Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Lost - "?"

Episode Title: ?

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: Originally this episode was to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, the trippy guy who made the film “π” (Pi) back in 1998. That film was about a mathematical prodigy who believed everything in nature could be understood through numbers. He thinks he has found the key to understanding the universe, but begins to have paranoid hallucinations the closer he gets.

Sound familiar? We’ve got mysterious numbers that seem to be everywhere (4-8-15-16-23-42). We’ve got an organization named “Dharma” which literally means “the sum of everything”. We’ve got characters having hallucinations all over the Island. Pretty much like “Lost: The Movie”, right?

Unfortunately, Darren dropped out of the episode since his pregnant wife (Oscar Winner Rachel Weiss) was about to have their baby. Lame excuse, I know.

So what does any of this have to do with the deeper meaning? Well, it’s clear the episode was titled “?” in honor of Darren’s film titled “π”, so that’s one side of it – a single character title.

But when you think about it, doesn’t “?” pretty much sum up this whole show so far? Think about how many questions we’ve had – from the smallest details (where is Claire getting all this eye makeup?!) to the largest fundamental questions about the purpose and direction of the show (why did the plane crash?) – each week the list seems to grow and grow.

Ever since we learned of this episode title, I (along with most of the Lost-watching community) assumed it was going to be about the “?” displayed at the center of the Blast Door Locke saw, and this still looks to be the case – with the previews showing Locke and Eko setting out on a journey to find this mystery center of the map.

Back when Darren was going to direct the episode, the rumor was this was going to be an “Island Flashback” episode – which sounded like the coolest thing ever (and hopefully Darren will come back in Season 3 to direct just such an episode), but now it’s looking like an Eko flashback episode. But even if that aspect of the episode changed, wouldn’t the fundamental purpose of the episode have to remain the same in order to have the season-long arc make sense?

That’s what I’m thinking.

Since an Island Flashback would theoretically give a lot of answers about the nature and origin of the Island, I think this episode would have to do something similar.

So here’s my thought – in a big dose of irony, the “?” is finally a place where some answers are revealed.

If I’m interpreting the Blast Door map correctly, the “?” Hatch is at the center of it all, and it’s what all the other Hatches have been trying to get to (seemingly unsuccessfully). There must be something good there! But what? Here are my top 3 guesses:

  1. Documents explaining the experiments going on at each Hatch and what the purpose of each is. This would explain why the experiment subjects in each Hatch would want to get there, and why it would be so important for Dharma to keep them out of there – since it would in effect “ruin” the experiment.
  2. Files full of information about all the individuals on the Island. (Remember? This was my prediction for what the Swan Hatch would hold at the end of Season 1). This would finally prove that they were all brought there for a purpose – that it wasn’t just chance, and would go a long way in explaining the connectivity in all the character flashbacks without fully explaining it.
  3. Desmond… and with Desmond come answers. You have to assume there is a wealth of information inside Desmond that he hasn’t shared yet, if he’s spent so much time on the Island. Even if he truly has no idea about the master plan and is just a pawn in the Dharma Skinner Box experiment, he would be able to tell them how the Supply Drops worked in the past, if he’s ever seen the Blast Door Map, and if he was one of the ones attempting to get to the “?”

The only thing I’m worried about is that in algebraic chess notation, "?" denotes a bad move (don’t worry, I’m not the world’s biggest nerd – I just learned this today too. Also, it will be the only time in the history of mankind someone will ever write the phrase "I'm worried about the algebraic chess notation"). The previews showed Eko seemingly falling to his doom. Would the producers be so crazy to kill off three Tailers in two consecutive weeks? This is, after all, a “second flashback” for Eko – the kiss of death for Shannon and Ana-Lucia!

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Nah – there was big talk earlier this year about how excited the producers were for Locke and Eko to finally meet due to the journey that lied ahead for the two of them. Although they’re going on a literal journey this episode, their symbolic faith journey seems to just be beginning.


My guess? This is a Locke vision of Eko dying – but unlike his earlier visions of dead Boone, he takes action to prevent it this time.

Let’s just hope this episode doesn’t leave us with a big “?” over our heads, a la cartoon characters. I want answers!

TV.com Description: Mr. Eko seeks Locke's help in finding a secret location he believes holds the key to the island's mysteries; Jack and the other survivors grapple with the horrific situation in the hatch.



TV.com Breakdown: Let’s tackle the easier part of the description first – Jack and Co. dealing with the situation in the Hatch.

I think we’re all in agreement that Ana-Lucia is gone, going, gone (Jack Johnson style). That’s pretty horrific in and of itself, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that Libby is also dead. I also think we’re all in agreement that even if Libby is somehow alive – she won’t be alive for long.

My problem is that if the writers go this route, it’s just like the Boone situation from last year – a character fatally injured at the hand of another Survivor, who will rat them out just before they slip away. But this would allow Michael to set his trap for the Survivors (forcing the confrontation with the Others) without allowing it to come to fruition (by Libby talking at the last minute) – which would potentially save all our Survivors from being captured.

The problem with having Libby be dead, as I mentioned last week, leaves her backstory a mystery – which seems pretty uncharacteristic for the writers who have thus far done everything with a purpose (again, unless she appears in another character’s flashbacks a la Jack’s Dad – who we surprisingly know a ton about even though he’s never had a flashback of his own).

Official Prediction: The Horrific Situation is the following:

- Dead Ana-Lucia
- Barely alive (not able to speak) Libby
- Shot Michael
- Gone HGI

That sounds horrific enough to me, don’t you think?

How will they deal with it? Jack will treat Michael and try to treat Libby (unsuccessfully). Ana-Lucia will be buried. They’ll toy around with the notion of searching for HGI, but give up to regroup a full on attack of the Others per Michael’s recommendation. It should make for good, emotional, sweeps-worthy TV.

