A good episode. One of the stronger this season. Jen definitely thinks it was a good notch above both “Fire + Water” and “The Long Con.” I think it fits well, and now together the sense of direction this season is more clear.After the brief drought in mythological elements, it was great to have a focus on the “Others,” and the Jack-Locke showdown over the armory combination was incredible. What happens when the counter hits zero? Well, Jen felt pretty cheated to find that, essentially, Jack was right — nothing happened. Something sure as heck was about to happen, and it sure sounded big… but it looks like that’s one promised “answer” that we’re going to have to wait for. I don’t think fans are going to stand for a third fake out, though. I’m just saying.
Speaking of “answers,” though, at least we got one stubborn question solved — Hurley’s weight. In fact, while “One of Them” had great dramatic moments, it still had us laughing out loud thanks to the Sawyer/Hurley “frog hunt” subplot. But in a growing series of surprising twists, we certainly didn’t expect Sawyer’s last act. He seemed on the verge of feeling sympathy for Hurley’s turtle story, and fought it the only way he knew how. Or, maybe he just wanted to ensure he wasn’t about to end up with a friend again.
The flashback was pretty good, too. We see where Sayid made the much-touted promise to himself… a promise he’s now broken twice. A surprising amount of CGI, though. Not bad for primetime TV.
I’m definitely intrigued at how quickly our survivors are fragmenting. Instead of factions, we’re seeing lots of rogues. Charlie was ostracized. Sawyer made everyone his enemy. The rift between Locke and Jack grows. It’s still unclear how well the Tailies are integrating. And now, it seems Sayid is forging his own path as well.
Notes and links:
- Is the captured “Other” really an “Other”? Jen says no, pointing to Locke’s remark about everything being relative — to Danielle, everyone is an “Other.” I vote yes, based mostly on the look on the man’s face after Jack pulls Sayid back. Oh, and there’s his name, Henry Gale… Dorothy’s uncle in The Wizard of Oz.
- Another flashback crossover, with Kate’s dad — carrying a photo of Young Kate (courtesy gumpy5) — and Sayid.
- Sawyer is not an animal lover, obviously. But his pursuit of the frog clearly mirrored his obsession with the boar in Season 1… except that he let the boar live.
- How about those hieroglyphs (via Sledgeweb)? This post at TheFuselage.com claims the translation is “cause to die.” Or, the causitive form of the verb, “to die.” Maybe simply, “You’re dead.”
- Finally, the numbers reappear. The film Sayid watched came from “REEL 23108-42” (gumpy5 again).
- Jen was thrilled to see Clancy Brown (a.k.a. “Mr. Krabs”).
Next week, another rerun. But the March 1 looks like another good dose of “Lost” mythology.
Hey thanks for keeping up this website! I’ve checked all the other Lost podcasts and well, they are quite amateurish at the very best. just not the same as your podcast at all.
I found this episode to be quite interesting. I find it quite interesting how the Dharma team has been working on preparing the right people to be put on their test island at just the right time. They have groomed several people in a myriad of ways to get different personalities with different “talents” on their island. I also find it very interesting as to how everyone’s experiences are related to each other in a very clever way. If the islanders could only recognize this, they just might figure out what is going on.
Danielle, although she does have some problems, knows what she is talking about! How else could she have survived, by herself, for so long? I have no doubt that this “Henry Gale” person is an Other. His fabricated story is exceptionally weak (come on, he couldn’t think of anything better than to use the Wizard of Oz as a cover story???) and Danielle is right, he will lie for a very long time before he cracks. He will get the sympathy of others and use it in his favor to possibly gain his release. This guy, know matter how innocent he looks, is evil personified! Sayid would have done everyone a favor by killing him.
Erik S: If you are looking for the scene with Sayid and Charlie, got to http://www.lost.abc.com. They have video clips from the last episode and they feature that whole scene.
I definitely don’t think that Mr. Crabs is also Mr. Friendly…different actors. I think the idea of Mr. Friendly being the graduate student (The DeGrutes, right?) is definitely possible.
Chris: Saw you were looking for a new podcast. I start by saying that NOTHING beats the Transmittion, but I have filled the void with the Official Lost Podcast and LostCasts. The Official one has some really cool behind the scenes stuff and LostCasts scours the web and brings up the more interesting things people are talking about. Check them out and see for yourself.
I respectfully disagree that this was a good episode… not much happened which wasn’t revealed in the previews. I was very frustrated that they took an hour to tell us nothing – at least the previous episodes advanced the plot in some way.
