WHAT???? I cannot believe there are people who actually believe this. Claire left Aaron underneath the tree before she joined Smokey. Sawyer and Miles found Aaron. Sawyer handed Aaron over to Kate. Who handed Aaron over to Sun. Who took Aaron off the island. Sun eventually handed Aaron back to Kate after leaving the freighter. Please get your facts straight.

Those are just the big ones that I can remember off hand.

Jacob does not bring people to the island he just lets them know it’s there. As Louise Hawking said, the universe has a way of correcting itself.

Joshua
Phoenix, AZ
Wishing I were in Hawaii

Suppose the ideal candidates are children. Children are naive and can be made to “choose” more easily. For this reason, Jacob has prevented children from being born or remaining unattended on the island: People must choose to be the Island’s protector. On the other hand, this is precisely the reason the Man in Black wants to enslave a youngster to the island–no one in their full comprehending mind would want to stay as the evil force forever. While Claire was in her right mind, she came to Kate, off-island in LA, and said, Don’t you dare bring him back!

Jack hitting the door:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MediaOfLost#p/u/29/aYQ0i5wbtk8

starting around 2:39

Juliet hitting the bomb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opj0v3FxSoo

starting around 1:03

watching them side by side, I wonder now if it is just a Co ink e dink?

Just listened to the Geronimo Jack’s Beard podcast and they confirmed that in the script the 2 other places Jack saw in the mirror were the temple where Jin and Sun were married and the church where Sawyer’s parent’s funeral was held. I found it odd that both of these are the places that we saw Jacob encounter these 3 characters in the finale last year. Jacob encountered Jack at the hospital, so why was his childhood house in the mirror? I am convinced that this house is were Jacob encountered Christian. I think Jack’s path will ultimately lead to a reconciliation or resolution with his father.

Also, as someone said above: “Jacob didn’t mind” that Jack broke the mirrors. I don’t think it ever had anything to do with guiding someone toward the island. Jacob simply doesn’t need the lighthouse anymore, so he used it to convince Jack that he is significant to what is going on on the island. “It only ends once. Everything else is just progress.” We are watching the end of a very long game. Almost all the players are crossed off and Jacob doesn’t need it to keep tabs on them anymore.

1. Rose says that the sound of the smoke monster sounded very familiar to her. I did not catch that before but with the I pod sound, I did this time around.

2. Kate asks Charile if the met before and he sings You all everybody and talks about DriveShaft. Knowing what we know now, I think she was not talking about DriveShaft.

3. OMG! This left my jaw hanging open! When Jack, Charlie and Kate are in the cock pit of the plane right before they get in to see the Pilot, Seth, Jack hits the door with something to break in and it is EXACTLY how Juliet hits the bomb. He even says “come on” just like she does!!! Co ink e dink??? na… If anyone has the Pilot, please watch that and tell me if I am loosing my mind or not?!?!

I’m thinking that the fact that they will all be together at Locke’s wedding will lead to a culmination of the deja vu feelings that they seem to exhibit in the alt-timeline, and some (or all) of them may actually remember.

I think it’s clear that one timeline can affect the other: the alt-timeline exists because people from the reg-timeline went back in time (before the timelines split) to detonate Jughead. Similarly, I think that the alt-timeline people may be able to do something that will affect the reg-timeline.

It will all boil down, I think, to a kind of “synchronization” in which alt- and reg-Losties co-operate either knowingly or unknowingly to achieve some major goal (“Saving the world”).

How all this will play out remains to be seen. My guess is that Adam and Eve are alt-timeline Losties who went back in time and did “something” that will ultimately help reg-timeline Losties win the final “challenge” in 2007.

@Bonita
Love the concept that it rquires a critical mass of candidates to open the box and begin the process that will decide the fate of the island.

@Pemstar
More good stuff regarding the lighthouse as projector as much as observatory.

@Yann
Yes, let’s not forget the Cerberus vents from the blast door map. We absolutely need a Radzinski/Inman flashback!!!

@Stubble
That wedding scene is not as implausible as it might sound. I’m intrigued? And should they not be gathered in the flash line so that they may all pass through the mirror together?

OK! But the thing I kept thinking through the lighthouse scenes were – why would Jacob need to write down these names twice? That doesn’t make any sense. Then I realized the lighthouse is “light” and the cave is “dark”. I think the cave is the place where MIB has been trying to figure out who the candidates where to decide who he could be his loophole. Also, wouldn’t the person who wasn’t in power be obsessed with what the balance of power on the island is, which is why the scale was there but nothing comparable to it was at the lighthouse.

Just a thought I am loving the ride of this season – it is the most original show I’ve ever seen!
Sue Sci from Denver

If they had the foresight to film young Walt to include in the final storyline, that would be cool and would illustrate great planning (or luck). I can’t begin to guess what role Walt would play considering all the big mysteries that are still hanging out there.

I would be interested to know if the producers plan to publish a book after the program ends; shedding light on the show’s evolution and behind-the-scenes stuff. I’d buy it.

I have a question that you all everybody might be able to help me with. Why do people keep saying the island is under water? I know it “disappeared” and on film looked like it went “under water,” but I thought that was just to show it disappearing (as in, “these rings of water is where the island used to be”). I figured the island is now at some other unknown coordinates, since its previously unknown coordinates had been discovered. Is there some evidence I’m missing that says the island is actually beneath the surface of the ocean? If so, I’d like to rewatch that evidence in whichever episode.

Also, regarding the good/evil, destiny/free will topic… I have wondered if Jacob and MIB are two “old friends” who have an age-old disagreement about human nature — are humans inherently evil? or are they inherently good? Jacob believes they are good (optimist), MIB believes they are evil (pessimist). Somehow, with this island, and whatever “powers” the two seem to have, they are each trying to prove the other wrong… what do you think?

Thus the scale in the cave (ultimately there needs to be a balance of the two, but Jacob & MIB are so convinced one side or the other weighs heavier in the human condition, that they are constantly out to prove it), and MIB throwing the white rock into the ocean (“inside joke”)… he thinks it’s clear enough at this point that humans are inherently evil, since one of them killed Jacob (who has been thought to be the utmost being on the island).

Thoughts?

Water-
Water has always been a part of the symbolism within Lost (after all it IS an island)..however this season especially, water has become almost THE symbol of the show.

We’ve seen the island UNDER water; we’ve seen several times Jack washing his hands and face; we’ve seen Jack staring into a pond of water, staring out into the ocean; we’ve seen Jack have an odd moment with Kate at a river; and most importantly we’ve seen the spring inside the Temple. Water is a symbol of cleansing and redemption, and also the symbol of life and rebirth. The way Jacob is kneeling beside the spring, in a way that seems he is longing for life again when Hurley finds him and also the way he seems to have a tinge of regret when he tells Hurley (about Jack) that ‘sometimes you have to just sit and stare out at the ocean’…something we see him doing the first time we meet him in “The Incident”. That sort of introspection and reflection is something he misses. (Reflection being another symbol tied to water, and also to mirrors which is another theme this season). Is one of the truly painful aspects of the type of walking death that the island spirits, like Jacob is now, must deal with, the fact that they can no longer seem their own reflection? Is that the real hold death has upon us, the inability to see ourselves – to have real reflection about what we are, or were? And by being able to reflect, to change? Something terribly lamentable in that idea…

The list of names: Perhaps Un-Locke gives us an additional clue when he remarks that he doesn’t know where Kwon refers to Jin or Sun. Perhaps this is mean to tell us that the names we’ve been assuming are about individuals are really about families. We’ve now seen 4 generations of Shephard (Ray, Christian, Jack, and David)…perhaps they are all chosen, but to varying degrees their paths lead them elsewhere. Most of our characters have daddy issues, and the paternal namesake is ‘generally’ our last name. Our DNA is the merging of the essences of our parents, fused into one entity, much like, perhaps, two distinct time-lines that ultimately fuse into one line.