But that won’t even be the good part of the episode. Back to the first sentence:

Locke seems to have found his new raison d’etre on the Island. It’s not entering in the Numbers, it’s finding the “?”, which he thinks holds the key to all his questions about the Island. How he inferred this from the brief look he got at the Blast Door Map? I’m not sure - but John Locke is all about taking leaps of faith and wanting to believe in the greater purpose of things, so it makes sense.

Enter Mr. Eko. He’s truly the one on the Island with the most faith in a traditional sense, so he provides a perfect foil to Locke. Both seem to think that there is something bigger happening (remember Eko’s “Do not confuse coincidence with fate” line when they first met?), but Locke is approaching it from a more “I want to be important” point of view, whereas Eko is approaching it as more of a skeptic / rational point of view.

Eko is going on this journey to try and provide hope to a group of people whose lives have been shaken by the Hatch tragedy. Locke is going to try and find purpose for his life. But where are they going? Back to the one place on the Island that the two have in common – the Beechcraft Plane.

That’s right, the “?” is buried beneath the Beechcraft Plane. Check the picture from this week’s preview:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Think about all the crazy happenings that have gone on in this area. First, Locke finds the Plane based on a crazy vision (sent telepathically from some experiment subject, as a cry for help?) He then loses his ability to walk (because he’s too far away from the magnetic mojo of the Swan Hatch?). Boone makes first contact with the Tailers, then dies due to Locke keeping the place secret (another sign of Locke’s betrayal – see my Locke Manifesto). The fact that the Plane is the same one from Eko’s past, containing his dead brother (no idea here).

The real question is, is the “?” here because of all the wacky stuff that has happened there, or has all the wacky stuff happened there because the “?” is there?

(Put another way, is the “?” Hatch kicking off crazy vibes that makes all this stuff happen there? Or did they put the “?” Hatch in that location because there were crazy vibes there it could use for experiments?)

The Lost Experience So Far:

Okay, for those of you who have lives out there and didn’t spend countless hours hunting for clues and deciphering parts of The Lost Experience here are your Cliff Notes:

Persephone is our protagonist, our link to the inside, seemingly a Rebel Dharmite who’s trying to take the place down from the inside. She’s clearly some sort of computer hack who gets information out to us through The Hanso Foundation website when she can.

Recently the game has started to question what happened to Alvar Hanso? Check it out:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I see two potential options:

  1. Hostile takeover (literally) – where Hanso was murdered by his fellow Board of Directors because he was standing in the way of something.
  2. On the Island – he’s been gone for a few years, and people are beginning to question where he is. Wouldn’t it be great if he was living the life on the Island all along?

In the meantime, it looks as though Dr. Thomas Vernon Mittelwerk (SVP, COO, CTO) is in charge – but will be unreachable for three weeks. That puts his return the night of the Lost Season Finale here in America. Coincidence?

Before that, Hugh MacIntyre (VP, Director) will be returning in two weeks (which is next Wednesday). Look for more information available at that time.

Lastly, there is hot-head Peter Thompson (Legal) who is taking action against Persephone on the website for her hacking, covering up employee reports of misconduct, and even attacking fictional writers! Check out the newest piece of the Alternate Reality Game. This ad ran in newspapers nationwide this week:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

(Man, I really need to get reading "Bad Twin"!)

So what does it all mean? The Hanso Foundation was clearly doing some questionable experiments and some employees took moral or ethical exception to them. However, once they reported them to the appropriate authorities, they seem to retract their statements soon after and then disappear. I’m thinking the disappearance of Alvar Hanso is a similar situation.

Viewer Mailbag. I’ve been pretty bad at getting back to you guys in the Comments section (I’m such a bad host), so I figure I’ll take some time and answer some of the more pressing questions from my discussion of “Two For The Road”.

Maria Said: in the preview it looked like micheal was in the armory thing. is that just abc being misleading or did they figure out micheal did it and lock him in there?

My bet? As an Engineer, he’s in there trying to “figure out how HGI could have escaped”. Note that he isn’t chained down at all, as HGI was. Also note that HGI is not there, confirming that he indeed escaped.

Bridget Said: Also, "tom" was kate's childhood sweetheart and "sarah" was jack's ex wife. i guess they are pretty common names, but what do you think?

Good catch! Since Ana-Lucia had no previous knowledge about Jack’s “Sarah” and Jack’s Dad had no knowledge about Kate’s “Tom”, I’d chalk this up to lazy writers who couldn’t think of new names – or something else they threw in, attempting to make us over-analyze :)

Anonymous Said: what about Jack being unwraveled at the airport ticket counter? Any signifance to that given Jack's typically cool persona?

Dude, his dad just died – cut him some slack.

Cirrus Said: Hey, great entry! This is the Brian we remember! =)

Wait, is that your way of saying I’ve sucked lately? Like that time last year people started telling me how skinny I looked and I was like "Whoa whoa whoa - when was I fat?!"

Ben Said: My memory's a little shakey, but wasn't Eko also a "good one?" I mean, they tried to kidnap him. Did they try to kidnap Ana Lucia? I can't remember, but if not, then maybe "Henry Gale" did not fear attacking her because for whatever reason, she is not valuable to the Others.

Eko indeed was a “good one”. He took out the two “Others” who tried to take him away with a rock, killing them both. Perhaps this switched him over to the “not so good” side… They did not try to kidnap Ana-Lucia, she was awoken by the commotion of them going after other Tailers.

Ethan Said: Who is a "good person", I think we may be going down the wrong path by thinking of this in moralistic terms. Perhaps the "good ones" speak the binary language of moisture vaporators? I can see why the others would desire that skill, as well as speaking Bocce. I forget, did anyone speak Bocce before they were abducted?


Um – come again? Moisture Vaporators? Bocce? Does this mean anything to anyone out there? Am I missing some sort of hip slang that’s popular with the kids these days?

Sinking Deeper Said: Could Libby have something wrapped up in the blanket...through my shock during the episode, I don't remember?

Entirely possible. She told Hurley she was going to get the blankets (and he should go get the wine), but you never know what else she could have grabbed. But I’m sticking with my original thoughts. Shot, and dying (if not dead).

