonna see a Locke flashforward (drool)?

Finally, what is up with Miles and his $3.2 million? Even Ben asks, "why not 3.3 or 3.4?" Did Miles "ghost whisper" with some entity that told him that's how much money Ben had? Or is it simply that he "knows who Ben is and what he can do"? If the latter, then why $3.2 million exactly?

Of course this episode further proves that the freighter is not just about Ben, and that they all had reason to know details about the passengers of 815, which means they had reason to believe 815 had crashed there and they would find survivors.

Well, I apologize for that ramble, but my head is spinning! I'm sure everything will be cleared up next week, right? Right?

Eggtown, Part 1

Whew! Another intense episode with a mindblower ending. Kate-centric, it gives us information about how Kate was living free in the flashforward that ended Season 3, as well as who the "he" is in "he'll be wondering where I am".

Revealed early in this week's FF was the fact that Kate had a son. At the end we learn this "son" is Aaron. I'll admit my first reaction was that she had simply named her son "Aaron", but then I quickly realized that he probably was Aaron, as in Claire's Aaron. Obviously, we now have a bunch of new questions to ask.

Such as, what happened to Claire? Did she die? It's hard to imagine any scenario where she would have willingly given up her baby. Is Locke so crazy now he would force them apart? (I know I just said I still believe in Locke, but that's a subject for a different post.) We still don't know how or why only six 815ers got off the island; maybe it was somebody's decision, and they said "we'll take the baby but not Claire". I don't know.

Another question is what does this do to Malkin's warning to Claire not to let Aaron be raised by another? I guess if she's dead, then there's no choice. But how on earth did it wind up being Kate's responsibility?

Of course, we have to talk about Jack. During the parking garage scene I assumed the reason Jack didn't want to see the baby was because it was Sawyer's, and Kate was either lying or wrong when she said she wasn't pregnant on the island. But why wouldn't he want to see Aaron? Was he somehow responsible for whatever happened to Claire, and he feels too guilty? What is going on behind the scenes of this lie?

Also, what of Desmond's vision of Claire and Aaron leaving in a helicopter? We know his visions aren't always accurate, but it still makes you wonder. What if she got off, but then the freighter people wanted to keep her to find out why she could give birth on the island and survive? That's out there, but I can't believe she's one of the O6 and she doesn't have her baby.

Speaking of the O6, is Aaron our fifth member? I know in the speculations about who else comprised the group there was some question about whether or not babies should be counted. A lot of this was due to an attempt to get 6 adult characters off the island, and have one of them be Claire/Aaron. I don't actually see any reason not to include children. Damon and Carlton in this week's podcast said they were going to be "tricky" when it came to the final two members. Does this count as "tricky"?

Of course, as I said at the beginning, we also see how Kate gets free of her legal entanglements. My question is, is her Mom's testimony really so central that they can't convict her without it? Does the hero/jury sympathy thing really ring true? If not, is it just dramatic license, or is there a conspiracy? Does the Widmore cabal have its fingers in the justice system? Is it important to them to keep her out of jail?

Well, that's all for now, I'm going to listen to Jay and Jack, but I'll be responding to comments, and back soon with a post about Locke and Ben and Miles.

Namaste!

In Defense of Hugo

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes has taken a lot of flak the last couple of weeks. From the Others? The Freighties? Other Losties? No, I'm referring to the fans. Perrenial fan fave Hurley has become a punching bag. Why? Because of his decision to follow Locke, and his role in trapping Sayid and Kate. Well, I don't share other fans disappointment in the island's resident teddy bear, and I'll tell you why.

First of all, this is Hurley we're talking about. He's a good guy who cares about other people and values his friends. He is not making selfish decisions, he is exercising his judgement as best he can, like all of us.

Second, there is evidence that he isn't just a good guy, but a "good person" (as defined by the island/Jacob), namely, the appearance of Jacob's cabin to Hurley. It seems you have to have a special connection to the island to see the cabin/Jacob (like Ben and Locke), and I doubt strongly that Hurley's sighting was coincidental.

Also, let's remember Hurley's stated reason for going with Locke: he was heeding his best friend's dying warning. Seems pretty honorable to me.

