Tuesday, March 16, 2010

"Recon" Instant Reactions!

Brian's One Word Review: Appetizer.


For those who don't watch the episode previews for the following week's episode that air immediately after the current week's episode - you missed out. Because next week just might be the most anticipated episode of Lost of all time.


RICHARD ALPERT FLASHBACK.


There was nothing wrong with "Recon". It was a nice little episode - but compared with the impending awesomeness of next week, it definitely feels like a bit of an appetizer before the meaty main course of Island mythology goodness just one week away.


But we're not here to get jacked up for next week. We're here to discuss this week. So what happened?


In many ways, this episode felt like a setup episode. It progressed the storyline in a very necessary way - but didn't have any shocking twists or major action. Instead, we learned the following:



Widmore. Okay - so maybe that submarine was bigger than the CGI originally let on last week. Widmore's on Hydra Island with a full crew, Smokey-repelling pylons, and something (or someone) locked away on his submarine. Of course, everyone is going to bank on Desmond being locked behind Door #1 - and with only 10 episodes of Lost left, I've got to admit it makes the most sense. Although, given that Widmore located and traveled to the Island over the course of one week, it' snot totally out of the question that Desmond could do the same at some point in the future... it's just not likely. He promised Penny he would never go back to the Island. All the people who may have had the power to convince him to change his mind are back on the Island. The only logical way to get Desmond back to the Island is to bring him against his will, which is exactly what Widmore could have done.


Exciting.


What about Widmore himself? The fact that he's setting up the pylons and making deals with Sawyer to "kill SmokeLocke", it certainly casts some doubt that he's working on Team SmokeLocke. Instead, it is looking more and more like he's on a team of his own - Team Widmore, who is there to kill everyone and claim the Island for themselves. So we've got...


Team Jacob - wants to protect the Island from... something.
Team SmokeLocke - wants to leave the Island.
Team Widmore - wants to claim the Island as his own.


The other interesting thing is that Widmore made a comment about "how little Sawyer knew". It's totally possible that our views of Widmore are being skewed by the fact that everything we know about him has come from Ben (who hates him) or SmokeLocke (who seemingly is an enemy as well). Then again, he originally told people that Ben sunk the fake Oceanic 815, and we later found out that he was actually the one responsible.


I'm going to defer to the fundamental rule of television - don't trust old, rich, white guys. In my mind, Widmore will always be Caleb Nichol from the OC - and he was bad news.



SmokeLocke. A few weeks ago, we learned that Anti-Jacob used to be a man - a man who loved and lost. This week, we learned that he had a crazy mother, who is somehow responsible for making him the way that he is... and he's still trying to overcome the damage she caused hundreds of years ago. Yikes.


For those hoping for a "big loop" theory on Lost, you'll want to start wondering if somehow Aaron becomes Anti-Jacob. Both have crazy mothers, it would explain why Aaron was so important in Season One, and it's a pretty logical explanation for why the writers have waited so long to reveal the name of Anti-Jacob. He's Aaron.


For this to be the case, there would have to be some really weird time travel stuff going on - so I'm not sold on it. But the writers definitely dropped some hints that they want us to be thinking about this possibility.


In other news, it's a little creepy how comforting SmokeLocke is to all the people who are following him. He's making promises left and right, generally trying to keep the peace, and seems forthcoming with information (at least on the surface). The writers are doing a good job of taking him from "evil incarnate" to a shade of gray where I'm wondering if maybe he's not all bad - but is really just a guy who's been stuck on the Island for a really long time, and wants to go home.


If you take nothing else away from this episode, take away the awesomeness of SmokeLocke throwing Claire off Kate and slapping her. That's something that most viewers of Lost have wanted to do for years now - and it was quite cathartic to see a character carry out our aggressions towards Claire's annoyances for us.



Sawyer. Oh yeah, this was a Sawyer episode, wasn't it? I loved the initial Flash Sideways, which was a direct play on one of Sawyer's original cons - only this time, the tables were turned and he actually was a cop. It was great to see Miles and Sawyer (who formerly worked security in Dharma together) as buddy cops. But after that, there wasn't a whole lot to the Off-Island action. Sawyer made a minor change (or deal with the devil) to choose good over evil after the death of his parents, but otherwise he's the same tortured soul.