Cas Said: It's been a while and my memory is patchy... I only remember there being one "other" that Anna Lucia killed (Goodwin, right?). Who was the other one?

Remember “Nathan”? He was the one who seemed to be the Other initially, so Ana-Lucia dug a hole and threw him inside (the same hole Michael, Jin, and Sawyer ended up in) Goodwin helped him escape in the middle of the night only to kill him. If they were both on the same side, Nathan must have said too much or did something wrong.

Trixie Said: Also... I think I might have a crush on the Nerd God who is Brian... :)

Um – who’s a Nerd God? I’m cool in real life, I just pretend to be a nerd on the Blog so that people think I’m smarter than I really am. Sorry to break your heart Trixie, but I'm going to break Boy Band Rule #1 and confess that I have a smoking hot girlfriend who is much better than I deserve.

Lost in Chicago 2 Said: How do you know so much? is it possible you have an acquaintance with someone at ABC?

I guess I attribute my knowledge to watching a lot of TV as a kid. No connections at ABC (or any other network for that matter) – although now that I found out I have a reader who actually works on Lost, I’m one step closer.

Anonymous Said: Libby and Hurly were patients at a mental hospital. Is it possible that the hospital belonged to the Hanso Foundation?

Entirely possible – especially when you think that they had the only two people who knew the Numbers locked up in there (Lenny and Hurley). Perhaps it was their way of “containing” the sickness that the Numbers bring.

Amy Said: And, hey, where has that Puffy Black Cloud been these days anyway?

Amen to that. Just like it seemingly disappeared for most of the first season, the Smoke Monster has gone AWOL since Eko’s encounter with it earlier this year. If you remember last year, Smokey came back during the Season Finale – maybe we’ll be as lucky this year (or, how about this week, it’s another Eko episode, after all…)

Great1 Said: Eko was a drug dealer, and a thug. Definitely not a "good" guy. The smoke monster really i think is protecting something. One thing, if the others have this thing protecting them, how do they control the smoke monster?

Eko might have a sketchy past, but he’s clearly turned his life around. Without getting too philosophical or religious on you, I think there’s a good chance he redeemed himself prior to his encounter with Smokey. As for controlling him, perhaps that’s part of the point – they created this Monster, and now cannot control it (a little Frankenstein-esque). That might be why the Island (and their experiments) seem to be in shambles…




That’s all for this week! I’ve got to say, last week’s Lost was one I wasn’t really that pumped for – but ended up being one of the top two episodes of the year so far. On the other hand, I’ve had this episode circled on my calendar (not literally) for the past three weeks. I’m expecting big things – here’s hoping I don’t get let down!

82 comments:

melodrama said...

Hey I just found a new commercial for Hanso on ABC

www.sublymonal.com

Here are the pics from that site:

Sublymonal Pics

Matt said...

Bocce and vaporators is a Star Wars reference...episode IV.

melodrama said...

I agree with Brian's idea that the smoke monster is probably an experiment gone wrong.

I guess the experiments went haywire and the Hanso Foundation decided they couldn't save their Dharmites because it would get out in the news... so the Others are really stuck there to survive with whatever they can.

I guess that leads to why our survivors are there, and maybe that's because someone wanted them to be there... maybe not the Dharmites, but other people who wanted them to find the Dharmites. Possibly to stop what's going on?

Brian said...

That's the start of the Sublymonal clues - keep following them through for a FREAKY scene inside some sort of hospital and a reveal about our good friend Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk.

melodrama said...

Hey Brian, what do you do to get past the green TV thingy that says "Code: Heir Apparent"? I don't get to the hospital scene...

Anonymous said...

Remind me, was it the smoke monster that killed the pilot or something else? If it was the smoke monster, could that be a determinate of the good and bad nature of people? IE when the smoke monster finds you, if you're good you live otherwise, adios? That would explain how Locke and Eko both staired into it and had nothing happen to them.

You're idea that the ? Hatch is under the Beachcraft is really interesting. If that is the case, perhaps Locke didn't loose his ability to walk because he was too far from the magnetic power of the Swan Hatch but too close to whatever the deal is in the ? Hatch. Either way this episode looks to be a great one.

Brian said...

Melodrama - there's a hidden link under the TV that will take you to the Staff Bios page for Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk. There's a box that pops up, which you can type inside - enter "Heir Apparent" and the scene plays out a few clicks later.

melodrama said...

Well after I type in "Heir Apparent," nothing happens. ??

Brian said...

Press enter on your keyboard?

melodrama said...

I found out that apparently lots of people are having this problem:

http://lost-forum.com/showthread.php?t=37617&page=116

Anonymous said...

hey melodrama, I didnt have any problem at when I entered the code: Heir Apparent, I just copied and pasted where brian said I should. Impressive stuff there, little freaky!!! Cant wait to see more of this!

Btw, Brian, I cant wait to see how accurate your thoughts about the ? episode are!!! I hope we do get some shocking reveals tomorrow!

A.J, CR

Anonymous said...

Why do many of the characters conceal various significant matters from each other? For example, why did Locke protect HGI (trying to kill Anna Lucia) from Jack? Why hasn't Locke shared with Jack and others having seen the black light chart? This is a frustrating aspect of the overall story line and does not seem to make sense. Please help bring clarity to this......

Anonymous said...

Didn't Ana L kill a female "other" on the beach one night? clunked her head on a rock? So she personally killed two others. Nathan wasn't an "other." Goodwin said "If you cut off one of his fingers and he still said he was on the plane, you'd start looking at other people." Nathan was a jerk, but not an other.

Anonymous said...

Found out something, dunno if everybody here already knows: you gotta "loging" first at the Newsletter (using the password from the TV AD) in order to see the new stuff coming out (such as using the code Heir Apparent at the bio of Mittelwerk).

A.J

Brian said...

AJ - yep, that's the way it's looking. If you haven't been playing the game from the start, you have to go back and do all the previous steps before being able to do any new ones.

