“Everybody Loves Hugo” brought some memorable moments, from touching to downright shocking. We got a good dose of pyrotechnics, and a surprisingly blunt explanation to the perennial mystery of “the whispers.” Once again we saw some of our characters part ways, but we also saw our candidates come together sooner than we’d anticipated. And perhaps in keeping with the inherent intensity of this final season, this Hurley-centric episode was fortunately not overloaded with comic relief. Yet, on the heels of an epic Richard Alpert tale and a brain-busting Desmond episode, this week’s entry felt more like the sharp intake of breath before a grand declaration, a mechanically necessary repositioning of game pieces for the few chapters remaining ahead.
On the island, Unlocke unpacks a little bit more of his game plan… or at least fleshes out his cover story. The candidates’ return to the island was possible only together, and so then must they be reunited to leave. I’ve been wondering if Widmore’s return was to exploit the island, rather than to do the right thing… but now that Unlocke says Widmore is only after power, I’m more inclined to think he might actually be trying to save the world, after all. It seemed telling when Unlocke agreed with Desmond that the island had it in for everyone. And UnLocke, of course, had it in for Desmond. The way Terry O’Quinn’s face twitched moments before pushing Desmond down the magnetic well sent shivers down Jen’s spine. But despite Desmond’s fall, I’m confident we’re not quite done with our favorite Scottsman.
I enjoyed Hurley’s double bluff, first pretending to back Richard’s plan (only to blow the Black Rock to bits), then pretending to get direction from Jacob. It was great to see Richard called him on the ruse (“Jacob never tells us what to do”), and to see Hurley still play it cool. And in terms of repeating themes and scenarios, we again see sides chosen, and a group dividing in the forest. Miles and Ben follow Alpert, while Jack, Sun, and Frank follow Hurley. It’s a nice coincidence that Hurley’s fellow candidates chose to go with him, and that doesn’t bode well for what may be our last splinter group.
Jen is definitely warming up to Jack, though I’m not sure how to read his turn in this episode. He also knew Hurley was bluffing, but still went along with him because he’s concluded it’s time to trust other people. There are some things he can’t fix. That’s a good lesson for control-freak Jack, I suppose, but the epiphany sounds very similar to the one he had in Season 5. During his DHARMA days, he decided not to act, but rather wait for his moment. That didn’t turn out so well, so… now he’s going to take even less initiative? That’s not going to work, since Jacob told Hurley that Jack indeed has something he needs to do.
Michael’s return was odd. It provided some catharsis in his apology to Hurley, but the big “reveal” seemed really underplayed. Tonight, Hurley suddenly concludes that “the whispers” are essentially the voices of the dead “who can’t move on,” and Michael says he’s right. Is that it? The island is purgatory, after all? Over the past five seasons, there seemed to be some significance to when and where the whispers were heard (by people who don’t otherwise have communion with the dead), and a fair amount of theorizing was based on meticulous transcripts of what they were saying. My favorite theories involved DHARMA experiments or some other group of “observers,” or maybe a side-effect of time travel (or even the flash-sideways). I’m hoping there’s more to them, but probably not.
Even odder was the abrupt departure of Ilana. Kudos to the writers for avoiding another Arzt joke, but her death certainly frustrates people like me, who had just begun to accept that this “new character” was key to the bigger picture through her off-island connection to Jacob. The writers even let Ben comment on this curious development. But, he concludes, the island was merely done with her, and it will likely soon be done with everyone. We’re definitely sensing a theme, here.
And what to make of Miles? He finally has another conversation with Hurley about talking to dead people, but his own expertise is not even mentioned. And while Hurley seems to conclude that “dead people are more reliable” than the living, I’m wondering why Hurley isn’t more skeptical. His first reaction to Michael seemed the natural one. But something changed Hurley’s mind, and led him to blow up the Black Rock. What was in the bag he found in the camp? And while trying to blow up the plane was a plan that was apparently going to get everyone killed, walking right into Locke’s camp was also a heck of a gamble.