Has anyone thought that the flash sideways is what their lives would be like if Jacob (or MIB I guess) hadn’t influenced their decisions in life to get them to come to the island? While all the characters have thought they had the will to choose their lives, they have been manipulated to a certain outcome. If the island is destroyed maybe these characters will actually get to act their own free will? One of the millions of theories I’ve had about this enigmatic show!

brilliant

they all converge at locke’s wedding? That would be hilarious. I can’t see it happening, but it would be funny to see.

Faraday.
Hume.
Whidmore.
Walt.
Alpert.
Hawking.

How many more ep’s we got left?!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123020391

Well, in it they discuss some of their favorite movies and themes. One they mention is The Usual Suspects, in which the main character and entire story is told, but you find out it was a lie at the end. After hearing that interveiw, I have been really paying attention to this season to see who is lying….where the decepiton is going to happen…and I think it is going to be BIG!

Last episode we saw a drunk Sawyer in dirty clothes (and the infamous brown stained underwear that everyone seems to be talking about, but I didn’t even notice) – this episode opens with a shirtless Jack? Are the powers that be trying to sway our female audience over to Jack, or just pointing out that they’re very different kinds of men? I’m not being entirely serious here, but we HAVE been constantly reminded throughout Lost, of the differences between Sawyer and Jack. We’ve seen this culminate in arguments and fist fights on a few occasions and I’d bet we’ve not seen the last of it. A long conflict between two men of opposing characteristics? Remind you of anything? Yeah.

Jacks mothers opening line of dialogue in this episode – “Have they found him yet?”. No, no they haven’t. Christians body has a habit of disappearing, doesn’t it? I’m sure a lot of people forgot (despite me constantly harping on about it), but Jack never did find his body on the island. Personally I think that’s because Christian is walking around on the island, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. At this point I wouldn’t have been surprised if they showed us his coffin sitting at the bottom of the sea, on the sunken island. Whatever HAS happened to the coffin, it’s no coincidence that it didn’t show up.

I thought it was quite important that Jack notices the appendix scar. Did this Jack really have his appendix out when he was 7? We know when our Jack had his appendix out.. Okay, so according to wikipedia Jack was born in 1967 or 1970, not sure where this is sourced from but lets assume it’s true. The island sank at some point after, or during the 70’s (we see the Dharma camp), my own assumption is that the incident / jughead sank the island. The incident occurs in 1977 as we know, when Jack would’ve been… 7 years old. The island sinking has affected a lot of things. One of them appears to be Jacks appendix. Now whether this is because, say, Jacob prevented his appendix rupturing in 1977 in the original timeline – but after the island sank he didn’t do this (or didn’t NEED to do this), or simply because of chaos theory (the island sinking counts as a pretty big butterfly flapping it’s wings, who knows what would change), who knows. But the point I’m making here is that Jacks appendix probably was removed AFTER the island sank.

Here’s some speculation.

Locke invites Jack (who will probably operate on him or something).
Jack goes to the wedding with Claire as his date (he’s single after all, and he might want to do some social event with his new-found sister).
Locke invites Hugo and Rose to thank them for the job.
Ben might come to the wedding since he’s Locke colleague now.
Locke might invite Boone in case they see each other again; Boone might bring Shannon (hoping… ) Remember: Boone is in charge of a wedding company!

It’s also possible that some of the staff at the wedding (the “caterers”) might be Losties. I can totally see Kate getting a job in Boone’s company under a false name or Sawyer crashing the wedding in search of con victims.

Hell, for all I know, the wedding might happen in Eloise’s church

So, I’m betting the Losties will converge on Locke’s wedding for the finale in the alt-timeline and then “something” will happen that will connect the two timelines.

other than that, there wasn’t as much to theorize from this episode in my opinion — especially compared to last week. i am with the consensus that 108 in the lighthouse will turn out to be desmond, the sum of our losties and the only one who can help since he has a special ability to transcend time and space. i also agree with you ryan that the hurley line about adam and eve felt forced.

i will say that this is the first episode that i actually felt invested in the LA X timeline as i watched jack try to connect with his son in ways his father never did.

finally, i do agree with those who have said that the LA X timeline is showing us what will ultimately happen to the losties. it makes perfect sense. and i understand why it’s called a flash-sideways. it can’t be a flash forward since it’s technically happening in 2004, three years before the island storyline. i can’t be a flashback since it’s showing us what will happen after the island storyline. so calling it a flash-sideways is the only logical option.

that’s all i got.

Absolutely – Jacob could be driving our Losties towards relieving him and MIB of positions they may not totally want.

@popkigirl

Yes! Completely paralleling Desmond being duped by Inman into pushing the button to save the world.

@Coolpeace – we assume Locke got buried, but we only saw a couple of shovels of dirt. Only unburied bodies have after-life potential. And that comment by Frank Lepedis, “He’s getting ripe”. Does that mean Locke was not embalmed? Locke was maybe Jewish? Nah, he ate boar.

The location for the Lighthouse/Tower is near Makapuu Point on South Oahu. My wife and I hiked up there last summer. That’s where Ben shows Sawyer the main island from the Hydra island (in the second season) and where Hugo’s imaginary friend Dave jumps from the cliff. The main island was CG as was the lighthouse. The location where Jack and Hugo spot the cave and skeletons is a path near Kapena Falls. An incredible piece of jungle right in Honolulu.

“Their actions will cause the island to sink in the distant past, thus averting ALL of the on-island history. No Black Rock, no Dharma, no Flight 815″

At first I was “wow, great one.” One problem with that scenario is that we saw Dharma remnants on the island in LA X when the camera panned underwater. I do think you’re onto something however.

and, oh…
3 smoke monsters.

What if the lighthouse was used to project images off of
the island?

All of these things we have seen “off island” could have been
projected by the lighthouse?

Anyone here mention/thought of this?

~ THE Pemstar Initiative ~

However, I still can’t help feeling like a negative nancy about the Jack stuff in this episode:( Much like Kate, I don’t understand why his on-island character is so clueless after all of these life-changing experiences. (His off-island self seemed clueless to me too- but whatever…maybe it is a time flashsideways thing as some people are suggesting.)

Because Jack and Kate are written in such a similar fashion I now feel that they are probably Adam and Eve. I think the black/white stones may be indicators of what side they ultimately chose in the battle, and are a warning to their future selves. Kate may run into Unlocke and be recruited (but not infected)- Jack may stay with Jacob. Kate just seems to fall into the temptress/desire/eve archetype quite a bit. Jack is usually following his personal desires at the expense of others- pretty similar to Adam dooming humanity. Since their on-island selves still haven’t grown very much, I was thinking the final scene in the cave may be an ultimate redemption for humanity thing.
Thanks to Ryan and Jen and all the great posts:)

here’s a link to Lostpedia’s list of all the names and numbers. notice there are many more discrepancies…

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Candidates

About David, something that came to my mind…remember S3 Finale? Through the looking glass. Well, they said something about a musician entering the code into the station, well, crazy thought, but what if that musician was David, and he somehow travelled to the island, or somehow all the kids (Aaron, Ji Yeon, David, Walt) are brought to the island, and in some sort of infinite loop, they become the new inhabitants.

Another thing that strucks me, is what about Mr. Widmore? It’s been a while since we all forgot about him, he wanted Locke to go back to the island and be “on the right side”, well, he is on MIB side, obviously, so…Widmore and MIB are on the same team?

anyway, thanks guys, have a great one, greetings from Mexico!

@Ronald What is Jacob’s benefit of having people (candidates) come to the Island ?

