LOST 4x02 - Confirmed Dead

Ahh, now it's back, and it's good! I don't have time for a decent running commentary, so I'll just jot down some notes for the time being...

The Team from the Freighter:

Daniel Faraday

Flashback: Daniel is upset while watching the news re: Flight 815 but he DOESN'T KNOW WHY. Naomi calls him a "headcase" later in the episode.

While on the island: Daniel prepares for opposition when he lands, but hides the pistol, pretends to be casually taking off his helmet, and has a story of the rescue ready for Jack and Kate.

Side note on the name "Faraday": Michael Faraday, 19th century scientist who aided understanding of electromagnet fields. "The Faraday effect: The plane of polarization of linearly polarized light propagated through a material medium can be rotated by the application of an external magnetic field aligned in the propagation direction.

• Daniel notes that the light on the island is "strange" and "doesn't scatter quite right." Faraday effect on the light due to the magnetic field around the island?
• Helicopter had electrical problems (due to getting struck by lightning, according to Frank) and burned a lot of fuel coming in. Due to magnetic field around the island?
  

Why is Daniel on the team? To help figure out some of the weird physical things about the island. In the next episode, he is surprised by the time difference of the payload and says that it can't be good.

Miles Straume

Flashback: Miles talks to dead people. Knows about the stash (of cash and drugs).

Why is Miles on the team? There are some strange things going on on the island. Perhaps he is there to talk to Jacob, which means the team leader, Matthew Abbadon, has some knowledge of what has been happening.

Charlotte Lewis

Flashback (Charlotte): Anthropologist. Interested in the Flight 815 finding. Polar bear bones found in the Tunisian desert. Is VERY excited to find a Dharma hydra station collar among the remains. Knows about Dharma. Knows about a connection between Dharma and Flight 815/the island?

Was prepared for confrontation: bullet-proof vest.

Why is Charlotte on the team? Dharma knowledge?

Frank Lapidus

Flashback: Connected to Flight 815--supposed to be the pilot. Knows that the TV coverage of flight wreckage is staged.

Why is Frank on the team? Pilot, knows Flight 815 recovery was staged.

Naomi Dorrit

Flashback: put in charge of the team on a "high-risk covert op in unstable territory" by Abaddon, who went to visit Hurley in a mental hospital (in a flashforward). "Headcase": Daniel. "Ghostbuster": Miles. "Anthropologist": Charlotte. "Drunk": Frank.

Naomi: "What if there are survivors of 815 on the island?"
Abaddon: "There were no survivors."
Naomi: "Yes, I know. But what if there are survivors?"
Abaddon: (emphatically) "There were no survivors of Oceanic 815. Don't ask questions; just do what you were hired for. Every member of this team was selected for a specific purpose. Everything relies on you getting them in, getting them out, and preventing anyone from getting killed."

Miscellaneous

Who is George Minkowski? Seems to be someone in charge.

Talked to Jack and Kate on Naomi's phone.
Naomi talked to Minkowski, telling him she met with hostility.
Talked to Daniel privately in front of Jack and Kate.
Miles wanted to talk to Minkowski, but he couldn't come to the phone. (Why not?)
When Daniel called about the payload, Frank said to hang up if Minkowski answered.

Ben doesn't know what the black smoke is.

Why do they want Ben? Who are "they"?

Locke is lost, has no direction.

LOST (3x16): "One of Us"

I absolutely loved this episode. Peeling back the layers a little more, giving us a little more information. Setting up a good sub-plot with Juliette on the beach.

Juliette's Infiltration

I guess the Others' leaving Otherville was a big ruse (based on Ben and Juliette's discussion of the plan at the end of the episode)--but to what end? Why would they want to infiltrate the Losties' camp and have Juliette be seen as one of them, be someone they can trust? Since she's involved with fertility research, both on and off the island, I would surmise that that would be the connection. But who does the connection point to among the Losties? Claire? They've already done things with/to her--injecting her with some DI serum, putting some sort of implant in her. What was the implant for? It apparently creates a pretty serious-looking reaction, but was Claire ever really in danger from the implant's activation? If not, what need would they have for such a thing to be in Claire? If so, was this part of their plan all along, to create a situation in which one of Them would need to win the trust of the Losties? Perhaps it was part of Plan B once Ethan took matters with Claire into his own hands...assuming, that is, that Juliette is telling the truth about that.

Would Sun be Juliette's target? When Juliette told Jack and Kate about the problems that pregnant mothers have on the island, the camera (but not Juliette) panned to Sun. Do the Others know about her pregnancy? I don't see how. (1) Sun has always been on the beach, so there have been no cameras or mics (as far as we know) to pick up any conversations about her pregnancy. (2) Neither Ethan nor Goodwin (the only pre-Juliette Others who were among the survivors) were around when they found out about Sun. Sure, They know a lot about the dealings of the Losties pre-island, but there are informers and ways of getting information that they don't have for those on the beach. Even Sawyer's mistake the night before the flight could be known, though their intelligence would need to be pretty tight to know something like that. (BTW, I think that the scene in Mikhail's place is proof that the plane crash was not some big DI/Others conspiracy or orchestrated by Them. It also shows how tight their intelligence is, a la Richard shooting video of Juliette's sister.)

Perhaps Juliette is simply there to pick up information and report back to Ben "in a week." They only said they would see each other in a week, not that Juliette would be gone from the beach by then. Maybe she'll make weekly reports back to Ben about the goings-on on the beach.

Mothers and Babies

When Juliette was telling Jack and Kate about the fate of those who get pregnant on the island, I tend to believe her based on the flashback of her, Ethan, and Goodwin in the OR and her and Ben on the rocks. I'm guessing that both the babies and the mothers die. But it seems that this only happens to those who get pregnant on the island--Rousseau is proof of that, Claire is not such a clear case. What muddies the water in Claire's case is how much we can believe Juliette the Manipulator when she says that the reason they took Claire is that she was showing signs of the same problem they had encountered with those who got pregnant on the island, and they wanted to save her life. I have a problem believing her, especially given Rousseau's case. What makes Claire's case different? But, the fact is that they WERE shooting Claire up with that stuff (which, incidentally, I think was the same stuff that Desmond was shooting up!) for SOME reason.

Is there a connection with this problem among those who get pregnant on the island and taking the children from the survivors? Since the Others can't reproduce while on the island, are they taking the children for new recruits? To satisfy parental urges?

And what about Ben's claim that he was born on the island? If the problem has been going on for a while, then that would have been impossible. If it were a relatively new development, then what initiated it?

Health on the Island

Scott made an excellent observation about the contradictory forces at work on the health of those on the island (whether the Others or the Losties). Part of this goes back to the discussion between Locke and Ben about the island's healing touch. For Locke and Rose (if we can believe her intuition) especially, the island has had a miraculous effect. Ben also notes to Juliette that she has not seen one trace of cancer in any of the Others. (Up until his tumor, that is, which we're not completely sure is cancerous or not--Juliette's language gives evidence of both its being and not being cancerous.) But there is a trade-off with those who get pregnant on the island: they die. What's the deal?

One of the more interesting things about this episode was that the freedom from cancer does not just affect those on the island. If we can believe Ben, who is "not a liar" (ha!), Jacob (whoever he is, but he is important for sure) was instrumental in curing Juliette's sister of cancer. Let me repeat: Ben is suggesting that Juliette's sister's cancer WAS CURED. These people have a cure for cancer?! What the heck? And the cure is not confined to those on the island.

Okay, so why did the Others leave Otherville? Why did Locke go with them? I can't help but think that the answers to these questions are, somehow, bound up with Locke's chastisement of Ben. Locke is playing the Hunter-Gatherer, the Naturalist, he-who-is-one-with-the-island. The island cured him...immediately. Ben's recuperation, however, is not going quite so quickly. What is Locke's explanation for Ben's slow recovery? It is because the Others are exploiting the island, misusing it, rather than trying to understand it. They are bringing down their heavy hammer of research and experiment to beat the island into scientific submission. But the island pushes back; it refuses to submit; it will not be tamed.

So, what does this have to do with the Others' leaving? Honestly, I have no idea, but I can't help thinking that maybe Ben heeded Locke's point. Maybe they left in order to get "back to the island." For some reason, I like this reason for their leaving. But it just doesn't seem like the Others. They are all about deception, trickery, and drama. There has to be something else going on here, some grand scheme being played out behind the curtain, and the strings are tied to Locke and Jack.

But not to Sayid! That guy is my rock throughout the twists and turns of this show. It seems like he can see through everything that the Others bring at them. Locke, on the other hand, just seems too accepting, too gullible...though, perhaps, this amounts to a different kind of seeing. He certainly does not have the same eyes in perceiving the goings-on of the island as everyone else. Juliette and Ben are like onions: just when you think you've got them figured out, that layer is peeled off only to reveal another layer, and the frustration just makes you cry. But Sayid, I haven't doubted him for a second.

A bit of trivia: the actor who plays King Xerxes in 300 also plays (the buried alive) Paulo in LOST.

LOST 3x11 "Enter 77"

LOCKE'S BLIND FAITH

Locke is back, continuing once again to put his seemingly blind trust and faith in the island, to give himself over to the island. He does not fear the unknown of the island, content to spend two days following a compass course that he divines from Ecko's Jesus stick. "LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK NORTH John 3:05." I was so intent in previous posts to pay attention to the content of the Bible verses that I completely missed its possible significance from Locke's perspective. He wouldn't have been concerned about the content of the verse at all. He wouldn't have been concerned about what it meant to Ecko, nor would he likely have understood that meaning. He (obvious to me now) saw something like, "Look north, John, at 305 degrees." It's meaning to Locke is just that: it's meaning to Locke, stripped of whatever other other meanings it would have either in the context of the Bible itself or in the context of Ecko's scratching it on a stick. The "LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK NORTH" is a tidbit from another verse scratched on the stick (Genesis 13:14) and isn't even related to John 3:5. But for Locke, it is related--that is it's only relation. In retrospect, though, it makes sense that the writers intended "John 3:05" to be out of context--that's not how Bible verses are written, no "0" is stuck before the five like that. That was an an anomaly that I overlooked before because I had no idea of it's meaning for the show. That anomaly has been discharged: it lead them to the Flame station.