Their arrival was, in fact, foretold by Unlocke when he told Sawyer, “There’s a difference between doing nothing and waiting.” He knew the other candidates would come to him. And I was glad to see both groups reunited tonight, though. I’d assumed we’d have to wait for the finale. Can Sun and Jin’s reunification be put off much longer?
For those clamoring for a resolution to the Libby storyline, the flash-sideways in “Everybody Loves Hugo” brings direct relief. It doesn’t explain how she came to be in the institution with Hurley in the original timeline, but who cares? It was worth it to see Hurley struck by lightning in the Mexican restaurant, and to see him finally see “the truth” on their long-delayed picnic on the beach. In some respects, the flash-sideways felt like one giant checkmark on the long list of “LOST” mysteries. But Jorge Garcia and especially Cynthia Watros sold it. The date was nice, but I was actually a bit misty-eyed during the rec room scene when Libby again heard that Hurley had no memory of her. It’s hard to imagine what depth her character might have brought to the show had Libby survived beyond Season Two.
The final scene, though, was a hell of a twist. The tension was built masterfully, with Ben rightfully suspicious of a man staking out a school parking lot, and Desmond’s fixation on Locke as he wheeled his way past. Then, bam! Locke is flat on his back, in shock. I was half expecting the scene to close with a close up of his toes.
It is curious, though, that Desmond was content to subtly suggest that Hurley go with his instincts in his curiosity about Libby, but then decides to take a much more direct role in Locke’s introduction to “the truth.” Whereas Hurley’s connection with Libby echoes the “love” invoked for Charlie and Claire (and Desmond and Penny, and Daniel and Charlotte), poor Locke had to get the “near death experience” treatment instead. Presumably, “love” would be less effective for Locke, given his good relationship with Helen in the flash-sideways, but… how would Desmond know? And how is he, so far, picking out our island survivors from among the hundreds of presumably innocent or uninvolved people aboard Oceanic 815?
Notes and Notions:
- The opening slideshow, narrated by Dr. Pierre Chang, was fun. It seemed to include a few real-world photos of Jorge Garcia. He got his dog, Nunu, onto “LOST” via the shot of him in front of the Hawaiian Humane Society (its logo clearly visible). And I’d bet those were real baby pictures, too.
- I liked how even “lucky” Hurley was intimidated by talking to women, a trait that goes back to Starla at the record store in Season Two. I don’t know what happened to his blind date, Rosalita, but it was also nice to hear that Grandpa Tito is apparently still around in the flash-sideways.
- Jen loved how subtly Henry Ian Cusick played the faint moment of confusion after Desmond immediately came up with the name “Charlie” for his son when confronted by Ben.
- It’s a small thing, but I love how one of the extras (a long-haired Asian woman) looked perplexed in the scene where Hurley meets Desmond in the Mr. Cluck’s restaurant. Hurley yells, “What?” And we see her clearly reacting as if Hurley might be yelling at her, rather than Desmond. A lot of times, background extras in scenes are a little too oblivious to the action we’re watching. It was a nice touch.
- The creepy boy, who Desmond saw, is back to haunting Unlocke. His smile was disconcerting, taunting, in the same vein of his earlier admonition, “You know the rules. You can’t kill him.” The more we see of him, the more he seems like a young Jacob. Gloating Jacob.
- After Locke’s “Blow Up Everything That Can Get Us Off The Island Tour,” tonight we had the “Blow Up Everything (and Everyone) That Can Blow Up Everything That Can Get Us Off The Island Tour.”
- What is Unlocke the Wood Whisperer carving? Claire already has a crib for her scary squirrel baby. Part of me would like to see him recreate Mr. Eko’s carved “Jesus Stick.”
- Looks like Richard’s back to declaring, “We’re dead, we’re all dead!”
- Books: The Russian book Hurley found among Ilana’s belongings was “Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Wikipedia says it is considered by many to be the world’s first existentialist novel.