On the Island, Sawyer's conversation with Kate revealed that he's not on Team Jacob, Team SmokeLocke, or Team Widmore... he's on Team Sawyer - and he's only concerned with getting himself (and Kate, and probably their other friends) off the Island. He doesn't care who wins or loses, or who ends up with the Island - as long as he ends up off of it.


Here's where it would be really nice if we figured out what the big danger of the season is, and why it's important for our Survivors to actually save the Island instead of leaving it... it would make these decisions carry a lot more meaning. Get on it, Lost writers!


There was one other interesting tidbit - Miles' father, Pierre Chang, works at a museum in Reality #2. Given that he was right next to the Swan Station when the Incident occurred, it's impossible to think that he got off the Island before the Jughead went off - which means we can definitely put to rest the notion that the Jughead somehow caused this Alternate Reality... which means people can stop coming up with ridiculous explanations for how that event in 1977 changed the lives of our Survivors so drastically (like the butterfly effect). This Alternate Reality has ALWAYS existed, and is in no way related to the Incident... at least in my mind.


Aside from that, there were a lot of scenes where characters should have done a lot more talking to each other (Kate to Sayid, Kate to SmokeLocke, Sawyer to SmokeLocke, Sawyer to Widmore) - hey, didn't the writers say that this season was going to feel a lot like Season One? They were right!


Like I said, an appetizer this week. But don't fill up on bread, because next week looks to be a Lost fanboy's wet dream.

62 comments:

Jack Elder said...

The off island action doesn't seem to be an alternate reality but an anti-reality, the "Bizarro" to "Superman". Question is, which one is which?

Rebecca said...

I was happy to see Sawyer as a 'good guy' even if he's still tortured and lonely :( Much like season one...keep talking! LOL I can't wait for next week!!

Unknown said...

5.5/10 on the joe scale.

Joyce Saenz Harris said...

I was kinda disappointed that alt-Juliet didn't show up in this episode to have that coffee date with James. He certainly did get his share of action [ahem!], but none of it was with Juliet. But they still could run into each other -- a cop and a doctor might meet up in the course of a case.

Michael said...

Jack Elder, I have a thought. It will ramble and be incoherent, but I have a thought.

We know that the survivors currently on the island were at one time "touched" by Jacob.

In the season 5 finale, we saw Jacob "touch" some of the survivors. We've assumed all along that what we saw when Jacob touched them is what is meant to be understood as being touched by Jacob.

Suppose the people we saw in the season 5 finale being "touched" were not the survivors, but those living in sideways world.

What we are seeing this season in sideways world are the consequences of sideways world people having been "touched" by Jacob. That is the difference, not Jughead. The "touch" the survivors actually received is something we don't understand quite yet, but it is very real in its own set of consequences (Jack and the dynamite, etc.).

Consider also the hints about Bad Twin, and Pierre's rabbit - a duality of existence has been hinted at for a while now. We also know that the island has unique abilities. Perhaps it serves as a bridge between dual worlds.

Now, watch this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SPqImu_kz8&feature=related

How did the Black Rock get there? My guess is that there are two Black Rocks. Sideways world Black Rock, and the Black Rock that ended up on the island. Jacob is involved in both outcomes.

Also, Jacob says that "it" only ends once, and all the rest is progress. I suspect that we have already seen how it ends - the island is underwater. At least, that is the ending for one of the sets of existence.

I have no idea how the other set of existence ends, but I believe that the power of the island rests with its ability to bleed between the two realities (maybe this is the magic box? The island has the power to pull from another reality. The Anthony Cooper Sawyer killed on island was sideways Anthony Cooper, Pierre's 2nd rabbit, etc. That's what everyone is fighting for - control over the magic box that allows a bleed or transfer between the worlds. SmokeLocke can't leave the island in his world, but could leave in sideways world.

I would not at all be surprised if the series ends with sideways and survivors meeting their counterparts for some reason that has not yet been revealed.

Next week will be a game changer.