Not sure if it's tied to User Name (doubtful) or computer IP address (more likely).

Anonymous said...

"Um – come again? Moisture Vaporators? Bocce? Does this mean anything to anyone out there? Am I missing some sort of hip slang that’s popular with the kids these days?"

You're geekness doens't run deep enough. This is an "attempt" at a joke/reference to Star Wars(1977).

Lukes Uncle Owen was looking for a droid who Spoke Bocce and had a knowledge of Moisture Vaporators. I don't see how this relates to Lost.

Brian said...

Yeah, I know nothing about Star Wars - never really impressed me (actually haven't even seen all of them).

Turns out I'm not a nerd after all! In your face, space coyote!

Anonymous said...

Ana Lucia Killed Goodwin, and one of the others that night they were attacked and eco killed two of them, ana also killed one of them.

Anonymous said...

sorry, locke's good leg, already made that comment

Anonymous said...

Correct, Bocce and vaporators are Star Wars references. The meet of the post suggested that the others "Good" ones could be good in a functional way not in a moralistic sense.

I think that is a great point. With the information coming out about the Hanso foundation showing that they were up to some dangerous experimentation I think that the theory about the Others being the "Good" ones is very questionable.

Anonymous said...

F*** Star Wars. Why? I don't know. For some reason I don't like it. I think it is those freaks that dress up for the movies and wait in line for a month. Bocce is a great game to play, especially while drinking. Somewhat related to Cornhole.

Anonymous said...

Spoiler Alert

If you want to ruin parts of tonights episode...

http://www.thetailsection.com

Has clips that will reveal part of the plot, as well as the answer to the Libby question.

They also have a extended preview that shows the uncovering of what I can only assume is the "?".

View at your own risk!

-Steve

Anonymous said...

Bocce may be the wrong spelling, I think it's Bachi

Anonymous said...

Ahhh.. OK... I agree.. Good in a Functional Way.. but they do suggest their not Killers.

However, I Alex(I think) did seem to think that Claire's life was in danger, and they've certainly killed before.

It could be a Cult... Their morals only apply to themselves, and not to other peoples?

Anonymous said...

Nerd and Geek...
We're all lost GEEKS,
my definition of a GEEK is anyone that knows far more than the common person ever cares to know about a subject. I could be a Computer Geek, A Fantasy Football Geek, or in this case, LOST. Geek is NOT an insult.

A NERD is more "uncool" and may actually do stupid things dress up as characters from Star Wars, Star Trek or even Lost. Such as "I'm going to have a finale party, and I'm going to shave my head and dress up as LOCKE." When you cross THAT line, you may have become a DORK. I think it's when what you're a geek over crosses over into the reality of your life.

As long as we don't start implementing elements of LOST in our daily lives, we should be OK.

Anonymous said...

hi brian.
great blog!!
2 q for you:
1-i typed the heir apparent in the box that's on the text, clicked enter a few times and nothing happend.any idea why?
2-how do i get to the message of where's hanso and the thing about bad twin.
tnks

Anonymous said...

haha Just found out an interesting fact:
The number of times you have to click on tv screens when you go to www.sublymonal.com are exactly the same as the "freaky" numbers:4-8-15-16 -23-42 !!
very very nerdy!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is nerdy. But it is pretty cool. I couldn't figure out any pattern.

melodrama said...

hmm, i didnt think tonight's episode really revealed much. i guess i was expecting each week to be better than the last.

anyway does anyone think that the video cameras have still been recording even when the TVs were off? that would be cool, at least they could go back and look at what happened there in the past... however that would entail that someone is changing the tapes, so i guess that may not be the case.

i think it was pretty dumb of Locke to send his map up the chute thingy. i'm guessing some drama will happen because of that... who knows who's going to receive it?

also i wonder why locked dreamed that eko would fall, if he didn't? it seems like after anyone dreamed something, it actually happened... so i guess something will happen to eko later?

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the episode, and it was intresting. Biggest question: do Locke and Eko actually reveal what they found this time? from the previews, i dont think so. And, the big "?" was anticlimatic. There really was nothing there. No smoke monster. No desmond. No recordings of y they are there. It did have this bit of info, on the tape, which i think they shouldve took: the button is USELESS!!! Its an experiment. Eko's brother wanted them to see that, but what he siad i thought was intresting was when Eko's brother claimed that the experiments need to be protected, they are in danger. So what experiments are still going on on the island? I think next week plays a huge part, where michael is apparently captured, some lady claims that Walt is waiting for him, and there is some sort of flash of light that all the survivors see. Should be intresting, building up to a Desmond season finale!!

Anonymous said...

i agree, when something needs to be done, Sayid is the one that has to do it. The writers seem to just give Sayid the ability to do everything. Is there anything that man cant do or think of? Anyway, Brian, going on with smokey, r u saying that the smokey is the big problem on the island? Did Dharma quit on this, and smokey has been going around wreaking havoc? also, i dun think we'll ever kno wat was up wit Libby. She'll prolly jus end up being a forgotten character. Just wanted to say, Sayid is the man!!!

Brian said...

You guys are all crazy if you think this episode didn't give us any answers - on the contrary, it finally confirmed that everything going on in not only the Swan Hatch, but EVERY Hatch - is an experiment. I

t's the equivalent of pulling the curtain back from the Wizard in Oz.

I'll get into more depth later, but this is exactly what I was expecting.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a great episode. It didn't drag on, and it gave us some answers, and a few more links (Eko and Claire's psychic). Someone finally shared some info (Eko telling Locke about his bro). What was with Locke's comment about the sacrifice the island needed/wanted? Was he just running his mouth, or did he have some kind of vision/dream thing tell him that someone needed to be sacrificed (Boone)? Maybe Locke didn't lose his ability to walk. Maybe he faked it, knowing the plane was danger. I am thinking that was what happened. If Michael is captured or "captured," what about the people with him? Did he go out alone? I am getting pumped about the season finale. It looks like there was a plan for the plane to crash? Maybe Eko's bro knows what is going on in the future since he is in heaven (telling the psychic's daughter that he will see him soon)? I know I am rambling, but it is fun that I finally have some theories of my own.

