Notes on "LOST" episodes after mid-season 3 break

3.17 Update

Previously I’ve speculated that there may be an indigenous group on the island who the Dharma Initiative branded as “hostiles”. Mikhail claimed that the Dharma Initiative workers were wiped out, but perhaps he was mincing words. It seems obvious to me that the group that’s been called “the Others” have been continuing the work that was started by the DI (or, at the very least, they’ve been benefitting from it). But perhaps the reason Mikhail doesn’t think of himself or the rest of “the Others” as part of the Dharma Initiative is based on a technicality… perhaps the objective or the leadership of the project changed as a result of the “war” and, thus, the DI technically no longer exists. (That said, Mikhail did claim that the “sonic fencing” no longer worked when it clearly did, so he could just have been lying about everything he said.)

Let’s assume for the moment, though, that there was an insurgency against the original DI group and that it resulted in the DI ceasing to exist for all practical purposes.

One possible scenario that would fit these facts:

An indigenous group on the island that was, perhaps, cooperative at first with the DI later decided that the DI was a problem. Ben, then a teenager, rebelled against the DI and allied with the indigenous group in order to overthrow the project. “The Hostiles” were successful and this ended the DI as it existed up to that point, but Ben and his allies were still interested in a few of the DI studies and objectives. Having control of the island put Ben and his allies in an excellent bargaining position from which they could negotiate to acquire certain resources, including the continuation of the supply drops. Thus, even though the DI has technically ceased to exist, many of its functions continue.

The leader of the indigenous group might be Jacob. This group may control (or otherwise be connected to) the black smoke. Perhaps they are the reason the black smoke didn’t even try to go over the “sonic fence” when the monster was after Juliet and Kate.

It could be that, presently, the alliance between Ben and Jacob is not entirely stable. In the debate between science and faith, Ben strikes me as the science type, while I imagine that Jacob will be a “man of faith”. I don’t think the two groups are presently at war with one another, but I just have a hunch that if everything else I’m suggesting is correct, their relationship is a tense one.

I’m also wondering if Jacob is Ben’s twin. I imagine this has been suggested before.

It may follow from all of this that Ben and the rest of the Others have, presently, gone to see Jacob (or, at least, the natives of the island). As has been suggested by others on this site, and congruent with the idea that Jacob has a close connection with the smoke monster, Jacob’s group may dwell below ground, which is the easiest way to explain why the Others left no discernible trace when they abandoned their settlement.

If “science vs. faith” is the bedrock conflict of the show, as I assume it is, then these speculations could continue in a number of ways. A Ben vs. Jacob scenario could evolve (or just “Ben vs. indigenous people” if they are not, in fact, led by Jacob.) Or, in the end, the Others could represent faith while the survivors, led by Jack, represent science. At this point it’s difficult to say. But it does seem as though all of this is preparing for a final, almost apocalyptic conflict.

Other random thoughts:

--Ben seems very concerned with how many of “his people” there are. People are abducted (especially kids). Women are sacrificed in a quest for fertility. The death of one of his own is treated like a crime against all humanity. It’s been clear for some time that the Others are looking for people of a certain quality. But they also seem concerned with just how many of these people they have around.

In fact, could all of Ben’s elaborate machinations be an attempt to recruit people to his side? That seems to have been his goal in his interactions with Jack and John. Is he now attempting to recruit the rest of the survivors by planting Juliet on the beach?

These ideas make some sense when one admits that Ben could not have just politely asked the survivors to sign up to his cause. After all, he does need them to want to join him. It can’t be some half-hearted or superficially motivated commitment. He needs the real deal. And the mind games are the only way he can make it happen.

If any of this is true, why would having more people be so important to him? Because of a conflict he is currently engaged in? (He obviously sees himself as part of a conflict given his “we’re the good guys” stance, but is the conflict hot, cold, or figurative?) Or because of a truce he is wanting to break? Or is there some other reason?

--With all the speculation flying around regarding these two, I feel compelled to throw my ten cents in. (Darned inflation!)

First of all, John.

It seems to me that every experience John has had on the island has been a vindication against everything that happened to him off of it. All the things he believed he was before arriving on the island but that others denied, derided, or destroyed, he became fully on the island to a magnitude that none around him could deny. True, he still had to face one last test and he failed it. But I doubt he’s ever going to fail again. At this point John believes he has absolute proof for his faith. Proof that has come from success AND failure. Nothing else but his faith matters now. If following his faith happens to benefit Ben or the Others or whoever, then so be it. But John has no allegiance to the Others OR the crash survivors. His allegiance is to his gut. And his gut tells him everyone stays on the island. Even if you could prove to him that all of humanity depends upon him leaving the island, he’d just think it was another test and he would stand his ground.

Then Jack.