And let's face it, there were compelling reasons for making either decision. Hey, they want to get rescued, right? So it's easy to see people taking their chances, rather than following a vague warning. But it's also easy to see that seeds of doubt would be planted by Charlie's warning, and some people are inevitably going to be swayed by this.

Hurley isn't against Jack or Kate or Sayid; he is simply doing what he thinks is best under the circumstances. Granted, in the TBOTE FF, he does apologize to Jack for going with Locke. Presumably, something we have yet to see happen convinced him he made the wrong decision. But given the information at the time, I think he did the only thing he could do, and regardless of how things turn out, I don't see how he can be criticized.

Plus, I still believe in Locke. :-)

The Economist

OK, is it just me, or is everybody else's head spinning? One of the more mind blowing episodes, what with the science of time discrepancies, via Dan, and the reveal of Sayid working as an assassin for Ben. It's actually starting to be even more difficult to wrap one's head around all the intricacies exposed so far this season. So let's start with what we know (or at least what we believe we know).

First off, I think we now know the freighter is connected with Widmore. If not Penny, then it must be Charles. We know from The Lost Experience ARG that the Hanso Foundation (funders of the Dharma Initiative) had their offices in the Widmore building. We knew of many connections, but I feel the look exchanged between Daniel Faraday and Frank Lapidus when Desmond asked them about Penny said it all: they were sent by Charles Widmore.

So what of the picture of Des and Penny? Tied into this is the old (dating back to the season 2 "challah") question of how Penny knew to be looking for Desmond in the manner in which she was. It's one thing to track someone down to a stadium in the middle of the night (see Live Together Die Alone), but quite another to hire Portugese scientists in an Antarctic station to look for electromagnetic anomalies (see end of same).

I think Widmore, possibly in alliance with Paik, has had an interest in the island for a long time. I figure Charles either learned something from Penny, or she learned something from him, but I don't believe they both know about the other one. I suspect Charles stole the picture from Penny, in order to win Desmond's, and therefore the Losties', trust. I'm guessing Penny may have secretly acquired knowledge from her father, but doesn't know about the freighter.

What else do we know after this awesome epi? We know Sayid is one of the O6. We also know Ben gets off the island, but since he is not an Oceanic passenger, he cannot be one of the O6. Furthermore, we learn that he has likely been travelling off the isalnd for quite some time, with aliases, passports, and foreign currency to help him. Was this globetrotting curtailed after the Purpling? Why didn't he get surgery in the real world? Most importantly, who is the enemy he is fighting, the representatives of which he has coerced Sayid into assassinating?

I will admit, I did not call Ben as Sayid's boss, but neither was I surprised. I thought, "who else?" But the question is who was at the other end of Elsa's phone? Was it Abaddon? Was it Widmore? If it was the former, is Abaddon working for Widmore? As of now, I'm prepared to say that Widmore is behind the anti-Ben faction, probably because of the Purge, and that Abaddon works for him.

I think it's fairly certain that the F4 have more than Ben on their minds. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is not a commando team, it's a scientific team. Charlotte's comment regarding all the work she has to do further illuminates this idea. I'm going to posit that Widmore wants to reestablish a Dharma type organization, and that is really the ultimate goal of the team. Ben has to be held accountable for the Purge, but I also suspect they are aware of his off-island activities (they have a picture), and I'm guessing that whatever those activities have been, they probably centered on keeping the island safe. That seems like it has always been Ben's number one motivator (although I'm not sure how the fertility thing fits in, other than simple population sustainability).

We also learned something important about time and the island, although the non-physicists among us are getting headaches thinking about it. Apparently, there is a time discrepancy. The clues have indicated this for a long time; a character reading Hawking's A Brief History of Time, the phrase "Lost Time" derived anagrammatically from Mittelos Bioscience, etc. But now we have hard evidence, courtesy of Daniel Faraday: a thirty-one minute discrepancy with the rocket fired from the freighter. Of course, Dan knows more about what this means than we do, but we do know he thinks it is "not good". We also know it has something to do with the bearing by which you get to and leave the island. I'll admit I don't understand this, but at least now we have a character who does.