- Locations: The awards ceremony was filmed at the Koolau Golf Club/First Presbyterian Church in Kaneohe. The “fajita fieldtrip” to Spanish Johnny’s was filmed at Bandito’s Cantina at Pearlridge. The Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute was again the YWCA on Richards Street downtown, and Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack was again the Popeye’s Chicken on Dillingham Boulevard. The beach where Hurley and Libby had their date was the west end of Ala Moana Park. And the parking lot where Desmond met Ben and hit Locke was August Elementary School in Waipahu. And, of course, the slideshow included shots of the Hawaiian Humane Society, the Honolulu Zoo, and the box company exterior at Gentry Pacific Design Center.
What did you think? We’d love your thoughts for our podcast. Please comment below, and share your reaction, thoughts, theories and theories with fellow fans. Or, you can email us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or call the LOSTline at (815) 310-0808.
After “ELH” I am sincerely concerned that Lost is truly lost. I have been a huge fan for six years. Lost resonated with me in many ways, that I could relate to, however, S6 is not what I hoped it would be.
I agree that ELH was lack luster, as were the prior episodes, with the exception of LA_X. I am tired of the easter eggs,…at this point I want answers, and not silly explanations to the them, i.e., whispers = ghosts. That was almost as lacking intellectual acuity as was the explanation from the writers that the reason there were no babies was due to the bomb! What???? Give me a break.
If Darlton does not soon pull a literal rabbit out of their collective hats, I am going to roll up into a ball, and cry. No haters please. It’s just my opinion,…
I seem to recall the producers saying at one point that the direction and purpose of the whispers had been changed. So that could account for some of the problems being brought up.
@Carol (and others) I hope and pray that in the end Sayid will be saved from his dark evil self. I would hate that the writers would maintain that the Middle Eastern dude was the bad guy to the very in the end.
@Ryan—great recap.
So, the question at the end of the episode is this: Did Des run over sideways Locke to promote Locke to have memories of the island world OR did Des run over sideways Locke to actually kill him. I am wondering if killing Locke (sideways or otherwise) may have been a mission for sometime—perhaps it was known that the MiB would take him over. The evidence?: When his mother was preggers, she herself was run over but the premie survived. Maybe the reason why Richard visited young Locke for that test was to see if MiB was “in” him yet and when Locke picked up the knife, Richard got his scary answer. So, maybe Des ran over sideways Locke to prevent or loosen MiB’s hold on him.
I keep going back to the first season—which this season is suppose to mirror—and I keep remembering that scene where Locke and Walk are playing backgammon and Locke tells Walt “Do you want to know a secret?” and we never hear the answer. I think the second that 815 crashed MiB started to worm his way into controlling Locke.
oh, and let me add…maybe we’ll find out that it was Des who ran over Locke’s mother when he was in eutero! (With Daniel riding shotgun!)
@ lucydog ~ I agree about Sayid — not very PC — and good points re: Locke: perhaps both Jacob and MIB were courting him from birth on? And when Richard saw him pick the knife, he grew concerned!
Desmond is doing everything pretty purposefully now; so I would imagine he is either trying to stop MIB in his tracks, or to transform Locke to a previous more positive state through near-death where he can “see” the truth
@J in NH
The boy actually isn’t holding a stick. He is in a grove of samplings and is holding one, but when he turns and runs away the stick/tree stays behind.
Whomever the boy is, MIB isn’t very fond of seeing him. He is clearly unsettled by him and tells Desmond to ignore him before walking quickly in the other direction. The boy seems quite amused by MIB’s discomfort.
I am hanging with Charlie from the Island. The new and enlightened Charlie was as a result of us hanging out too much. The Dharma Magna-Java is a bit tart but loaded up. Claire tried to car-jack us on the way to the Museum. We managed to escape unharmed.
Holy Freakin’ Tamales!
Ok, the Black Rock exploded to bits and pieces.
Conspiracy Theory #1,251,511: Hurley found a stash of Dharma Black Bean Burritos and didn’t tell anyone about it.
Me starting to re-think the whole MIB = Smokey = Bad Guy. After all, isn’t Smokey called Cerebus, protector of the Island?
I wonder if Jacob really is “Deceiver”. Is there a twist up ahead in the road?
This doesn’t really apply to this episode but I was just rewatching Walkabout and this stood out to me. About 20 seconds into this clip I swear that it sounds like the smoke monster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGQ7hEAFMs&NR=1
What you guys think?