My reasons for believing Henry to be an Other may not be as reasonable as yours, but I distinctly remember this character playing a bad guy in ‘The Practice’ and he was so good at doing so, I’m convinced the writers of Lost are going to use his talents wisely.
And may I say again that I miss you guys a lot… presenters make the show and I simply don’t enjoy listening to the other Lostcasts. On a week like this when the episode disappoints me, in the past I could look forward to your podcasts.
Anyway, I picked up one of the Lost tie-in books at the library, so perhaps that will tide me over. Hope all is well with you guys.
Oh, and Jen, my wife enjoyed what she calls the ‘Highlander connection’ too.
Okay 1st timer Here. Sayid is so right about Henry, The calm Persona AFTER getting Beaten Near to deathj. Gale is either a S&M Freak OR a well trained operative, He is After Guns and Baby Aaron as an” insider” I also Think Hurley Love Interest is one of the Two “Other/Outsider” Factions.
A Montauk note: I served @ Montauk AFS 1976-1981 as aRadarRepairman/Medic, when it was Demobilized, While creepy and Mysterious in “bunker Hatches and so forth, It was just anRadar site ..an old one but still anantiquated Radar Site. However, the internal shots of .Lost BunkerFacilities is oddly familier. I spent many days weeks exploring these underground tunnels, While Bizarre..Not TimeWarpYaDaYaDa found by me and my cats just dripping water rust and claustrphobia.But the similarity to “LOST” is freaky to me. PS. Jack is a Jerk
TruePeace to You All. Jimbo
1st Timer Here. Sayid is right, Henry is an “Other”, Also Hurleys Love interest (the Psych Lady) is also another, Henry wants to be insider to get Baby Aaron and/or Guns. There are what 5-6 Hatches, Each hatch is a different “experimental Group, Our Lost folks are just most “”recent”” of time travel experiment . Jack is a Jerk. period a control freak.
Henry was way to calm and collected after Sayids savage beating,either Gale is a S&M freak or an Operative who is a Much better Torturer than Sayid(notice the way he probed”you lost someone too?’. Yep Henry is SpookDIA CIA or Project Montauk.
I was @ MontaukAFS 1976-1981(whenIt was shut down) The Bunkers on Lost are so familiar.I exlored all the UndergroundofMontauk.just anoldWW2 BunkerSystemNo TimetunnelsJustRustWater Creepyness.TruePeace2-u-all Jimbo
oh crap!! i just had a realization!! Danielle is an “Other”!!! I was thinking about the next episode and how it’s going to reveal what happened to Claire when she was missing for two weeks. If you guys remember, she did remember that Danielle was one of the people that abducted her b/c of the scratch on Danielle’s arm. did we all forget about this fact?!?! And she was the one that lead Sayid to Henry Gale. It was probably her and Henry’s job to get Sayid and crew to take Henry back to their camp……. what do you guys think?
Great article and really good insights…I love LOST and I love trying to solve the mysteries that seem to be the show.
Just a quick thought here…maybe Danielle is with the others. I think she saved Claire from Ethan though…maybe they had a disagreement….or maybe it was all in the plan. I don’t know but either way I’m hooked!!!
In one of the previous episodes when the black smoke and Mr. Eko were face to face, did anyone catch the women in the smoke? It was a face of a woman with blonde long-ish hiar. Me and my husband saw that and can’t figure it out! HELP!
When the clock went down to zero, the noise that occured briefly sounded like a huge generator or engine starting up, presumably something having to do with the giant “magnet” (?) under the hatch. If a pathogen was going to be released into the environment (as suggested above), I wouldn’t expect such a large amount of energy to be necessary. Also, I think it would be weird for Lost writers to choose to focus on any sort of biological pathogen or chemical agent, since “24” concentrates on this in their storyline. It seems strange to me that the hieroglyphs would say “your dead” but yet everyone in the hatch remains alive. I guess this suggests some sort of time dependent process being started that will kill them. But why then would the timer revert back to 108 if they are going to be killed? Maybe the strange look of satisfaction from Henry Gale after Jack pulls Sayid off him is because he heard the timer go down to zero and knows something bad has been initiated. Maybe this was his plan all along. Just a few thoughts….
I guess there are more ‘Practice’ viewers than ‘Law and Order’ viewers among the ‘Lost’ fans — I think Henry Gale is an Other only because Michael Emerson played a number of defendants on various L&O shows.