Questions include: does this explain Walt's growth spurt? Does it explain Richard Alpert's apparent immortality? And does it affect the island's obscurity from the rest of the world, and if so, how? Hopefully, TPTB will throw us some more bones in coming weeks, although we can be certain more questions will be raised at the same time, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Confirmed Dead, Part 2

Alright, let's try to take a more serious, less recap-based stab at this thing called "Confirmed Dead".

What is the connection between Abaddon, Naomi, and the freighter four? What is their connection to other entities (Dhama, Hanso, Widmore, etc.)? Who is Minkowski? Why couldn't he come to the phone? And, who is Ben's man on the boat?

We know that Naomi answers to Abaddon, and that she was to be in charge of the team. We also know she was the only member qualified to engage military skills. So whence came the F4?

As was previously mentioned, all but Miles have a (revealed) connection to Oceanic or Dharma. Do they all have a connection to the island itself? One possibility is that they've been there before. Or that their fathers were somehow involved (like the Shepards, Widmores and Paiks).

I do think parentage may play a role, but I suspect it's not the same for each character. For instance, Widmore and Paik seem to be likely to be allied with the freighter, and Christian Shepard (or, at least, Ghost Christian) seems to be allied with the island/Jacob. A previous visit to the island then? Once agian, I suspect it's not that simple. Some level of connection to island related entities is obvious; if there's more of a connection, it probably won't be clear until we know more about the connections between the aforementioned big players.

I think a case can be made (and has been, elsewhere) for the makeup of the F4 having to do with their various skills. Dan is a physicist, and he has already noticed that "the light doesn't scatter quite right." He also probably knows about electromagnetism. Charlotte is an anthropologist. Can you say three-toed statue? Miles can communicate with the dead; can he communicate with Jacob? And Frank, well, it's not as clear what he brings to the party as far as an island-relevant skill. He may be simply the only pilot who can land on such a difficult to reach location. That seems unlikely, so we may have to let it unfold, although I'd say there's a chance it has to do with Capt. Seth Norris. Greg Grunberg guest spot?

So, Ben's man on the boat. Popular opinion seems to be centered on Michael. I have to admit, unless he shows up in a Flash Forward, I don't see how else he can make a return (OK, I guess there could be a Desmond style "I couldn't get away from the island!" return, but c'mon, it's not gonna go down like that). Flash forward only makes sense if he has reason to be in everyone's FFs. If he were only going to be in a couple epis, Harold Perrineau's name wouldn't be appearing in the regular-cast credits at the beginning.

So I guess my vote for now is Michael, although this opens up the questions "Huh?!?", "Wha...?", and "What happened between the time Michael and Walt left on a boat from the Pala Ferry in sesaon 2, and by the way what's up with Walt anyway, is he a ghost or is it astral projection and why is he taller?" (Heheh, "Taller Ghost Walt." lolz)

Anyway, that's it for now. See you (in spirit) on Thursday, until then, Namaste!

Confirmed Dead, Part 1

Wow, it is so great to be LOST again! After a stunning season opener, LOST stays on the offensive with Episode 402, "Confirmed Dead".

We return to the flashback, after two episodes of flash forwards, but it's flashback with a twist. For one thing, there are five flashbacks, five people. Furthermore, four of them are brand new characters. In addition, the fifth person is dead. All in all, it seemed like a very different use of the device, but in keeping with LOST tradition, it raised more questions than gave answers.

Prior to these flashbacks, however, we see the discovery of the "wreckage" (or "freckage", for fake wreckage) of 815 (mentioned by Naomi last season) in the Sunda Trench. News reports mention the Christiane I. These elements reference the Alternate Reality Game "Find815". For those of you unfamiliar with the game, you can read a synopsis here.

But on to the new characters. The first flashback is for Daniel Faraday, who we actually met briefly at the end of TBOTE. He is watching news reports of the 815 recovery, and he is crying. When his wife asks him why he's so upset, he says he doesn't know. There are, of course theories out there, including that he's Ana Lucia's Danny, or that he was going to adopt Claire's baby. Neither of these ideas, however, address why he doesn't know what's upsetting him.

Then on to Miles Straume, who apparently can talk to the dead, but he uses his power to steal money.