Since season 1 we noted that when characters change they tend to perish… Jack letting go, Hurley being confident, Sawyer caring for people, Desmond ok with being on island, Ben … Well… Not totally committed to island and being leader…etc… I think you see where I’m heading.
Wow – Illana blew up! I had to rewind and watch twice! That was so coolly unexpected 🙂 I’ll miss her tho.
Double WOW! Des runs over Sideways Locke. Sorta sad because I <3 Locke, or love hoping his luck will pan out in some lifetime. That Locke didn't deserve a hit and run, but I do admit that part of me was cheering Desmond on when he hit the gas (no one shoves Des down a well!)
The whispers reveal didn't bother me. At this point I have one less thing to ponder over.
I think the sideways selves will save the on-islanders. Don't know how but it's up to them to make the final stand.
As soon as I saw that shot of 4 sticks of crystallizing dynamite at the bottom of Illana’s bag, I knew the dynamite, she and whoever was near her was going to blow. Also, she was in such a foul mood, as she often was, so peremptory and aggressive, I was sure she was going to be as thoughtful, considerate and delicate with it as she was with the people around her.
I was surprised to see her go, nonetheless. I figure the narrative couldn’t support her backstory. What is her relationship with Jacob? Training all her life to protect candidates? Why didn’t that include a little common sense when it came to handling explosives? I doubt we’ll ever hear of her or her history except perhaps through implication. the writers were done with her, as was the island.
In the early years of Lost, there was always talk in the narrative and among the fans or the island and its nature. In what ways was it more than an inanimate foundation of rock and soil, with plants, animals and people living off it? Did it have a consciousness, even a will? Much later, after moving it to protect it, the narrative has moved to focusing on Jacob and MIB, away from focusing on the island.
We’re now being directed again to renew our acquaintance with the mystery of the island alone. It began with seeing it submerged (thud) and continued in Ab Aeterno, a little, with island as inanimate cork and continued to Illana’s death and Ben’s portentous remark, something like, ‘What’ll happen to us when the island is done with us?’. Rather a self-absorbed comment, too, remembering his emotional confession to Illana and her generous support of him. I thought they were going to become close. Maybe in the sideways. Nah, probably not. Ben’s more likely to get it on with Alex’s mother. I think the narrative is done with Illana, but she presents a worthy spinoff.
Now that Desmond is going around changing the consciousness of both our fortunate and unfortunate Losties, I wonder how the thought of him sits with Eloise. Violation! In the black, nihilistic, graphic novel spinoff of Lost, Desmond will crown his achievements with a violation of her.
So Widmore now is shaping up to be a “good” guy… Yet, in previous seasons he was cruel to Desmond, and worse hired Keamy to kill Ben, Danielle, Carl, Alex, and others — so what gives?? Is Ben going to stay redeemed and “make-up” with Charles?
So now it is confirmed that Sun is the candidate, rather than Jin?
There is speculation that Desmond could be Jacobs son and that’s what makes him special. If this is true, there is a mirror image to the bible, because Jacob’s son, Joseph gets thrown down the well because his brothers are annoyed with him being special.
Did the actress playing Ilana get in trouble for drunk driving or something ? What an abrupt exit to the show.
We have to get pre-shot scenes of young Walt. They have to have that up their sleeves. Then we will all know that they have thought this out from the start.
ANSWERS
They said that there would be no time travel… There was. They said that the island was not Limbo/Purgatory… and it is for some. They said that there are no aliens from space… we’ll see. If we guessed correctly at any of the answers in the past, did we expect them to tell us that we were right? No way. It’s everything we could possibly guess and then some, because let’s face it, we’ve guessed everything from every plot we’ve ever come across in TV movies and literature. then some of us shout , ” I knew it ! How predictable !”
Yeah, right.
Wow what a great episode
Spoilers*
Blowing up a character within the first 2 minutes was definitely mind (dare i say) BLOWING :).