Right now Jack only cares about one thing: the survival and (hopefully) rescue of his people. His people are the crash survivors. Nothing is going to sway Jack from that desire, because nothing sways Jack from any desire that he has. I can’t think of a single thing that could be done to Jack or that could be told to Jack that would change his mind about this. Tell him the world will end if he doesn’t cooperate with the Others, show him undeniable proof, and he’ll just call it a lie and defy it.

As much as I’d like to see these two find a common ground somehow before the series ends, I don’t think it will be possible. People with such extreme points of view can only be flipped to the other extreme. They don’t know how to meet in the middle. (Seeing Jack and John switch roles would be very interesting, by the way.) Also, such people are fairly easy to manipulate since their most intense desires is so obvious and so stubbornly adhered to.

One way or another it does seem clear that these two are headed for a showdown. But if there’s a resolution, it will have to be instigated by a third person. And I think this is proper because in the science vs. faith debate the solution isn’t an issue of neither being right or somehow BOTH being right, but in realizing that the entire distinction is flawed, predicated upon a desire to control reality rather that cooperate with it. It’s a dualism that is contrary not only to Buddhism, but to just about every mystical school of thought.

(The show is good at revealing dualisms and then throwing them into question. Past and future. Free will and determinism. Self and other.)

So I guess I tend to think that these two are as resolved as ever in their particular spheres, Jack in science and John in faith. They likely will need to face-off eventually. And someone else will need to step in and actually resolve the issue by demonstrating that there was never an issue to begin with.

(Caveat: Jack and John may have conversed while in the Other's village and worked out a plan that would satisfy them both, and they are currently working together to make that plan work, unbeknownst to anyone else, including the audience. I think this solution would also be quite cool, but I’m not sure how likely it is.)

--Long before I ever watched Lost I looked it up online to see what all the buzz was about (couldn’t just tune in on TV… don’t have and don’t want one that does that :-). At the time, the only official site out there (and there weren’t a ton of unofficial ones) was a site that focused on the concept of “six degrees of separation”. I mean, the site almost made it look like this was the concept that informed the entire basis of the show. And now I understand that Mr. Abrams is preparing a show called “Six Degrees”. So… is there anything we can divine from the producer’s fascination with this concept?

Will the show ultimately point out that it’s silly for us to think certain coincidences are surprising or amazing since we’re all, after all, much more connected than we typically think?

Will the show ultimately point out that our deep connections AND our ignorance of such make us more vulnerable to manipulation than we realize?

Will the show ultimately point out that the fabric of humanity is so much more tightly woven than it looks that concepts like synchronicity and the collective unconscious shouldn’t strike us dancing on the fringes of fact?

The show could suggest any and even all of these things. What else might it suggest?

As you think about that, also consider this: The words “it’s just a coincidence” never constitute an explanation. They merely deny the need for one.

--Many of the characters in Lost have some thing they desire “more than anything”.

Juliet wants to get off the island more than anything.

Jack wants to rescue everyone more than anything.

Sayid wants the truth more than anything.

John wants to stay on the island more than anything.

Each one of these characters has shown that they will do anything to get the thing they want more than anything.

But consider Desmond and Hugo.

Desmond wants to be reunited with Penny more than anything. Hugo wanted the curse to stop more than anything. BUT… Desmond saved Charlie rather than receive what he wanted. And Hugo risked dying with Charlie in his bid to defy the curse.

Desmond represents sacrifice. Hugo represents surrender. The two qualities often squashed by that which is desired “more than anything”.

And what are the extremes of “science” or “faith” if not feeble attempts to acquire the kind of control over reality that will ensure one gets what one most desires?

--I keep thinking about this "accord between Jack and John" thing.

We didn’t get to see John’s farewell to Jack. Could they have crafted some kind of plan that they are even now working on together?

Might John have been privy to Ben’s plan for Juliet, and might he have made Jack privy to it?

Might Ben’s ultimate goal be something that John doesn’t want (causing people to have to leave the island or otherwise revealing the island to the world), so John has struck a deal to help Jack and the other survivors get off the island as long as Jack does something that prevents people from asking about the people who didn’t come back (telling the world John and others who want to stay are dead, for example, and selling the idea that it’s a very dangerous yet otherwise ordinary island)?

Will the plot evolve in such a way as to make everyone think John and Jack are at odds only to reveal at the last moment that they were in it together all along, symbolizing the power of science and faith cooperating rather than fighting with one another?

Did Jack take the stones from the corpses in the cave, and if he did, will they play a major role in the end of the show, proving that the writers had in mind where the plot was going since the beginning?

3.18 Update

It seems to me the most obvious Mikhail (Eye-patch guy) is back with us is because he has a “commune” with the island, much like John does, and so he was healed of his injuries. His statements about the wounds of the injured woman would seem to confirm this. But many questions are raised if any of this is true.

Assuming Mikhail didn’t lie about how quickly the woman’s wounds would heal (and I can think of no motive for him to lie about that), what makes the claim true? Up to this point we’ve been lead to believe that the healing power of the island doesn’t work for everyone. After all, people have died there. We might assume that Mikhail recognizes the woman as one who also has a commune with the island and therefore he could make these comments specifically about her, but if Mikhail could tell such a thing by looking at a person, why would he need some “great man” to make him a list of who’s “special” and who’s not?