Sayid is understandably put out by it, wanting to have a "rational conversation" about what he heck they're doing tramping through the jungle. But although Locke's faith in the island is blind, it led to definite results: finding the Flame station, mention of yet another group--the "hostiles," lots and lots of notebooks on Dharma, and, of course, C4 explosive. Locke's blind faith led him to have the latter explosive blow up the station and the information. Dang it! I want to know what's in those notebooks. Bad. Real bad.

THE FLAME AND THE BARRACKS

If the Flame station really is a hub of communications and power supply (as Sayid's map indicates), then the "barracks" won't have any power going to it. But what are "the barracks"? Is that the Others' village? Hopefully we'll find out.

We have now been introduced to all of the named stations on the blast door map: Swan, Pearl, Staff, Flame, and Arrow. There is another hatch on the map that isn't named. And there is the station on the other Alcatraz-island. The map mentions "Dharmatel" cabling for "intranet" connections, for which the Flame station seems to be the hub. But then it also mentions several system-wide failures of the intranet and a complete shutdown of it. Maybe Mikhail was right that the communications (in that sense) hadn't been working for a while.

THE HOSTILES

Crud, now we've got another group to deal with. The question is whether this group is actually a reference to an existing group we know about. I don't think so, but the evidence isn't exactly clear. The Hostiles could be the Others, especially since there was talk about "a group of scientists" coming in to deal out a "purge" and the Others seem to be (or at least include) scientists of a sort. But then the Other-woman-at-the-dock was in cahoots with Mikhail, which means either the Hostiles aren't the Others or that woman-at-the-dock was not really an Other after all but perhaps some sort of plant or spy, which doesn't seem all that likely to me.

It should be remembered that Mikhail's first mention of the "purge" was in the context of his being "the last surviving member" of the DI. That was a lie, but he claimed that everything else he said was true. Well, dadgummit, what counts as "everything else"? The purge? If he's not part of the original DI, then is he an Other? If so, then the Hostiles can't be the Others, unless (yet another "unless"!) the Hostiles are a faction that broke off from the Others or were a group that the Others came to replace or who knows what other possibility.

Here is a transcription of the conversation between Klugh and Mikhail (supposedly translated by some Russian fans):

Mrs. Klugh: Mikhail, you know what to do.
Patchy: ...Do we have a chance?
Klugh: We can't risk it... you know the circumstances.
Patchy: ... there IS another way..
Klugh: You know what to do, that is an order.
Patchy: We've GOT ANOTHER WAY!
Klugh: Do it Mikhail!
Patchy: I AM SORRY! (Shoots Klugh)

Klugh orders Mikhail to shoot her--suggests a definite chain of command. They were obviously prepared for a situation like this: "You know what to do." What is the "other way" Mikhail was talking about? Why would Klugh sacrifice her own life? What is of such great importance that no one be allowed to find out about it?

Could the Hostiles be people who were on the island before the DI got there? Think the four-toed statue kind of civilization of Hostiles here. It would be consistent with the dude-on-the-orientation-films talking about the Hostiles and the films' (presumably) being so old. (Which is why I'm not really considering the LOSTies as the Hostiles.) But, then, the Hostiles wouldn't be a "group of scientists" that supposedly came in to commit the purge. Things to keep in mind.

One thing that gets me is why the Flame station was loaded with explosives in case of the Hostiles. Whoever they are, DI obviously did not want them to get their hands on whatever was in the station.

Back With LOST...

Okay, so I should be working right now. But I'm not. Instead, on this MLK national holiday, I'm listening to the final LOST podcast of 2006, which I was too frustrated to listen to until now. In the main, they've been making good on some of their promises of giving us answers to some of the questions raised by the show. This latest podcast is no different, so far as promises are concerned, but I am more dubious about getting answers. Really, I'm dubious about what they consider an "answer" to be. They let me down when they said that by the end of the sixth episode we'd know who the caged dude who escaped was and why he was there. They didn't tell me anything of the sort. Unless, of course, an "answer" in the mind of Cuse/Lindelof amounts to hinting in passing that the dude was one of them and was having some kind of romantic relationship with Alex.

Anyway, I'd like to put that behind me and put the hand to the plow. In this latest podcast, Cuse/Lindelof say that, by the end of Season 3, we will have answers/more information regarding the following:

• The meaning and significance of the phrase "LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK NORTH JOHN 3:05" phrase on Eko's stick for Locke. During Eko's funeral, Locke looks down at the stick and sees the phrase. Is it a sign? Will it lead Locke to an explanation of why Eko was killed? Cuse suggests that the phrase will "propel Locke on a mission."
  
• What's going on with Desmond and his strange abilities.
• Whether Ben was lying that the Hydra station is on an island like Alcatraz.
  
• We'll see Rousseau again. (This really isn't an "answer" per se, but it's something to look forward to, I suppose. She's quite the enigma to me at this point.)
  
• Whether or not the Dharma Initiative and the Others are one and the same group.
  
• Ben's surgery and what happens to Jack, Kate, and Sawyer.

In these podcasts, they typically answer fan questions. There was one particularly interesting question that addressed the topic of religion and Christianity, not only regarding the show but also regarding Cuse/Lindelof's motivation and purpose for the show. Basically, the question was, since there is a lot of talk about religion (particularly Christianity) and God on the show, do the producers want the viewers to become Christians? Cuse/Lindelof's response is even more interesting:

We think that the show is spiritual, that it lives in a spiritual space. It's not just that [the characters on the show] are lost on an island, but also that they're lost in their own lives. We're not preaching, or promising, or trying to convert anybody, but we do like the idea that these people are all connected, that there is a sense that there is a higher power at work and we try not to call it anything. But, obviously, the characters are going to see it through the prism of what their own experience is. If they were Christians or Catholics or Jews or Muslims--we've seen Sayid pray, for example.... We're not trying to make any grandiose statements, not about a specific religion. Spirituality is an important part of human existence.

Miscellaneous

They say, without joking and without qualification, that there is, in fact, a second island off the coast of the bigger, main island. This seems to answer the question of whether or not Ben was lying about a second island.

Ben will not die on the operating table. (But it wasn't clear whether or not they were joking about this.)

Who is the real leader of the Others, Jacob (from "Jacob's list") or Ben? They don't say, but they do mention the biblical significance of Jacob and Benjamin. Jacob/Israel was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel; Benjamin (aka, Ben) was the youngest of the children. Is that relationship going to be reflected in the show?

LOST (3x06) "I Do"

I've just about lost my steam for this show. I am filled with so much apathy about what is going on at this point. Someone else tell me what's going on, because I have no idea. That said...

There were some nice scenes in the episode, but as a cliffhanger the ending was rather anti-climactic for me. It was a cliffhanger insofar as something really interesting happened at the end that puts us in a state of expectancy, but I've been in that state for, like, two seasons already about most things (facts, events) that they've introduced. Apathy ensues.

As much as I have come to tire of Jack the Whiny-Baby, he has always seemed to have the other LOSTies' interests in mind. His leadership has been frought with messiness: sometimes it is imposed from others (C'mon, Jack, you're the doctor, DO SOMETHING!), sometimes it is self-imposed (Jack, why do you think you have to save everybody?), sometimes he keeps others in the dark, sometimes he announces his plans. He wants to maintain some control, as leaders are wont to do. Once again, the S-/shepherd takes the helm and tries to save his sheep under his care (Kate and Sawyer) using Ben's life as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, he doesn't know that they can't get off the island that they are on--at least, they don't know how to.

It seems that this time he has sacrificed himself in the process. Does he think he's going to get free? If he let's Ben die, he's a goner. If he fixes Ben, after the crazy stunt he pulled, I would think he's a goner. Looks like a lose-lose situation. He can't very well use Ben as a bargaining chip for himself, unless he plans on making a run for the gun closet after Kate (and Sawyer) is safe.

The stinkin' producers said we would know what happened to Karl (well, assuming he was Alex's boyfriend, I guess we have) and that we would find out why he was in the cage by the end of this episode. Liars.

The Alex-as-David-the-Others-as-Goliath thing was exciting but baffling. Why set off the compound alarms and come in guns a-blazin' when she has already snuck in unnoticed to converse with Kate? Pickett: "You know you're not supposed to be here." Hmm. She was cast out for some reason, but she was also sent "home" after her outburst, wherever that is. They don't want to hurt her, just keep her away. That, or it was just part of the game they're playing with Kate (and Sawyer and Jack). Who's telling the truth? Which events and claims are we to trust as true and which are shrouded in trickery as a means to whatever end They have in mind? Juliet says "Trust me," Alex says "Don't believe what they tell you" (the "they" apparently including Juliet). Akin to the liar paradox: "I am lying now." If what the speaker says is true then what the speaker says is false, or, if the speaker is a liar then the speaker is a truth-teller; if what the speaker says is false then what the speaker says is true, or if the speaker is a truth-teller then the speaker is a liar. (The same thing occurs with "This statement is false.") Apathy ensues.