Sam said...

I found it interesting that they chose to further Kate's sideways story by having her running from the cops again, after apparently leaving Claire at the hospital. I thought we might just get one sideways episode of everyone and then bring them all together at the end somehow. But, they are telling a longer story in LA X.

Also, it seems that Miles might be the only person Sawyer truly trusts in both worlds.

Unknown said...

I like the idea that SmokeLocke is Aaron. Isn't Aaron "super special" because he was born on the Island? The time travel issue, however, is a hard one to get over as SmokeLocke is old.

Sam said...

Also, Smokey seems to know a lot about these Oceanics. Like he was the one spying on them at the lighthouse. Do we know if he inherited Locke's knowledge of everyone? Or, is it just that he is all-knowing?

timcourtois said...

1. Why so convinced that Widmore isn't Team Jacob? Do we have proof?
2. I liked Claire & Kate this ep. Thought they both did a great job acting, & their scenes were touching.
3. If I'm Kate & I find out that Locke is really Smokey, I'm immediately all, "um, why did you eat the pilot back in episode 1? Totally uncalled-for dude."
4. Where was it ref'd that Miles' dad works at a museum? I missed that...

Anonymous said...

I think that smokelocke and widmore are working together and are coning sawyer into thinking he is playing both sides.

Unknown said...

I love that theory Observer, I don't fully understand what you mean about the Black Rock, but the rest sounds perfectly mind warping to me.

On another point, I was wondering if any of you guys have read Slaughterhouse Five, because I see a lot of parallels between it and Lost and I know Damon and Carleton are big literature fans and they definately have read an American classic like that. The point the "alien" population makes in the book is that free will does not exist and that there is a fourth dimension in which they can choose to see/live any point in their lives so that they are always alive in every moment of their life, but can never change the past/future.
The author, Kurt Vonnegut, does a similar thing to the flashbacks we saw in season 1 and the flash-sideways we're seeing now, where he takes the main character from a context in one time and jumps him into a similar context in another time. So even when you die, you are alive in the other dimensions, it just reminded me of Lost. The alien nation in Slaughterhouse knows how their civilization will end (a pilot pushing a button to a bomb that wipes out the universe) but they do not want to change it they just accept it because that is what always happens, that is the one end, but really life never ends.

Sorry for making you read that nonsense but it made sense in my head.

CJ said...

I've often thought about Slaughterhouse Five in conjunction with LOST, particularly after we watched Desmond essentially "unstuck" in time, just like Billy Pilgrim.

Unknown said...

Yeah being unstuck really made me think about the two. They often reference classics like Flannery O'Connor and such. I bet they'll have Slaughterhouse Five make an appearance sometime this season.

Unknown said...

Actually aftering looking at Lostpedia, it has already been referenced to a degree, mostly in the way you mentioned.

* Desmond's experiences of becoming "unstuck in time" are similar to those experienced throughout the book by the protagonist Billy Pilgrim.
* Both Desmond and Billy Pilgrim experience these in a military setting, and become shunned by their squadmates. One of Desmond's squadmates is called Billy in reference to the novel's protagonist.
* During a gameshow heard in the background in Meet Kevin Johnson, the novel and its author are named in one of the questions.

CJ said...

Thanks, Dragos! I never thought to look up the Slaughterhouse Five references on lostpedia (I've gone there to verify whether a character is living or dead, or to remind myself of how everyone is related or connected, but that's about it).

robpatt said...

the beginning of the episode in the flash sideways was awesome. I had no idea if he was telling the truth. Similarly i have no idea if he is playing smokey or widmore, or going to do his own thing like he suggests. Looks like Sawyer gets all the action on this show. Also bummed that we didn't see Charlie in the police station or juliet. If i had to pick a role for Charlotte in the flash sideways world, this would be one of the last ones, she was one of the people i really grew to like and wanted a good ending for her.
We do not know who killed the 316 people, although i think we are suppose to believe it was Smokey or Widmore. I found it curious that the widmore scene was so downplayed. For a show that knows how to build tension and make normal people seem powerful and mysterious, the meeting with Widmore was pretty ho-hum. Makes me wonder if they are that important afterall, or just Monster food.

robpatt said...

also something of notice from the episode, looks like Claire regained some form of humanity and Sayid is becoming completely heartless. He was completely removed from Kate being killed and might have even tried to distract her knowing what's coming.