Honorest said...

I have to agree, if not one of the obvious questions, that it offered we do know Libby is dead, the Hatch's are all experiments, and in each Flashback were guarenteed to see another Lostie. and this time it was Libby.

I think it was one of the better *least surprising* episodes, granted its no Jaw Dropper because most of it was already expected, however Eko's journey with Locke revealed so many questions, I was very excited about there discovery.

Top Chef's Reunion was awesome, one of the most arguementative reunion specials I have seen in awhile.

Alias did not do it for me tonight, I'm not sure but it just wasn't there.

Unan1mous finally ended, bitter sweetly.

Amazing Race was awesome, to think a Thai speciality is eating Crickets! Yum

Great blog, can't wait for next weeks shows. Keep up the great work.

Anonymous said...

When Locke and Ecko watched the Pearl Orientation video, they specifically pointed out that it was copyrighted 1980, prior to the "AH/MGD Incident". Notice that Dr Candle still had his left arm, whereas in the Swan video he has a prosthetic arm. Could it be that in 1980 the button pushing was just a monitoring experiment, but after the incident it has a very real purpose. In Ecko's dream the swan hatch was revving up the electromagnetic engines and was about to tear the place apart. They haven't realized the date difference yet, so if they stopped pressing the button there could still be a very real incident.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if anyone has said it yet, but because the cameras were recording the Swan hatch, I think Locke and perhaps Jack and a few others will review the recordings and find out that Michael shot everyone. This will create quite a rage among them, leading even moreso to a war on the Others. Just a hunch..

Anonymous said...

WOW!! A great episode indeed. We finally get some confirmation that they are involved in an experiment(s). However, I don't think the cameras are recording, that is up to the watchers (Locke and Eko now). Like the VHS tape (or was it Bata;) pointed out they need to observe and record every possible detail no matter how minute into the journals. And of course we see a camera observing Locke and Eko...

Anyone catch the different set of numbers on the pages of the log files being printed by Eko?

After tonight's episode I took another look at the map to see if the pearl site was represented on the map. Of course I was looking at the big "?" in the middle when I noticed the tiny question mark below the "wavy line" (as Locke put it) or you can see it just above the swan hatch. This I think is more likely to be the Pearl site/Heroine plane crash site.
So alas the Big "?" still remains. I tell ya it may be geeky but it is still a heck of a story.

Was the father of the miricle girl the same psychic for Claire?

Another thing about the map, I noticed close to the "I am Here", is the "Relevance to Valenzetti-Related Research Activity". For kicks I did a google search on Valenztti and found http://www.valenzettifoundation.org

If you then click on the Gary Troup video you are taken to Amazon.com (least we not forget the marketing ploy) to look at getting the book Bad Twin. In the Amazon Exclusive section you can see another lost related video.

Again the importance of the whole "Good in a functional way" can't be understated enough. I think the hatch crew is being setup in a big way. In the end Eko & Locke's visions kind of gave me the creeps -- too many dead people acting all wiggy. Bad psychic input - manipulation?

Anonymous said...

The tape looked VHS to me(I was a Beta owner). But that's beside the point.

I think the psychics comments are interesting... that he's a fraud and takes advantage of people. His response to claire had simularities between the healers and Rose. Also, he was so obsessed with Claire and the baby. I'm not so sure about the Fraud.. I think he wanted to get Eko on that plane... the same one that he wanted Claire to get on so bad. However, he also didn't want her to talk to him...could it just be because he didn't want the investigation?

As for the Pearle...I too think it's interesting that this appears to be more of another "hatch" than the big "?". I can't say that for sure, it WOULD make sense that the monitoring station would be in the middle, but then again, it looks from the map like a bigger mystery. They were definately heading for the middle of the island, however we have the benefit of all the map details... Locke had 15 seconds to look at the thing, he's going to remmeer shapes and symbols but not details. They need to see the map again.

I think it's interesting about Eko's brother though... Remember, this COULD be the Island trying to work with his mind... the smoke monster read his history, so that could be where they got his brother from.... however, the girl "talking" to him on the other side pre flight brings this into question.

I don't think this is "recorded" in any way... but it would be nice to find the video of the shooting, the camera angle is just right to show the shooting of Libby.

The revelation of the monitors was not a shocker... but what IS significant is that, as Eko said, the plane his brother was on crashed on the very spot on this island, half way around the world. There is too much for this to be coincidence. Eko once said not the confuse coincidence with fate. THIS is fate. Locke HAS lost his faith in the island and Eko is the new "chosen one" to deliver.... but again, is the source of the dreams all the island? Or is his brother really talking from beyond the grave.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Libby's "Michael" last work, no one suspected anything but her expression was that of terror. I hope show comes in "Visions" to Hugo.

The Numbers in the log. I didn't study too closely, but they seem to be even, then odd, with a : followed by a number. My possible GUESS (shot in the dark) is that this is a count of how many times the button was pushed and the number after the : is the counter number when it's pressed... but the number on the log is much too high for that count, It's probably been pushed just about 120,000 times since 1980.

Michael's response to Libby being alive was interesting.. but he didn't take drastic measures.. does that tell us anything? I had suspected that he might do something to keep her from talking.

FUTURE EPOSIDE TALK. POTENTIAL SPOILER: As I suspected, It's Sayeed, that's suspicious of Michael. I can't remember where, but I've seen a clip of Michael and Sayeed arguing.. Michael does NOT want Sayeed on in the party.
Then there is that "something" that everyone sees in the preview. Too stunning to be Walt, everything looks bright. What could it be? I guess we'll find out next week, and I'm prepared to be disapointed. The preview shows Michael getting an injection, so being drugged is a likely scenario.
As I suggested before, I think that the 4815162342 medication may have an mind altering effect of some sort. Maybe making them more open to suggesting?

Anonymous said...

hobbes good research...The bad twin. Brian do you already have the book??