I think that the frog has something to do with the hatch. I live in hawaii and know that that was a poison frog that lives in manoa valley, where they shoot some jungle scenes. This may have somehing to do with the sickness, or it just might be punishment for sawer’s bad attitude or actions. Remember the last episode “im not a good person.” Sawer knows that he wasn’t a good person, and the “others may know this also. The frog could be another “security system” sent to punish the castaways. If anyone has anything that could improve on this, please post.
Thanks
I loved the secuence of the counter leading to zero, for one side was Sayid torturing physically Henry and for the other side was Jack torturing Locke psychologically-emotionally with the pressure of opening the door and pushing the button on time.
I think the hatch was about to explode like a bomb, or an EMP, or was going to free a biochemical bomb like the gas Sayid saw in the footage leading to the “sickness” or the “incident” that happened before.
Henry is definitedly an “other” but from the “clean others” like Goodwin, just read his body language… he’s lying all the time but some truth slipped from his mouth like when he said he “was” rich… (could he be alvar hanso? or his son? or an associate?) or when he couldnt answer details of his wife’s burial, its clear he was making that up.
I notice more and more that the US military are getting more pressence on the show:
– Kate’s Dad
– the knife Ana Lucia got from an other
– Sayid’s backstory of being trained as torturer and then told he will need his new ability in the future.
interesting, uh?
thanks for your great podcasts and thanks for leaving this blog to post our 2 cents.
Hi guys. Great to see you’re keeping up the blog, it’s like getting a letter from a good friend. I have to agree with Tahou that the slow progress in plot development this season is starting to get pretty frustrating. Also, has anyone noticed that the commercial breaks are getting more frequent and lengthy? (Maybe that’s why the episode spilled over a couple of minutes.)
Just to add my vote on the Is He an Other? question: “Henry Gale” is definitely an other. Or he’s just lying. He says he’s been on the island for four months, and his wife died after three months.So it was only a matter of weeks since he buried her, and he can’t remember the details of the burial! A pretty obvious bad lie. Take care, Ryan & Jen.
I thought this was a top notch episode for the season.
I was most interested in the very final scene between Sayid and Charley. Remember that Charley dealt with Ethan (the Other that integrated with the group in S1) with extreme prejudice – shot him cold.
Charley is certainly capable of violence (see the assault on Sun). Will it end up being Sayid and Charley as the saviours of the Lost crew from the Others?
And what about the other Killers in the group – Anna Lucia, Kate, Sawyer, and Mr Eco? It may take a degree of ruthlessness and death to win.
Will Jacks Idealism and Lockes strange spiritual side may put them both out of the picture dispite being natural leaders?
Hmmm.
I loved the episode. Another good one, but I have question about something else. What happened to Lost-Media.com? The site says that it has been hacked. It now features a photo of semi-nude woman tied to a bed with the word OWNED! written over her. What gives?
Thanks for keeping the blog going! You’re still the best!
I agree that something happened when the counter hit zero – we just don’t know what! I think we’ll have to wait until at least the end of the season to find out, unfortunately. But we all know this show is not for those who need instant gratification, is it? I think it’s great that so many people think nothing happened though. There will now be a debate over whether anything mysterious that happens from now on is because the timer hit zero. And, unless I missed something, Jack and Sayid were too busy with Henry to notice, which means Locke might not tell them! So we might attribute mysterious events to the timer but the Losties (except Locke) might not.
What year is it on LOST? answer could be 2009
Go to: http://oceanicworldair.com/
Open webcam link: http://oceanicworldair.com/CamImg.jpg
Time stamp shows: Wed Jan 11 15:42 GT 2009
Notice what you just said:
“Sawyer is not an animal lover, obviously. But his pursuit of the frog clearly mirrored his obsession with the boar in Season 1… except that he let the boar live.”
Something has changed in Sawyer, so that now he reacts differently. What might that be? Possibly his near death experience, just like Charlie. Maybe that is the trigger for them to become “Sick” as Danielle put it.
Oh, and Ryan… coconut.
😉
My first post!…
Assuming the glyphs on the counter have been interpreted correctly and read “You are Dead,” isn’t that what happens in video games? I don’t play video games, but suddenly it hit me that perhaps the hitting of the button, is a kind of refresh, an extension of game play time. Once they stop hitting the button the game is over and so yes, in terms of the game, they are dead.
Perhaps then the button was installed to give control for the game to continue, essentially as a safety control…. because of the incident.
