Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: After numerous “The Wizard of Oz” references over the course of the past two seasons, we finally have one as the episode title!
For those unfamiliar with the origin of the title, here’s a brief recap of what happens in the movie (also, you’ve never seen The Wizard of Oz? Seriously?)…
When Dorothy crash lands in Oz, she is told the only person who could help her get home is the “Wizard”, who serves as the all-knowing, all-powerful ruler of the land of Oz who has the power to grant wishes to those deemed worthy. When Dorothy visits him, the Wizard appears as a freaky floating head surrounded by fire and smoke (it should be noted that in the novel, the Wizard appears as something different to each person who visits him – he’s a floating head to Dorothy, a beautiful woman to the Scarecrow, a scary beast to the Tin Man, and a ball of fire to the Lion). The Wizard agrees to help Dorothy only if she can obtain the broomstick of the Wicked Witch (in the book, he requests that they actually KILL the Wicked Witch – the movie was sanitized to make it more family friendly).
(note: it’s killing me to not point out the obvious, glaring similarities to Lost right now, but I’ll wrap up the story first…)
Towards the end of the movie, once the Wicked Witch has been melted, the main characters return to the Wizard to collect their rewards. However, thanks to Dorothy’s dog Toto tugging on the edge of a curtain, it is revealed that there is no Wizard, only an old man behind a curtain who is operating an elaborate hoax. Miraculously, this normal man is able to grant all their wishes anyways thanks to common sense and clever logic.
In the end, the Wizard explains that he was born in Kansas and brought to Oz via hot air balloon, and promises to take Dorothy home in the same balloon. He further explains that when he crash landed, the people of Oz assumed he was their ruler – almost like a prophecy come true. The Wizard, finding himself in a wacky land of witches, scary midgets, and flying monkeys realized that he would need to stay anonymous to keep himself safe – thus explaining his creation of the fictional Wizard.
So what does this have to do with Lost? What doesn’t this have to do with Lost!
Unless this episode title is a huge red herring meant to intentionally throw us off, this episode titel is screaming BEN IS THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN! THERE IS NO JACOB!
Let’s remind ourselves that when Ben (aka Henry Gale – the name of Dorothy’s uncle in the Wizard of Oz) first appeared in Season Two, he claimed that a hot air balloon crash brought him to Lost Island. Since then, we have seen Ben make numerous promises to different people on the Island (curing cancer, making wishes come true via magic box, etc.) that really could all be explained by rationale / normal explanation or smoke and mirrors – especially if one has the proper funds and connections to make it happen, as the Others seem to have. Yet Ben continually gives credit for these occurrences to the mysterious and all-powerful “Jacob”, a figure generates feelings of awe and worship from all the Others, even Ben.
Heck, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to assume that Jacob represents different things to different people, much like the Wizard appeared differently to different characters of The Wizard of Oz. In fact, I would wager that most of the Others have never even really met “Jacob”, only have heard tales and gotten information about him second-hand (say, from Ben?). Just like the Wizard, we’ve seen Ben require sacrifices from people in order for their “wishes” to be granted. Juliet has to find a way for mothers on the Island to conceive in exchange for her sister being cured of cancer, Jack had to remove the tumor from Ben’s spine in order to receive a ticket off the Island, etc.
Last week, I hypothesized that Ben might have been the last of a dying breed of “Island Originals”, helping explain why he is so obsessed with having babies be born ON THE ISLAND rather than brought to the Island as children. If you make this assumption, it’s very easy to believe that an Island Native, aware of the freaky powers of the Island, could convince Island Immigrants that some imaginary all-powerful being was responsible for all the strange occurences, and convince them that following the rules of this being would lead to their gaining of the same power / happiness / enlightenment. Just like the Wizard, by creating a fictional leader, it prevents any potential coup against Ben himself, since he’s just “following Jacob’s orders”, keeping them out of harm’s way.
In the end, the story of Lost is so thematically similar to the Wizard of Oz that it’s somewhat amazing we haven’t been picking up on it all along. Looking at all the correlations, would you be surprised to find Vincent playing the role of Toto, revealing that there is no Jacob? I know I wouldn’t.