But perhaps there is some hope. Juliet lies to Ben when he asks, "Did Alex ask about me?" As a matter of fact, that was one of the first things, if not the first thing, that Alex asked about ("Where is Ben?"). There was no reason for her to be tricking Jack, since Jack had no idea what happened when Alex came barrelling through the compound. There was no reason for Juliet to be playing up a supposed tension between her and Ben in front of Jack. That, and the fact that she was disturbed in the book club meeting that people (specifically, the guy who was putting down Carrie) were too quick to follow Ben blindly, suggests that her unhappiness with Ben is well-founded and not part of some larger trickery.

But another dark cloud forms. Pickett: "Shepherd wasn't even on Jacob's list." Great, another list. Another character, unless he's Eye Patch Man. So, which list is this? Not the list given to Michael. Presumably not the lists made by Ethan or Goodwin, unless Goodwin has "Jacob" in his name somewhere. Those are the only lists we know of. Is Jacob's list of the "good" people? We have to ask this question, since the good/bad dichotomy has been attached to lists of the survivors already. There is at least the weak implication that Jacob's list is of the same nature. And what does Pickett care who is on that list? It must be playing some central role in their activities surrounding the LOSTies, as Pickett is appealing to it in order to justify his action toward Sawyer (or at least to justify his attitude toward Jack and, consequently, his going after Sawyer).

Of thematic interest is the interplay between Kate's backstory and her response to Jack's and Sawyer's insistence that she run. In her backstory, she can't help but run. She can't live a normal life. I think the federal agent was serious when he said he'd stop chasing her if she would only stay with the latest life she made for herself. He understands that she's living a lie in that situation. But when Sawyer and Jack tell her to run, to escape, she doesn't do it. What is keeping her from running this time? Is it because she, like, Sawyer, thinks they are on an unescapeable island? Does she actually want to stay with Sawyer or Jack? Is she ready to stop running from intimacy? Jack and Sawyer know more about who she really is than even her husband did. Is that the kind of staying power she has been looking for?

LOST (3x05) "The Cost of Living"

The Black Smoke of Judgment

Ecko is dead. The LOST creators said in their most recent podcast that one of the main characters was going to die and that "people will be pretty satisfied that we are killing somebody significant." I'm not exactly sure what the reason for being satisfied would be, except to do something drastic to the characters we've come to know and love in order to get our juices flowing. But there is another sense in which I was somewhat satisfied that it was Ecko, a sense that the creators may or may not have had in mind.

Scott hit it regarding the biblical undertones for the Ecko parts of this episode:

He and Locke remove a giant rock from Yemi's "tomb", only to find Yemi is not there? Then he finds Yemi, Yemi confronts him and essentially tells him he must be judged and gives him the option of confession, and Ecko refuses. Then Yemi tells him that he does not understand why he talks to him as though he were his brother. Then the giant fist. This reminded me of Matthew 25:41, where Jesus says to the religious hypocrite, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

This gets at why I think Ecko's death wasn't such a bad thing. Ecko is supposed to be a priest. Supposed to be. Absent a confession, it seems to me he was just playing priest all along. Yemi definitely distances himself from Ecko when he refuses to confess his sins, distances himself from the judgment that Ecko was to receive.

One of the things that I find interesting about Ecko's judgment is the "hand" that brought it: the black smoke. The last time we saw it, it flashed pieces of Ecko's past in front of him. A warning? An omen? Is this the role that the black smoke is to play? Ecko's last statement was that the others were next. Sweet. Will they all be faced with the opportunity to confess their past sins, else be condemned at the hand of the black smoke?

Everyone except for Locke. Thus far, we've only seen it as the black smoke, and it seems that the others see it as black smoke. But Locke's perception of it was different -- significantly different. Locke didn't see the black smoke of judgment; he saw a bright light and "it was beautiful." This makes sense given that he wanted to be pulled down the hole that the black smoke was dragging him into at the beginning of the second season. He acts as if the island is not against him, judging him, but is leading him somewhere, to a place he wants to go. Has Locke confessed? Has he repented? I don't expect the writers of LOST to have some sort of full-blown Protestant theology in the background, so maybe they have penance in mind. Ecko was building the church that the altar boy's mother said he owed to Yemi, suggesting some kind of penance, yet he refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong. Has Locke acknowledged his wrongdoings (such as his contempt for his father) and has been trying to put it to rights on the island?

In one of the previous episodes, we got a close-up of some of the Bible verses on Ecko's Jesus stick:

Gen. 13:14 -- "The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, 'Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward". (Ecko's stick had this etched into it: "LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK NORTH.")

Hab. 1:3 -- "Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise."

Rom. 6:12 -- "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions."

John 3:05 -- "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Acts 4:12 -- "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which he must be saved."

I'm not sure whether the writers meant more than that most of the verses include The Numbers, but most of them speak of judgment, sin, and salvation. Interesting.

Also on the Jesus stick were some of The Numbers. "4:8:15:16." The other Numbers were probably on there on the other side of the stick, too, but were cut off in the screen shot.

Who To Trust?

Is Jack supposed to trust what Juliet says about Ben? Is he supposed to trust Ben now that he 'fessed up about how he was going to break Jack? What a psychological nightmare. And what a nightmare for the viewer! I don't know who to believe now, and I'm not sure it's a positive for the show. As much as I like the show, my inability to trust what any of the Others are saying is making me care less and less about Them. Or about the show, to tell the truth. Is all of this implicit trickery supposed to keep me interested in what happens next? I'm so befuddled that I almost don't care who's telling the truth and am becoming more interested in the more mundane aspects of the Others -- where they came from, what they are doing on the island, etc. At least the "what" is more clear than the "why" at this point.

Ben brings the theological underpinnings of Ecko's story to bear in his conversation with Jack: "Do you believe in God?" "Do you?" "...two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. If that's not proof of God, I don't know what is." Again, is he just messing with Jack's head? Is this part of some reverse psychology trick he's playing? Ugh.

The funeral ceremony for Colleen was interesting. I mean, the fact that they even had a rite for the dead struck me as odd. I would think that ceremonies such as that reflect a civilization, a culture. It's not something that a group of scientists qua scientists would do among themselves. Such ceremonies are reserved for groups of a different nature. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Another Hatch?

So, Super Sayid tapped into another hatch, with yet another mystery character: Eye Patch Man. I almost don't care who the heck he is. Almost. Hopefully Locke will find out: "Guess he'll be expecting us." Sweet.

Desmond thought that the computers were connected for communication among the hatches. This fits with some of the notes written on the blast door map about "DHARMATEL INTRANET," "DHARMATEL SERVERS/HUB CABLING," and an "ISLAND-WIDE E.E.P. NETWORK." Was Walt (or whoever it was) in another hatch while communicating with Michael?


I like the season thus far, but this show is wearing on me. I hope they throw us some bigger bones this season, or else I fear it will just degenerate.

LOST (3x04) "Every Man For Himself"

I was wrong about the Colleen/Pickett relationship. She called him "Danny," not "Daddy."

As Jack wakes up on the cutting table, Mr. Friendly is saying to Ben:

... two days since the sky turned purple, we've been blind, the coms are all down and I can't get them back up again, and in case you've forgotten Colleen's still in critical [condition].

Sky turning purple: implosion of the Swan hatch, Desmond turns the key, etc. The trouble at the Swan messed up some of their communications. They're blind -- they can't "see" what they used to; but blind in what way, to what degree, with regard to what? It can't be with regard to all of their communications, since they can still see and hear what's going on in the cages, so I'm guessing it has to do with their communications to the outside world (and possibly to what's happening on the other island, but more on the "other island" in a bit).

Juliet and Jack

Juliet is a fertility doctor (assuming she's telling the truth). Why would They need one of those? More insight into what They might be doing on the island? It would connect with Their taking pregnant Claire, but what were they trying to do?

And Juliet says, "We haven't had anything happen before," as she and Jack are trying to save Colleen. They're not in the business of killing people (or, probably, doing Dr. Moreau experiments on people as well), I think she said in a previous episode. Fine, but then (1) what are they up to? and (2) under what authority did Ethan threaten the LOSTies' lives (and one of them was killed) in order to get Claire back? He was certainly with Them, getting orders (of some kind) from Ben; how much was he acting alone?

More insight into the Others' authority structure. Juliet: "I don't answer to him [Ben]," in response to Jack's doing some psychological manipulation of his own. Jack really hit on an inconsistency: Juliet keeps saying that they decide things as a group, suggesting that there isn't just one person who has overriding authority, and yet she, and everyone else it seems, does what Ben says. Mr. Friendly, at least, seems to be a Benite.

Do we also have further insight into why They picked Jack, Sawyer, and Kate out of the bunch? Jack hit on a reason why They wanted him: someone (Ben, it seems from the preview) has a tumor on the spine, and Jack's a spinal surgeon. Was this just happy coincidence for Them to have a spinal surgeon crash on the island (and survive)? They seem intent on gaining Sawyer's respect with that nice con on him; do they want his skills for something? Who knows why Kate's there, except to look good (which she does a nice job of, so I'm not complaining).

The Other Island

I'll go ahead and assume that Ben is telling Sawyer the truth and that he is not able to make an island appear out of nowhere. The Hydra station is on its own island. What counts against this is that, so far as we know, no one has seen this Hydra island. If Danielle has been on the island for as long as she has, and has scoped it out to the extent that she has, then it seems she knows about the Hydra island. But (1) she hasn't mentioned it (then again, no one has asked her, and she seems to only offer information in response to queries or to situations that demand it) and (2) her map (that Sayid saw/took), although showing outlying formations, doesn't seem to show another island. Sayid also took a stroll around the island and (in addition to Hurley) found a cable heading out to sea, apparently to nowhere in particular. One would think that this cable goes to the Hydra island, presumably in as straight a line as possible, but there just isn't an island out from the beach where the cable was found.