@Rusty This theory is right on – The best so far

When thinking about who could be Wallace at 108
I realized that there are not many characters whose last mane is unknown.
Ilana comes to mind. Remember she may have got a face/identity change in Russia. But Jacob told Hugo that it was a “him” which was coming to the Island…
I still find bizarre that Hume is not written on this wheel, so we have to believe into a link Wallace-Hume

One thing I found quite intriging and which may be quite important:
Jarrah and Shephard names on the 360-degree lighthouse wheel have been rewritten recently over their previous original writing (making them darker and slightly doubled). Unlike Ford Kwon or Austen, which were not.
Now if Jarrah came back from the dead, does that mean that Jack has also. Unless this Shephard is not Jack … but Christian

Why was Lewis 140 in the Cave and 104 in the Lighthouse? Just a screenplay mistake or MiB has poor memory ?
Why would he care about the numbers ? in rewriting them on the Cave
Are numbers important?
In writing the names in the first place, one would think that they would be written in sequence… meaning that you dont write a name at 117 (Linus) and then write Brennan at 35 and so on
What do you think ?

This is why I’ll stick to the little bit of history I do understand, i.e., Wallace and the 7 Wonders. I still think that Wallace isn’t Desmond Hume, but maybe, as @Bonita in Atlanta has surmised, it has to do with family lineages (daddy issues), and maybe Wallace is somehow related to the Hume line, which is why it’s crossed out? I suppose the writers do put in that kind of mixing (Faraday and his mother Hawkings…). Well, if it puts Desmond back in the story, I’m all for it.

Thanks again, and excellent (and appropriate) Holmes reference!

It may be more than the obfuscation that the names are only last names. What if it is more the family lineage with those last names? And the Candidates are merely those that are forever locked in the cycle that ends the same? When 6 (or more) Candidates are together at one time it is powerful (creating a force that can break the rules/cycle whatever) and when those candidates actually come together in common cause especially on the Island then the balance can be restored to the Universe. “Man” can change “his” destiny. Harking back to StarWars again: the force is strong with these Candidates, if one fails, there is another…

Also, I really like the idea that the whole island is the pyramid. Although, I was wondering if the temple might be it (or the top of it?). It’s kind of shaped like a pyramid with the of hieroglyphics, and the lower tunnels have the place where Ben confronted Smokey as his daughter, and where Ben killed Jacob. It has the depiction of Anubis on the wall, who weighed souls, and (what I thought) was Smokey, who could be correlated to Ammit, Anubis’s crocodile that ate the hearts of those not worthy. Or, it’s the temple. I guess it’s hard to put a 1:1 beyond the obvious colossus and lighthouse… but if we’ve never seen the lighthouse before, what else is out there?
I think Lost makes me too thinky.

On another note, did anyone think it was interesting that in the replay of last week’s show – with the nifty commentary – they referred to Richard as an “adviser” to the Others, meaning he’s not really an Other? I’d always suspected he’d arrived on the Black Rock?

Sorry if someone else talked about this, but could the Lighthouse belong to Jacob’s nemesis? And did Jacob send Jack there to thwart his nemesis from using it to get off the island? Jus’ wonderin’.

Also, where is Sawyer? I thought he was with “Locke”. Maybe he’s just outside Claire’s tent.

Also, Wallace and Darwin co-developed the Theory of Natural Selection, in that they corresponded, and Darwin credited Wallace for his input (but beat him to the publishing punch by a heartbeat). Although, with all the other memes populating Lost, is natural selection the major one? Don’t know. But with Wallace referenced at 108 – clearly the most important number on the island – and crossed out, is there a “survival of the fittest” (which is from Herbert Spencer, not Darwin or Wallace) thing we’re supposed to get? Is that too obvious?

But that does fall into the “Free Will” vs. “Fate” dichotomy someone mentioned above as the actual duality on the show as opposed to good/evil. Darwin thought Free Will was “synonymous” with chance. “Shake ten thousand grains of sand together & one will be uppermost: so in thoughts, one will rise according to law.” (Sorry to geek out there.) Does this still kind of goes with the idea of Faith/Reason that Locke/Flocke vs. Jack represent? I think I’m spinning myself into a corner here…

My question is though, weren’t Hurley and Jack supposed to see what was in the mirror at d.108? What’s the “mirrored” situation of Wallace, whoever they are referencing? I don’t think it’s Desmond. His last name is Hume, from David Hume, the c18th Scottish skeptic who argued against the existence of miracles (see: island, as place of). But then again, I’m willing to hope for a miracle if it means more Desmond!

I had been assuming that the island sank at the time of the Incident. (I never understood why people thought the flyby in the premiere showed New Otherton, and that it couldn’t just be Dharmaville, but that’s neither here nor there.) But Ben’s appearance in Locke’s flash-sideways is confusing. Ben, at least, was right there on the island as a kid in 1977. We never see him come out of the temple before the Dharma folks send the submarine off the island. Ethan probably got on the sub, so it makes sense that he should still be alive even though the island was destroyed, but how is Ben?

I agree. I’ve thought for a very long time that the bodies in the cave were Rose and Bernard. It makes sense at the last moment after Sawyer/kate/Juliet warn them about the nuke, they decide to take refuge in the cave.

I think whatever happened at the end of the Incident, didn’t just reset things at the time in 1977. It reset things well before that.

I really like your idea that the MIB and Jacob could be father and son. That would fit perfectly with one of the show’s overall themes of “daddy issues.” Jacob could be the father and MIB his very rebellious son.

The mirrors to other times and places totally reminded me of a Star Trek TNG episode with a similar device except in that episode they opened doors to other places/times. I don’t know if it’s truly a ST reference but it’s pretty close. Damon must be distracted with working on the 2nd Star Trek script. Too many ideas he can’t get them all in the next movie?

I thought Hurley talking about Adam and Eve was kind of forced dialog but I think it’s forshadowing that story to come.

The light house light dial was cool, but still, is there a connection between the dharma numbers and jacobs numbers? did jacob have something to do with the dharma numbers, were they just coincidental? what about the hyroglyphics when the countdown timer went to 00000? I hope that the whole dharma connection doesnt get lost in this season, I would like to see the connection between jacob, dharma, widmore, miss hawking, paik industries, etc. Jack reminded me of season 3 Locke, way to destroy such an important piece of information that could give us answers, Jocke. I’d like to see a close up of all the names on that dial, like who is 108? Wallace? Who’s that?

Claire says her father told her the others took her baBy. She also has a “friend” that appears to be the Locke Monster. So I guess that answers the question of is Christian the smoke monster? No.

And finally the preview for next week. The next episode seems to be really clouded in mystery. Must be some really good stuff. Can’t wait!

But, I tend to agree that we are watching the conclusion in the Flash Sideways. This is a credit to the writing that this technique gives us a more full completion than would be possible in just a concluding episode or two, doing justice to five years of set-up.

Yes, now the role of the H-bomb appears to only thrust our characters out of the past, back to the present, to a reunion with Sun, Lapedus, and Ben. Flocke (ne Locke) has had major airtime, and I think counterpart Ben will soon be given equal billing, both in the ‘Sideways (that I am looking forward to) and on the island as a rallying point to the poignant position that the island is important and essential.

As a sympathetic character, Locke had me, but it is Ben, and his arc, that is coming to captivate.

I really have a hard time not seeing Rose/Bernard as Adam/Eve.

Jacob/white = good? Will happily go down with the notion if I am wrong, but I strongly disagree for reasons I have stated previously, and continue to see validated as we progress. Jacob is a capricious god of the Greek persuasion, playing with mortals for his own ends, while Flocke/Esau has long since lost patience with his BS. (Team Dark continues more than viable).

Hurley is much funnier (and more believably endearing) when he is not so cheekily over the top. Seemed a bit forced this turn as the voice of the voiceless audience.

Overall? Lost!! Excellent episode. Mystery, pathos galore, and enough of the numbers-candidate intrigue to fill a … blog. This show continues to delight me with excellence and a stubborn resistance to be TV.

Jacob said to Hurley “someone’s coming.” But I believe he followed this up with the plural form. “THEY will need help getting here.” I don’t know if this is my preferred path, but it seems to reference the passengers who landed at LA X entering the present reality.