On the other hand, all of this analysis is assuming that the episode title is a direct reference to the Wizard of Oz. But in modern times, the phrase “the man behind the curtain” has come to refer to anyone who is pulling the strings behind an elaborate or more powerful front. It’s a name given to the mastermind of an operation, who generally remains hidden from public view. If this is the case, “Jacob” doesn’t necessarily have to be Ben. It could be anyone from Richard Alpert to Alvar Hanso or even Jack himself. We’ll analyze the likelihood of each shortly, but I think the main thing to keep in mind is that in all likelihood there is no honest to goodness all-powerful, all-knowing, flowing-robed Jacob wandering around the Island with his magical box. The Others, who mostly have seemed very sheepy in their mindless following and adherence to illogical rules and actions, are all being tricked.
Remember that event I’ve been looking for all season to unite our Survivors and the Others? I was always counting on a third party enemy or cataclysmic event to make them forget their differences and band together – but how about the common realization that they’ve all been scammed and there is no Jacob or “magic” to the Island? That seems as good as any reason to get everyone on the same page with a common goal – finding a way off the Island to get back home.
Episode Description: Ben begrudgingly begins to introduce Locke to the secrets of the island, beginning with the mysterious Jacob. Meanwhile, Juliet's secret goes public. Guest starring are M.C. Gainey as Mr. Friendly/Tom, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Andrew Divoff as Mikhail, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Marsha Thomason as Naomi, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Carrie Preston as Emily, Doug Hutchison as Horace, Samantha Mathis as Olivia and Madeline Carroll as Annie.
Episode Breakdown: With all the excitement about the episode title, I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far through the episode preview without bringing up one very, very important point – THIS IS A BEN-CENTRIC EPISODE. That’s right, the episode I’ve been waiting for the entire season, the episode where we finally see the Others from their perspective, rather than the perspective of our Survivors. Yes, I’ve made these same sweeping excited statements before both of the Juliet-centric episodes, but after seeing them, you realize how foolish it was. Juliet isn’t a true Other – she’s somewhere in between Other and Survivor… a Survother. Clearly she wasn’t privy to all the secrets of the Island or the greater master plan of the Others - heck, she’s almost as much of a prisoner to the Island as our Survivors are – she just had nicer living arrangements and better food.
But with Ben Flashbacks, there’s really no hiding the truth. Unless we’re subject to some very creative writing and scene selection, just a few moments of flashback scenes from Ben’s perspective should give us more understanding of the Others than we’ve gotten from all the cryptic statements from Ben, Patchy, Alpert, and Juliet combined! As if that weren’t enough to make Wednesday the longest day of work ever, check out the first sentence of the episode description:
Ben begrudgingly begins to introduce Locke to the secrets of the island, beginning with the mysterious Jacob.
Not only are we due for some big-time understanding of the Others, but we’re starting with a reveal of one of their most mysterious secrets – Jacob. The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was “why would Ben reveal these secrets to Locke”? Granted, the episode shows Locke arriving at the Others’ new campground, still exhibiting superhuman strength in carrying Cooper over his shoulder, but in my mind this would merely grant Locke access to the Others’ Super Secret Club – not access to their deepest darkest secrets, which seem to be kept from the vast majority of the Others.
The key word seems to be “begrudgingly”. Somehow, Ben realizes that there is no denying the communion that Locke has with the Island – and no matter what he does to try and distract him or make him lose focus, he has continued on his mission. I’m guessing that his return confirms the power of Locke to the Others, making Ben realize that he either needs to let Locke in on the secrets or risk losing his following of Others forever. It almost seems like Ben is willing to turn Locke into the new leader of the Others, sacrificing his own position of power for the sake of keeping the Others acting in protection of whatever the big secrets of the Island are… starting with Jacob.
Jacob. So with all this talk about Jacob, I thought it would be useful to go back and look at all the different references there have been to Jacob, to gauge the likelihood of my theory above. Surprisingly, as much as we’ve talked about “Him”, there have only been a few references on Lost itself.