Should we be figuring out the flash sideways by now? going back a few weeks ago to our supposed happy outcomes for characters that were happening in flash sideways... doesn't this just crap the bed of that theory? both Kate and Sawyer are apparently no different.

I have no clue how i am going to wait 7 days for alperts episode. I think i saw some form of spoiler a few weeks ago that mentioned a alpert episode, but i thought it was too good to be true.

Another notice, there was a mirror that Sawyer punched. Mirrors were important with Jack, didn't know if that means anything.

Seenu said...

Anybody else notice that "Watership Down" was on Sawyer's dresser? If you don't know about the book or haven't read it, it's loaded with symbolism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down)

TheJourneyBegins said...

What if smokey killed the other survivors and dragged them into that circle? and the head of security for widmore, the one who got the drop on sawyer looked like a huge dork. Keamy to that guy?! Come on..

Anonymous said...

Kate was cooking bbq rabbit!

ronnage said...

Shout outs to another "GUAM" reference! 8 episodes left and they never made it here. much love from LOST fans on Guam.

Uff said...

Just reminding everyone that BlackLocke (which I would now refer to as Walt for no particular reason) had "just eaten". I bet we get to see what he had just eaten.

Emkaytoo said...

Claire: Mahy Baibee!!!

Moving on: Anyone else notice that Sawyer's code word in reality #2 was "LeFleur" and that just happened to be his name in 1977 Dharma? I thought that was a good in-episode reference.

I don't think SmokeLocke is Aaron, one because of age, and two, because he's in LA with Grandma. Unless the big loop theory is true and eventually he will return to the island. But in the end, the island is under water. I think Brian's Aaron reference was more a comparison than a theory on SmokeLocke actually BEING Aaron.

Unknown said...

Hey Seenu...
if you recall, "Watership Down" was also the very first book that Sawyer was reading on the island after the Oceanic 815 crash. It's a book about a bunch of rabbits that lose their "home" warren and need to go on a few adventures to establish their new rabbit civilization-society. How funny then that Kate was cooking rabbit!!!

Dave Harty said...

I had the same thought...the BEST part of this episode was the reveal of next week's Alpert episode.

But some other thoughts and questions:

What do Zoe say that made Sawyer pull a gun and call her a liear?


Can Smokey travel across water? Seems like it would have been easier for SmokeLocke to go there himself as Smokey if he wanted to get a good look. But they are clearly setting up a defense against him.

Why, in the LA X episode, would Sawyer, who we now know is a cop, let Kate get away after seeing handcuffs on her?

Finally, hasn't it been 3 years between the freighter arriving and Widmore showing up in the sub?

nickflight said...

I still believe that the freaky-blonde-kid that gave Smocke a scare in "The Substitute" was Aaron. Perhaps the reason that Smocke was scared of freaky-blonde-kid is that he knew he would grow up to become Jacob. I am only mentioning this because if it is the case then maybe he is becoming concerned about Claire's madness aligning with what he knew of Jacobs mother and is relaying the story to Kate as though it was his own mother that was crazy to stir up dissension.

As Claire is Christian Shepherds daughter it is not inconceivable that "Shepherd" in the cave and lighthouse refers to Aaron Shepherd.

Was it just me or did Claire seem to loose the craziness in her eyes in the final scene she had with Kate? Maybe when Smocke realised he was potentially causing Aaron to become Jacob through making Claire crazy he released her from his smokey-spell.

Jack Elder said...

@The Observer: What a well thought out theory! I can't wait to see how it plays out. I'm still wondering about SmokeLocke, however. On one hand, he's the security system for the island, on the other hand, he's the very thing the island needs security from. Also, isn't SmokeLocke some kind of machine, with all the ticking and stomping around it did early on? Why would it bother stomping around if it can move silently? As far as the 2 bodies in the cave, what if they are Aaron and Ji Yeon?