We might conclude, also, that only certain wounds heal on the island, because Mikhail suggested the woman would die if she didn’t receive some treatment. (Then again, he needed some bargaining chip, so he might have lied about that, but then why contradict himself later and risk them catching him in the lie and not allowing him to escape?) Note that this idea contradicts any claim that it’s impossible for a person to die on the island.

I suppose the simplest way to make sense of all this is to conclude that it’s non-mortal wounds that heal more rapidly than normal on the island. The key is that the wounds need time to heal, and mortal wounds, obviously, don’t give a person adequate time. Based on what Mikhail said, this phenomenon would seem to be true for everyone on the island, not just those with a special “commune” such as John and Rose.

Couple this with Juliet’s claim that sperm counts increase among men (she didn’t qualify the claim in any way), and we might be able to conclude that everyone who ends up on the island has some level of “commune” with it. And that commune allows them, if given enough time, to become healthier and more fertile.

(I’ve not been paying attention… have we seen Jack without a shirt on since the first episode… how’s his stitched back healing up?)

This deepens the mystery as to why pregnant women die. Jazprof has suggested that the pregnancy crisis might be a hoax perpetrated against Juliet, and I think that possibility deserves serious consideration. The connection between the pregnancy issues and wombs looking significantly older than the women to whom they belong has not been made. When the “age difference” issue was first revealed, I suggested some kind of genetic testing might be going on, and jazprof’s theory somewhat independently corroborates that notion. Is the fact that Mikhail looks much older than he’s claimed to be connected in any way?

Every answer just brings more questions…

How hard would it really be to fake the finding of 815’s wreckage?

The fact is we’ve been fed a great deal of info to suggest that the “powers that be” are VERY powerful. But faking plane wreckage and perhaps bodies would be supremely tricky.

(Let me note here that the injured woman did not claim that bodies were found. She said there were no survivors. Then she said that everyone on the flight was dead, but… of course she’d say that, because she believed there were no survivors. This isn’t to say no bodies were found. It’s just to clarify what was said.)

But what if they could fake the finding of flight 815 without wreckage and without charred bodies?

What if all they had to do was make sure one of their firms was contracted for the rescue mission? Make sure any government-types involved were on their payroll? Create some doctored video, a few fake documents? With a tiny bit of work and a relatively small number of people you could have very realistic-looking images playing night and day on the news channels and Internet for weeks. And who would be the wiser? The wreck is out in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

None of this is to say the discovery of the wreck of flight 815 WAS faked. It’s just pointing out that for it to have been faked is not outside the realm of possibility.

Does anyone else think that Jack’s questioning of Sun’s health indicates that Jack’s onto Juliet? I mean, I think it's been obvious that he's onto her for some time now, but I wonder if this last bit of evidence is just more support for that idea.

Episode 3.18 revealed that Sun is more aware of her father’s dealings than she has let on. The implications of this could be far-reaching depending on how deeply her father is involved in other aspects of the LOST mythos.

Notice, though, her face after she threatened Jin’s mother… threatened her with death, even. Sun meant what she said, without any reservation. Contrast her look with Juliet’s after she’d finished threatening to inform on Sayid and Sawyer. Juliet showed fear and relief. Like, “Wow, I’m glad that worked!” Sun showed a ruthless confidence. A lesson she might have learned from her father.

Also, it’s rather disturbing to find out that Sun cheated on her husband in response to his problems knowing that she was, in significant measure, responsible for him being in the position to have those problems. And the cheating only came because she was already taking steps to abandone Jin to the cruel fate she’d had no small role in delivering to him.

It seems that Sun’s character has been waxing a bit dark of late, making her more recognizable as her father’s daughter. Just how dark do you suppose she’ll get?

3.19 Update

John:

I think we can establish that John didn’t know about Juliet until Ben told him about her. So, if John did have a chance to talk to Jack before leaving the Others’ camp (we still haven’t been given enough info to know if John and Jack conversed, although I think the 5/2 episode did attempt to discount that possibility) he wasn’t able to clue Jack into Juliet’s scheme. Of course, I have other reasons to suspect Jack knows, but I digress.

John told Sawyer that he wasn’t infiltrating the Others’ camp, but this is only true after a fashion. I suspected John was on “his own journey now” and I’m glad he actually said it, but if it’s true then a) he’s not really on Ben’s side and b) he is likely still to allow Ben to think that he is on his side. Maybe this isn’t “infiltrating the camp” in John’s eyes because he isn’t working for anyone other than himself. But it would be seen as “infiltrating the camp” from Ben’s perspective if he knew John’s motives.