Ben first referred to the not-yet-named Jacob during Season Two, when he tells Sayid “If I tell you about them, you don’t know what he’ll do. He’ll kill me.” Later he mentions “he is a great man, a brilliant man, but not a forgiving man.” Danny Pickett was actually the first to call him by name, complaining about Ben’s fraternizing with Jack that “Shepherd wasn’t even on Jacob’s list”. (Amazingly, this was only fourteen episodes ago – doesn’t it feel like we’ve known about Jacob for forever?)
More recently, we saw Krazy Karl’s Rave Room Video feature the line “God loves you as He loved Jacob”, and Patchy claims “the man who brought me here, who brought all my people here – he is a magnificent man.”
…and that’s it.
Initially, Ben’s reference to Jacob would seem to blow a huge hole in the “Ben is Jacob” theory. However, remember that when Michael Emerson was originally cast as Ben, he was only scheduled to be on Lost for a few episodes – but then was so freakishly scary that he was signed on as a series regular. It’s entirely possible that he wasn’t originally going to be “Jacob” – but then the writers determined that no one else could possibly be as ruthlessly cunning as Ben, and decided he would be “the man behind the curtain”.
Or, perhaps Ben, knowing that his actions inside the Swan Hatch were being videotaped and watched by his fellow Others, knew that he couldn’t break character out of risk of revealing the secret of Jacob. It also helped to keep him safe with our Survivors. You have to think that if they realized they had captured the leader of the Others, rather than some run of the mill Other, they would have acted quite differently (and more harshly) against him.
I suppose the best argument for “Ben as Jacob” is simply that we’ve yet to see any other Other have the same pull as Ben has. In the Others’ eyes, he’s probably viewed as “second in command” or “acting officer of Jacob”, which is how he gets away with things like kidnapping our Survivors to perform surgery, getting veto power at Other Book Club, and deciding who gets to come and go off the Island.
In fact, the only other character that we have seen approach the same level of knowledge about the goings on of the Island is Richard Alpert, who has the ability to come and go off the Island with some degree of frequency. But even he was seen taking orders from Ben in recent episodes, and combined with the information on Sawyer he passed to Locke last week, makes him a much more likely “Other who is fed up with Ben’s rule” than “Other who is actually running the show”.
While I’ve seen some wonder if Christian Shepherd or Alvar Hanso could turn out to be Jacob, I think both are unlikely candidates. For one, Christian Shepherd is dead. For two, those who didn’t play along with the Lost ARG last summer have no idea who Alvar Hanso actually is, since he’s been mentioned only peripherally on the show on a few sparse occasions. Both would be a reveal that would shock the audience… but would turn out to be totally illogical upon closer examination.
But enough about Jacob. There’s more to this episode!
Meanwhile, Juliet's secret goes public.
The preview for this week seemed to show a gathering of our Survivors, where two very large reveals take place. First, Naomi is introduced to the remainder of the Survivors. Second, Sawyer, equipped with the tape recorder from Locke, reveals the “true intentions” of Juliet. Both could end up being pretty earth shattering.
Naomi. Naomi’s presence (assuming she’s telling the truth, and not another plant of the Others) proves to the Survivors that they have a chance to actually get off the Island, and may reignite a sense of urgency to do whatever it takes to get off the Island, instead of happily living in paradise without a care in the world like suckers! Remember that she told Patchy “I am not alone”, and referred to her search crew that was only a few miles away from the site of her helicopter crash. The crew would clearly attempt to rescue Naomi once they discovered her copter went down (since she’s pretty cute), which should lead them directly to Lost Island. The fact that she has a fancy-pants phone and knowledge about the outside world should also help give our Survivors a much needed boost of hope… except for that pesky part where Naomi is going to claim that they are all actually dead – but that should be easily disproved by showing her the dead bodies of the already fallen Survivors, right?