I believe it’s clear that the cave and the lighthouse are the respective domains of Flocke and Jacob. But beyond having their own strongholds, they have very different methods and abilities as they play “candidate backgammon.” For instance, Jacob has a precisely ordered wheel listing all the candidates while Esau has a chaotic array scrawled on the ceiling of his cave, derived from an entirely different gift of vision.

Something just occurred to me about the absence of a name for Smokey. Recall that Ben told Locke the others had no name for what the survivors called the monster. However, Jacob is Jacob. He is constant and adopts no other form. Then consider all the names we call his adversary. I use them all because I’m never sure which will prove to be the best. Flocke, Esau, Unlocke, MIB, the dark man, smokey. I think we can describe him as variable.

We basically have the same thoughts about Smokey and MIB with the exception that I would separate the following phenomenons:

1) MIB turning into the Smoke monster; no issues with this.

2) MIB taking on the form of unburied dead individuals; Christian, Yemi; Alex;

3) MIB’claiming’ or ‘infrecting’ dead individuals; Claire, Sayid, Rousseau’s team. Possibly that there is a way back from this ‘state’. Maybe that is how MIB does his ‘recruiting’ as Ilana says. However, the rules say that he cannot kill the candidates himself but they are fair game if they die by another’s hand. As Sayid and Claire did. Assuming Claire died during the explosion of her house and was claimed (came back to ‘life’ just as Sayid did after drowning).

I was reading the Slate.com’s TV Watch today, and while it is not a great source of LOST conversation, someone posed a crackpot theory SO crackpotty that I sort of LOVE IT. They asked, since Daddy issues are clearly a subject, and the resolution of said issues is clearly an objective…

What if Jacob and the MIB are, themselves, father and son?!?

Why is this crackpotty? Well, we know that the actors (as portrayed by Titus Wellever and Mark Pellegrino) are about the same age. However, if they constantly change forms and are “stuck with” those forms until a new form comes along, this theory may become plausible. Maybe one or both of them have assumed new forms, so even though they look the same age, we could still be dealing with a grown man and his average, pissed-off son. I need to think about this theory, but on the surface, I think it is sort of awesome.

Look how the Jack of the off-island is relatively confident and self-possessed and the one on-island is nearly a nut job, multiple failures in love and life, doesn’t trust himself, hopelessly looking for something external to fix his troubles.

Hurley confident off-island, Hurley less so, on-island. Maybe Hurley is becoming more self-possessed on-island, too, though.

Rose seems her usual self in both, though she showed more poise and less fear on the plane in the off-island reality than in the on-island.

Kate seems a bit more desperate off-island than on. The island seems to suit her.

Locke is learning to accept his condition and reach his potential off-island. On-island, he was a waste and a loss, always afraid, as MIBLocke correctly said, always looking externally for how to take care of himself. I think we see Sawyer off-island next week.

Well, it’s an idea.

Remember when Locke and Boone are out in the jungle in Season One and Boone is injured slightly and then as Locke says the smoke “made him see” Shannon’s dead and mangled body, but she was actually on the beach with Sayid and very much alive?

If there is an open wound is it easier for the “infection” to break through?

Jin’s leg was ripped open by the bear trap is he more vulnerable?

It seems like smokie has been trying over the years to get to anyone he can out in the jungle and turn them…..Michael, Boone, Shannon, Ben, Rousseau, Widmore, Inman, Anna Lucia, Eko (he failed to turn him I think), Claire and now Sayid.

The temple spring water was clear for Ben but cloudy for Sayid, but were they claimed by the same entity or did Ben have a choice because the water was clear?

Ben moved a rock and seemed to release or call smokie from the grounds under his house when he wanted revenge on the freighties….how did he know smokie would respond like that? Was smokie actually trapped in there or was it just that he would sense the new opening and come to inspect?

It makes sense that Shannon came back to life after being crushed in the house, because Sayid has come back to life after he was drowned.

First off, Michael wasn’t married to Walt’s mom so there’s at least a decent chance that he would have not been named Walter Dawson.

Even if he was – the guy she married adopted Walt, which would mean he took on that name.

On Lostpedia his name is Walt Lloyd.

Ever notice how certain flash sideways moments coincide (sp?) with island time. At the beginning of the episode Jack is wet from the shower looking at the mirror. On the island, Jack is wet from getting cleaned up and looking into water.

Also catch Jacob’s comment about how sometimes a person needs to sit and look at the water to figure things out (well something like that) the finale last year featured Jacob staring out at the water, waiting for the black rock.

Also my theory re: the Oceanic Six “the next generation” taking over, doesn’t hold up now, because Sun and Jin don’t have a child, Desmond and Penny might not have a child. It is Aaron and David and Walt right now. Sawyer might not have Clementine either if he wasn’t a con man.

I am starting to think they named the series “lost” because when you watch it you are “lost”.

One last comment Entertainment Weekly dated 2/13/09 has an article about last year’s premiere. (pg 26) Here is an important quote from Damon Lindelof “The show was never about escaping the island, but rather staying on it”

@ John Fischer Also, the appendix scar was on the correct, right, side of his body. It might just look a little confusing because he is looking in the mirror. I wish you were correct, because I love the idea of a Mirror world.

and Finally, I kind of like the idea that the Light House belongs to Flocke and the cave to Jacob. The light house is technically is technology and we all know how Jacob feels about that. And if this is the case. It seems like Jacob has yet again used Hugo and Jack as pawns to mess with Flocke and wreck his mirrors and spy glass.

@Saif, Jack’s first wife was Sarah and I’m pretty sure that she has brown eyes. I do think that all the emphasis on the deep blue eyes links him to Juliet. Although, Sarah was pregnant in the flashforward so…….

I don’t know if people have looked at Vozzek69′s recap where he says that David is a reflection of Jack? wow…I really don’t know if I’m ready to go there because it means that nothing is real in the sideways world…but it would explain why there is no mention of the mother because there isn’t one other than Jack’s own mother. Ugh…my brain hurts as usual

The names, therefore, are used by both of them.

Furthermore, MIB uses technology and Jacob does not. He’s not troubled that his person of interest will not manage to get to the island without the lighthouse mirror, he’s confident he will find his way.

I really wonder if Jack will ever find his way.

Well…more about what I was saying….I would have to review that scene w/ Ecko to see if he saw more than one of the Nigerians from the plane…of course he could have been hallucinating some too…I can’t remember. After that he definitely became Yemi. But I would agree for sure w/ everything else you said….

@ Everyone – About the appearance & explanation of the lighthouse. Besides the similarity of how Jacob’s Cabin moved and disappeared, I wonder if it’s appearance was similar to Ben’s ‘Majic Box’? Do you have to imagine or look for something for it to be found? Maybe they should look for the source of the whispers, the meaning of the numbers, etc. and they will be granted their wish. They just don’t know what to wish for right now…I think they soon will.

After reading so many thoughtful posts, how could my opinion be limited to the above?

@johntindale interesting idea about the way Jacob “visits” the outside world. It seems to me that he’s somehow more real out there than on the island–there he touches people, more people see him, and he isn’t locked away in some temple where only one person is allowed in. Jacob is more…social?…off island.

Claire’s change, it seems to me, is a result of being kidnapped, “tested” (tortured), and left alone on the island for 3 years. UnLocke probably didn’t have much to do to push her over the edge into crazy world. As far as Claire (and Said) is concerned, she’d already been there (the Temple). This “sickness” thing seems a wonderful device to justify killing people.

So are we setting up Jack/David as Abraham/Isaac? Don’t like that at all. Were Claire/Aaron and Michael/Walt previous, failed attempts? Is that what we are to gather from Eloise/Daniel (which would require me to give up my pet theory that Eloise, like Kate, is a substitute mother)?

On a related note, @Beth in Sacramento: 5) THANK YOU.

Is it the same wheel we see frozen, that moves the entire island to a different time? Or is it the mirror to the lighthouse wheel (like the dark cave is the mirror to the light house)?

@Sobaika so just like Desmond was to be the “relief” for pushing the button, maybe Jack (and Sawyer?) are to relieve Jacob and MIB? Love this!