I read below someone mentioning that the young boy smiling at UnLocke could be Desmond. I feel the same way. We dont know much about Desmonds past and if it is so i wouldnt deny it as a possibility
Maybe it comes down to a Trinity rather than Duality – a LOST take on The Father (Jacob), The Son (MiB) and the Holy Ghost (Island). Just a thought.
Earlier in the thread, EricFromOhio drew a connection between Lost and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (or “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” if you prefer the book title). He mentioned that the child who followed the rules was rewarded with paradise. I didn’t think about this until he mentioned it, but Willy Wonka is another fantastic literary parallel to Lost.
Willy Wonka sent out the golden tickets in hopes of finding his replacement. All of the ticket-holders were “candidates.” Charlie did break the rules. He stole an Everlasting Gobstopper to give to Slugworth. But…he confessed his crime, and gave the Gobstopper back to Wonka, and THAT is why Wonka passed the torch to him.
Ok, I got it.
Let’s say that Man in Black/Esau/Unlocke/Devil/Smokie/Evil/Bad Karma/Dead Wood Guy/Jacob’s Twin/Genie in a Bottle/Flocke/Man in Locke
Hang on a minute. I think I just fried the “slash” key on my laptop just now. Sorry, this theory will have to wait. It was my ‘magnum opus’ of theories.
Yes, I was gonna call it the SlashForward Conjecture.
Morn’in from the East Lost fans 🙂 Another quickie thought, cause work is looming large again today…
We are all speculating that Jacbo needs a replacement and that someone will have to sacrifice his life/time/love/ambitions/sideways reality/whatever (I see your point @gene e) in order to keep MIB on the Island.
Could there be another solution? What if there is another way that will ‘bottle’ the evil and break the cycle of the Island or MIB needing a guardian?
If the Island is underwater maybe there will be no need for a Jacob replacement.
I agree that the reveal of what the whispers are was the lowest point of an otherwise great episode. But I was bewlidered by Jack’s explanation of why he went with Hurley too, though. It sounded really lame to me.
My question is this: If there are two boys appearing mysteriously on the island, why can’t Alpert see them?
Another great episode of Lost, too few left….
Something I haven’t seen being discussed is MIBs statement to Sawyer that they weren’t sitting around doing nothing, they were waiting for the rest of the candidiates to arrive. Doesn’t this imply that MIB had a hand in the turn of events that brought the candidates to him instead of destroying the plane? What does this say about whether Micheal the Island Whisperer should be trusted?
I found the little smile that Desmond has when he is running over Locke to be very revealing. If he was doing a ‘necessary evil’ to a wheelchair bound man to trigger a memory recall I doubt he would have smiled. After all, from just the FSW perspective John Locke is another name on the manifest. So he must have insight into who Locke is on the Island and that he likes to push ‘brothas’ down the well.
Is Desmond the new Jacob? He’s acting a lot like Jacob acted when he appeared to our LOSTies at key moments. And maybe sideways Locke is MIB, and that’s why Dez killed him– maybe he did actually make it off the island, but with another outcome than anticipated. E.g., like the devil, maybe he’s subtly doing evil in the world, versus destroying the whole world in a blatant fashion.
@Coolpeace – I agree that Jacob may have two plans in motion.
First, he has cast a wide net to bring a large number of Candidates to the island. These Candidates cannot be killed directly by MIB, but can die by other means. Thus, Jacob has trained another group of people (ie Ilana) to protect these Candidates. Jacob’s apparent goal is simply to find his successor as the island’s jailer. And the cycle continues.
Meanwhile, MIB is still trying to escape the island, still looking for the loopholes.
So Jacob’s second, larger plan is to try to defeat MIB once and for all. Presumably, this will somehow involve sinking the island at some point in the past. This is what Jacob referred to when he said “It only ends once. Everything else is just progress.”
I love the irony in the John Locke character: As the O.G. John Locke, he spends all his energy trying to stay on the island; as the Fronting John Locke, he spends all his energy trying to get off the island.
Just for the record, here is a post I did back in February
# paintergirl1 Says:
February 17th, 2010 at 4:39 am
“Here is my husband’s theory. Good for a laugh!