How did the Colleen group that went to get Desmond's boat get over there? Well, when Ben interrupts Juliet and Jack's back-and-forth, he says something to the effect of, "The sub is back. We have a situation." The "sub" could be a submarine that They use(d) to get to the island. The Pearl orientation film mentioned a ferry for the "researchers" to use in order to get to their living quarters. The place where They hooded J, K, and S was called "Pala Ferry." So, the idea that a ferry is needed to get from one place to another seems undeniable. Whether the ferry was needed because the living quarters were on another island or because there is too big of an inlet to have to hike around, I'm not sure. But maybe the ferry is the submarine. If so, and if this is how J, K, and S were transported to the Hydra island, it seems like they would have noticed climbing down into a submarine (unless they were drugged/knocked out beforehand).

It may be that the Swan incident has something to do with (1) why no one saw the Hydra island before (if this is the case) and (2) why it can be seen now. If, as Desmond thought, the island was in a snow globe sort of thing, and if the snow globe effect was controlled by the Swan, and if Ben's claim that not even God could see the island refers to the snow globe effect, it makes sense that the island can be seen from the Hydra island and vice versa. A lot of "if"s, but there you have it.

The season premier showed the LOSTies' crash site as being situated so that the place where Otherville is could be seen from the beach, but I don't recall any such place being seen from the crash site beach. I doubt that Otherville is on the Hydra island, since Ethan and whats-his-name could reach the crash sites in an hour or so (by foot, presumably), but then why couldn't that island be seen from the crash site?

This Hydra island is a mystery to me. The producers, in today's podcast, seem to assume that there is another island and that Ben is telling the truth about it. But why does it suddenly show up now? The only major thing that has happened that would possibly have the effect of revealing it (if it has been hidden) is the Swan incident. Dang it.

LOST (3x03) "Further Instructions"

The best thing about this episode? The trailer for the next one! The "unpleasantness" is coming...

Locke still creeps me out. The poor guy just keeps getting hoodwinked everywhere he turns: his dad, his girlfriend, Eddie, the walkabout. A peek into his past suggests mental instability (e.g., the phone conversation with that girl -- was that his ex-girlfriend? -- while sitting in bed); is he still unstable? I tend to think so. More information about his past might change my mind, but based on what's been revealed so far...

But at least he's back to his old tracker, sweat lodge building, polar bear fighting, knife wielding self, which is what I liked about his character from the beginning. He's a hunter, not a farmer. He's hunted boar, but he also seems to be hunting for something while on the island -- answers, mysteries, redemption, identity. How far can we take the metaphor?

Eddie was wearing a Geronimo Jackson t-shirt. There was a Geronimo Jackson LP in the Swan hatch. However, take a look here for reasons to think that it wasn't a real band (even though the LOST producers claim it is on a podcast).

The Vision

Is there a significance to why he built the sweat lodge in the middle of Ecko's church? A "man of faith" in a place of faith. And how about the sweat lodge visions? Very cool.

Boone: "I'm here to help you find your way again, so you can bring the family back together."

What family? I'm guessing this refers to the LOSTies who are left, including Jack et al., since at the end of the episode Locke says he's going to save them. The notion of a family for Locke is repeated in the episode flashback, where Locke says about the marijuana growing commune folks that that family is better than the one he used to have. Boone tells Locke he needs to save someone. We know now that it is Ecko, but he says some interesting things about the others.

Concerning Charlie, Claire, and Aaron: "They'll be fine. For a while." For a while? Oh, man, what's going to happen to them?

Concerning Sayid, Jin, and Sun: "I think Sayid's got it." Darn right!

Concerning Hurley: "Not Hurley."

Concerning Desmond: "He's helping himself."

Concerning Jack, Sawyer, and Kate: "There's nothing you can do for them. Not yet. First you have to clean up your own mess." So, will he be doing something for them in the future? Does his saving Ecko constitute cleaning up his own mess? Will Ecko help Locke with doing something for them?

Concerning Ecko: "They've got him. You don't have much time." Interesting that Boone said "they" -- not how one would expect to address a polar bear.

The Bear Cave

Locke finds an old toy dump truck. It was all-metal, like the ones I used to play with way back when in the 70s. Do they still make them like that now? That might suggest a timeline. It might also suggest that there are children's bones among those in the cave.

Among the bones was something -- a piece of clothing, a cloth bag -- that had a Dharma station logo on it. It looked like the Pearl station logo.

Ecko had a broken stick with blood on the end of it in his hand. Looks like the bear got a little taste of Mr. Ecko!

Desmond

To Hurley: "The failsafe key must have detonated the electromagnetic anomaly, made the hatch implode." How does he know about an electromagnetic anomaly? Seems like I've heard of this before on the show, but I can't remember from where. Has Desmond mentioned it before?

Why are his clothes gone but not Locke's or Ecko's? Desmond was the only one under the hatch, where the key hole was...

To Hurley: "Don't worry. Locke's going to go after them [Jack, Sawyer, and Kate]. He said so in his speech." Whoa, a speech that wasn't made until the end of the episode. When Hurley corrects him, Desmond responds in a way that I can't figure out. He explains it away by saying how shook up he is from what just happened, but his facial language might indicate something else. What that something else is, if anything, I don't know, but I'll be looking out for it in the future. How could he have been privy to something that hadn't happened yet?

Flight 812

As you LOST fanatics know, this is the Oceanic Air flight that crashed on the island. But it also has something of cult classic history. I was watching Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space this afternoon and noticed that the pilots of flight 812 were the first in the film to spot the spaceship of the aliens that came to carry out Plan 9 on Earth. Coincidence? I think not.

Retraction (10/15): Silly, silly, silly me. Apparently, I don't know my LOST trivia like I should. The Oceanic Air flight was 815 (two of The Numbers), not 812. The flight number on Plan 9 was, in fact, 812. I would like nothing else than to delete this embarrassing post, but I'll keep it up for humility's sake. Sorry, Scott, but this won't be getting into the Lostpedia information bank.

LOST (3x02) "The Glass Ballerina"

This will likely be something of a let-down based on commented expectations, but here goes...

Really, I'm not all that interested in the Sun/Jin/Jae story. We saw Jae before. She was on a blind date with him a while back. Wasn't he also giving her English (and, apparently, other) lessons? The side story is a sidetrack for me. What really interests me is what's going on with the Others.

The Boat

They didn't know about Desmond's boat until Colleen told them about it from the recon mission. So, they don't know everything. Weakness in the Others: 1.

Juliet dismisses the boat find: "So they have a boat. Sailing in circles will keep them busy." This comment (and the tone of the discussion among Ben, Juliet, and Colleen) highlights a few things. First, they seem to be behind, or at least have working knowledge of, something we know from Desmond's escape attempt: you can't get off the island by boat. Perhaps something is purposely jamming the ability for the instruments to work properly. Regardless, Desmond was right: you'll always come back to the island*. Second, the possibility of factions (at the very least, differences) among the Others has more proof. Ben to Juliet: "You never made soup for me." Implication: Juliet and Ben aren't on the best of terms, but as Juliet's boss Ben is in the position to make jokes like that about it. Colleen: "Am I interrupting something?" Juliet: "Would it really matter if you were?" Cat fight! Where is this tension coming from? Weakness in the Others: 2. Third, piggy-backing on the second point, Juliet's casual dismissal shows that she's with them on the surface (the LOSTies are not getting away) but it could also be taken as a sly attempt to push the little thorn in their foot a bit deeper. Perhaps even to minimize the potential problem (danger?) it poses to the Others.

Ben wants that boat bad. But why? Presumably, not to get off the island. He dangles the "If you cooperate, we send you home" carrot in front of Jack. So, unless he's lying to Jack, they have a way to get off the island. There is, of course, a pretty high probability that he is lying. It would be common practice to win Jack's trust through introducing truths, such as his real name and the fact that the Red Sox won the World Series, mixed in with really tempting lies, such as getting of the island, in order to gain Jack's cooperation. And if the Others have contact with the outside world, which they undoubtedly do based on the information they've acquired on the LOSTies and news from the outside world they have on videotape, they would likely know how to get off the blasted thing.

Is Jack Cracked?

Jack: "If you could leave this island, why would you still be here?"
Ben: "Yes, Jack, why would we be here?"
Nice. There is a reason why They're on the island. I'm just not sure what that reason is...

Ben to Jack: "If you listen to me, if you trust me. If you do what I tell you when the time comes, I'll take you there. I will take you hom."
Wow, they are really breaking Jack with this. Has he cracked? Did they know about the inside joke between him and his dad about the Red Sox? What a mind game!

Family Ties

Ben claims that he's lived on that island all of his life. Colleen calls one of the men in charge of Sawyer, "Daddy." She doesn't look all that much younger than him, though. It seems likely that Ethan grew up there, as well, given what he seemed to know about living in the jungle. This just might have some connection to why they wanted the children from the plane crash. Remember that Ecko killed two (?) of Them in Their attempt to kidnap the two kids from the tail section, they wanted Claire's baby, and the fact that Walt was "special" seemed something of an added bonus to getting him. But they decided not to keep Walt. Why? Because of his special nature? Because his dad was still around?

This also seems to discredit the idea that Ben's "team" of Others were sent to the island. Perhaps they are hold-overs from an original group. Perhaps they can't procreate quickly enough and are set on getting youngsters where they can, namely, from planes that just happen to crash in their vicinity. There at least seems to be some sort of notion of the continuation of the family/clan going on among the Others.

The Karl thing might also have a connection here, but that remains to be seen. The producers say this about Karl in their most recent podcast:

"Karl is not a plant. He is legitimately an Other, who is legitimately trying to escape, and who has legitimately been beaten up. The reasons why are yet to be discovered.... You'll have a very good idea about who Karl is and why he was caged by the end of the 6th episode."