Then Charlotte, an anthroplogist in Tunisia. She seems to have a hard time believing the 815 recovery story; seeing a front page article in a Tunisian newpaper, her companion asks, "How many languages do you need to read that in before you'll believe it?" The reply, "How many languages are there?" Why so hard to believe? Well, we soon learn that Ms Lewis may have knowledge about the Dharma Initiative when she bribes her way into a dig and finds... a polar bear skeleton... wearing a Hydra Station collar!!!1!ONE!@! It seems clear from her excited rather than surprised or baffled reaction that she knows something, indeed, expected to find something of the sort.

Then we meet Frank Lapidus, who doesn't believe the footage on TV is showing what they say they are regarding Flight 815 and its pilot. When asked how he knows, he says, "I was supposed to be piloting that flight."

The fifth flashback gives us a reveal, namely that Naomi works for Abaddon. They are talking about the mission, and Naomi expresses unease about the other four members of the team. Abaddon brushes aside her concerns, including the question of 815 survivors, and tells her to get in and out.

So! What can we surmise from all of this? Well, the first thing that hits me, everyone (except, as far as we know, Miles) has some connection to/knowledge of Flight 815 and/or the Dharma Initiative, as well as the island. Naomi and Abaddon clearly know about the island, since they are sending a team there. And since 815 comes up, we can assume they know something about it as well, otherwise they would have no reason to connect it to the island. Charlotte clearly knows of the DI, and seems too happy to have touched down on the island not to have some prior knowledge. Lapidus' connection to Oceanic and 815 is explicit. That leaves Dan, who cries for no reason at the news of the recovery. This is the most mysterious connection, apparently even to Dan. It would be reasonable to expect Miles to have a connection also, although we haven't been given any clues about that.

The second observation has to do with why this particular team was chosen, but I'm going to leave that for part 2. See you in a day or two!

P.S. I can't help but notice that the comments have amounted to exactly Jack Squat so far. This would be a good oppurtunity to give me feedback, if you're not comfortable theorizing. Maybe you're thinking, "Enough with the recap already, I just watched the dang thing." Or maybe you're thinking, "Wow, thanks for summarizing what we know." In the name of all that is holy, let me know!

Thank you for your support.

Will the Real Coffin Resident Please Stand Up?

OK, I promised you an explanation of who I think is in the coffin and why, so here it is.

First off, let me say that there is a hole. Is it a Mack truck style hole? I don't think so. Let me just say I'm leaving room for said hole to be explained by information we've yet to receive. Cop out? Once again, I say, this is LOST we're talking about, people! Anyway, let's get on with it!

My guess (offer subject to change without notice) is Ben.

I know what you're sayin', you're sayin', "Aaron, where do you find time to juggle?" No wait, that's something else. Oh yeah! You're sayin', "Aaron, tell me more about this theory!"

Well, first, the hole. According to the obit Jack was reading in Through the Looking Glass (henceforth referred to as "TTLG"), the dead person had a teenage son. Ben has no such son.

Michael does, assuming time is funny and Walt's older than he should be (which, of course...). This has led many people to speculate that it's Michael in the coffin. I'm not prepared to say that it's not, but here's why I think it's Ben.

First off, I do not believe it is one of the "Oceanic 6". It's clear that there is some celebrity involved with being a member of this group, and as such, the obit should have mentioned at least something. Furthermore, one would expect some other mourners at the funeral besides Jack. At least a paparazzo or something. And if it's not one of the O6, it seems likely that it may not be one of the 815ers at all.

Then there's the partial name in the obit: "Jo...antham", popularly interpreted as John Lantham, but who knows. The point is, it's not the name of anyone we know, and Carlton Cuse himself said the coffin occupant is someone we've seen. Unless he's being cryptic, I think we can assume "Jo...antham" is an alias.

Who would possibly need an alias? Well, it turns out, a lot of people (Kate, Sawyer, Michael). But that includes Ben, who would need to explain who he was (there's obviously some kind of cover up going on, and it might be more convenient for whoever's behind it if all known survivors were 815 passengers). Plus, Ben might be on some sort of Hanso list or something somewhere, because, after all, he was an official resident of Dharmaville, no? Might he not be in danger from the Hanso/Paik/Widmore cabal if his identity were known?