According to MiB, Jacob has been looking for a replacement. Perhaps, Jacob is really … wait for it … Willy Wonka! Take a look at the parallels.
Jacob = Willy Wonka
MiB = Slugworth
Jack = Charlie
Christian = Grandpa Joe
Kate = Varuca
Sun = Violet
Sawyer = Mike
Hurley = Augustus
Apollo Bars = Scrum Diddly Umptious Bars
Others = Oompa Loompas
Sorry. My husband and I had a really good laugh over this last night, and I thought you all might enjoy it 🙂 !”
Ha! He called it!!
The ending to this episode was a total shocker. At first I thought Desmond had to kill John Locke in order to prevent The Man in Black’s consciousness from travelling to the flash-sideways timeline and thus getting “off the island”. However, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I buy that he was just trying to deliver a “near-death-experience” to shock John into seeing his other self. This concept got me thinking about Sun’s sudden declaration of being pregnant in the episode The Package. Since it is unlikely that Jin is somehow not sterile in the flash sideways — that’s not a life choice like most of the other changes we’ve seen — it doesn’t seem possible that Jin and Sun could become pregnant without going to the island. More likely, Sun’s being shot has been her “near death experience” and allowed her to have a flash of her pregnancy in the alternate timeline. Thoughts?
The characters are so focused on the Ajira flight and the sub as the only ways off the island that they’ve all forgotten that The Others had three boats in good working order that must still be there
1) the little fishing boat that they used to kidnap Walt in ‘Exodus’
2) the big trawler that they used to travel to and from Hydra island (as seen in ‘Stranger In a Strange Land’)
3) The Elizabeth, Desmond’s sail boat boat that they stole in ‘The Glass Ballerina’ and hasn’t been seen since
Maybe the fishing boat would be too small to take Smokie and all the candidates off the island, but the other two would do the job fine, and be a lot easier to take than a jumbo jet or a high-tech submarine.
Do you think it’s more a case of the writers forgotting about these boats than the characters?
Here goes:
‘Incident on 57th Street’ references Spanish Johnny AND dynamite. It specifically says Spanish Johnny was ‘dressed like dynamite’. Ilana dressed herself in dynamite. I’ll not insult your intelligence by pointing out theuse of the word INCIDENT.
‘Spirit in the Night’ is Michael when he explains to Hurley that he is a (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT!!!!
’10th Avenue Freeze Out’ is the first of two puns. Sawyer’s failure to get Smokie to confide in him is telling. I think we can safely say that this is THE ’10th Have You Been Freezed Out?’ for Sawyer.
‘Growin’ Up’ is the boy in the jungle/woods/bamboo forest/etc.
‘Saint in the City’ – Our benevolent philanthropist Hurley? Cupids assistant Desmond?
‘E Street Shuffle’ – Sorry, you don’t have the required security level status for this particular disclosure.
‘Born to Run’ … Kate, anyone? Anyone?
‘Thunder Road’ – This may be a strech, but I believe that it’s a pun. Thunder Rowed. Get it? The outrigger chase? What? Not this episode? Are you sure? Really sure? Really?
‘New York City Serenade’. Yet to be decoded. We have top men working on it right now. Top. Men.
‘Kitty’s Back’ is a shout out to all the Shrodinger’s Cat fans. (He should have used a RED HERRING!!!!)
‘Rosalita’ was supposed to be Hurley’s date.
‘4th of July Asbury Park’ – Theorized date of the V/FlashForward/Heroes/Lost crossover episode. Oops! SPOILER ALERT!!!! TOO LATE!!!!
‘A Love So Fine’ represents the relationships of Sun/Jin, Sawyer/Juliette, Hurley/ Abby, etc., et al.
‘Sha La La’ has yet to be decifered.
‘Quarter To Three’ is the exact time that school is dismissed. Voila!
Sorry. I did that on my Blackberry. There is a bootleg of a 1975 Bruce Springsteen concert in Providence RI. The set list was used as a basis in my preceding post. Me thumbs is tired.
I forgot that Michael and Walt took the little boat when they left in ‘Live Together, Die Alone’. Oops. But my point still stands re: the two bigger boats.