It’s difficult to know, spiritually speaking, what the 5/2 episode meant and will mean to John. Will he see his own refusal to kill his father as a sign of weakness or strength? After all, Abraham had to be stopped from sacrificing Isaac, and any other result would presumably have shown a lack of faith. If John sees his mercy as weakness, will he allow the role he did play in his father’s murder to cancel that feeling out? Or will he see his show of mercy as strength AND his steering of Sawyer as strength upon strength… because in John’s mind the showdown of Sawyer vs. Sawyer might have been what the island really ordered. And if y’all remember John from the first season, this is in keeping with his original vision of and, perhaps, mission on the island.

To digress a bit more… since Richard set John on this path it might be tempting to give him much credit, even think that he’s the man behind the curtain. But we don’t have enough information to conclude such things. What Richard told John wasn’t surprising in the least and only begs one to consider that Richard’s conversation with John was a setup as well. John is perfectly capable of figuring this out also.

But if John knew he was doing with Sawyer just what Ben wanted him to do, then why did he do it? For the same reason he destroyed the sub even though he knew Ben wanted that. Again, John’s on his own journey now. He’ll do what he thinks is best regardless of who might benefit or not. Is it possible John is being played by Ben? Sure. But it’s also possible that John knows precisely what he’s doing.

Ben:

Ben revealed quite a few things in the 5/2 episode. The notion that John’s presence was helping him heal. The notion that John is so special as to be anticipated by the entire camp. The existence of “an old place” that holds obvious importance for the Others.

The problem is that everything he “revealed” could have been a lie. His healing might have nothing whatsoever to do with John. Richard’s implication that John’s reputation is somewhat hyped might be true even if Richard was doing Ben’s bidding to tell John that. As with everything Ben says, we have many things to take note of but nothing to store as established lore.

For all we know, John “finding his own journey” is precisely what Ben wants, for noble reasons or not.

Please allow me one more digression to point out that one reason I think Cooper was so convinced he was actually in Hell is because he had, as far as I could tell, no injuries from this crash. Seventy miles an hour when he crashed? Surviving an impact like that would take an enormous amount of luck, much less getting out without critical injuries. So what does this mean?

A) Cooper could have been collected by the Others many days previous to John’s finding him. But I’m thinking it would had to have been weeks, even months, for him to be in perfect health after a 70 mile per hour crash. I don’t think this is beyond the realm of possibility, as I think it would still make sense for Cooper to have been on the island for reasons not related to John, just like Ben’s tumor seemed to come for reasons not related to Jack (but Jack nevertheless showed up).

B) The island’s healing properties helped Cooper. I didn’t mention this in point A when considering Cooper’s recovery time because I think it renders the entire question of Cooper’s injuries irrelevant. But what does it say about Cooper’s present state? Is he really dead? Can he heal? Did Ben tempt John to kill Cooper with a knife because Ben knew that kind of wound would heal, so Cooper wouldn’t actually die at all (in which case the test would more closely parallel God’s testing of Abraham)?

C) Cooper didn’t have a car accident at all, but was somehow made to believe he did. This opens up even more questions and possibilities.

We’ve seen John heal up pretty good, but not in any way like he healed from that bite he got from his Dad. The scar over John’s right eye didn’t heal that fast or, obviously, without scarring.

So what if…

The place they camped is especially good at healing people, and especially so for people who have the kind of connection that John has with the island?

It was such properties that helped Ben start walking with a cane, not John’s presence?

That had John attempted to kill his father with a knife, his father would have healed in that spot and not died at all (and perhaps this is the kind of spectacle they wanted everyone, including those kids, to watch)?

As usual, I have no answers. Just questions questions questions.

And...

After Naomi was more specific about what was found, let’s consider:

She said the wreck was in a trench. Even before she pointed out that the wreck was four miles down, the mention of a trench should have been a dead giveaway. When she mentioned that “little cameras” were sent to inspect the wreck she failed to also point out that such “little cameras” are among the only things that can safely and economically dive to that kind of depth. She also didn’t point out that a wreck and victims that deep would be impossible (or, at least, entirely impractical) to recover.

Furthermore, the “little cameras” she spoke of are generally in the possession of private corporations and institutes. If any government needs such equipment they need to contract the work out to researchers and treasure hunters.

So… the mere fact that the plane ended up in a trench makes it such that all the facts about the crash, every detail, must be funneled to the rest of the world through (perhaps) one private organization. AND all of that evidence can only be somewhat cloudy video footage.

Whether or not any of this makes staging of the crash likely, it does put it well within the realm of possibility.

And a curious thing about Sayid's conversation with Naomi...

While I think Naomi was telling the truth, she might not have been telling the whole truth.

Sayid… again, one who is fairly good at telling who is lying (so long as the person isn’t John Locke!)… didn’t trust Naomi. I doubt he thought anything she told him was untrue, but he suspects she’s hiding something.

And if Sayid suspects that, she probably is.

Could it be she wasn’t entirely surprised to find the crash survivors? I mean… not necessarily that she knew they were there, but that she knew the crash was faked.