Last night's episode was great. Brian I can not wait to read your recap.

Ang

Anonymous said...

could you please make sure to put what happened in the last 60 seconds of the show in your review? my TIVO cut it off because it was 61 minutes and the last i saw was hurly walking all sad with his back to the camera. thanks, if you can that'd be awesome.

Anonymous said...

Sprite may have paid for it, and wanted credit. They can't just put a can of sprite up there, it would take away from the realism. That was my thought.

While most people seem dead(note that Jack's dad's coffin was empty, there have been other miracles on the island, and we now have a possible case for resurrection as per the Girl in last nights episode)

I do NOT think that Walt is dead, the preview says "he's just outside". It's also rumored that "3 minutes" (potential spoiler) may be how much time the others allow Michael to talk with Walt.
I think he may be "back" by the end of the season...

Anonymous said...

There was a lame prop last night. The knob that adjusted the lighting in "The Pearl" was a rangetop dial, and looked identical to my 80's style rangetop control(1987 jen-air). Warm, Medium, Hot? Couldn't they have done better than that? At lest changed the labels.

That's as bad as last years Finale when Walt(in flashbacks) was playing is video game. It looked like some sort of fighting game, but the sound effects were clearly Atari 2600 Pac Man circa 1981. This may just be an inside joke. Like the claim the Dharma shark was.

Anonymous said...

Here's a bunch of thoughts on last night's episode:

Does the girl in the freaky hospital scene (on the Hanso site after you connect through sublymonal) look like the psychic's resurrected daughter to anyone else? Hanso hospital?

I think Jack e. and gannon made some really good points and if the tapes were recording, perhaps there is also evidence of whether HGI pushed the button? If not, maybe the evidence for that is on the computer printout? Or maybe video of the writing on the blast door?

It's possible that the psychic lied to get Eko on the plane. For whatever reason, he was definitely lying about not believe his daughter and wife to get Eko to leave.

The whole Sprite thing seems kind of like how the 877 number is directed by Verizon and there is an ad for Monster.com. Just makes it realistic maybe?

If the Pearl is a monitoring station, why wasn't anyone in there? Another part of the experiment to let them think it's fake? Or is it just that everything they're stumbling upon is old and not being used anymore...

And last question, did anyone get a look at Eko's passport?

Oh, and not that this is important, but to whoever was asking about Jack's dad and Ana Lucia naming each other Tom and Sarah. Probably coincidental, but Jack's dad was the one to give Ana the name "Sarah" and he sure knew who she was.

Anonymous said...

www.sublymonal.com - Besides clicking on the TVs and getting sent to the Hanso website does anyone see anything else? Am I missing something?

Anonymous said...

ang, after you get to the Hanso site, click on Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk's bio. There will be a box you can type in. Put in the code that was flashing on the sublymonal tv: "heir apparent" Make sure you've previously logged into the site or it won't work.

Anonymous said...

It's obvious that the hatches were intended to observe B.S. experiments. But Wickman/Candle didn't have the prosthetic arm in that video. I think what started as a "joke" in the swan hatch actually became something quite serious.

Anonymous said...

check out

http://www.oceanic-air.com/

On the right side under the "Important Announcement"
there is a message hidden behind the text but I can't figure it all out. It starts off "I have survived a horrific plane crash and am stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am ever found, please forward...." and then the rest gets overlapped with the other text.

Anonymous said...

hobbes, I think someone posted that a little while back because I remember looking it up before and not being able to read it all until I highlighted that text. The message ends with "... please forward word of my fate to my parents."

Anonymous said...

My wife (who's a librarian) says the following about

Heir Apparent:

"That is the title to a book by Vivian VanVelde that I read last year.

The book is about a girl who gets trapped in a virtual reality game where everything seems real.

Maybe they are connected to something similar an experiment of some sort to see how people respond in certain situations."

Brian said...

Guys - I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around this week's episode.

Ironically, everything I thought would happen ended up happening, but something about it just didn't sit right with me, like I'm missing something.

Might be a few days before I get the recap post up, after I watch the episode again.

Sorry for the delay.

(PS - Sprite actually is lemon and lime, and they have often referred to their drink as a "Limon" one - so Lymon is just a different spelling, which plays into the word "Sublimonal". Expect a few corporate sponsors throughout this Lost Experience - ads aren't free!)

Anonymous said...

I could be wrong, but isn't the Swan Camera positioned in such a way that the Blast Door map would be visible when down?

Is it possible that the terminal in the Swan Hatch can communicate with other comptuers on Dharmanet? Hense the "warning" in the film(why was this cut out?). We know that Walt.. or someone communicated with Michael.

(oh, and someone somewhere called the computer TRS 80, this is an Apple II+.. possibly with a modified keyboard.)


-Steve

Anonymous said...

My theory on Claire's psychic is that for some reason he wants people to go to the Island. Remember because of the timeline Claire visiting the psychic, Eko investigating the resurrection and of flight 815, all of the events on last night's episode were occurring within the same week or so that the psychic was trying to get Claire to go to the island.

It is unclear why he wants people to go, but I think there are two possible options: (1) Assuming the island is an experiment, those in charge of it know that they need new people to come to the Island to participate in it, and who better to hire than a psychic to tell people that they must get on a plane for whatever reason. (2) I think it is even more possible that this psychic is for real, that he is having real visions about Claire or Mr. Eko and he knows that it is very important that they get to the island. Remember when he first tried to read Claire and he got spooked and refused to do it? Remember his persistent calls to her at all hours of the night? That seemed very real, and it would be pretty elaborate for him to fake all of that knowing that it would spark Claire’s curiosity. As for Eko, he knows that unless he comes out and tells Eko that his psychic business is a sham, and that his daughter never really died that this is the only way Eko will leave in time to make flight 815. There was something very suspicious about the way that he acted towards his family and towards Eko. It seems like there is more to him than simply being a father who does not believe that a true miracle happened to his daughter. He wants people to go to the Island, we just do not know his motivation.