Juliet. As for Juliet, as soon as Sawyer plays the audio recording, it will be revealed that Juliet is still working (or keeping up the image of working) for Ben. Remember last week, when Juliet wanted to reveal the truth of her mission to Kate, but Jack wouldn’t allow it? Well, this week is going to be now or never time – because if Jack doesn’t come clean with what he and Juliet are up to, they’ll probably be run off the beach with pitchforks and torches. But what is the purpose?
As I briefly mentioned last week, I get the feeling that Jack and Juliet are pulling a double con on Ben. He likely sent Juliet with a mission to befriend our Survivors and gather information about each of the women at the Beach as part of his obsessive desire to make Island-born babies. In return, Juliet was probably promised a way off the Island (again). Having already been burned by Ben’s “promises” in the past, she and Jack come up with a scheme to give Ben what he wants, but somehow turn the tables against him in the process. This would explain their need to keep up their end of the deal initially to prevent any suspicion.
Unfortunately, Ben’s careless nature with the tape recorder probably means that he’s on to their scheme, and is pulling an unprecedented TRIPLE CON on them – blowing their cover among the Survivors, ruining their double con before they have a chance to use it against him.
Wow – even I’m confused. Let me dumb that down a bit. Jack and Juliet = Good. Ben = Bad, but Smart. On to the guest stars…
Guest starring are M.C. Gainey as Mr. Friendly/Tom, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Andrew Divoff as Mikhail, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Marsha Thomason as Naomi, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Carrie Preston as Emily, Doug Hutchison as Horace, Samantha Mathis as Olivia and Madeline Carroll as Annie.
No huge surprises there. Patchy continues his surprisingly numerous post-death appearances – and here’s hoping we get a satisfying explanation about how he is pulling this off – because right now it’s a pretty glaring inconsistency on the show (Pickett and Ethan stayed dead, Patchy did not). You would think that if the Others had a way to cheat death, they would all have it – not just Patchy. I would almost say that the whole electric fence seizure was an act, but we saw that it clearly had an effect on Smokey, and Juliet was quite insistent on turning it on and off, so it seemed pretty legit. Very puzzling.
The appearance of “young Ben” means that the flashbacks in this episode are going back… way back to the time when Dharma first arrived at the Island. (Who else is excited to see if Ben is really and truly an Island Original, or if he was brought to the Island as a youth by some Dharmites?) If we’re lucky, we’ll also get some scenes of the alleged “purge”, which seems more and more like it was a “merger” rather than a “battle”, based on the technology and resources available to the Others today. Lastly, it also looks like Roger Linus and Emily are strong candidates to be Ben’s parents, while the remaining new characters (Horace, Olivia, and Annie) could either turn out to be Island Originals or Dharmites. Curiously missing from the list of guest stars? Any actor playing “Jacob”. Hmmm…
Phew. Enough of this Ben-and-Jacob-a-thon. This episode has all sorts of promise, and given that there are only three episodes remaining this season (and 51 remaining EVER), now is the time to get some shocking reveals. If you remember, before the season started we were told “Season Three is about the Others”. After some early season stumbles, I feel like we really are starting to learn about these Others, and all we need is one big reveal episode like this one to flesh out their story and begin to wrap up this chapter of Lost. I have to say, aside from a Vincent Flashback and an Island Flashback (which some claim this episode evolved from), a Ben Flashback is about the best thing a viewer could ask for in terms of reveals.
Get excited!
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48 comments:
Great write-up as usual!
I want to raise another possibility. When Juliet suggested thet they just 'tell her'.. not 'tell them', that big of info may be that Kate is pregnant.
I'm still leaning towared the double-con, I just thought that it needed to be said.
So Roger Linus could indeed be Ben's father or it could be his brother. What if Ben and his brother were island originals? What if his brother as a teen or a young man goes undercover or something with Dharma gets a job as a "Workman" and then dies in a freak VW Bus rollover accident on a beer run. The coincidences are amazing!
What if Roger Linus really spent his days as a "workman" for Dharma and, together with other "workmen", tried an rebel act that lead to the "purge"? Maybe Ben was told stories about these times being a kind of servitude and later created Jacob, just to be in control and never a "slave" like his father...maybe a little far out there, but hey, it´s LOST!