Sweet. Perhaps the light to be shed on Karl will also shed light on some of these other things, if there is a connection there at all.

Speaking of children, Alex made a return! And she was asking about Karl. Love interest? Ack, probably. Anyway, point being that Alex is snooping around, which is good for the LOSTies.

Who Are These People?

Those Others are still a stealthy bunch. How did they get past the invincible Sayid? Dang them.

But, as Sawyer so intelligently found out, they aren't all paratroopers. Weakness in the Others: 3. This would be expected, if they were there for research purposes. But such purposes seem to recede further and further into the background. They are a mixed bunch, and this is perplexing. Scott has some good things to say in this regard: "Not all of them are the same, in terms of their strength. Not sure what to make of this, except that we should not interpret the actions of single Other individuals as though they represent the entire group. Apparently, while it's possible Ethan single-handedly hung Charlie and beat the crap out of Jack, that doesn't mean that the rest can do that. Some of them can, hence Sawyer's comment that that one guy had fight in him and another had martial arts training, but some cannot. And Sawyer's not convinced he couldn't beat them if he had too." And, to add to the perplexity, Sawyer thought that Juliet really would have shot Kate. This just seems to go against what I've been thinking (or have been led to think) about Juliet.

*What about Walt and Michael? Ben tells Jack that he sent them "home," but how could that happen if the instruments were messed up? (1) It was the Others' boat. (2) Ben told Michael what to set his bearings on. There is at least the possibility that Walt and Michael did, in fact, get away from the island.

LOST (3x01), Part II: Theories

Scott and I had a quick yet penetrating discussion yesterday about the episode and also about how it might be connected with the Sri Lanka video (the end product of the LOST Experience). I thought I'd include in this post some of the things that we talked about. Scott had some really interesting ideas about what is going on within the Others' organization. What follows is our collaboration (individual parts of which either one of us might disagree with).

Juliet's ambiguity

I can't believe I didn't mention this in the previous LOST post. Juliet's involvement with the Dharma Initiative is ambiguous: is she or is she not with the Others (philosophically speaking). When Jack asks her if the station is one of the DI's, she says, "They called it the Hydra." Not, "we called it the Hydra" but "they". Maybe not a big deal, but she seems to conceive of herself (at least) as distinct from the original Dharma project. But then later in the conversation, she uses "we" when Jack asks her who they are: "It doesn't matter who we were. It only matters who we are." So, which is it? Does she think of herself as with the Others or not?

Another ambiguity lies more specifically in Juliet's loyalties to the present group, and this is what goes back to the opening scene of the episode. She looks like she's trying hard to cheer herself up, to fake a good mood, and not have a breakdown by listening to the music. [NOTE: it's a CD player, not a record player as in the Swan station.] She's having a bad day, burns her hands on the muffin pan, has to host a bunch of people for a book club (not always the least stressful thing, I'm sure), and her plumbing is STILL not fixed. Where does this lead? When Adam opens his mouth about how Ben wouldn't read this book even in the bathroom and no wonder why Ben isn't here and Ben this and Ben that, she lights into him (to the humor of the older lady). "Excuse me for thinking that free will still exists on this--" then the tremor. She seems down to her last straw about how Ben is held up on this pedestal. It seems that his opinion is so highly valued that (perhaps) Juliet seems to think it's cutting into the Others' freedom of individual thought (in some sense). Perhaps the Others are in danger of a sort of groupthink? This would be incredibly ironic, given how adept they seem to be at psychological manipulation. Ben later gets the hint when they are all outside after the tremor: "So, I guess this means I'm out of the book club." Perhaps there's some tension there that goes back a bit.

This initial look at Juliet's disenchantment with Ben is bookmarked by their exchange at the very end of the episode. The exchange seems forced in its politeness. "Good work, Juliet." "Thank you, Ben," but the way she says it, and the way she looks when she says it, is more like "F*** you, Ben." I'm thinking that maybe she'll be like Alex was with Claire and help the Losties out a bit.

This talk of how disgruntled Juliet seems to be with how things are going is pretty solid evidence for their being factions among the Others. Interestingly, this claim about factions among the Others has been corroborated by the producers Lindelof and Cuse in their most recent video podcast. (It is not always easy figuring out when they're giving a straight answer and when they're being facetious, but it seemed like this was a straight answer.)

The question is the nature of the faction(s). First, there appears to be some history between Juliet and Ben. It could be romantic or professional or both or something else entirely, but it appears to exist and that the current situation is one of distrust but a common goal. Second, some of the people in Otherville have allegiances to either Ben or Juliet (some may not have any at all). For instance, Amelia (the old woman) appears aligned to Juliet, but the man with glasses who disapproves of the book choice appears aligned with Ben. As does Goodwin and Ethan, for that matter, evidenced by their complicity to his orders. So, assume there were two groups -- an original DHARMA Initiative team with a purpose to alter the environmental and human factors in the Valenzetti Equation and a second Hanso Foundation team with a more radical agenda. It could be that Juliet is the leader from the first mission, and Ben the leader from the second mission, and since the second mission is the new mission, he may have manipulated her and the Others in such a way as to take control away while simultaneously creating a new group. Hence why she says "it doesn't matter who we were, it only matters who we are."

DHARMA then and DHARMA now

Does the faction (I'll just put it in the singular from here on out) rest on a philosophical difference? Perhaps Juliet doesn't like what Ben is doing under the DHARMA label. Is the difference personal? Perhaps Juliet is just jealous of Ben's position. Perhaps she once held that position, or one like it, once upon a time and was ousted. Is the difference historical? DHARMA seems to have been doing things on the island for decades: The Swan hatch contains lots of old records and stereo equipment, the old weight set, and the old stationary bike, which suggests that it's been there for a while. (True, it's also got a pretty new washer/dryer set, but so do the Others, so there's a possible explanation along those lines (though I don't know what the actual explanation would look like).) Many, if not all, of the stations we've seen look like they've been there for a long time -- rusty and worn looking. All of this strongly suggests that the original Dharma team(s) came a long time ago.

Is Ben (and Juliet) part of the original DHARMA group? Are the Others a new group with a new plan that came in after an original DHARMA group realized failure? Is Juliet part of an original group with one plan, and Ben part of a different more recent group with a different plan (which would also explain the Juliet-Ben tension)?

The Sri Lanka Video

When I first saw the video, I didn't know whether it was legit or not. Apparently, it is. Fans have put forth a bunch of theories connecting the content of the video with what is going on in the LOST episodes. It makes sense that there would be a connection, but before discussing some possibilities, I should mention that Lindelof and Cuse acknowledge in their latest video podcast that you aren't missing anything if you only know about the episodes and not all of the LOST Experience stuff. That there is a tight, meaningful connection between the Sri Lanka video and the episodes suddenly doesn't seem as likely, interesting, or important. So, I'll let other people spend their time on the connection. Nonetheless...

The video is in two parts. The first part is a DI film with Hanso talking about the Valenzetti Equation and its core values (4 8 15 16 23 42). The idea is that Valenzetti thinks this equation predicts the end of the world (in some unspecified sense) and that unless the core values can be changed, the outcome of total annihilation is certain to happen. The DI was set up to change the core values. Hanso describes the researchers going to a remote place (as in, the island?) where they would have a place to work (as in, the stations?) and a radio tower that would broadcast the numbers. This radio tower part pretty strongly connects the video with the episodes. It was just such a tower broadcasting the numbers that brought Rousseau and her crew to the island; what the LOSTies heard by the time they picked up the tower transmission was Rousseau's new message. Did the Others know about the transmission change? They didn't appear too worked up about it if they were having book clubs...

The second part of the video describes Mittelwerk, one of the board members of the Hanso Foundation, showing the video to some folks in white lab coats. He notes to the group that the DI failed in its mission to alter the core values of the Valenzetti equation and that more radical (and seemingly unethical) actions need to be taken. This sets up a DI-now/DI-then contrast similar to the possible contrast set up above regarding events on the island. How closely the two contrasts are related is, IMO, up in the air. See the Sri Lanka video link for theories on this.

Mittlewerk talks about an outbreak and a "vaccine" that those he is talking to will take to the affected villages. (Some theorize that the villages mentioned by Mittelwerk are Othervilles on the island.) The "vaccine" is actually some sort of virus with a death rate of 30%; as people begin dying, they are to bring the specimens to research facilities in order to pinpoint some sort of genetic factor that the "vaccine" will uncover. Presumably, the video was shot recently; so it is unlikely that the vaccine M. is talking about is the same vaccine that Desmond was shooting up and that was given to Claire's baby while she was at the Staff station. (In both of these cases, they were shot up with a substance that was clearly labeled as DHARMA property and as a vaccine.) But the fact that M. mentions an outbreak and the fact that one apparently happened on the island suggests a connection. But this connection, unlike the radio tower connection, seems pretty tenuous given the probable time distances between the DHARMA island outbreak and the outbreak M. describes, which seems to be ongoing, unlike the island outbreak. (Kelvin's suit, for example, was a ploy and no one who has been exposed to the island environment, so far as we know, has been affected in an adverse way.)

Superhuman Powers

Juliet knocks Jack out cold. Ethan lifts Charlie off the ground pretty easily...and also kicks Jack's butt. Juliet says that the button in the Hydra station room is yellow when it is quite obviously (to us) red. Does this suggest that the DI were conducting experiments on themselves in order to alter physiological/psychological factors that might change a core value of the Valenzetti equation? Do they kidnap the LOSTies and Tailies in order to get new experimental specimens?

Lost (3x01)

The game is afoot.

Tonight we got something of a flashback to the plane crash, but from the Others' perspective.