Chris – I ALWAYS look forward to reading your intelligent in-depth analysis of our favorite TV show’s episodes. (Made more so this week by quoting me! lol.) Seriously, thanks for the shout-out. I consider it a great compliment coming from you. Alas, my eyes have been trying to close on me for over an hour now… working nights can have its perks and its pecks. But I’ll be sure to come back later to comment on this week… so much stuff to think about.
“What’s that Vincent… You say Desmond is stuck down a well?”
I’d love to take credit for that one but it’s from some screen name Miles. I read it on another blog. Too funny not to share tho!
I was blown away by this episode, and all of the surprises we were handed…HFC! Did anyone notice the blonde girl with her back to us in Hugo’s restaurant when Desmond came to talk to Hurley? She had long blonde hair and was wearing scrubs. I have no doubt in my mind that it was Juliette. Did anyone else see her? The other part that I wanted to talk about was John Locke getting hit by Desmond’s car. I wonder if John had to get hit so that Jack could get his hands on him, operate, and make him walk. Somehow, that may stop Unlocke from escaping the island. I am definately not as smart as some of you figuring out this show and I love to read your reactions. I said it before, and I will say it again, I have no idea what I am going to do when this show ends, but I sure cannot wait to see what happens. Thanks Jen and Ryan for your hard work and all of you for your comments and thoughts. I love it.
When Locke asks Desmond “Do you know who I am?” and Desmond responds by saying “Of course, you’re John Locke”, I dismissed it as nothing more than just plain recognition. Then I started wondering why Locke decided to throw Desmond down a well. I think in that moment MIB realized Des was brought back to the timelines straight, which probably meant that in the end Locke lives. If Locke lives, no more smokey. Just a thought.
I’m curious about the ‘everyone-has-to-do-it-together’ element. Meaning, for the O6 to get back to the island, they all had to get on the plane and mimic the original flight as closely as possible (Hurley w/ the guitar, Jack with a dead body…). Now, MIB is waiting for everyone, so they can get off the island. I keep hearing repeated something the lines of “we have to do it together, or it won’t work.” Is there something to this “together” concept hat applies to the differing timelines, too? As in, will the losties actions “together” ultimately decide which timeline they end up in?
In other words, can they all together only pick one or the other? We don’t know, I know. But I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight? Thoughts?
…something *along* the lines of…
@Mimi — Miles put that on this board. I laughed too. Awesome Lassie reference.
Okay, we’re set for Zombie Season, see my comment above.
Or how about Let’s hear it for a Grand Vampire finish! I mean V’s are hot right now (no not the countdown clock variety!)
evidence:
1.Locke is widdling a stick,
2. instead of blood, Jacob drains the life force of his victims, taking their potentially fulfulling lives (FSW or the non-interferrred-with-by-Jacob-Life) to sustain his own.
proposal:
This is MiB’s back up plan – if a candidate proceeds to replacing Jacob, he gets one of the non-candidates (like Lapidus, Miles etc) to use this special weapon against the newly arisen “Jacob” thus ending the cycle of Jacob’s eternal life and freeing him to live a natural life cycle to it’s end.
@bronco
I had the same thought regarding Michael. MIB tells Sawyer that they have to wait for the other candidates to come to them. Sawyer comments that he doesn’t see it happening, but sure enough they show up at the end as if summoned. Now, if I recall correctly, Michael doesn’t tell them to find Locke, only tells Hurley where he is. Still, I wonder about the authenticity of Michael as ghost.
@Rusty. I’m not sure that sinking the island is the end game. We keep being told that the sideways time line is “wrong”. That was certainly Charlie’s message. If the island is sunk in the sideways world, how does that make sinking the island in the “real” world a good ending?
This raises an interesting question. We are told that if MIB leaves the island everyone will cease to exist. Where is MIB in the sideways world? If he is on the sunken island and bottled up, why try to undue that time line? If the sinking of the island signifies that he got off, why hasn’t the sideways world begun to spin out of control? Clearly our characters haven’t disappeared in that world and many are in a pretty good place.