Wow, Brian, excellent and very thorough analysis! I have to say, every single thing that I thought of as I started to read this post was eventually covered... you're the master!
(And so's Ben.)
I have to agree with everyone. When I first saw "Roger" and the episode preview, I thought of Roger Workman. Learning it's Roger Linus adds a whole realm of possibilities. Maybe Ben is lying about being born on the island and is really just the son of a Dharma employee. The idea of Dharma hiring an island native is intriguing too. I struggle with the concept of island natives being able to adopt a new culture sufficiently to be able to be employed on a "modern" installation. Has anyone considered the possibility of a "Swiss Family Robinson" type situation. Maybe Ben's parents crashed on the island and he was born later rather than being an island native. That would at least help explain how he could be born on the island and yet adapt to technology and civilization so easily. I'm just throwing out ideas. Anyone?
Brian, you are the BEST!
(Ben Linus is Uncle Rico?)
I can't wait!!!
Brian suggests that Richard Albert is being disloyal to Ben in handing over to Locke Sawyer's file. I bet that Albert was instructed, virtually word-for-word, by Ben, to handle this situation as such to conn Locke. Why? I'm not sure but Albert has shown real loyalty to Ben and i think this is a continued part of Ben's overall manipulation.
Also, in a recent pod cast, i believe the producers did say that Jacob is a character we have yet to be introduced to, thus far, on the show. Whereby I would agree with Brian's prediction that Jacob is Ben....if i heard the pod cast right, he will prove to be someone (or something) else....(ie; Vincent!).
Bravo once again, Brian! You've certainly succeeded in getting me uber excited for tomorrow's episode! (not like it was hard ;)
I'm definitely in line with your thinking there will eventually be a merge between the survivors and the others, but then who would the enemy be? Yet to be revealed in existing cast or entirely new group of characters?
btw Brian....you have a way of climing above and/or crawling inside of LOST to give perspective that is often not considered or articulated. Keep up the good work and it's nice to have you back.
Something keeps nagging at me about Jacob. I can definately see him not existing and totally created by Ben, and I believe that is probably the route the story will go, but when Patchy was talking about him, it almost seemed like he actually met with him before, of course he could have met with some other operative type who said they were recruiting Patchy on behalf of Jacob, but still just seems odd that he seemed to actually know him. I guess in the long wrong I don't really care who Jacob really is, whether it be imaginary, Ben, Jack, or Billy Dee Williams, if the writing is good then that is all I care about.
If there is a 'young Ben' in the flashbacks then that would 86 one idea that i had had, that Ben was Methusala-like in age, and that living in harmony with the Island would mean eternal (or very long) life.
@drudo:
the idea of a "swiss family" is intriguing, too. That would explain why he was born although other women died before they could give birth. Or has it been different those days? Anyway, if his family was island native or crashlanded: I could imagine them not being "hired" but rather forced to work for Dharma, as cults (I see them as a kind of cult, too) often do with people they believe to be less worthy. Or maybe they were promised great rewards in return for hard work? I guess we will see on Wednesday, and I hardly can wait...
I heard that the phase 'born on the island' would be explained as something not the way it sounds. I also wonder if the reason patchy survived is because he was not buried? All the other dead bodies were buried, would they have recovered if left out? Or did another other come along and perform some islandy ritual that can bring them back? Hmmmmmm
I'm not sure if Alpert was given instructions by Ben to do that thing with Locke. It would certainly be in character for Ben to do something like that but Richard "Batmanuelle" Alpert seems to be in on a lot more than any other besides Ben.
Given what we have seen of him I would think he might be in a position of more power and influence than Ben. However his comments to Locke about Ben focusing on the wrong things makes it seem like he might be a follower of Ben who is disillusioned.
Please reconsider the assumption that some Others are dead, and even that the dead survivors are dead.
1) Rewatch the episode where Hurley and Charlie are burying Ethan. He is VERY CLEARLY breathing.