I’m not sure why, though, she would hide this kind of information.

And regarding Jack and Juliet (and a little more on Ben and Joh)...

Jack is rarely seen refusing someone a “private” audience. Even in front of people who weren’t once “Others” Jack often excuses himself to have a personal conversation with someone. For him to be so insistent that Kate speak her mind in front of Juliet was, for me, his first significant departure from his usual self.

Juliet’s behavior was a little odd as well. She gave Jack that look… which she’s given him before… that almost says, “OK… what are you going to do now, Jack?” Kind of like how Ben looked at John when he asked him if he wanted to leave with the Others. (Ben sort of sat up in his wheelchair and gave that bug-eyed “I’m going to hypnotize you now” stare and asked, “Would you like to come with us, John?” John, without missing a beat, said yes.) I just find it odd that characters are obviously being directed to give these “mind control” type looks whenever it’s obvious they want another character to do something. I suppose it might just be me seeing this, but…

And then neither Juliet nor Jack acted particularly surprised at hearing the news from Kate. All Jack could ask is why he wasn’t told about it sooner, like he’d been expecting something to happen and assumed that when it did happen he’d be alerted.

And which thing did Juliet want to tell Kate? That Kate might be pregnant? That Kate IS pregnant? Or was it something else?

And what does all of this mean?

Well, let’s consider this for a few moments. I don’t think Ben would have told John his plan to take women from the beach and then just expect him to go back to the beach and not say anything. Ben obviously counted on John leaking the info after the Others left him behind. I imagine that even John knew this is what Ben wanted, but he just did it anyway.

This indicates that Ben is setting Juliet up, and perhaps Jack also. Jack, I’m thinking, is actually onto Juliet and is just playing along, but he might not anticipate the conflict that Ben is about to plant within the camp of the crash survivors. However, it is possible that Juliet has an inkling of what Ben’s up to and she might have shared this info with Jack. This might also explain his strange behavior with Kate… Jack’s not just anticipating the raid (which Ben actually wants him to anticipate), but he’s anticipating the thing the raid is supposed to distract him from.

Obviously, there’s a complex web of crossing and double-crossing going on. It will be impossible, really, to short out who knows what about who until several more episodes pass.

Some other thoughts that came to me just before the airing of last night's episode:

As is PAINFULLY obvious by now, names often carry significance in LOST. Does Brother Campbell’s name refer to Joseph Campbell?

Campbell’s field of expertise was myth, and he became the foremost expert on myths and cross-cultural themes in myth before his death in 1987. His work influenced many, including George Lucas who relied on Campbell’s ideas in his creation of the Star Wars saga.

One of Campbell’s most influential ideas was “the hero’s journey” as it showed itself in myths from nearly every culture. The hero’s journey consists of many steps, including “the wise and helpful guide”. In this step, the hero is sometimes ushered into the heroic role by way of a mentor. This was Ben Kenobi for Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga. Are we meant to see Brother Campbell in this role for Desmond?

If so, then perhaps we are to understand that Desmond’s path is, in fact, a heroic one?

Let’s look at some of the other steps, in no particular order:

Threshold guardians: these are forces that attempt to keep the hero from embarking on the quest. Penny’s father certainly fills this role.

Passing the first threshold: once the threshold is passed, it is discovered to be only the first of many challenges in the hero’s journey. Desmond’s boat trip might count as the first threshold.

Mystical insight: that one’s probably self-explanatory.

The labyrinth and rescue of the princess: wow, another one that sort of speaks for itself.

Losing the guide: Luke losing Ben… Desmond losing Kelvin?

Heroic deeds: for Desmond, the failsafe and saving Charlie.

The sacred grove: shoot… that could be the whole dag-blamed island!

Sacrifice: bingo.

And my favorite:

Into the belly of the best: for Luke, the Deathstar, for Desmond the Swan Station.

This isn’t a complete list, but you get the idea. An important step, though, that definitely hasn’t happened yet but almost ALWAYS happens for the hero:

The hero’s return: The adventure is over and the hero arrives home triumphant.

Is that Desmond’s destiny as well?

(I’ll point out that Campbell was a fan of Carl Jung, the man who introduced the world to synchronicity. That’s right, Carl Jung. Not Sting.)

And some other thoughts...

In the 5/3 episode, Ben made such frequent reference to John bringing Cooper to the island (thus making Cooper John’s responsibility) that I think it would be helpful to think closely about this “magic box” phenomenon.

I submit that, when considering this element of the show, the proper template to use is Ben bringing Jack to the island. Ben himself suggested that the reason Jack was brought to the island was because Ben needed a spinal surgeon. For Ben, Jack came out of the magic box. It turns out we know quite a bit about how Ben and Jack eventually got together, so we might not have to guess as to how the “box” literally works.

The most striking thing about how the island gave Ben Jack is in how serendipitous it all was.