If the island was a “game,” it could have been the indulgence of a rich man that went wrong.
Or it could have been physcological game or a training game… like the military does… perhaps a military/university project. Or how about a study in human behavior when subjected to high magnetic fields …which someone found increased man’s ability to manipulate physical reality with thought. And thus the comic book became reality (bear, dome) because Walt was already good at doing that. And for some people their fears become manifested, for others their hopes. Perhaps the Nigerian plane was conjured from the mind… along with the cocaine, Jack’s father, the horse. Perhaps depending on the power of the mind, the thing manifested becomes totally real or only holds form for a short period of time. Perhaps this mind game was too much for the members of the original game and they mentally “lost” it.
And, to spin this out further, how about that Danielle’s team came to intercede, but her members became “infected” with the power or the mental distortion. …. OK. enough, back to my reality: time for lunch and to clean up the kitchen!!!
Great Website.. It’s so satisifying to be able to read everyone’s theories and thoughts. . Thanks for keeping it going.
Frogs– maybe Sawyer’s squishing of the frog is related to the infestation of coqui frogs in Hawaii. They are not native to the islands, are very noisy, and pose a significant threat to local critters of various sorts. I seem to remember that they arrived in the late 80’s. Any parallels to the people who seem to show up on “Lost Island”? Maybe some poor writer was kept up all night by the little beasts and decided to take his/her revenge on the air.
scott
your prediction about the french lady coould be true however claire remembering the scratch on her arm isnt from when she was ubducted, it was from when her baby was ubducted and the french lady confessed. She took claires baby because she wanted to make the “others” trade claires baby for alex.
an idea of what the heiroglypichs mean:
my freind went on the web and found a cite where it said that they mean “Nueclear Missle Launch”
creepy eh?
great! after 3 weeks without the podcast, you guys keep on giving more theories and updates! Thanks!
Congrats Ryan & Jen,
The loss of your podcast got a mention on TWIT this week. Thanks for everything!
Hey Ryan and Jen!
It is very nice to see that you still keep the blog going.
I really enjoyed this epidsode, but I do not agree with Jen.
The look that Henry Gale gave to Sayid clearly says that he is an “other”(or maybe it is just a way to mess with us).
I think that this episode was one of the best this season, but we have a 2 week haitus ahead.
Love the blog…!
This episode was one of the best, but I have to say I’m getting fed up with all of the repeats lately. Seems to be getting worse and worse… really makes it tough to maintain interest sometimes..
I think one of the most important mysteries of the island is the sickness. We haven’t heard about it in awhile – since Danielle described it last season, maybe? but now “Henry Gale” is talking about it. Is there really a sickness that is about to strike our lostaways? From Danielle and Henry’s tales, it starts to show effects after three months or 90 days. We’re at day fifty-something or sixty, right? Remember that Desmond was shooting something up. Was that something to stop him from getting the sickness? Does the sickness have something to do with the hallucinations that Charlie, and to a lesser extent Kate and others have been having?
I ask all this because, if Henry is an Other, why did he make up a story about a wife that died from the sickness? Is he trying to warn them about it? Why? Or is there really no sickness, but as some of you have suggested, Danielle is in cahoots with Henry (and maybe others) to make the lostaways think there is? Again, why?
As for the DeGroots from the film and Zeke/the blond woman on the raft being the same couple, I think this has been debated and debated into oblivion by now, but I was pretty sure it had been widely debunked. I don’t think it has been categorically denied by any of the show’s creators on the Fuselage or official podcast, but I think most theorists don’t think it’s true.
Thanks, Ryan & Jen for still being around! Good to know you’ll keep us posted on location filming tidbits, too. You should call into one of the other podcasts sometime (I’ve turned to “LostCasts” – those guys are pretty damn good) so we can hear your voices again!
Hi All,
Anyone notice that Sayid dropped the pliers before Jack dragged him out of the armoury. Also the airduct in the ceiling is bolted from the inside (by Locke) and can now be opened with the pliers by Henry!!
And didn’t anybody notice the picture of a hot air balloon hanging on the wall in the hatch 🙂
Oh, and another thing, didn’t Hurley say to sayid that he had a friend in the gulf war? I bet one of the soldiers that Sayid has met will be hurleys friend.
A connection that will probably appear in a hurley flashback episode.