2) "Nothing on this island stays buried"
3) Hurley references where Ethan is buried to Juliet. Juliet looks back at the burial site and gets "that look" that is always a tip-off that she knows better.
4) The entire buried alive episode would serve absoutely no purpose if it doesn't come back to us at some point.
I *heart* this blog.
Can we reasonably assume that the electric fence works (e.g. it stopped Smokey) and clearly had an effect on Patchy (bleading from ears, foam in mouth... can't really fake that). Nobody felt Patchy's pulse after he went down...
Maybe a human walking through the fence knocks you unconscious/puts you in a light coma?
BH
It would really stink if a 'big revalation' is that Kate is pregnant.
I thought that was a given.
A QUOTE FROM BRIAN..."Just like the Wizard, we’ve seen Ben require sacrifices from people in order for their “wishes” to be granted. Juliet has to find a way for mothers on the Island to conceive in exchange for her sister being cured of cancer, Jack had to remove the tumor from Ben’s spine in order to receive a ticket off the Island, etc."
This is not how I remember those promises. Maybe I am wrong here, but I thought it was Juliet was BROUGHT tot island to do that job. Her sister's cancer CAME BACK allegedly and Ben said he would ask Jacob to fix it...IF she continued her work.
As for Jack, I thought it was that he needed to stay on and help Ben recover. As I recall, it was Jack that made the call on that, not Ben. He told Ben that Ben would need constant care and Jack would stay and help if he would grant him a trip home.
I know it seems silly to argue these points...but honestly it wasn't a correct tie into the Wizard theme. Also, another mention of Jacob...when Ben says he will talk to Jacob about fixing her sister. THAT was when I first started thinking Jacob was not real!
Just my thoughts for what it is worth.
As alwasy an excellent post!
I have another question though, with the DOUBLE/TRIPLE con...I wonder how it wuld have happened that Jack and Juliet could have conspired all of this? It seems unlikely based on what we know, unless Jack was not really knocked out when the others all left the barracks. That again makes no sense because Ben would know he was awake. TOO MUCH!!!! Now, my brain hurts!
As others have mentioned I think the most obvious answer is that Patchy wasn't dead.
Patchy's death will likely be revealed as a con of some sort. It was interesting in how he asked Jin, Desmond, et al to NOT say anything to anyone about having seen him, in part, in return for saving Naomi's life. What's this about? Not sure if anyone has addressed it on a post here yet.
As for Jacob...Brian is probably right in predicting that this is another Ben manipulation of sorts. I also would predict that what Locke will find out this week is that Jacob is "smoke and mirrors" and doesn't exist. Patchy, Tom's and other references Others have made to Jacob are probably based on a very cleaver deciption by Ben combined with the idea that these other folks are followers and cult-type worshipers perhaps.
Locke, in particular, will have his mind further blown when he finds out Patchy is alive and well given that he was the one that pushed him into the electric fence.
"Anonymous said...
Locke, in particular, will have his mind further blown when he finds out Patchy is alive and well given that he was the one that pushed him into the electric fence.
3:23 PM"
unless....it was a plan between Locke and Patchy!!!
Even though Patchy may still be alive, it seems clear to me that some people have died and are not coming back, buried or not.
Collen needed surgery and still could not be saved. Her husband was grief-stricken afterwards, almost killed Sawyer in anger. Then they held a funeral for her and seemingly burned her body. Why all of this if it is known that she'll be back from the dead?
We have also been told that 9 pregnant women died on the island.
When Hurley pointed out to Juliet where Ethan's body was buried, I did not see a "I know better" look. I interepreted it differently and saw a look of consternation based on the fact that she knew him and is now hearing first hand about his death.
I also don't think that we need to make anything more out of the Nikki and Paulo episode. It was an amusing filler with a great twist ending. But I'm thinking that they're dead now.
I don't see how Naomi could be an Other's plant. Sure, she might have had someone rough her up to look like she fell outta a tree. But have her lung punctured? No way.. no plant would go that far.