The Others

Otherville. Well, well, quite a nice little community they had there, huh? Complete with book clubs discussing Stephen King's Carrie. When HG (now, Ben*) was locked up in the hatch and Locke (I think?) give him a copy of The Brothers Karamozov, didn't he ask if they had any Stephen King? He wasn't part of the book club, anyway...

There were quite a few houses, suggesting quite a few people involved in island goings on. They had a nice setup, obviously getting goods from the outside. From a plane drop, like with the Swan station?

The Others looked genuinely surprised by the "earthquake" and the plane's appearance, but they sure had a definite contingency plan. No sooner did the pieces of the plane hit the ground than you've got Ben barking out a very specific plan of action. I would think that they knew what caused the earthquake, or at least had a good idea of the possible causes. Did they immediately look up into the sky when they came running out of their homes? I can't recall (and, gasp, I didn't tape it). They could have been expecting the white light we saw at the end of Season 2 and yet were genuinely surprised to see the plane overhead. But even if they weren't expecting the light, there really aren't many others places to look when you're in the middle of the jungle! Nonetheless, that they were surprised by the turn of events, even though they had a definite plan of action, suggests that the survivors were unexpected guests. That Ben told them to get names suggests that they didn't know who was on the plane. All of which goes against the theory that the Others somehow orchestrated events to bring those particular people to the island.

One of the reasons for that theory is that they know a lot about the survivors. We saw that Juliet had a LOT of information on Jack, conveniently bound in a file folder. Presumably they've got a lot of information on the others. A few questions: Where did they get the information? What purpose have/will they put the information to? Did this information figure in the reasons for specifically taking Jack, Kate, and Sawyer? As for where they got it, they must be very connected high up in the outside world.

Dharma

New Dharma station: the Hydra. Hydra is a many-headed creature from Greek mythology who guarded the underwater entrance to Hades. Connection to previous episode: Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Greek mythology that guards another entrance to Hades, is mentioned on the blast door map. At first I thought that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were in different locations, but they seemed to be in the same place. Kate and Sawyer obviously were, since they ended up in cages across from one another. Jack was in an underwater hold, he thought some kind of an acquarium, which would go along with the Hydra motif (and the fact that at the beginning of Season 2, there was a shark with a Dharma logo on its tail fin), and we can see the Hydra logo on a tank next to Sawyer's cage. What's up with that station? Is it still "in use"?

Juliet suggests that the Dharma group now is different from what it was when it started (on the island). What were they up to then? What are they up to now? Are they still engaged in scientific research? Mr. Friendly mentioned two bears having been in the cage that Sawyer was in -- an oversized Skinner box for oversized...polar bears? At least one of the bears got loose; are there others?

Both Jack and Kate pull taped gauze from their arms. Was something put in them? Was blood taken out? Was that from being drugged so that they wouldn't know where they were when they awoke? I don't recall Sawyer taking taped gauze from his arm... Also, Kate's boo-boo looked more like an infection whereas Jack's looked pretty normal. Is there anything to that?

One thing is for certain: those Dharma people absolutely thrive on pscyhological manipulation. What in the world are they up to with Jacke, Kate, and Sawyer? Juliet was hitting Jack hard with the psychological torture, but she seemed quite unenthused about it when she and Ben met in the hallway. Because she's not loyal, like Alex? Because Ben left her with Jack to drown in the hold?

Breakfast

Kate gets a shower, a nice sun dress, and treated to breakfast on the beach...in handcuffs. What the heck?! I wonder what the "unpleasantness" is that she (they?) will undergo over the next two weeks. Ben made a point of her mentioning Sawyer's name before Jack's. In keeping with the pscyhological factor (rather than the physical fear factor), will she be forced to choose between the boys? Will the loser be put in a bad situation, thereby creating pscyhological distress for Kate?

She certainly didn't have much to say to Sawyer when they were caged, and this really surprised me. I figured she'd be offering up as much info as she could to Sawyer. Why the closed lips? The chaffing on her wrists from the handcuffs suggests physical trauma of some sort -- you wouldn't get those marks just from wearing them, even tightly. I suspect that Ben filled her in on what the next couple of weeks will be about -- she had that sort of look. Perhaps she's not telling Sawyer what's coming up because it involves him, in a bad way. Perhaps because she was "encouraged" not to (hence the chaffed wrists). Perhaps both.

Ben mentioned that they had burned Kate's clothes. Why not just throw them away? Is this a metaphorical way of suggesting some sort of new life she will be leading on the island?

*I don't know that I could get used to calling him Ben. I've grown quite fond of "Henry Gale" by now. I kinda like "Benry" as a compromise.

Lost: Books

Here are some of the books that either have appeared in the show or have potentially relevant references in the show.

Books Sawyer reads on the beach
Watership Down, Richard Adams (1972) [1x05]

• Haven't read the whole thing and didn't pay much attention to what I happened to read. The story involves a disease that threatens different warrens of rabbits and the different approaches to protecting themselves from it (run away, dig in and wait). Connections to the "disease" (which we haven't any proof of, except for Rousseau's whining) on the island?
  

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (1959) [1x18]
Bad Twin, Gary Troup (manuscript) [2x13]

• Almost done with this work of fake fiction. A detective is looking for the identical twin of a rich Widmore brat. Talked about it some in a previous blog.
• Part of "The Lost Experience" (all of this stuff involving the Hanso Foundation website and the websites and phone numbers on the Hanso Foundation commercials during the show) involves forming anagrams in order to get passwords. People have made much of the fact that an anagram for "Gary Troup" is "purgatory," suggesting a link to a popular interpretation that the show is taking place in a sort of purgatory. The writers/creators rejected this interpretation a while back.
  

Lancelot, Walker Percy (1977) [2x15]

• Great novel. It follows the main character's reflections on his quest to discover the nature of evil and to answer the question of whether sin exists. He wants to overcome the evil of his age and begin a new and better age. Themes (and confusions) of good and evil abound throughout the novel.
  

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume (1986) [2x16]

• This has got to be a joke.
  

Books on the shelves in the Swan hatch
Dirty Work, Stuart Woods (2002)
A Hooded Crow, Craig Thomas (1992)
High Hand, Gary Phillips (2000)
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James (1898)

• The Orientation film was kept behind this book. Something of a ghost story, but the interesting thing about the way James wrote it is the question of whether the ghosts that the main character sees are real or imaginary. Connections with the seemingly-real sightings of dead/imaginary people by the inhabitants of the island?
  

Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy (1998)
ECG Workout

• Weird. It's a book that trains you how to read and interpret electrocardiograms.
  

The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien (1939/1967)

• Click on the link for an interesting history of this book. At the end of this strange book, it is revealed that the main character is actually dead and the book took place in a sort of hell. Gives further fodder to the purgatory conspiracists out there.
  

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dotoevsky (1880)

• Read it, but won't spend time trying to tease out connections to the show. :)
  

Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens (1864)

Other references (relevant to the show)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum (1900)

• Henry Gale is Dorothy's uncle.
  
• The "wizard" got to Oz by getting lost and crashing there in a hot air balloon.
  
• Will a drawing back of the curtain reveal the actual (and not very interesting) machinations behind the strange things happening on the island?

Addendum: One of the more interesting things about the books on the hatch shelf is the year in which they were published. The record collection (or at least the records we've heard) is from the mid to late 70s, which (according to the creators of the show) is about the time the hatch was built/manned, but many of the books they show are much more recent - as recent as 2002 - and although some of the books' publish dates go way back, the editions on the shelves are pretty recent. Is this an oversight? Also, the washer/dryer set is presumably much more recent than the 70s!

Lost: Philosophers

I'm still not exactly sure what the writers are doing with the philosopher references in the names of some of the characters. I'm not sure how much of a connection to draw between the characters' actions and attitudes and the main views of their philosopher namesakes. I keep looking for some deeper meaning, some unambiguous connection between the philosopher's views and the basic, stable characters of their namesakes, but I seem to come up empty. The emptiness most likely stems from the fact that since I don't see any explicit connections, I lose interest in looking for implicit ones. Too much work for this lazy guy. Nonetheless...

Desmond David Hume - Philosopher namesake: David Hume
John Locke - Philosopher namesake: John Locke
Rousseau - Philosopher namesake: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Both Hume and Locke are two of the three philosophers called the British Empiricists. (George Berkeley is the third.) The label "empiricist" signifies their epistemological views - their ideas about where our knowledge about things comes from and how that knowledge is justified. Locke is also well known for his views on government (supposedly his views had quite an effect on some of our Founding Fathers), but I will set that aside for now. Hume and Locke held that our ideas of things (specifically, what they called "matters of fact," which encompass things like concrete objects and events) comes from our sense experience. Hume in particular held that unless an idea we have can be traced back to some sense experience, our knowledge of it cannot be justified, although we can (and do) still act upon that idea or have that idea play a valuable role in our lives. For instance, Hume thought that the idea of causation (one thing causing another thing to do something) included the idea of a necessary connection between the cause and effect, but concluded that all we actually experience is a constant conjunction between the cause and effect. That is, we never actually experience that the cause and effect necessarily go together (which implies that they will on every occasion in the future), only that they have occurred together in the past. So, our idea of causation (insofar as it includes necessary connection) cannot be philosophically justified; yet, our belief that things cause other things to happen (and that the future will be like the past) is very useful and plays a pragmatic role in our lives. Locke was the one who talked about our mind being a blank slate on which experience writes; all the knowledge, beliefs, and ideas that end up in our minds comes from experience. (The Latin for Locke's "blank slate" is tabula rasa, which is the title of the first episode of Lost after the pilot episode. This suggests that all of the characters are starting with a clean slate from the viewer's perspective; as the show progresses, we learn more and more about them from their experiences.)