The sickness is definately going to play a role again (next season maybe?). Sayid said he knew Henry Gale was lying about his wife dying because he couldn’t remember the details of her burial. My guess is because she isn’t dead. I think the sickness somehow changes you, but effects people differently. This could explain the possibility of multiple groups of “others”. The sickness brings me back to the Stand with Captain Trips and the good vs evil battle that ensued.
ok libby says hurley stepped on her foot, i think this is a load of crap.i think shes an other and the reason she knos hurley got on the plane like that is bcos WALT TOLD HER.remember walt looking at hurley so attentivly when hurley got on the plane all sweaty?and then he smiled?well libby is an other and walt told her that memory.BAM.
Henry Gale is one of the bunker crew who were involved in Claires abduction, it’s more than coincedence he was unveiled the episode before the ‘what really happened to Claire episode’
As Charlie & the original script told us there was more than just Ethan involved ! So if he wasn’t one of Ethans cohorts on the day, he must the Syringe-happy dude in the Bunker.
There is no real need or necessity to introduce a new character at this stage, seeing as how regulars aren’t even getting a look-in (i.e. Mr Eko),
so obviously he’s there to answer a few questions, but knowing Lost he probably get a bang to the head and loose his memory 🙂
Ryan & Jen still really miss your Podcast, hasn’t sunk in yet, still trying to update it 🙂 But the best of luck to the two of you in the future.
The end of the Transmission was written about in a Wired News article. You know we all would have been fine if you waited until the weekend to release your episodes (you could even skip rerun weeks for all I care). Staying up until 3am on our account was never a requirement. Of course, I think ABC should pay you guys to do the show!
I know you two are busy, the kids come first and your health! Don’t worry, we’re still here for you!
Can someone please tell me where I can see the preview for the next show? I download the show each week from iTunes and it is never included. Thanks.
Hello guys. I just found this awesome site today after it was mentioned on HawaiiUp [it was my 1st time listening] and I must say that I have been blown away, way to go Ryan and Jen and thanks for both HawaiiUp and this great site. I have been crazy about Lost since day 1 but I never really liked going to these “theorist” sites cos they were so full of BS! But these comments are really intelligent and plausible especially Renate’s excellent theory. I too began to question why Ethan and Goodwin (and now Henry) looked way more different then “Zeke’s” group. Anyways I just wanted to ask this question.
Why is it that people are saying that the console hit 0 and something was released. Didn’t John punch in the numbers before the “secondary” counter finished thereby preventing a 2nd incident? I mean the last symbol didn’t get a chance to lock into place so doesn’t that mean that technically nothing bad happened and that the only reason for resenting this new countdown was to discredit Jack’s opinion that the console was a hoax and verify John’s belief that an incident would occur if the sequence wasn’t completed. Perhaps the countdown will occur again in the finale and this time it won’t be stopped. Only time will tell. Ok guys bye for now.
Bring back The Transmission!!!! We miss you guys!!!!
Renate:
I came to the same conclusion a while back. The catalyst for me was the last part of what was stated in the film but cut off… “social….” Some sort of societal experiment. Looking at the hatch that the fusies found, with a sealed upper hatch, and a second hatch _with an airlock_, we might assume that they were sealed in order to preserve the integrity of the social experiment, which was taking place on the entire island itself.
In any case the experiment either went terribly wrong, or is still going on.. just with new adult-only test subjects.
Hey Ryan and Jen,
First time commenter here. I loved and dearly miss the podcast. Hope all is well on the Island for you both. :o)
Regarding the hot air balloon picture someone mentioned: didn’t Desmond get to the island via balloon? I seem to remember that he was trying to travel around the world in a balloon, so perhaps that is what the picture is from?
Speaking of Desmond, what WAS that stuff he was injecting in himself. And, what happened to him anyway? He ran off like a batouttahell, but where did he go? I never really figured that part out.
I’ve also turned to LostCasts for my Lost podcast fix. What I really miss, and maybe someone can clue one of the other podcasters in on, is the ‘chapters’ that the Transmission had. If another podcast had that, it would be great.
Thanks for the blog. Until next time.
Sherida
Jessica: you can usually view the preview on the abc.lost website: http://abc.go.com/fsp/index.html?channel=Lost
i rewatched the pilot of lost last nite and translated walts comic book that was in spanish. it reads:
Which are now your plans
My plan is to die
In which affects you
At any rate we are your puppets
Because of you and gunther I am plagued with sickness and I must share my pain
We understand as you feel what we caused does half century badly and what did you since then is beyond any class of pardon
keep up the good work!! would love to have the transmission back, but understand how much of a time committment it must be…cheers!