First, Ben got a tumor, which is something he’d claimed was unheard of on the island (let’s imagine that in this case he was telling the truth :-). After Ben got the tumor, it doesn’t appear as though he engaged in any particular ritual or went to visit some literal box or even gave any thought to wanting a spinal surgeon to drop out of the sky. In fact, at the time he already had a man whom he regarded as a competent surgeon (Ethan) and Tom made it sound as though Ben could easily have gotten help off the island had the communications not been knocked out (but that happened after Ben already had Jack… he didn’t go after Jack because of the communications outage). When Jack finally arrived on the island, it was via a seemingly random and clearly miraculous event. Jack wasn’t scouted out and kidnapped by the Others. He just showed up.

(I should grant here that I am assuming that the Others can come and go as they please, but this notion, though not proven, has been strongly suggested. I do acknowledge that since it hasn’t been proven it could still be shown wrong, but I think one has to admit that there is more actual in-show evidence for it than against it.)

If this serendipity is how the island “gives” people things, then it’s easy to see how Ben would hold John so responsible for Cooper if he believes that Cooper is on the island because of John. Ben certainly believed that Jack was on the island because of him. He was probably even more convinced of this when Jack didn’t show up on Jacob’s list. In Ben’s mind, there was no other reason for Jack to be on the island aside from Ben himself.

The problem with all of this in how it relates to John and Cooper is that Cooper’s story made it sound as though he was abducted by the Others some time after the wreckage of flight 815 was allegedly discovered. Naturally, one would assume that Cooper was brought to the island specifically for Ben’s purposes in having John face him. But if that’s really what happened, Ben would not hold John responsible for Cooper being there. So either Ben is making up the whole thing re: Cooper being there because of John or we aren’t being told Cooper’s entire story.

I’m betting that Cooper was on the island for some completely unrelated reason. Not one that Cooper knew about, but one that Ben does.

Of course, the broader implication in all of this is that the events on the island are a bit bigger than certain people making manifest what they want. Ben didn’t “want” a spinal surgeon until he had a tumor. But why did he get the tumor? Ben’s response to the news that he had a tumor did not strike me as one from a man who thinks his ailment is a random occurrence. He thought it meant something. The important thing wasn’t that he wanted a spinal surgeon. The important thing was that he was supposed to want one.

Likewise, the presence of Cooper signified something John was supposed to want. That thing might not relate directly to Cooper, actually. We never get any indication, as far as I can recall, that John actually wanted his father to show up on the island. I suppose we can apply the logic a different way and claim that it was actually Sawyer who called Cooper to the island, but that would suggest that Ben was incorrect about who was responsible for Cooper (unlikely) or that Ben lied. I don’t think Ben lied about this particular thing because what he told John was consistent with Ben’s own experience with Jack as it was clearly revealed to the viewing audience. And in the end, I think John himself believed that Cooper was his responsibility and he dealt with Cooper in his way.

For John, Cooper was like Charlie’s guitar, which served as Charlie’s first inspiration to give up drugs. Or like the knife Boone used to free himself after John had tied him up. Or like Jack’s trek through the jungle following his dead father, which John encouraged him to take because a leader can’t lead until he knows where he’s going. Or like the club John used to prevent Sayid from triangulating Danielle’s signal. All of these things were tools John had used to help various other survivors focus on their purposes for being on the island rather than on their desires to get off of it. Cooper would be the tool John would use to reach Sawyer. And in this way, John did give the island the sacrifice it demanded, even if not by his very own hand.

The point for John is that he wasn’t liberated from his father when Cooper died. He’d likely not have been liberated from his father if he’d killed Cooper himself, as the murder would forever haunt him. No, John became liberated from Cooper when he surrendered his picture of his father to the island, and from that moment on he saw Cooper, not as a father OR an enemy, but as an instrument of the island. In that sense, it didn’t matter how Sawyer came through his own test, killing Cooper or not. John will have let go regardless. (Although I think John knew what the outcome would be.)

And so we can conclude that the island did bring Cooper to the island for John’s sake. And when the island does “bring things”, it is not according to the designs of human minds, but according to some course of events that is much bigger than any person or group of persons on the island could possibly be.

Some thoughts on "the whispers"...

As far as I know, the only solid “in-show” clue we have about what the whispers are is from the episode where Sawyer hears one of them say something that the man he killed said just before he died. They man said, “It’ll come back around.” In the episode where this is revealed to us, Sawyer is chasing a boar that destroyed some of his things. Through a somewhat oddly-placed story, John suggested to Sawyer that the boar might be, in some fashion, the man Sawyer killed… the boar was the dead man’s last words come true.

Was the boar actually a boar? Or was it the smoke monster up to some of its classic tricks?

Even before the episode where Eko was killed, some suspected (myself included) that the smoke monster might be able to take other forms. The episode with Eko and Yemi might give credence to this idea. But I wonder if a connection to the whispers provides more evidence.