Although I am not convinced, as some people are, that last night’s episode concludes that everything is an experiment I do have an interesting thought in the event that we find out there are other experiments in each hatch. What if the Others are doing what they are doing because they also are subjects of an experiment. What if they had an Orientation that told them what they must do and that if they do not something terrible will happen (“HE” will kill you, hurt you, something, perhaps?), or perhaps their video explained “the sickness,” for example and they were told that they must dress up in ratty costumes, steal children and other good people to save from “the sickness” and do a variety of other things because it is their duty to do so. This would make sense from a “good person”/ “bad person” standpoint as it would mean that the Others perhaps really are good people that feel like they have no choice but to do what they do. I haven’t done enough research to know if this is even possible…I would probably have to re-watch this season entirely to see how it checks out, but I think it would be an interesting development.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Liz, I finally saw the the hospital girl. I didn't know you had to be logged in first.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I really don't think it was Nathan. But, thanks to all the folks above who said she killed someone the same night as Mr. Eko! I don't remember that she did, but, like I said spotty memory.

Very cool episode! Interesting that the only camera still working is the one in the hatch at that specific angle. We would not have seen Mike shooting anybody at that angle. I wonder if they got any sound of any kind, or if it was just setup to be visual surveilance? And, I'm wondering if the folks in the pearl hatch were the ones really under observation? I'm thinking there has to be a central nervous system (where ever Locke's map ended up) that still has some camera's and surveilance going on, otherwise how do the others know so much about what the survivors are doing?

Anonymous said...

couple of things:
"Is it possible that the terminal in the Swan Hatch can communicate with other comptuers on Dharmanet? Hense the "warning" in the film(why was this cut out?). We know that Walt.. or someone communicated with Michael." -- That means that the others, if they had access to the computer terminals, tricked michael into going out there for walt, and had set him up from the beginning.

Also, it dawned on me recently, in light of all the "they were supposed to be on the plane" theories, what put them all on the plane? If it was humans, then how could someone control who lives and who dies in a plane crash? isnt it pure luck that they are the survivors? i understand that u could make a plan crash, but how can u make certain people survive the crash? That does not make any sense.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, jus continuing on my last post:
How can someone make sure Walt, or Locke, or Eko would survive the crash? now if people did this, purposefully made this plane crash, they were just looking for more people. But if that was the case, why make a big deal about who is good and who is bad? Could that in itself be an experiment? The more i think about it, i keep thinking about one thing: smokey. That thing has to be the key to watever is going on. It a freakin black SMOKE MOSNTER that eats people!! is smokey detecting good and bad, is that an experiment? wat the hell is an experiment, and what is real?

Anonymous said...

they had to kill off ana and libby...one quick way for the producers to get rid of the two cast members going to jail for DWI...

Anonymous said...

Ana and Libby being killed had NOTHING to do with those two cast members getting DUI's. Listen to the LOST podcast.

Anonymous said...

Good point about the Pearl Hatch being observed, there is an OBVIOUS camera in the Pearl hatch... and they made a point to show it to us.

As for "how could they know what's going on without the cameras". Well, two things, spies in the camp(Goodwin/Ethan). I'm also convinced the parasychology and mention in "The Lost Experience" of "remote viewing training" suggest that the children(we know Walt has ability) are being trained in some sort of way. They may be viewing the others, and could account for th whispers in the woods and the fact that they sound like children (at times).

In other words, I wouldn't hold everything to pure science.

One more thing, we have the delima, are the visions planted by the island? By Dharma? Maybe by the children(who may be trying to help) or maybe even "smokey". Evidence in FAVOR of this is the smoke monster reading minds(images in the smoke). The two it's directly encountered and not killed(both "good" ones?) are the only ones to have these dream visions(well, that may not be true, Charlie had visions about the baby, but they've never followed up).

Just some ideas...

Anonymous said...

Follow up to last note:
Boone had a vision in season one, but I never could figure out if this was the Island or the smoke monster encounter. (the one about his saving his sister/her dying)
Locke did say "is that what it made you see"(or something like that.. it's been awhile)

Anonymous said...

Evidence against this is that Eko's brother sent a message to him PRIOR to his arrival on the island. Also, the Psychic, and to a certain extent, the healer seemed to have a premonition about the island... suggesting that this MAY be Destiny.. that there IS reason for the survivors to be there.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Brian,

Perhaps this question is why you are uncomfortable:

"Why is Eko now the primary number pusher/believer in the Hatch even after he knows that it is a Skinner Box?"

Answer: His first dream with his brother pushing the ?-buttons told him that the work going on here is more important than anything and that Eko must continue it.

-BH

Elle Darcy said...

You said:

Since Ana-Lucia had no previous knowledge about Jack’s “Sarah” and Jack’s Dad had no knowledge about Kate’s “Tom,” I’d chalk this up to lazy writers who couldn’t think of new names – or something else they threw in, attempting to make us over-analyze :)

But Anna and Jack's dad didn't choose their own names, they chose for each other. Anna said he looked like a Tom and he decided to call her Sarah. Anna wouldn't have known about Kate's Tom (unless she also knew him somehow or the name is significant to her own life), but Jack's dad definitely knew that he was calling this new, mysterious, and attractive woman by his son's ex-wife's name. I don't think that's a coincidence and might tell us something more about the Jack-Sarah-Dad relationship. The writers couldn't possibly be that lazy.

PS - Long shot guess: Jack's dad's name is Christian. In John's gospel, Thomas is the one who doubts the resurrection of Christ? Significant? Maybe? In any case, I think we're supposed to make some religious connection, after all, writers don't just pass out a name like Christian Shepherd without meaning something by it.

Anonymous said...

this may have already been asked but why was the "?" hatch apparently unmanned and evidently abandoned? What about the other hatch that Kate, et al discovered earlier this seasons? Why have they not gone back to inspect that? Does anyone think the surveillance cameras in "?" picked up Michael shooting Anna and Libby? Does anyone think Locke will finally come clean and share with John and the rest what else he learned....? Why has Locke been so secretive anyway? All in all...this was a terrific episode and is one of the most intriguing TV shows ever aired on network IMO.