Neither (the Lost characters) Locke nor Desmond seem to be very good empiricists in a strict sense (which is probably not what the writers are going for anyway), especially with Locke's initial faith in the island and belief in all things mysterious and "metaphysical" (beyond the physical, beyond sense experience). But there are pockets of behavior that could be pointed to in defense of the philosopher-character connection. (This in itself isn't a very interesting hypothesis, since it could be said of anyone that in some particular instance they were acting like an empiricist.) For example, the interchange between Locke and Desmond in the Swan hatch while the timer was counting down was quite interesting. Both of them saw something, both had experiences that were informing them of the reality of what was going on in the hatch. Locke saw the Pearl orientation film, believed what Dr. Candle said in the film, and concluded that the Swan was, in fact, one big experiment. He was through with faith in the hatch. He wanted to see concrete proof (which he got, but which wasn't what he expected). Desmond also experienced something in the hatch - that there was, in fact, something to pushing that silly little button. But without the proof of experience, Locke was not willing to believe him. It wasn't until all things metal were flying through the air at the electromagnetic core that Locke finally acquiesced with his "I was wrong."

Rousseau, on the other hand, seems more explicitly connected with her philosopher namesake. The most well known position taken by Jean-Jacques Rousseau was that human beings are naturally good; they are "noble savages" whose goodness is marred by civilization, or, as he puts it, by the barnacles of society. The character Rousseau seems to fit the savage part well, and she appears to be pretty noble besides. She has been alone on the island for so long that she has broken the shackles of civilization and chiseled off the barnacles of society.

Interestingly, the philosopher Rousseau didn't like philosopher Locke's view on human nature. One of Locke's theses was that humans are not naturally good, they cannot coexist with one another in complete peace and security without rules and laws to keep them in check. This view of human nature led him to his views on the origin of government. Although Locke didn't think that the laws had to be backed by a civil government for them to be legitimate (as Thomas Hobbes thought), they still needed to be in place because people would inevitably get into fights. I'm not sure, however, that these views on human nature have much to do with the Lost characters' attitudes on the issue.

Lost: 5/26 Podcast

Some interesting notes from the latest podcast by producers/writers/creators Cuse and Lindeloff:

1. There will be more character development/archaeology in Season Three than there will be exploration of the show's mythology.
   
2. Nonetheless, we will get to see the black smoke monster again! Sweet. (They say, cryptically as is their style, that "maybe we've seen it again already," presumably in the season finale. Jerks. I'm not going back through the episode to find it.)
   
3. The episode schedule for Season Three will be very different. They didn't like the reruns any more than the fans did - they would rather the show be aired in big chunks. So, from the season opener in late September there will be six straight weeks of new episodes, with a mini-cliffhanger at the end of the chunk. Then there will be a break (will they show reruns during the break? I'm not sure) until January or February, when they will show the remaining episodes of the season in an uninterrupted chunk. The network is what has the say-so in how the show gets aired, but Cuse/Lindeloff have managed to convince them to do it this way. We'll see how it goes.
   
4. People wonder how much of the show they have already thought out when they write an episode. One of the interesting, and to me consoling, things they mentioned is that they don't introduce new lines of development into the show unless they already have a resolution to it worked out. So, yes, they do know what they're doing. But I'm sure the details get tweaked quite a bit in the process of actually putting on film what they've got worked out in their heads.
   

Lost: Season Finale

What a well done finale! Although we would like to have full resolution to every can the writers/producers have opened, we can't get it all at once. We shouldn't want it all at once. We should rest assured that there is a resolution in the mind of the creators of the show, enjoy what clarifications and new mysteries crop up, and take satisfaction (if there is any to be had) in how the lines are developed. That's part of the fun of the show - speculate based on available information and hope that our hypotheses prove to be correct.

Henry Gale and the Others
I'm sure there are those out there who think HG is "him," but it just seems too soon for that conclusion. Especially since the creators have established a knack for leading the viewers down one path only to show that another path is the right one. HG is definitely one of the leaders, though. He wasn't lying when while a prisoner in the Swan he said that Mr. Friendly is a nobody. What else was he not lying about? That no one could see the island, including God himself? (Hyperbole, to be sure, but one that makes a point.) He looked none too happy when the deafening sound and the white sky thing happened after Desmond shut the system down, like he knew what that meant. When that happened, the Portuguese-speaking people in the snow station had been alerted, telling Penny Widmore "I think we found it." Found what? If the 'it' is the island, then maybe HG was right about the island being hidden, in this case presumably by the naturally occurring electromagnetism of that part of the island (geological anomaly, as Kelvin called it) being harnessed at the Swan, and Desmond's shutting down the system made the island visible for a while, if not indefinitely.

We are getting more and more information on the Others, but at the same time we are getting more and more mystery. But that's a good thing! The dock where they brought Hurley, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer was called Pala Ferry. In the Pearl orientation film, Pala Ferry was mentioned as the place where the people in the hatch needed to go in order to get to the barracks after their day of tedious note-taking. Will we get to see where the Others' "home" is next season?

Hurley: "What about my friends?"
Henry: "They're going home with us."

And we still need to find out what in the world they were doing with Walt.

Henry: "We got more than we bargained for when Walt decided to join us."

The Swan
Of course I, like Locke, was convinced that the Swan was the experiment (I'd been holding to that for quite a while) and the Pearl was the real deal. And, like Locke, I must admit, "I was wrong." That big pile of notebooks in tubes was fantastic! All that work coughed up on some hillside. It looked like the notebooks hadn't even been picked through by the Dharma folks - which suggests to me that they have their eyes on the hatches elsewhere (other than the Pearl station). At the very least, the stuff in the notebooks wasn't important enough to the researchers for them to keep. The Swan was the real deal.

What happened to the Swan - and Desmond, Eko, and Locke along with it? Although the hatch door ended up miles away on the beach, I doubt that it was destroyed. Why do I doubt it? Because I don't think the creators are ready to kill off those three quite yet. (Cuse and Lindeloff hint at this in their 5/26 podcast.) There is still a lot we don't know about them, how Locke got into the wheelchair, for one, and it seems that there is still more work for them to do in the show. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of them in Season Three. (And Charlie will likely lose face again with his newly reunited woman when everyone finds out that something really did happen at the hatch. Why did he say that nothing happened??)

Thanks to Desmond's legwork and Eko's insistence on taking the Pearl computer records with him, we know, pretty much, why the plane crashed. We know who was writing stuff on the blast door and how they did it (faking the countdown, detergent mixture). Kelvin and the guy before him were both writing on it, and given that there seemed to be three different additions to the blast door map, I suspect Desmond was adding stuff, too. We know why Desmond took off when he thought the computer was busted and the ticker would go to the hieroglyphics - no dodging kitchenware for that Scot again!

The Snowglobe comment
While drunk on the beach after Jack et al. found him in his boat, Desmond mentioned that it was as if they were trapped in a snowglobe. One of the sillier suggestions is that this is somehow connected to the two guys in the Arctic (or Antarctic) station and that they are actually on some other part of the island. Hogwash (though I might be proved wrong!). Desmond's point was that no matter how well he knew how to sail his boat, no matter that he set his course for exactly the opposite that brought him to the island, he kept showing up at the stinkin' island. I might be having a bottle or two of that Dharma whiskey if that kept happening to me, too.

Character connections
- Kelvin and Sayid met once before during the Gulf War.
- Kate's dad was Kelvin's CO.
- Desmond got his boat from Libby. Too bad Desmond and Libby never met on the island.
- Libby's husband had died when she and Desmond met. Was this before or after her stint in the mental hospital? This was the same mental hospital that Locke's mom was in.

The Four-toed Foot
I'm with Sayid on this one: "I don't know which is more disturbing - that it is the foot of a big statue or that it has only four toes" (r something close to that). What the heck? One thing that Cuse and Lindeloff mention in the 5/26 podcast is that the foot is part of the "archaeology" of the show. The archaeological digs into the characters' pasts has been central to the show. What we saw of them on Day 1 of their crash was only the most recent tip of a history that was buried in the past; as we uncover more and more about the characters, as we delve into that history, we learn more about who they are and their connections with other characters. Sometimes this even helps to explain their actions on the island. Similarly, the creators stuck the foot there to remind us that there is more to the history of the island than the Dharma Initiative. The DI has only been there for a short while - since the late '70s. But the island has a longer history, one that Cuse/Lindeloff say we will be finding more about.

Lost: Musings

1. I'm still intrigued by this good-bad dichotomy employed by the Others. The Others had a list of nine of the Tailies who were dragged off within twelve days of crashing on the island; according to the infiltrator of that group (who A-L took care of), only the "good people" were on the list. Fake Henry exclaims that he isn't a bad person when faced with the prospect of being shot in the head by Sayid. He says Locke is one of the good ones. He mentions that They once thought that A-L could be reformed (from a bad person to a good person, presumably). And now we have another list given to Michael - a list of Losties that the Others want. Are they the "good" ones or the "bad" ones? Both? Assuming that the good-bad criteria is based on what they did off the island, if it's a list of "bad" ones, Hurley seems to be the odd man out in that list - maybe Jack is, too. We know that Sawyer and Kate were criminals, but what did Hurley and Jack do? But then, what sense does it make for the criteria to be based on off-island activities - I mean, how would the Others know about their lives? And if they did, why crash them on an island and drag them off somewhere? But it really doesn't make sense to base the criteria on on-island activities, either, since they hardly had time to do very many "bad" things (except for Sawyer, who started off right away). 'Good' and 'bad' still need the quotes, because we don't know what criteria is being used. I've been assuming that it is a moral criteria - good and bad in a moral or ethical sense, but this need not be the standard employed by Them.
   