Recall that when Eko first encountered the smoke monster there were flashes of his life shown. Based on Sawyer’s experience of the whispers, might we conclude that they are the same as those flashes, only in audio form rather than visual?

In other words, Eko’s encounter with the smoke monster gave him a visual review of his life… did Sawyer’s encounter with the smoke monster (as the boar) give him an audio tour of his life?

It’s interesting to me how Sawyer’s “issues” seem to be among the most basic, his behaviors are almost the most transparent, and the trauma that led to him being the way he is today is almost the one most easy to sympathize with. And Sawyer’s character seems to be evolving more than other characters are. Jack’s still stubborn (“Jack Ass” Sawyer has called him), Kate’s still insecure, John’s still so focused on mysticism that he sometimes doesn’t seem grounded… the list goes on. But Sawyer actually seems to be growing up a little bit. True, Sawyer did still kill Cooper. But he didn’t kill that boar. (Of course, maybe facing Cooper on the island was what the dying man meant by “It’ll come back around”? An interesting point ponder…)

If the whole boar incident was something the smoke monster was concocting… it just seems like it was giving Sawyer some fairly special treatment compared to how it has treated others.

And hey... what about that vision John had with the crashing Beechcraft? I've got an idea...

OK… here’s how it was supposed to happen.

When he failed to break open the Swan Station hatch, John asked for a sign and he got it. He faithfully followed his vision to the place it showed him… the suspended Beechcraft. Boone was with him.

Boone climbed up into the plane and it fell, mortally wounding him.

John took Boone back to the caves and ditched him there. He whined for a while back at the hatch before heading back to the plane, certain that he had yet to discover why he’d been sent there.

The ruined plane pointed John right to the Pearl Station. John had told Charlie that the island would give him what he wanted if Charlie gave the island something first. In Boone’s death, the island had exacted its price from John for all the things it had done for him.

Inside the Pearl, John saw the orientation tape and got a glimpse of the man who lived in the Swan Station. He figured out what “the hatch” was about and knew what he needed to do.

He needed to get the fellow in the Swan Station to stop pressing the button.

John eventually got into the Swan and met Kelvin. John talked him into letting the button go. Kelvin panicked and activated the failsafe while John cleared the station before it imploded. John concluded that destroying the Swan Station was what the island had intended him to do.

Later on, at the Flame Station (which John would still find with the help of Eko’s staff, because Eko was still going to be killed by the smoke monster eventually), John would learn why he’d been led to destroy the Swan Station: Doing so knocked out communications between the island and the outside world, a most desirable outcome for John.

But what actually happened?

Desmond arrived on the island, creating a distraction for Kelvin in the form of Desmond’s boat. Eventually, Desmond killed Kelvin in an altercation over the boat. So Desmond took up pressing the button in Kelvin’s place. When John was whining at the hatch, Desmond was contemplating suicide and, therefore, heard John even though he’d apparently not been disturbed by all kinds of bigger noises John had made on the hatch previous to that point. Desmond, I suppose you could say, was more attentive than normal at that moment because he was desperate for a sign. In response to John’s whining, Desmond turned on a light, receiving his sign and reigniting John’s infatuation with the hatch and messing up the entire order of things, such that Ben had to come and fix it personally, manipulating John into giving up on the button.

What’s it all mean?

Desmond is definitely not “supposed” to be there. And I imagine that he is a factor that Ben will really need to deal with very soon (as many others on this site have already pointed out). But an important question is then raised…

The jewelry store lady steered Desmond toward the island. SHE wanted him to be there. Does that mean that the jewelry store lady and Ben not on the same side?

And what does this say about Desmond being responsible for crashing the plane in the first place?

Some observations on several of the characters thus far...

Carl Jung’s “synchronicity” suggests time has a non-linear quality. We’re all familiar with the impressions past moments make on the present but synchronicity asserts that future moments also leave their impressions on the here and now.

Logically, the future moments that make the deepest impressions on the present are the most probable ones. Less probable futures, though, should still also send ripples “back” in time. This means that anyone who is sensitive to synchronicity might be able to see not just one possible future, but several.

The resulting “psychic abilities” can manifest in many ways. One person, perhaps, must use Tarot cards or I-Ching to divine the patterns that point to what’s going to happen in the very near future. Another may rely on omens. Another, premonitions. Still others may have flashes of what the future is actually going to look like. And a small number may actually be able to see all of the possible futures spread out before them.

Given a person who can visualize many possible futures, this same person might also be able to find the future she or he wants and align her or his thoughts and desires with that future. Thus, no matter how improbable that future is to begin with, she or he can make it happen.

John’s sensitivity to synchronicity appears to be very organic and subtle. He knows what’s going to happen and what’s in the hearts of others because he “senses” it. The stories he tells people and the journeys he takes them on are not planned carefully ahead of time. He follows his instinct. To have visions, he must invoke them with drugs or stress. For the most part, his gut tells him what he is supposed to do, and with this he has had very impressive results.