@Ron: Right on.

@Carol from Boston: Great catches…it made me wonder if, in a sort of twisted mirror way, we can add Claire’s new relationship with her “dad” on island to the resolutions?

@Yann from France: astute as always. Your observation about Rousseau–do we know if she got taken to the Temple and “tested”? I can’t remember her saying anything about that. I think anybody who’d been put through the “testing” might have more anger issues like Claire.

@Rich in Cleveland: Awesome idea! I do love me some “Star Wars” references, and the idea that it is Ben who still has a job to do…for redemption?
@Rich in C and @steve: A completely immaterial reference (probably)–”pace” is also Latin for “in peace”.

Unlike many here, I was quite happy when Jack destroyed one of Jacob’s toys (lighthouse mirrors). Reading everything here makes me wonder, though, Who watches (or has been watching) the watcher?

@Gretchen: So I played your idea in my head…and it seemed completely plausible to me, particularly “Do you know how much I want to kill you right now?” coming from Sawyer.

@Lostyfan: Chills. Totally got chills reading your idea.

With all these religious references, and I hope as Beth in Sacramento says that they don’t start doing stories-by-numbers (pardon the pun), I suddenly found myself thinking of that spiritual: “When Israel was in Egypt’s land/ Let my people go!” And they were guided out by a pillar of smoke (white in the daytime, fiery at night). And a smoke monster convinced the guy holding them there to let them go (because it killed their firstborn male children…). Hmmm. The one keeping them there is Jacob, not MIB…who evidently doesn’t believe in the misery loves company idea and so doesn’t like it that Jacob keeps bringing people on the island.

Ryan and Jen, thank you again, many times, for your podcast and this blog. I came pretty late to this party, but I sure am enjoying it. Appreciate your hard work!

It’s consistent that Jack should break the mirror because he’s always frustrating his desire to discover his purpose, his nature and frustrating his desire to be. At least in the mirror-reality, he does a better job being.

I loved the transition between Jack’s chat with Kate and his next scene with his mom. Kate wishes him, “I hope you find what you’re looking for” and the next line is his mother’s, “We’re never going to find it.” Jack replies, “Take it easy, Mom. It’s somewhere in here and we’ll find it.” Jack has until this new reality, always been searching and not finding.

Of the books behind Margo, I could make out Terminal, by Robin Cook, in which a company offers a cure for a cancer, but it turns out the villainous company created the disease as well as the cure, The Good Carbohydrate Revolution, about the battle between rival groups of sugars competing for control of the body, and Diagnosis of the Chest.

In earlier seasons, when the writers had lesser constraints on their use of screen time, I feel they’d have been more ambiguous about the health or disease of Claire. Now, they cut right to it. Not just that she kills Justin apparently needlessly, but that she clearly is pathological in her fantasizing. De Ravin pulls off the craziness well, I thought.

I agree with Ryan that Hurley’s line in the cave, wherein he muses about themselves being the skeletons, is clunky and forced. Why put in dross like that? To tantalize? To make Hurley more of a thinker and innovator?

The second time I watched the scene when Jack breaks the mirror, I thought again, holy monkeys, what a jerk Jack is! Ah well. Great scene, very powerful, very moving.

The boy who plays David, Jack’s son, is a great actor.

Note the contrast between the lighthouse, the highest point on the island, and the cave with Sawyer and Locke last week, easily the lowest point. Jacob wants Jack to see how important he is, that he is the subject of manipulation from high, mysterious influences. Maybe it’s not Jacob’s lighthouse nor Jacob;s manipulation. Someone’s coming to the island? Someone’s coming to the temple, someone bad. Tell us who, guy, or tell us why you don’t. Then again, these two, MIB and Jacob, never claimed to be in charge, though Locke seems to present as if he wants to be.

After that conversation, seeing there were maybe 5 minutes left, I wondered breathlessly, what could top this? there was O’Quinn’s trademark Mon Lisa Smile again to end the ep. THUD! I really like this ep.

I think the person who Jacob wants to get to the island is Aaron, who’s not there and of whom such a big deal is made.

@ Tim from DC – I think this is the perfect explanation for Smokey so far. He also became Yemi & possibly the other Nigerians…which begs the question…perhaps he can be more than one person at once. It seems that Smokey was able to separate into at least 3…smoke clouds.

My crazy for the day: There was a scene where Jack saw his reflection in water w/ the trees behind / above him. I think it was in the episode but could have been in the preview bits we got. Knowing that Jack was supposed to die in Season 1 does anyone think that there is ANY possibility that he changed somehow after he was almost attacked after the pilot? The scene reminds me of when the pilot was found in the trees. Jack comes back from that scene acting as if nothing happened almost and says whatever it was just went away….ugh….

Brian in Atlanta – aka “NuckinFuts” ~ Team Dark

I’ve been wondering since S5 if Jacob is actually a good guy – but after this episode he really is looking more and more like a very manipulative person, and I mean one Ben would be proud of.

I’m wondering if David’s mom is SARAH – Jack’s original wife. But, a twist would be if it was Juliet… or AnaLucia… or Libby (but I still want Libby and Hurley to get back together!!!).

what I’d like to see resolved is Harper Stanhope – I thought I saw her name at the lighthouse last night, but don’t know what’s happened to her. Is she still at the Temple? Also, since Shannon’s inhaler came up, will we see her again? She is one of the only original cast members not to pop back up (Michael & Walt are the other 2 that come to mind)… so why is that? Story or Actor Contract?

However, I do love Jack having a son (great casting also), and all of this talk about who David’s mom is I’m wondering why it would not have been his wife, Sarah whom he was married prior and separated, right?

When Jack was looking turning the dial and seeing things in the mirror, I at first thought that the Asian looking home was Jin representing, Sun or Dogan for obvious reasons but then I remembered that Jack was in a place like that when he got his tattoo (the episode with Bai Ling in it) right?

Referencing Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, what Alice sees and it’s crazy how many things are similar right now.

I’ll be watching the episode again this evening with my wife, who is in bed by the time LOST comes on. I hope to feel better about the episode after a second viewing, but…

the best part of this ep was the flash-sideways, and the stuff with UnLocke and Sawyer (go team UnLocke!).

I am beyond irritated with Jacob and his nonsense and am getting sick of his playing puppet master.
“Hurley, take this guitar case on the plane and then lug it around with you.” “Hurley, take Said to the temple where you can get almost shot and watch Said die and then come back to life (and then hang out in the “food court” ’til I need you, ‘kay?)”
“Hurley, write some instructions on your arm and get Jack to come with you so I can mess with his mind some more…oh, and Hurley? Try not to notice the names next to the degrees on the wheel, even when Jack tells you about them, and definitely don’t notice that those names are next to the numbers that have been plaguing you your entire life.” SHEESH.

By the time Jack was sitting looking at the water, and Jacob gave his patronizing “some people need to sit and look at the ocean…”, I had completely joined Team Destructo if the destruction involved Jacob.

End of rant.

I disagree. I think Wallace will turn out to be Desmond. I suspect sometime in the parallel timeline we’ll see Desmond again and he’ll introduce himself as Desmond Wallace. We’ll learn that in the island timeline he was adopted.

Wallace is a Scottish name of great fame. Desmond is the only Scott we know. He is also so connected to the number 108. He had to enter the keyboard every 108 minutes for years.

Jacob said that he believes that the other person (presumably who would have been summoned had Hurley been able to dial into 108) will arrive at the island by another means. We know that Desmond has a boat and that is how he first arrived on the island, so in order to duplicate things just like their original arrival, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Desmond arrive by boat sometime in the upcoming episodes.

I don’t think the name Wallace, 108 on the wheal, has any significance. The numbers of out losties obviously add up to 108, but Each number is an individual. And now if you really add up all the numbers of out losties, its 104 since locke is now crossed off. I think Jacob to Hugo to use 108 because it was familiar to him.