Brian Leonard said...

I'm thinking that if SmokeFLocke = Aaron, then what he means by "I want to go home" is: "I want to change the past reality so that I am not raised by a crazy mother"--i.e., he's raised by Kate and not Claire.

jacqui said...

Did anyone else see that Henry Ian Cusick was in the opening credits?! Was that just wishful seeing on my part, as I sure didn't see Desmond in the episode.

Brian Leonard said...

Jacqui: you're correct--he was listed. I didn't see him, either.

nickflight said...

That's a good thought Brian Leonard... he does seem very warm and friendly to Kate and harsh to Claire.

Unknown said...

@Jack Elder. Saying "Smlocke is the very thing the island needs protecting from is kinda misguided IMO. What does he do to the island? He protects it from people who he deems dangerous to the island, or just anyone he doesn't like. He doesn't do any harm to the island itself, but people on the island.

Michael said...

One other thing I noticed - sure seemed like Widmore and SmokeLocke extended their hands to people a bunch of times and were rebuffed. I have a gut feeling that there is some symbolism at play there.

Unknown said...

I have a theory FWIW:

It goes off the little kid in the jungle and "you can't kill him" - which most people assumed he meant Sawyer b/c that was the person walking around with him in that episode...

I believe there is one person on one of the two islands that can kill smokey. And smokey can't kill this person. All those guns that whidmore's people are carrying around aren't gonna do anything to him. The magic knife Dogen gave Sayid didn't do anything. I believe it's because he has to get killed by a certain person - like a similar loophole used to kill Jacob. Who knows, maybe Ben has to kill him since he killed Jacob... I have no idea as to who would be the special person. But I have a feeling that whoever it is - jack/ben = my first guesses - will have to choose to kill Smlocke to "save the island" so that Smokey can't get off it.

Meg said...

doesn't the Incident have to do with the alternate reality somehow? What did Juliet mean when she said "It worked?"

Dave Harty said...

Meg, I agree with Brian that the jughead/incident did not create an alternate reality (or at least the one we are seeing in the LA X flashes) because both Roger Linus (Ben's father) and Dr. Chang were on the island at the time of the explosion (and would not have survived the bals?) yet are also alive in the LA X timeline.

jack said...

What about all the dead bodies...laying in a big pile...that Sawyer came upon when in Alkatraz/Hydra Stat? Who killed them? For what purpose? As a side note, powerful imagery in that scene especially for prime-time network TV! Did Smokey do it? Whidmore?

As for Whidmore, he's cool and calm only to be amused by Sawyer's lack of insight or knowldege.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been following the blog as closely as I should =[ sorry. However, I'm curious why you aren't referring to anti-Jacob / smokelocke as "Esau". Clearly having a crazy mother responsible for him being his way (Rebekah) and an enemy he "must fight" for his lifetime (Jacob) are all biblical references. Forgive me if you all have discussed this a million times. Rebekah helped Jacob to screw Esau out of his rightful first born blessing from their father Isaac. Old testament stuff.

Anonymous said...

Something I've noticed about the alt-timeline:

Ford/Sawyer is a cop who just arrested Kate, who has helped Claire who is pregnant with Aaron. Ford is also looking for Anthony Cooper, the still-alive father of John Locke. Locke's still paralyzed, but has a medical consultation offer from Jack, and Hurley's helped Locke in finding a substitute teaching job at a school where Ben and Arzst are full-time faculty. Throw in Miles as Ford's partner and Charlie as a detainee at Ford's precinct, and that's one connection thread.

Another thread is Sayid, who's killed Keamy and found Jin in a freezer. Jin's still married to Sun (I think).

Anyway, it's not going to take too much to connect these threads. Either Ford and Miles will be
assigned to investigate the Sayid/Jin incident or Sun will report Jin missing to LAPD. Or maybe Keamy's the ultimate target of Ford's sting operation in the motel.

My point is: if the writers intend to bring the six candidates together in the alt-timeline (Ford, Jack, Locke, Sayid, Hurley and Jin/Sun), you can sort of see the outlines taking shape. It's not a huge leap to foresee Ford confronting Locke about his father, or thinking maybe Locke will change his mind and take Jack up on his offer to help (perhaps using Hurley as his financial sponsor).