My theory is that Jacob and MIB only exist in any meaningful way in the primary time line. If MIB gets off the island, both the flash sideways and the primary world are destroyed, and MIB can only be bottled up and/or destroyed in the primary time line. Characters is the sideways world can’t impact him by bottling him up in that world. In other words, the sunken island in the flash sideways does not represent a solution to the MIB problem in that world. It just reflects that the island got nuked and sunk.
I keep thinking of “live together or die alone” and what it means for the candidates.
@gene impressive blackberry skills!
@dizzydeni – I just rewatched the part of the episode where Hurley is in Mr. Cluck’s. That sure could be Juliette, but I couldn’t tell for sure. I hadn’t even noticed her in my original viewing of the show. I also agree wtih your comment about how some people are very astute at figuring this show out., or at least coming up with theories. I’m lost most of the time.
@John and Bronco – the puzzling thing about the sunken island to me, is that it is perfectly intact, which means it wasn’t blown up. So how did it sink? Remember how in season 4 the whole island just disappeared in the finale and appeared to just disappear in the water? Maybe that is when it happened and the people on the island were already time traveling so it wasn’t sunken when they were on it? How do we know what the current year or time it is on the island now? Did the people in the temple ever flash or was it only the losties? Why only them? Maybe they all flashed to before the island sunk because of Ben and the Donkey Wheel, remember when Ben flashed he went forward in time several months. So island time and non-island time are different.
Do I sound confused? Because I am.
@carol
That is what I am thinking. THat when the island “disappeared” the first time, it didn’t so much as vanish as “bloop” and drop under the water. So, I do think that turning the donkey wheel has something do do with the first scene of this episode—the scene where we saw the island underwater.
I want to see Rose and also Mr. Eko before it all ends.
MT Breeze & @dizzydeni – While it is very possible that the producers/directors/writers/etc wanted us to “think” that the blonde in Mr. Clucks was Julliette, I don’t believe it was. Here is why.
I looked at the scene frame by frame, and although at the normal frame rate it is almost impossible to see anything other than a flash, the woman walks right in front of Hurley while he is eating. Good profile shot and I don’t believe it is Elizabeth Mitchell. The camera of course is focused on Hurley so the woman is out of focus and blury, but again, it sure doesn’t look to me like it is her.
Again, a very good possibility that in some future episode they will show the woman in Mr. Clucks again and it WILL be Elizabeth Mitchell playing the part of Julliette, but in this one, nope, don’t think so.
That was quite an episode! I have to say my first thought when Unlocke/MIB said to Sayid after throwing Desmond down the well we don’t have to worry about Desmond anymore was that Sayid was not happy about that. Something in my gut makes me thing Sayid is playing along with MIB. Don’t write Sayid off as a zombie yet! He may surprise us all. The bag that Hurley picked up – definitely the ashes of Jacob. And Desmond had a hateful look on his face when he hit Locke with the car. That’s just not like the Desmond we know. Something’s up there. I have this sinking feeling also that everyone is going to have to die on the island in order to set things right back in the sideways reality. I guess we’ll know in a few weeks. I’m really looking forward to how they plan to end this fantastic mystery!
@LReene – Thanks for your input on a possible Elizabeth Mitchell (aka: Juliette) sighting in this episode.
I think you’re right that it’s a good possibiility we will see her in a future episode for that dutch coffee date with Sawyer, but for now……we wait. 🙂
“Transmission” listener Wine Country Liz sent us a great “LOST” song parody. It’s called “Flash Sideways.” Give it a listen!
http://w.ry.ly/post/525208555/flashsideways
Is it possible that Desmond will become the new smoke monster? Perhaps MiB also had the ability to withstand magnetic fields when he was human, but was persuaded to sacrifice his “body and humanity” by Jacob, and through constant exposure over a period of time in the well became Smokie. Possibly he threw Desmond in the well, to transform him -to become his replacement, and Widmore wanted the same, because they needed a second Smokie to keep MiB at bay. JUst a theory.
Also, I still wonder if FLashsideways Locke is really Locke or MiB. Perhaps that is why he didn’t want Jack to examine him. Guess we’ll find out soon.