Also, does it annoy anyone else that no one acknowledges 108 is everywhere on the island. Hurley lotto numbers, the hatch, the timer, and now Jacob tells him to turn to 108.

Another question, if anyone has gone over this I apologize. Who convinced Ben that John had to die in season 5? I think the explanation on the show was that “it was the fastest way to get John back to island” and that Ben didn’t have time to explain everything to John. Im thinking that Ben was willingly doing the work of Flocke.

Anyway, Great episode

Claire says “This is not John, this is my friend”. This reminds my of the the old testament reference to Jehovah, as he’s referred to as “I AM”. Ceasar and Bram would always use that term “my friend” when speaking to people.

Could David be MIB?

Lighthouse must be Jacob’s and Cave is MIB’s, hence the reference to light & dark again. MIB could be taking the names from the lighthouse and crossing off names of those who won’t follow him.

@ John Fischer – I LOVE the idea that Adam and Eve are Jacob’s parents and then they could also be Essau’s!

@ Cathy – great AHA thoughts

@ Beth – I thought the same about Jin’s command of English should’ve seemed surprising to Claire until I realized she’d been overhearing him talking to Justin and figured Jin might’ve become one of the Others.

@ Che Dblu – I like how your protagonist theor explains the characters evolutions. Hopefully the final season will have juicy stuff in the Special Features of the DVD’s so we can all enjoy this madness again!

@ Steve – love the tic-tac-toe observation (Hurley the game leader again)
Glad you caught the “pick up your pace” and I think your again spot on with interpreting it’s meaning.

@ Rich – very cool analoty to StarWars. I think it is worth noting that 51 is 15 in reverse and 15 is Ford

@ Yann – Yup I wondered about the ladders too. What if there is another way in/out and using the ladder was simply a test/trial to get James recruited? MIB need to be sure that James trusted him enough to follow such a perilous path and he certainly didn’t tell him about needing to switch to the rope ladder gving MIB the chance to “save” Ford’s life and perhaps make him more beholden to team Him.

The smoke monster has always been a manifestation of the Man in Black; I think that’s been pretty well confirmed by this season’s pilot. As Smokey, he’s been working pretty much this whole time to find a way to kill Jacob. As has been previously said, his examination of Locke in season 1 (in contrast to Eko in 2 or 3) led him to believe that Locke was a good conduit for that purpose. The rest was his machinations to get Locke in place where Smokey could use him to kill Jacob.

Smokey doesn’t animate dead bodies. He takes the form and acquires the memories of people who are dead, but he doesn’t inhabit their physical bodies. Otherwise how could Unlocke be walking around while Locke’s body is sitting right there on the beach?

Smokey can also only be in one form and one place at a time. That’s the point of the Scooby-Doo part of the episode in season 5 where Locke and Ben went under the temple. Locke disappears to “get some rope,” Smokey appears, turns into Alex, Alex disappears, and Locke returns.

The bodies Smokey is able to inhabit are those that are dead, present on the island, but not buried. That’s why we got a scene in season 3 where the others made a big deal about burning the body of the woman that Kate had killed and sending it out to sea. It’s also why the Others insist that bodies of their dead be buried, and Sawyer et al had to bury the Others who had been attacking Amy.

In this fashion, Smokey has been Christian, Alex, and now Locke, at least. Just because we’ve never seen Christian’s body doesn’t mean it’s up and walking around; it’s a big island. He and Locke certainly weren’t buried. We also have no indication that Alex was ever buried; Ben et al ran off very shortly after she was killed. We’ve never seen any of them at the same time after they died.

We’ve seen Claire together with both Christian and Unlocke, so she’s not Smokey. Sayid is back to life in his original body, which isn’t what Smokey does.

So the other part is why did Smokey/Man in Black do all the things he did to our losties? As I said, I think it was all directed at getting Locke, as a dead body, on the island, and in a position where he could cause the death of Jacob. He came up with a Rube Goldberg plan, which was really an incredibly long con. There is a suggestion that this game or battle has been going on for a long time, so I think he’s done this sort of thing many times before, probably without success.

So the things Smokey did all this time were to push people to where he needed them to be for his endgame. Locke had to be deemed the leader, since that would get him access to the statue. That meant Ben had to stop being the leader (at least ostensibly) and a lot of things had to happen to make Richard think Locke should be the leader.

So Christian he pushed Ben to move the island (by telling Locke that’s how they could protect it from the freighties), which also got him off. That spun the island back in time, allowing Locke to run around and interact with Richard in multiple times, helping convince him that he really would become the leader. As Unlocke he also told Locke, through Richard, to leave the island, bring everyone back, and also die, to save the island. Christian, at the bottom of the well, finished the job of making sure he went through with it.

The only way it would ever make sense to bring Locke’s body back on the Ajira flight, which is kind of an absurd thing to do on its own, was if everyone believed that the flight had to be as identical to 815 as possible, which is why he was pushed to bring everybody back. Why Eloise was on that bandwagon is unclear. But that was the last step in getting his body back on the island, without Richard and the Others knowing he was dead, and enabling Unlocke to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob.

What if…

“LA X” timeline Jack == Christian

If that is true, then:
- Margo is complimenting Christian for not taking the drink (even though she is assuming Jack is Jack).
- Margo is asking Christian about his daughter.
- Christian is giving Jack’s son, David, the beautiful confession and therefore Christian is setting things right with David -and- Jack.

Also:
- Christian is looking at his new ‘self’, when Jack is looking at the mirror on 815.
- Did Christian and Desmond meet before ??

Anyone else diggs this stuff or am I going crazy.

This is pretty much the best season since Season One, but that was bound to be true.

Keep up the good work! I love you guys!

Maybe it was Christian, he failed and got crossed out, and then Jacob re-wrote SHEPARD again b/c Jack turned out to be the one.

Many people think that David’s mom is Juliet, but could she be Juliet’s sister? I think they showed David having blue eyes for a reason, but I’m not sure is she had blue eyes. Or she could just be Jack’s ex-wife (I forgot her name).

Looking forward to the show!

“The Lord is my SHEPHARD”

?????

Everyone knows the story of how Matthew Fox’ character was originally supposed to die a few episodes into the series. If the producers had a master storyline plan, as they have stated, then his character is probably the main protagonist in our story. It would also explain why Kate, rumored to be the main protagonist originally, has devolved into a supporting character who’s storyline seems incomplete at times.

Harry Potter much?

2) The writers missed a potential opening. When Jin said that Aaron was three years old, I was expecting Claire to say “My God…has it been that long”. That would have been awesome. Or groantastic.

3) The conversation between Kate and Jack was completely inoffensive to me. I actually didn’t mind it at all.

4) Claire didn’t remark that Jin was speaking fluent English. Only three years ago he was feeding her sea urchin and couldn’t speak a word of it.

5) I know Bible theories abound, but personally, I hope that they DON’T go there. I don’t mind vague religious references…I enjoy them, especially the Egyptian stuff. But I really hope that they don’t start getting too specific. They will alienate a lot of fans if they do.

6) Juliet and Jack? NOOOOOO! NO NO NO NO NO!

Inscribed above the lighthouse reflector: seus siyd dadru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Read backwards, it says “I show not your face but your daddy issues.”

Kind of goes with your theory.

UnLocke leads angry Sawyer to a darkness-filled location where the names are listed.

UnJacob leads seeking Jack to a sunlit-filled location where the names are listed.

So we have a dark and a light puppet, led by a dark and a light puppetmaster. Don’t know the endgame, but the chesspieces are clearly being set.

Theory 2: Loved this ep, loved the way Jack is trying to be a better father to David than Christian was to him. Also, notice how in last week’s ep, it looks like Locke and Cooper are no longer enemies? By this assumption, can we assume that Sawyer and his daddy and also friends (if, in this world, he didn’t kill himself?)

Maybe the resolutions of the daddy issues is the key to giving our characters the peace they seem to be experiencing in the flashes sideways.