It's purely speculative, but I think the significance of the alt-timeline will be revealed when the six candidates come together. At least, that's what I'm hoping, because I agree that this timeline
wasn't created because Jughead went off.

mark said...

hey, thought i would share a great link to a regular LOST article on USAtoday...

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/03/lost-in-a-flash-this-weeks-top-10-comments-about-dr-linus/1

the author posts the top 10 comments people made about the previous week's episode here. go back through the past episodes for this season, some people have some great questions and ideas on here...

mark said...

when was the very first time we saw richard? what episode?

my roommate and i were trying to figure this out after last night's episode and couldn't remember. i want to say the episode with juliet's flashback in the first half of season 3, but that doesn't seem right...

Matt said...

Did it strike anyone else as odd that when Sawyer told Charlotte to look in the "top drawer on the right" for a tshirt, there were absolutely no tshirts in that drawer? Maybe it was just a set mistake, but the first think I thought of was that this was another case of memory bleeding over from the other reality, like Jack with his surgery scar.

Also of note was alt timeline sawyer punching the mirror...every main character has had a scene of them looking in a mirror in their flash sideways (ben's was actually his reflection in the microwave).

Joel said...

Not sure if this has been discussed but isn't it likely that Widmore had the freighter rigged to blow in order to keep smokey from getting on and escaping?

Matt said...

Mark - According to Lostpedia, we first saw Richard in "Not in Portland" S3E7. I think that is the episode you are referring to.

Khmer Rouge said...

To Joel: Widmore and the freighter is definitely confusing. Remember that when the timer on the explosives on the freighter finally ran down, Michael saw Christian Shepard, who told him, "you can go now."

If we're assuming that Christian - as a dead body left unburied on the Island - is possessed by the Smoke Monster, this certainly complicates matters as far as Widmore's intentions. It would seem that Smokey destroyed the freighter in order to thwart Widmore's mission. Which makes some sense, as the Smoke Monster also answered Ben's call to kill Keamy's mercenaries at New Otherton. BUT if Ben and Widmore are enemies, and one is on the "true side" of the Island, how does this play out? Because Ben is on Team Jacob right now.

My only explanation is that if you go back far enough, into the Ben/Locke storyline, to when the Smoke Monster's influence is first present - i.e. when Ben and Locke visit "Jacob's Cabin" (which is really SmokeLocke's prison) and Locke hears a voice saying "help me" - it's clear that Smokey has been manipulating Ben (and Locke) for quite some time, towards his ultimate goal, the murder of Jacob. If somehow Widmore knew this, then that would explain his desire to get rid of Ben, and also explain why he is still (potentially, at least) on the side of Jacob, and not SmokeLocke.

Did any of that make sense? God, I hope so.........

jack said...

Any theories related to how Widmore knew Sawyer was coming to see him on the sub? Also, he claimed to not be aware that anti-Jacob is inhabiting Locke's body. Any thoughts on that?

Speaking of Anti-Jacob, why has his name continued to NOT be disclosed? Several points in "Recon" occurred, namely when he confiding in Kate, that it may have been natural for him say. This must be a story point of LOST with a huge reveal (as suggested, maybe he's Aron?).

Steve said...

Widmore wants to replace Jacob, but he's not a canidate, so he's trying to do it by force.

That's the three groups.

- Black Smoke: Wants off the island

- Team Jacob: Find Jacobs replacement.

- Team Widmore: Coup to make Widmore the new Jacob.


Team Widmore is not about protecting the island but personal greed and power.

Unknown said...

Hehe...Brian said "snot"...middle of the paragraph with the WIDMORE heading..."it' snot totally out of the question".

Brian said...

oscar - that was intentional. You'll understand why after next week's episode.

Liza Wimberley said...

Lock's mother was also crazy. For a moment, when SmokeLocke said that his mother was crazy, I thought he was referring to Lock's mother.

robpatt said...