Brian said...

Guys - easy on the spoilers in here. Here's a good rule of thumb - if it's something you read somewhere classified under "Spoiler" on a message board somewhere, let's play it safe and call it a spoiler, even if it may not be true and at this point is just a "rumor".

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I've read all the comments, but there are like 73 of them, so if this theory has been mentioned before, I apologize ahead of time. I think that prior to the incident, the button being pushed meant nothing, it was just an experiment, but after the incident it was actually important. Also, I was a little disappointed in the ? hatch. I'm wondering if the others actually have any civilization on the island or what, because both of the hatches we've found have been abandoned. I'd be kind of disappointed if the "big bad others" turned out to live in huts, awaiting orders from "Him" or something.

Anonymous said...

How about this?

They set up a number of hatches, all with "experiments". But, as everyone who studied science at school knows, the first thing you write up in your experiment notes is "Aim".

So, what was the aim of these experiments?

My theory is that the person/people behind all this wanted to see what was the best way to get people to do a repeated action. The Swan hatch was set up to push a button. Some other hatch was set up with an exercise bike that has to be kept moving, etc, etc. While the experiments were on going, the mastermind was holding back the disaster from happening with another method. The Pearl hatch was set up to monitor the progress of the other hatches.

However, that other method failed, i.e. the incident. In the panic, they had to quickly switch to one of the hatch methods, and they chose the Swan - hence it is now "more important than ever". Also, it made every thing else redundant (and hence abandoned). And so they become Others.

Discuss.

Anonymous said...

After thinking about it, I'll be disapointed if it actually does something. You can put hyroglyphics for "to die" on the counter, but you can't automate it?

Why would you not write a simple program that will execute the code every 108 minutes.
It makes no sense to require human input for this remedial task.

But come to think of it(geek taking over), why wouldn't they use a dumb terminal to access the mainframe. They're obviously not using the computer for any real tasks... just the code... I would still expect a dumb terminal/mainframe setup. The writers weren't thinking in the world of 1980 technology.

And while I'm there, assuming a 1985 shutdown.. that Apple in the Pearl was running for 20 years on the same power supply? No hardware failures in tehw swan? Wow... Maybe that was "the incident".. they put the fate of the world in the hands of a single Apple ][ +! Someone spilled coffee on the keyboard and was unable to enter the code... DISASTER!

Anonymous said...

Isn't the pearl hatch a different hatch from the "?" hatch according to the blast door map? Could it be that Locke and Eko think they found the ? when really it's just another side hatch?

Anonymous said...

Possibly Michael was telling a half truth about the Others when he said he found them living in tents etc. But perhaps they aren't official others, but rather subjects from before the "incident." Or as Brian has referred to them as rebel Dharmites.

Possibly, if there was indeed an "incident" at the Swan hatch where the subjects discovered it was all B.S. They started letting the countdown expire so they could map the island on the back of the blast door. More and more they discovered what the island is about and that lead to the "incident."
Back to Michael, in order to get Walt back, perhaps his whole return is to setup a violent confrontation between the Survivors and the "Rebels" so that the Others can get back to their Master plan of experiments within experiments. Which involves getting Locke and Eko setting it all back up.
Of course this all speculation, but hey it's all fiction anyway right?.

Also I've suspected for a while now that the medicine that we've seen Desmond taking, is actually a life extension serum called Dexitramman.
refer to this "Lost" link

http://www.methusalabs.com/022001.php?index=1

Brian said...

Robin,

You're thinking what I'm thinking. It's just taking me a lot longer to write out :)

It should be up tonight!

Anonymous said...

Robin, if you look at the blast door map you will notice a smaller ? below the big centre "?."

Anonymous said...

Oooohhhh...good call, Hobbes. I didn't remember that part...

Anonymous said...

Robin/Hobbes,

I was just about to post that I think I am the only one who thinks they didn't discover the BIG ? but another side hatch... especially with the orientation video was 5 of 6.

To my counting they have discovered 4 of 6 side hatches now:
The Swan (pushing the button)
The Pearl (just now)
The Staff (Claire was abducted/held here)
??? (where the Tailies were bunkered out and Eko found the film in the Bible)

-BH

Anonymous said...

I think the hatch the Tailies had was The Arrow. That means that our Losties have found all of the "discovered" hatches on the map except for The Flame.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that's a question mark on the ground, it's a circle, possible for a food drop. However the planes location makes it look like a question mark. I beleive that's cooincidence. As mentioned, I don't think this is the big question mark.

Anonymous said...

the Hanso site has another hidden thing not mentioned in the blog yet... i was browsing when the clock changed to say 'OBEY', so i clicked it and it took me to

www.sublymonal.com

after some clicking, it gives the password 'Heir Apparent'

type that into the text field in the middle of Mittelwerk's bio page, and it reveals some dirt on him...

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy you finally gave up on the Rebel Dharmites vs Low-Level Dharmites theory.

Your crackpot theories are great, but are rarely grounded in anything that actually happens on the show.

Anonymous said...

I've always said that the big "?" that Eko thinks he saw is not the same as the "?" on the map, because clearly the hatch was the Pearl and clearly the Pearl is identified as not being the same as the "?" hatch.

It's quite obvious, I think, that the producers made it look like it was the "?" mark (with the plane hiding the dot) but everyone was so blinded by the fact that the episode was called "?" that they just assumed it was a question mark.

And, it was also very obvious that the observations and message books were yet another experiment and not the "central hub of Dharma" as some have said. We didn't need the big reveal that the books went nowhere, as it was quite obvious from the orientation video that there was no point to the observations. Why else would they write down everything and be given no rationale, except "Everyone else thinks they're in an important experiment. As for you, don't think about it, just do."

Anonymous said...

CFL - it took me a while to figure out exactly who you were talking about.

You do realize that most people call her Rousseau, as that is her character name.