Alot of people are saying that 2004 L.A. is the epilogue and 2007 folks will have to eventually choose, each having their own choice, but that can’t be. It has to be one choice for all, everyone in one reality or everyone in another, no? So if one reality is chosen, there will be major suckage for some, goodness for others?

I’m debating whether I should do a spoiler on myself and freeze frame the next episode trailer non snowy video. I think it’s a good sign in terms of moving the story along that they’re afraid to show much from the upcoming episode.

Also, I love the thought that Juliet could be David’s mom and the thought that since Juliet and Jack just didn’t work could lead to Juliet and Sawyer reuniting off the island. that would GREAT!

I have read the talk about 108 being Wallace, but also agree that 108 could/should be Desmond. He didn’t spend all that time pressing that button (at 108) for nothing. He has to tie in to that.

I liked this episod a lot more after I read some of the feedback and thought about it overnight. While it wasn’t as exciting as last weeks, it is really starting to (slowly) pull things together!
LOVE. IT.

First let me say I loved last night’s episode! The flash sideways with Jack as a father, albeit not a great one, but certainly trying, was rather healing in nature. His mom’s comments lent a perspective on his view of his own father, and his attempts at parenting his own son made him more forgiving. The on-island scenes were great as well. I almost thought Claire was going to let Justin go, wondering if that was a good idea, when, BOOM, he gets an ax to the belly. (Well, the guy did just mention snapping her neck.) Then, Hurley gets told off in Japanese by the leader of the Others for being in the wrong place in the temple. I’d love to know what he said. Once again, great quips by Hurley. Finally, the whole idea of the lighthouse and the mirrors. Wow! That was great! I think I’d be wondering who was watching me and why, just like Jack, although I don’t think I’d be destructive about it. He’s so impulsive!

Now, to my aha moment. I was just doing my thing this morning, making breakfast for the kids, drinking my coffee, when I thought, what if Jin’s name is a clue? I read a book to my kids a while back where the characters encounter a djinn, or as we know, a genie. Then my mind started racing. Our view of genies is associated with smoke, right? Aladdin’s genie was TRAPPED in a lamp, right? I looked genie up on the internet, and the wikipedia site shed a little more light on it. Apparently they can take human form, have free will, and can whisper into your soul. (Although you wouldn’t be able to run from that type of whisper, would you?) If you go on the site, there is a picture of a cave in the middle east that is called Meetingplace of the Jinn . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie What do you think?

Shouldn’t Hurley have had some reaction to the numbers? Is it plausible that he would have missed their correspondence?

@Alex in MD. Michael borrowed a family name of “Walter” to name Walt.

@Yann
I’m still holding out hope that they will relate the numbers to the valenzetti equation. After all, how did the DI get them? I love the f-sides, but I really hope they return to some f-backs to tie up some of these looses ends.

@Yann again
Yes! Smokey tried to manipulate Locke into not pushing the button as this would have destroyed the island. I have been thinking about ways MIB could have manipulated Ben over time with his anonymous, hand-written instructions and lists. In particular, why did Ben tell John that he had failed to push the button and that nothing had happened? A real head-scratcher. But maybe it’s because that’s what he was instructed to do. And how many more instances may there be? An order to kill Locke and bring them all back?

@Steve
Interesting note. Could Pace be a reference to Charlie as well?

Inscribed above the lighthouse reflector: seus siyd dadru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Read backwards, it says “I show not your face but your daddy issues.”

I swore in frustration when Jack destroyed those mirrors.

I believe the people coming to the island are Desmond and special surprise guest, Charles Widmore!

Rich in Cleveland’s theory about Sayid and people getting revived a-la Pet Semetary is fascinating. I think that is spot on. I really want to go back and re-read several Stephen King books now.

The next episode is titled “Sundown”. It makes sense this will complement the corresponding episode in S1: “House of the Rising Sun”.

We can assume that she died in the explosion and was subsequently ‘possessed’ by the smoke monster – slash – Man In Black – slash – unLocke. We can also assume that the body of her dead father was repurposed in much the same fashion. And Sayid’s on his way there.

Smokey enters a dead body and reanimates it. However, upon reanimation, the person retains most of their normal traits. Claire certainly did not act immediately strange, and Sayid so far is exhibiting nothing unusual. So when Smokey first entered Christian’s corpse (in episode one), was he mostly Christian at first? That would add yet another disturbing level in re-watching those first few episodes of Season 1.

And as you mentioned in a prior episode — where does Alex fit in, a form the smoke monster also took in confronting Ben?

When Claire said, “That’s not John. That’s my friend,” it got me worried that Sawyer–who also knew that Locke was not Locke–is already dead and now in the process of being infected. I will be sad if he winds up joining the dark man’s army, but I guess it’s clear now that we are heading for a battle in which not all of the original losties will be on the same side.

The cave is clearly not Jacob’s…this was an example of MIB lying to Sawyer as he lies to Claire. The frantic scrawl on the cave wall–that is MIB trying to keep up with Jacob’s list. But perhaps Sawyer was picked so he can play a on inside the con. In other words, maybe he sees through MIB, becasue it takes a con man to know a con man.

Also, the Incident did not trigger the alt-timeline. The Incident succeeded in bring our time travelers back to the present, thus allowing them to take part in the big battle. The future actions of Jack, Kate, etc (in the final showdown) undo all the bad stuff caused by the island, and triggers the alt-timeline.

In the happily-ever-after timeline, we’ll probably see the following: Kate is acquitted; Locke gets married; Claire has her baby, then meets Jack and his family; Sawyer and Juliet have meet for coffee; Kate and Jack are together.

Still not sure about Adam & Eve. It’s either Jack/Kate, or more likely Jin/Sun. In either case, their actions will occur in the past, and will determine the outcome of the final showdown. If they succeed (which they will), then the island sinks. If they fail, then their bodies will be found in the cave.

One last thing: I’m now convinced that Jacob is good, while MIB is evil. Just look at their “friends”. Jacob is now pals with Hurley (the voice of the fans). MIB is friends with Claire (a crazy, cold-blooded murderer). Whatever doubts we had about who was good/evil, I think its now completely decided.

As I said a few episodes back when we discussed why Jacob went off into that good night like a lamb to slaughter: If Jacob is Obi Wan Kenobi, the mentor slain by his former pupil, then that makes Ben Darth Vader. And, as the leader still, Ben is the only one that can kill the emperor aka MIB. It was just an analogy before, but Hurley has now said it explicitly.

Here are the show titles up till April 20 via the official Lost facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/LOST?ref=ts#!/LOST?v=app_2347471856&ref=ts

Having just caught up with the new Stargate Universe, chock full of in your face movie references, Hurley’s smarty references seemed subtle, but his best line was you broke the lighthouse, mission unaccomplished. So funny.

More references:

Sci Fi Battlestar Galactica had an Eve skeleton too.

In this season’s 24, Bauer took an axe to a baddie as well.

Pretty soon, we’re not going to know which show we’re in.

Two things I dont think anyone brought up yet:

1. Dogen asks Jack if “Austen, Kwon and Ford” will be back (or if he knows where they are, cant remember) anyway, he says their last names, so maybe this points to the fact that the Kwon on the list is Jin and not Sun.

2. In the beginning when Jack is on the phone with his mom – he says that his fathers body was last in Denmark or somewhere in Europe. Why would they send his body the other way around to world to get back to LA? Maybe this was some type of symbolism to show the alternate courses back to “home”?

Just a thought.

Thanks Ryan and Jen – cant wait to hear your thoughts!

If you looked closely at the Chopin score, there was writing on it. It literally said pickup the pace. So funny. I take that as the writers acknowledging most fans’ thirst for resolution. I have scores and scores of scores and all of them are marked in pencil by my teachers and pens, especially red pens are not used. Off topic, but pickup the pace is not written in any of my scores. Maybe ‘presto’ or ‘acclerando’ or ‘faster’, so it seems to me more of a message for everyone.