As for Patchy's amazing recovery, I can only postulate that maybe the Island only cures things that aren't instantaneously deadly... say like getting shot multiple times. This theory still doesn't perfectly add up, so I'd like to see where they are going with it.
To start we know the producers have said that they are not dead and they are not in purgatory so we can remove that from the table.
Patchy also probably wasn't dead he was probably just injured and repaired.
I'm not sure we can trust Richard Alpert. It would be the ultimate story line if Ben who scams everybody ends up being scammed himself thus making him lose his followers when Richard puts Locke in charge.
Wasn't Jacob first mentioned in Maternity leave when a shockingly clean-shaven Tom (then Zeke) spoke to Ethan in the staff Hatch outside Claire's door??? Or did they just not mention Jacob's name, I can't remember???
Great, great thoughts about Roger Linus being "Roger Workman". If this is the case, we're either looking at one of two options:
1. Ben isn't really an Island Original, he was just clever enough to trick the Others into believing an all-powerful being existed there.
2. The Others actually WORKED for Dharma as peons, doing blue collar jobs for the hoity-toity Hanso Scientists... and eventually rebelled, bringing about the "purge".
Also - I totally missed out on commenting on the original episode, but I think Kate ending up preggo would be extremely cheesy, verging on ridiculous. Rather, I think the "getting a sample from Kate" comment meant that the Others were gathering samples from all the FEMALES in our Survivors to compare them to Other Females, in an attempt to figure out what is so messed up with their girl parts.
The producers (C &L) have said that Ben was not actually born on the island - they seemed very clear on this. Despite what Ben represented to Locke, he was born elsewhere and perhaps raised on the island since a young age. Furthermore, it would seem evident that he was exposed to higher level education unlikely found by some home-schooling program on the island.
Heathers Brain.....impossible to imagine how the writters could explain how Locke was in a conn with Patchy so far as tossing him into the fence! Patchy pulled some sort of scam off, tricked everyone and now, for some reason, asked that his existence be kept secret from everyone. Why would he want to remain a secret?
Did Ben ever say he was born on the island? I think his words were, "I've lived on this island my whole life." That could just mean as far back as he can remember. Or just since he was a child.
I'm really curious to see where the Roger Linus/Workman thing goes. I don't think this is a spoiler, but I'm pretty sure the producers said that we haven't met Jacob yet. I think he's a real person. I think maybe Ben just used his name and invented this all powerful person, but I think there will be a real Jacob. I'm more excited about this episode than any so far. I hope it lives up to our hopes.
As far as Kate, I lean towards her being pregnant. I don't think it will be cheesy. I rarely disagree with you Brian, but Kate and Sawyer have been together at least twice that we know of. I suppose it's possible that Sawyer is still carrying around a pack of condoms, but I tend to think not. And since we learned that men are (5X ?) more fertile on the island, it seems the writer's at least want us to think she may be pregnant.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Gerald DeGroot. He was in the Rave Room Video that mentions Jacob, so, you know, maybe Gerald = Jacob = Horace??? This is a DHARMA flashback episode, and I don't think they would bring in movie actors like Doug Hutchison and Samantha Mathis for minor roles...
Also, in the Swan Orientation video, "Dr. Candle" starts to say something about DI studying utopian social--- and then the film skips. Maybe the others have something to do with this whole utopian society concept, perhaps a project spearheaded by the DeGroots and now running amok? Or maybe it was the true intention of the DeGroots to create this society all along. They seemed like pretty serious hippies.
Anyway, those are my overanalyzed thoughts on this.
I think a pact between Patchy and Locke could pretty easily be explained. When Patchy caught Locke on the computer he said come with me and we don't actually know how much time he had where he could have explained things. If Patchy agrees with Alpert that Locke is special he would have taken him in to some confidence and then formed their plans.
Brian, I love this theory :)
"Unfortunately, Ben’s careless nature with the tape recorder probably means that he’s on to their scheme, and is pulling an unprecedented TRIPLE CON on them – blowing their cover among the Survivors, ruining their double con before they have a chance to use it against him."