I was just thinking. If there is a hot air balloon picture in the hatch, and Henry Gale is Alvar Hanso, would he really pick a cover story that has such a risk of being blown? After all, he would know what they would find in the hatch. He would know about the orientation film. He has to assume that all the survivors know all about the Hanso foundation and the Dharma initiative.
I went to sleep thinking about LOST last night and dreamed that Kate and Sawyer were brother and sister. With Sawyer pulling the long con in Kate’s home town (Kate’s mother was the waitress in Sawyer’s Diner) could it be possible that he was in his home town as well, and they really are brother and sister, or half-brother/sister?
My brain hurts…
I didn’t come up with this but I read it on a forum. First the island is alive, meaning it encloses an entity created by the Dharma initiative. This is the incident that they refer to in the orientation film. The part of the hatch that they can’t get into encloses this being inside with the electromagnetics and the entering of the code every 108 minutes keeps this being contained. As a side note the entity might be named Aaron. I have seen the symbols in the last episode translated as “to cause to die” but there is a symbol missing. Maybe that symbol was a child, a baby, Claires baby Aaron. When the counter reached zero the noises heard were the locks on this entity starting to be released and if it was it would take over the baby Aaron because it seeks a new body. In the first season Walt tells Locke not to open the hatch because it is bad, this is what was bad about it. It has been suggested that there are two groups of others, the ones led by Zeke kidnapped Walt because with his apparent psychic abilities he could stop the entity and those others serve the entity. Which is why the survivors are on the island in the first place. Aaron (the entity) summoned them because he has some kind of influence. I think that he has the power to reach out and influence events outside the island. He got this from the Dharma initiative. I only have a guess as to how. In the orientation movie the man says that the island is used to study many fields of science. One of these is parapsychology which is an obscure branch of science that relates to the human mind having the potential to cause physical effects. Somehow these tests succeeded and this once again was the incident. This created the entity which I am only guessing is named Aaron. Thats pretty much it.
I think the writers were hinting that Henry Gale was not “an other” by using the name “Henry Gale.” Since the Henry Gale in the “Wizard of Oz” was Dorothy’s uncle who looked just like the Wizard who actually had a hot air balloon.
Ryan and Jen: I totally miss y’all. While I listen to other lost podcasts. Y’all were the first and best lost podcasts (or even podcasts alone) I ever listened to!!! I can totally respect your decsion but just know your missed.
I read on one of the Lost sites (I believe it was the Fuselage) that Dharma is going to do a Food Drop to our Lostees in an upcoming episode. I wonder if Dharma will also send a fresh batch of whatever Desmond was injecting into his arm.
What was that stuff anyway? Could it be a treatment or inoculation for the “disease” that Rousseau and Henry Gale spoke of? BTW: There’s a thread on the Fuselage where speculations are being made that the “disease†is actually “Bird Flu.â€
are any of you guys gonna talk about the black rock. what kind of things was kate looking at when she was inside the ship. the black rock is there for a reason and i think something big is going to happen with it. Also, when michael was communicating with walt on the computer screen, he was interupted by jack who walked around and saw nothing on the screen. i think this is important cause the show is trying to tell you that the island makes you see things. that is what michael wanted to see on the computer. he told locke that he was just going to take a look at the computer and all of a sudden walt pops up. the island made michael see that. has everyone forgotten what happened to Boone. he had a vision of his sister dying that in turn helped him get over the fact that he has to protect her or something. locke did that to him. locke the only person who was positivly affected in a physical way by the crash. (wheelchair). locke told boone that he saw into the eye of the island. is that what mr. eko saw in the black smoke. who now after he saw the smoke knows he wants to become a priest on the island. whom i think is going to build a church where charlie started the fire or whatever. anyways, locke is the key to this show. the island made him see those hieroglyphics, cause that is what he wanted to see. The fact that locke can walk now is key to this story. Also why was the pilot of the plane snatched up by a monster. is that what jack kate and charlie expected to see in the first season. so the island created the illusion. Locke said he was destined to do the walkabout. so this whole story is about him. he is in just about every little story within this show. HOW WAS LOCKE PARALYZED ANYWAY
by the way eko is my favorite character
just to clarify where the pic of the hot air ballon is:
When jack,locke and sayid decide to lift Henry and put him into the armoury, just before they lift henry up, the picture of the balloon is on the wall on the left side of the screen.