Jack’s gifts in this regard are not so subtle, but they aren’t particularly sharp either. Jack can visualize even the most improbable future and make it happen (such as when he “fixed” his soon-to-be wife) but to do this he must summon an enormous amount of will. Commitment is what makes Jack tick. But on some level he knows that it must be absolute or he’ll fail. So he has a very difficult time letting go.

Juliet is very much like Jack in this respect. The bus killing her ex-husband may parallel the incident where a bird flew into Walt’s window. (I believe Juliet sensed it was going to happen, rather than making it happen.) Juliet’s abilities may be the actual (or, at least, more important) reason that she was brought to the island. Of course, perhaps the truth is that Juliet WAS much like Jack. Lately she appears to have had some training in her gifts which has perfected her abilities.

Desmond has flashes, but note that he, too, has seen at least two versions of the future at the same time. In the episode where he had a flash of Charlie being killed by an arrow through the throat there was also a flash of Charlie helping catch the parachutist. That is, Desmond saw a future where Charlie was both dead and alive. You could say he was given a choice as to which one would actually come to pass, and he chose the one where Charlie lives.

Walt’s gifts seem to have been the most developed of all. He foresaw some danger in John opening something (presumably the hatch, but maybe something yet to be seen?) and decided to willingly flee the island with his father. He even had a sense of how many times he should shake the cup in backgammon to get just the roll he needed. In studying him, the Others got “more than they bargained for” but they were also very willing to let him go. I agree with many on this site that he must have proven to be more of a liability than an asset.

Hugo seems to have latent abilities. His decision to play the numbers in the lottery was not accidental. There was a reason he knew them and a reason he played them, and from that moment the wave of synchronicity that has caught everyone up and brought them to the island has looked to him to be a curse. But what of all the more positive coincidences that happened around him? The ones he didn’t notice? The two biggest being a) many people did survive the crash, and b) all of those people who survived may be getting just what they always wanted (see my post “Giving them what they want”.)

Sayid knows when he’s being lied to. Is he just very intuitive, or are there psychic currents flowing there as well?

Ben’s powers seem to be more about reason than intuition. As John puts it, Ben “cheats”. Think of a computer playing chess. (Remember Mikhail’s “cheating” computer?) Computers do not play chess in the same manner people do. People must use intuition and observation and innovation. A computer simply uses its processing ability to calculate every possible future move from a given state, and then it calculates the best move based on its brute-force-derived “map of the future”. The computer does cheat, actually, by the very method that John invoked to argue that computers can’t cheat. Ben cheats in this way also. At best, he’s a very good fortune teller. But to make things happen the way he wants, he’s got to have a lot of knowledge that others do not have. Thus, people who can “see” the future are a threat to him.

Claire was introduced early as someone who has some skill in astrology. It would be very nice if her character eventually has more to her than just “pregnant woman” and “woman with baby”. I presume we have yet to see her gifts strongly manifest themselves.

And speaking of Claire...

An interesting coincidence?

Flight 815 crashed on the autumnal equinox in 2004.

The winter solstice in 2004 occurred 91 or 92 days after that, depending upon what part of the world you live in (if memory serves).

I broke down and checked Lostpedia and according to them the challenge to John occurs on day 90.  (Or thereabouts... the article is kind of confusing, so I'm not sure which day is which... maybe they don't know for certain themselves.)

Is this “close enough”? Because this is also supposedly the same day that Naomi claimed “the clouds cleared” over the island. Are we supposed to somehow get that the island is “revealed” on equinoxes and solstices?

If equinoxes and solstices are important to the properties of the island, perhaps this is the angle that will finally give Claire more significance in the plot, as she might be able to call on her knowledge of astrology to help everyone figure some things out. (Regardless of how one feels about astrology, some of the more serious astrologists do learn quite a bit about honest-to-goodness astronomy. If there are “time anomalies” associated with the island, a clever astrologer might eventually notice this. I wonder when she’ll ever sit down to do a chart for Aaron… and looking up in the sky I wonder what she’ll see? All the constellations and planets in the wrong places? Hmm…)

On Coooper...

I guess I want it stated, for the record, before episode 3.20 airs, that I thought when Cooper was talking to Sawyer that he was asking very strange.  In fact, now that I think about it, he was acting the way Sawyer would expect him to act as a con-man from the South.  In all the times we've seen Cooper talk to John, he didn't sound like that.  It makes me wonder what's going to be in the sack that John delivers to Ben.  It's also made me wonder about Ethan and his "super strength" that seemed to give out the second time he faced Jack.  Was that calculated by... whatever was pretending to BE Ethan? The Mikhail that reacted badly to the sonic fence... was that the "real" Mikhail? I don't really have answers here.  Just questions.  I just wouldn't be surprised if we find out there were several times in the show where we didn't see what we thought we saw.... thanks to the smoke monster taking different forms? Who knows at this point…

3.20 update