I’m not sure I can see Patchy and Locke working closely together, mostly because I think Locke is truly on his own and not working with anyone. For example, he manipulated Sawyer and then sent him back to camp. But there does seem to be a lot that isn’t explained, like Hope points out. Locke did have time to collect some C4 at the Flame and we didn’t see when or where from. And why would Locke not kill Cooper but he would push Patchy into the fence? Maybe Patchy did say something to Locke that made him decide he could let Patchy go by pushing him into the fence and then leaving him behind.
I do suspect that Patchy is up to something, given his wanting secrecy. It would fit with the character of his anarchist namesake for him to rebel against the order established by Ben. It seems that he never was fully integrated into the Others—he lived by himself at the Flame and he shot at people when they approached. Maybe he is taking advantage of the distractions introduced by the survivors to work against Ben. Maybe he and Ms. Klugh were plotting, and maybe there is a subgroup among the Others (including Alpert) who want to get rid of Ben.
Drudo -- Ben DOES say he was born on the island. Not to give up any spoiler, but i saw a trailer earlier today that shows Ben telling lock he was BORN on the island. It is unmistakable that this is what he said - however, given Ben's past, who knows if this is a truthful statement or not. Perhaps we'll find out this evening!
I love this show. I love this blog.
...just sayin'.
Actually, I'm not surprised that nobody has mentioned Gerald DeGroot as the man behind the curtain. Now that I go back and see my theories in writing, they do seem kinda wacky...
...but still logical enough to possibly turn out to be true!
hhmmm.. we meet jacob, but we don't get any guest stars... It's got to be Ben's childhood imaginary friend. Maybe that stick thing with the face from the promo. Ben talks to it.. that promo of the old house was HIS childhood home.
Brian, I agree that the 'samples' were for all the female... but we also know that sperm counts are 8 time higher on the island so being impregnated is more likely.. and we know that Kate slept with Sawyer. It adds up... if she she was ovulating at that time.
Maybe Naomi tells Patchy that she is not alone, b/c she is Darma. She sees his worksuit and thinks maybe he is also. She thinks all the survivors of the flight are dead, so maybe she doesn't believe our survivors, maybe she thinks they are the hostiles. She is really telling Patchy that "help is on the way".
Maybe Penelope's family is connected somehow to DHARMA and when the purge occured the Others kicked them off the island and placed the magnetic field around the island so no one could find it. Naomi works for DHARMA and is trying to take it back over.
I know, pretty farfetched, but maybe a possibility.
In an effort to drive more people to the more easy to read Message Board, I've posted some responses to your posts on there. Check it out:
http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=89.0
I'm tricky!
Why doesn't anyone think that Walt could be Jacob. Didn't the writers say that we would see him again sometime soon?
I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Ben's statement to Jack in the hydra as I remember was: "My name is Benjamin Linus and I have lived on this island my whole life". He never said he was born there, or that he had never left there. That would explain the parodoxical clothing choices for a south pacific islander. He's shopping off the island!
Ok, Drudo, just read your comment, I hadn't gotten there before my post. So I'm not the only one who remembers that. Thank You
At this point, I am really in the oppinion that Ben was not born on the island. It could help to explain the need to get women pregnant, Ben tells people he needs to be listened to because he came from the island and knows everything, women don't get pregnant and question his soverignty because how could he come from the island if women cant carry children to a full term pregnancy, Ben then does everything to prove women can live through pregnancy on the island and prove to the Others, however foolishly and with no concern of human life, that he is the person appointed to be their leader. It is kinda crazy, I suppose, but I think the infertility is really pointing the finger toward Ben not being from the island.
Jacob looks like the late Richard Chamberlain, same nose crease, same sloped forhead, same smooth for an old person skin...
Ever notice that Richard seems to be doing Ben's bidding, almost granting his wishes? Juliet's as well. Juliet wants her husband dead ("I wish..." she says). Boom. Ben needs a spinal surgeon. Boom. I posted a about this on my blog, it does seem like Richard might be something like Ben's genie.
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