2. So, Michael wasn't exactly brainwashed, he's just hyper-driven by his desire to get Walt back. I thought it was really interesting what Ms. Klugh said: Why does Michael want to get Walt back so badly when he knows so little about his son? Perhaps that's precisely why he wants him back - there's a lot of lost time between them (pun intended).
   
3. During their brief reunion, Walt mentioned that They were pretending, They are not who They say They are. This fits nicely with the dingy costumes, fake beard, and theatrical glue found in the medical hatch and that we've already seen Mr. Friendly niced up and beardless. What sort of trap is the place where they took Michael (if it is a trap)? Why stage such an elaborate village? Is that a real hatch that they are supposedly guarding?
   
4. But fear not the trap - Sayid is on it, baby! What an awesome character. "I think Michael's been comprimised." Dang right. "We'll continue to let him think that he's in control, so we can create an advantage." Man, can't wait to see what he brings tomorrow night.
5. Speaking of tomorrow night, there was a series of some short and fast scenes from the finale. Of course, I slow-motioned through them. Some of the highlights: (a) A bunch of the Losties are on the beach, hands raised and waving as if signalling something or someone on the water. (Perhaps there is someone on the small boat we saw at the end of the last episode?) (b) A shot of Ecko trying to run under or stop the closing blast door. (Why is it closing this time? Another airplane drop?) (c) A shot from under Jack, who is holding a pistol. (Reminded me of the pit that A-L dug.) (d) Someone with a Dharma key inserted into a key hold and turning the key. (e) Desmond!! (Yep, and it looks like he might be armed, but I couldn't be certain.) (f) Kate falling backwards. (It looks like she is fainting or something. Getting shot, maybe?) (g) Locke raises what looks like Ecko's Jesus stick to smash the Swan computer; Ecko's hand stops the stick. (Last we saw, Locke took off down the beach/into the jungle during the funeral. Where'd he go? What's he doing back?)
6. And, finally, I got sucked in. I'm reading the fake fiction (HA! what a concept) book, Bad Twin, the manuscript of which Sawyer was reading a few episodes back on the show. Coming full circle to my first point above, it's mostly about what makes someone good or bad and how difficult it can be to make a judgement on this since we do so according to many different aspects of a person. Mostly it gets applied to behavior, but behavior can take different forms. Someone might be "bad" because they break the law, but they might be "good" in that they treat others with generosity and kindness. Another person might be "bad" because they are condescending to their parents but "good" because they are honorable and trustworthy. This is not to say that some aspects could be taken as more important and thus override others, but it is to say that judging someone as "good" or "bad" is not always, and I would go so far as to say hardly ever, straightforward. I wonder what aspects are within the scope of the Others' standard of moral judgment.
   

Lost: Men of Faith

[Spoilers below]

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

There were a number of significant things happening in this week's episode, but the one that stood out to me the most was the issue of faith (and losing faith) in the interaction between Locke and Ecko. Up until fake Henry told Locke that the button didn't do anything, Locke had complete faith in pushing the button, that it was accomplishing something grand and significant, even though he didn't know quite what the purpose was. The important thing is that it was important to do; Jack's suggestion that it was just some big experiment didn't phase him. His experience of a miraculous recovery initiated his faith in whatever else the island would bring ("The island changed me, it made me whole"). He felt led by the island (e.g., in dreams). He embraced the weird and unexplainable things going on on the island (such as the black smoke), even against Jack's skeptical objections. But now he has become Jack in his skepticism, and Ecko is there to rekindle his faith.

In Season 1 when Locke and Boone were trying to get the hatch door open, Locke shows faith in the island against Boone's skepticism.

"This is useless. It's a dead end, you can't get in."
"Don't tell me what I can't do. We didn't find this by accident. We were supposed to find this."
"If we're supposed to open it, then why haven't we opened it yet?"
"The island will send us a sign. All that's happening now is that our faith is being tested, our committment. But we will open it. The island will show us how."

The sign ended up being a vision/dream of a plane crashing on the island and a bloody Boone. A plane did crash (carrying Ecko's brother) and Boone ends up bloody...and dead.

In the last episode of Season 1 when they got the dynamite from the ship and the black smoke monster tried to pull Locke down a hole, Locke's belief that he is being tested by the island comes back to the fore in a conversation with Jack.

"I believe that I was being tested. I think that's why you and I don't see eye to eye sometimes, Jack, because you're a man of science."
"Yeah, and what does that make you?"
"Me? Well, I'm a man of faith. Do you really think all of this is an accident? Do you think we crashed in this place by coincidence? In this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason."
"And who brought us here, John?"
"The island. This is no ordinary place. The island chose you, too, Jack. It's destiny."
"Did you talk with Boone about destiny, John?"
"Boone was the sacrifice that the island demanded. What happened with him in that plane was part of a chain of events that led us here, that led us down the path, that led you and me to this day, to right now."
"And where does that path end, John?"
"The path ends at the hatch. All of it happens so that we can open the hatch."
"I don't believe in destiny."
"Yes, you do. You just don't know it yet."

For Locke, everything has led up to the hatch. Yet, fake Henry introduces doubt in the grand purpose of their being in the hatch, of pushing the button. Locke begins to lose his faith in what they are doing, in a sense of purpose and meaning to his and their actions. When people call in "your hatch" in addressing him, he corrects them: "It's not my hatch."

Enter Ecko. He, like Locke, has dreams that he feels led by. Building the church is due to a dream. He dreams that he must help Locke rekindle his faith: both dead AL and dead Yemi say he must help Locke. Interestingly, Yemi also tells Ecko that "the work being done in this hatch is of great importance and it is in danger." This would lead one to think that it's not just one big experiment after all but that it has a real purpose. Yet when they get to the plane and find The Pearl station, they see that what is going on in The Swan is an experiment after all. There is no grand purpose or meaning behind it. Just at the time when Locke's faith seems to come back, when he excitedly asks Ecko if he can do the honors of opening the new-found hatch door, this breaks him.

There is an interesting reversal of roles between Locke and Ecko.

1. In their hatch conversation when Ecko mentions Boone, Locke repeats his phrase, "The sacrifice demanded by the island" as if it no longer had the meaning attached to it when he first uttered it, as if it is something long ago that he used to believe but no longer does. He says it without feeling, without life. Before Ecko got on the Oceanic flight, he pretended to be a priest, repeating phrases in the confessional that a priest is supposed to say. He said them without feeling, without meaning. But now, on the island, they mean something to him. He once was not a man of faith; now he is.
   
2. In the conversation where he mentions Boone, Ecko is reviewing a number of events that, taken together, point to some meaning beyond mere coincidence. That a plane from Nigeria ended up on an island in the South Pacific, that the plane contained his brother, that Ecko and Locke were on the same flight that crashed on that same island, that Ecko and Locke are now together in that hatch. Ecko's beliefs reflect what Locke used to believe: "We are being tested. The reason to do it, push the button, is not because we were told to do so in a film. We do it because we believe we are meant to." Locke, however, seems to have lost his faith in the island. "It's a joke, rats in a maze...without the cheese." "I was never meant to do anything! Every single second of my pathetic little life is as useless as that button.... It's nothing. It's meaningless. And who are you to tell me that it's not?" The path to the hatch is truly, as Boone said, a dead end for Locke.
   

What strikes me as interesting about Ecko's faith in what they are doing is that it seems stronger even after the realization that pushing the button has no purpose. At least, it does not have the purpose that they were led to believe (by Desmond) that it had. After viewing the orientation film, Ecko says to John: "I believe that the work you have been doing [i.e., pushing the button] is more important than ever." This just seems incredible. Locke had a faith in the unknown and thought that all would be revealed in the hatch. Now that this isn't the case, now that the veil has been pulled back to reveal nothing but a human experiment, now that the unknown is known to be nothing, Locke crumbles.

But, for some reason, Ecko is all the more excited. "We do it because we believe we are meant to." Like Locke asks Ecko on the way to the plane, I want to ask him, "Are you seeing something I'm not?" What is Ecko's faith in? Faith in the power of a sense of purpose, even when that purpose is not efficacious, when it is ineffectual? Ecko seems to be saying that the sense of purpose is even more important when the actions performed don't really accomplish anything - at least not what they are primarily meant to accomplish. I suspect Ecko's point is that some things are accomplished by our actions and our sense of purpose in those actions other than what we think the actions are supposed to accomplish. Sometimes our actions accomplish things we do not expect or are not looking for, things that are unknown to us. Ecko seems to be getting Locke to look even further beyond where his sights were once set. What happens when our sense of purpose and meaning leaves us? We cease to live. "Every single second of my pathetic little life is as useless as that button." We no longer care about living. Perhaps that is the danger that Yemi warned Ecko about - not an immediate danger, like the world will blow up if the button isn't pushed, but a less tangible but more deep-seated danger of losing hope.

On some level, however, this conclusion seems to me too froo-froo and rather objectionable. Is faith in God simply an illusion of meaning and purpose that we impose upon an otherwise meaningless existence, as Camus claims? Is religion, as a defender of faith, really just the opiate of the masses, something to keep us happy in an otherwise unhappy existence, as Freud claimed? Is having a sense of purpose, no matter what that purpose is, what is ultimately important? I would have to say No to all of these questions. And the curious thing is that I would expect Ecko to give the same response. Unlike Locke, who has/had faith in the island, Ecko is always talking about God; he quotes Scripture; he carves it on his whoop stick. His faith orientation (how cheesy! but the phrase works) is very different from that of Locke. Yet he seems, in his belief about the importance of pushing the button, to be going further down the unorthodox path than Locke did. Is this new revelation in The Pearl station fitting in to Ecko's master plan? He's building a church for a reason, or so I assume. (But given that he has a penchant for doing things without knowing their consequences or ultimate goal, that probably is the wrong assumption to make.) I wonder what Ecko's got up his clerical sleeve here.