Brian, is that some Desmond speek brotha? I am thinking that pretty soon smokey is going to kill all the sub inhabitants except for maybe Widmore and (whatever or whoever) is locked in the sub. The sub will have to be torched too because that is too easy to get off the island. They are going to have to complete the Jacob replacing to get off the island. My guess is the sub was just a quick way to get some characters back on the island for the rising action.

The obvious thing no one has said yet is that the sub was the person Jacob said was coming to the island. So if that is the case, while he might not be overtly on team Jacob, somehow widmore and (hopefuly desmond) fit into Jacobs plan for his replacement unbenownst to their own agenda.

timcourtois said...

Just thought of what I think is a pretty important question:

Locke's body arrived back on the island just a few days ago (in LOST time). But he has (apparently) been appearing to Claire ("my friend") for the past 3 years.

So... was he already taking Locke's form back then? Before Locke even died?

Unknown said...

Maybe we are to understand that the entity that embodies Locke now is what Claire is referring to so we assume that she is aware that he is not in fact Locke.

Joel said...

If Widmore and Mrs. Hawking have had access to Daniel's notebook and have known the main outcomes of all the events up until the freighter exploded, it may be that some of their actions were not what they appeared to be.

For example, the point of Keamey 'torching the island' was not to kill everyone but to scare Ben/Locke into moving the island and fulfiling their role in the time warp that brought them the notebook (but also with the hope of getting Ben). They knew that Keamey would fail in torching the island because Daniel knew that it moved and knew that it was still untorched in the future (via flashes). But Widmore hoped he might get Ben out because he personally hates him.

Unknown said...

Hmmmm... Island Jacob and Smokelocke = the story of the brother Jacob and Esau... Brothers hate each other... Esau /Smokelocke don't like their mom... Lots of Egyptian images... Jacob was said to live by the heal of his brother.. Island Jacob lived in the heal of an Egyptian statue.. Jacob's youngest son was Benjamin... discuss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob

jack said...

Widmore's crew does not seem comprised by a bunch of mercenaries. If his strategy is to take the Island by force, his crew would be Keamy type men and Naomi type women. Widmore appears to be mainly surrounded by almost geeky looking people and some buttoned-up, convervative military types. What does anyone make of this?

Who killed all the Ajira flight survivors? Widmore denied it and seems way too obvious for him to have done. Why were they killed?

Unknown said...

Jon -

Click on Benjamin's name in that link down at the bottom with the chart of the children....

It says that Jacob's youngest son, Benjamin, is named that because his mother, Rebecca, died right after giving birth to him................

........
....
.. hmmm

robpatt said...

I love that everyone is finding all this symbolism with Jacob and Esau, but to be completely honest, it just isn't there. Pretty much we are going on that one character is named Jacob, the the other had a crazy mother, and there seems to be a bit of rivalry between them. That is not really enough to say that the most powerful characters on lost is a reinactment of a OT story.
I don't mean to come down hard on someone's theory because none of us know what's happening, but if that one is true, the writers suck at portraying it. I don't claim to know everything about Biblical imagery, but i am a pastor and spend a ton of time studying this stuff. Lost is amazing. While is certainly uses a lot of Christian images and symbolism, i do not think the story is a creative retelling of a Bible story.

robpatt said...

being good story tellers that they are, they show a lot of the internal dynamics inside the characters like crisis of faith, family relationships, perpetual cycles people fall into, and being a modern show it pulls out questions like are we pawns of fate or real determiners of our future, and the relaiton between science and faith. As much as the show has pulled out the magical side of things, my suspicion is that the baseline mythology of the island is going to be more scify then religious. Just going off of what other work these producers have come up with before.
All that said, watch me get proven wrong next week with Richard Alpert.
p.s. if you haven't go to lostpedia and read the richard alpert page to review all that we have seen alpert doing in the past. It might help understand what his flashbacks/ episode might uncover.

Steve said...

There were two dressers.. he meant the top drawer on the RIGHT. and she looked at the chest of drawers on the left. I'm amazed that even the lost podcasters miss this point.

Steve said...

He even said "wrong drawer".
I think Con man sawyer would have been able to smooth that over much better without losing control.

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