I wrote down this note while watching: Hurley pulls a Paillin. lol

I wondered (not for the first time) Why does Jack seem to tolerate captivity by the Others so well? I liked how Claire’s name was revealed on the Will.

The turning of the wheel immediately made me think of the Donkey wheel – what if that was the original Lighthouse, sunk with the Island, frozen and resurrected and this current Island has also shifted in time?

I think Hurley is being position as the new Leader no matter who becomes the new Jacob/Essau

Overall I liked the episode, Amazed at all the questions still coming up and a bit confounded on yet more new charachters; David & Dogen-X, the Lighthouse.

I can’t wait to find out the mother of David. I agree, I think it is Juliet and she is away doing research on fertility or something, that she would still be a Burke (a second Marriage – maybe she was unfaithful to Jack ala Sarah?) but is also divorced in this timeline (frees her up to have coffee with Sawyer – sorry I am a bit of a shipper for them!)
Who knows, maybe she’s coming to the Island with Desmond, haha

Can’t wait to check back later for more catches, theories and more.
Namaste

I am wondering if the Shepard that was being watched was Christian, not Jack.

And that Ray told Christian he was being watched by the user of the lighthouse. And knowing that he was being watched, Christian told Jack that “He doesn’t have what it takes” because he didn’t want Jack to be a candidate/recruit.

And candidates are people that Man-In-Locke (or someone with the cabin) can take the form of. That is why in Cabin Fever, the Man-In-Black looked like Christian and now he looks like Locke.

But Jacob used the lighthouse, too, and he realized that Jack was the person that he needed to do whatever it is that Jack will need to do.

So, Jacob touched/designated Jack to get him to come to the island. While it was Man-In-Black’s designation that got Christian to the island.

That is my crack-pot theory and I’m sticking to it.

@Mallory – I like the David is the 23-Shepard on the list except why would it be Jack’s childhood home in mirror and why Jacob so clearly interested in Jack and why wouldn’t David be in the original timeline?

@Anthony Cavallo – I also thought his scar was on the wrong side

@ Crystal and Julian – I agree in your belief it is Desmond coming to the Island and maybe a Desmond centric episode will confirm this

@Brian and others
I agree that the alternate time line is the right one but it doesn’t nullify the previous seasons.

@ Jim – I’ve wondered if Ben was infected, too but Richard (the ‘advisor’) worked to guide him to Jacob’s side

@digidoug – Maybe Smokey’s real name is…… Aaron! He is Claire’s baby (ala Rosemary’s baby) hmmmm

@Rich – I agree, I feel Adam and Eve are Jin and Sun

@ Stefani in MA — I think the four toed statue is presumed to be Colossus of Rhodes. I don’t know that we can “double dip” seven wonders.

I assume several people watched the pop-up Lost from 8-9, but it was interesting that they didn’t divulge at all which Kwon was #42.

And Ryan, I thought the allusion of David saying the music was nobody Jack had heard of was saying “it’s some new band that an old square like you wouldn’t know,” but maybe he was mocking this view of teenagers… after all, Jack now listens to Nirvana and the Pixies and maybe has forsaken his classical music. It sort of suggests that maybe David is the old soul and Jack is the troubled youth. I wondered several times during the episode whether teh David-Jack relationship was similar to the Jack-Christian relationship, but now I wonder if there is an inversion, and David:Jack::Christian:Roy (to use SAT conventions). We’ve alluded to the book “World’s End” before, and if you haven’t read it you might enjoy it. There are many themes of the similarities and differences between generations in a family.

As Ryan mentioned, the mirrors have played a big part in Season 6 so far. Are they the mechanism that connect the Island world with the sideways world? As the worlds start to merge, will island faces stare back at sideways faces?

Why did Claire recognize MIB as her friend? Hasn’t he only been in his body for a short time? What does she see when she looks at him?

I liked this episode a lot but am worried that we continue to get more questions and few answers…..

Claire FREAKED me out. I thought Jin played it as well as he could to survive that encounter, but she was scary. What’s interesting is how she immediately recognized Unlocke as her “friend.” Clearly smokey must have come to her in some different form before, and I am assuming that must be Christian.

I think that the:
Temple Sanctuary are the Gardens of Babylon
The 4 Toes Statue is the Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Not sure about the other ones…
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
Temple of Artemis
Pyramids of Giza

Though Mausoleum reminds me of the LA Funeral Home…

On another subject, I took it that smokey is stuck in Locke because Jacob is dead, it seems to coincide…

also, this string of sentences–
Why wouldn’t the metaphorical father make his will clear to us, or at least, “give it to his lawyer?” In slang, a lawyer is often a mouthpiece, the one who speaks for the man behind the curtain. This is obviously a comment on the way Jacob handles things.
–is bonkers.

i thought this was an A+ episode. More ‘show’ than last week’s ‘tell’.
but then i read things like this and understand the misunderstanding in the world a little bit more.

ps. lighthouse wheel so trumps cave scribbles!

and pps. i too think the side-flash is the happily ever after of lost.

The other thought I had was that the transition sound (the flashback woosh) could be the mirror moving into position…

The “loophole” is that the man in black (UnLocke, Smokey) was able to take over Jacob’s form after Ben killed him. Therefore the ghost of Jacob talking to Hurley is really the man in black! He appears as Jacob to manipulate the timeline so he can ultimately escape. I think LOST is melting my brain… Aaaauurgh!

I have come to the conclusion that Jin and Sun will become Adam and Eve brought back to the forefront tonight. Jin is being unwillingly swept along toward the darkness just as he was when caught in the typhoon tide. Neither is Sun the most eager participant, following the lead of others back to the temple based on the promise of once again finding her constant. Their respective alignments seem fixed. But which one is the candidate? What if the trick in this instance is that they are both the candidate, joined together as one at the very moment Jacob touches them? They become the replacements for dark and light simultaneously.

Maybe all the pre-episode talk of Stephen King stayed with me through the episode, but the scenes with Claire reminded me of both “Misery” with Jin as her disabled victim and “The Shining” the way she madly wielded that ax. Heeeeeeeere’s Claire.

Once again, Claire’s mock baby insinuated the dehumainzation that will result if the infection is allowed to spread. The skull was not homo sapien, but seemed to have a more pronounced lower jaw like Australopithecus for example. A piece of leather was laid over the face and then the object was given buttons for eyes as in Coraline. This also reminds me of the great scene in Jaws when Quint describes the shark as having doll’s eyes, an entity existing in that grey area between life and death. God help us all if the next generation carries Esau’s darkness off the island into the outside world. And this is where Aaron becomes so central to either restoring the cycle of life or ushering in a concluding darkness.

The search for Christian’s will provided another great symbolic parallel. Why wouldn’t the metaphorical father make his will clear to us, or at least, “give it to his lawyer?” In slang, a lawyer is often a mouthpiece, the one who speaks for the man behind the curtain. This is obviously a comment on the way Jacob handles things. He’s kept Richard Alpert, his annointed leader, Ben, and all his candidates completely int the dark. But the missing document that we haven’t seen, the book of laws will turn up shortly.

On last week’s podcast, someone commented on smokey’s curiosity about alcohol with Sawyer. In my opinion, that’s not the point of that scene. Rather, it was yet another repetition of either a drink shared or a drink refused. In “The Lighthouse” Jin shares the drink offered by Claire which indicates, if not allegiance, at least sympathy with the tendered proposition. Widmore’s refusal to drink with Desmond is perhaps the best example of this. (BTW–McCutheon’s in Jack’s mom’s liquor cabinet!)
Tea–now there’s a gentleman’s drink. What was fascinating about smokey was that he didn’t appear to want to have anything to do with Sawyer’s offered drink, but he did ultimately share it in the most minimal fashion.

That’s more than enough for now though there’s so much more. This episode was full of easter eggs and I loved Jack’s charcter development and interaction with his son.

Defend the island.

@Fernando…yeah i guess that’s true..the thing i’m worried more about now is all the characters that have become my favorite seem to be on team smokey and i dont know how to feel about that lol