Then we have the fact that Jack is distraught over this person's death, but no one comes to the funeral. In addition, we have Kate saying, "Why would I go to the funeral? [TTLG]" Why is Jack so upset over someone nobody else cares about?

I say, it's a given that TTLG Jack wants to get back to the island, and Ben (assuming he is on the mainland), would be his best hope for achieving that goal. But Ben would still be hated by any Losties that hadn't come around to Jack's way of thinking, and he (Ben) wouldn't know anyone, so no one but Jack would be at his funeral.

I'll admit, every argument I made could be made about Michael. He might also seem to Jack like a good way to find the island again, he would also be hated by other Losties, and to his advantage, he has a son. So why am I going with Ben? I don't know. It's just a feeling and I wouldn't lay money on it and it's subject to change and this is LOST we're talking about, people!

The Beginning of the End

Wow! What a great season opener! Definitely worth the seemingly interminable wait.

Aptly titled, this episode marks a major turning point, in that we are now going to start seeing some of what happens in the future, due to the flashback device morphing into a flash forward. (Technically, this started in last season's finale, but cut me some slack!) This only adds to the mystery, given large time gaps that obscure the information we need to understand the future events we're seeing.

The one thing we do know, is there is some big secret that the rescued Losties are keeping. It seems logical to assume this has something to do with Losties left back on the island. We know it's not as simple as the two groups, Locke's and Jack's, that we saw at the end of the epi, because Hurley was in Locke's group, headed to the Barracks to buckle down. Yet we know Jack, Kate and Hurley made it off the island. Obviously, this is one of those mystifying time gaps; "What happened between now and then?", we cry to no avail.

Well, I think Locke's statement when the two companies part ways is illustrative. He says, "You know where to find us, when you change your minds." Not if, but when. Now, we all know Locke has been dead certain about things in the past, only to be brutally proven wrong. But in this case, I think we can assume that the evidence points to him being right, at least about the freighter people meaning harm, and that they shouldn't leave the island.

And yet, Hurley tells Jack, "I should have stayed with you." Why? Did Locke make some kind of mistake? Hurley's back home; what would be different if Hurley had stayed with Jack?

Either way, it seems reasonable to guess that Jack's people do indeed change their minds, and flee to the barracks at some point. What happens then is beyond my ability to speculate.

But back to the secret, and the people keeping it. We hear Hurley call himself "one of the Oceanic 6", and we understand this constitutes a minor celebrityhood. We can assume that Jack and Hurley are among them, and even though Kate would be an obvious choice, I feel her fugitive status gives some reason to believe she might not have claimed her status as a survivor. The logistics of this, I can't guess, but I think it would be a mistake to think she no longer has to be underground.

Regardless of Kate, I feel there may be other people who made it off the island who were not among the O6. Mainly, the occupant of the coffin. According to Carlton Cuse, it's someone we've seen before. That doesn't have to be someone from the island, but I'm guessing it is. [See my choice for who it is and why in an upcoming post.] But, whoever it is, a member of the O6 would have warranted special mention in the obit, and would likely have attracted more than one mourner.

The question of the secret leads us to Matthew Abaddon, the "lawyer from Oceanic" who visited Hurley in the mental institution. He apparently knows the existence of a secret, if not the answer ("Are they alive, Mr. Reyes?"), and I think it's safe to assume he does not represent Oceanic. [I have not been following find815, and anyone who has information on Oceanic that would shed new light on the forgoing statement, please fill me in!]

The name Abaddon deserves a closer look. Hebrew for "destroyer" or "abyss", Abaddon is identified in some translations of Job 26:6 as the place of the dead; ie., netherworld ("Sheol" in King James), and in Revelation 9:11 (no conspiracy theories please) as the angel of the abyss. He was King of the locusts from the bottomles pit who were given to torment all humans without the mark of god for 5 months. "In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them." -Revelation 9:6

Whew! I think that's it for now; rather than get too deep into other aspects, I think I'll save those for separate posts. In other words, check back frequently! And please, leave comments! Comment on things I've said, give your own theories, and, in addition, I would welcome constructive criticism of the blog itself; is it too rambling? Too long? Not coherent enough? What would you like to see more of, less of?

Thanks for reading, stay tuned!