SERENITY vs. COLBERT!?

Colbert continues to live the dream. A fun dilemma (well, not for NASA, I guess). Either way, I feel like I win. =)

The news at Reuters and Comedy Central, and with recent REPORT video clip at Newsday.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: Three years, no burning buses... y'all are back ONE day...!

Yes, Ben is dead. I mean, c'mon, people! This is Sayid we're talking about. He doesn't miss. He killed little Ben... and I LOVED IT! =)

I was only disappointed it wasn't more personal, like a crushing of the skull against a curb. But alas, no curbs.

But of course, there is no way that young Ben stays dead. No doubt present-day Ben has a GSW scar on his chest that we'll be treated to in an upcoming episode. Y'know, it would've been cool to have seen it or heard it mentioned when Jack worked on his spine. The Island will restore him. The Island takes care of its own, and for better or worse, Ben is destined to be important to the Island.

It would be a very LOSTy/referential thing to have Jack operate on young Ben, but I'd kind of rather it didn't happen that way. What would be cool is if an outsider type found him, dead/near-dead in the rainforest, and took him somewhere to recover. If it's an Other, maybe it's President Widmore, at Jacob's request, or destiny-seer First Lady Eloise. Perhaps it's Alpert, and they get to have an exchange of intel (revealing the non-Other and non-DI status of the time traveling Losties) and formulate more of a plan for how Ben can join the Others. If it's one of these Others, they'll be able to watch as Ben heals, proving himself to be Other-worthy, one of the Island's chosen, and a potential candidate for President Other. If it's not an Other, how about Old Dan Faraday, who seems to be living as some kind of recluse among the DI. Or, here's a sweet option... someone who calls himself Jacob takes care of him.

Okay, back to the start of the episode...

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1970s in Iraq

We get a young Sayid flashback. Reminiscent of the young Eko and Yemi flashback from way back, only instead of saving his brother from killing a villager, Sayid spares his brother the trial of killing a live chicken. Kind of nice to see wee Sayid juxtaposed with wee Ben.

Interrresting... Sayid has (had?) a brother. Now, how is the Island gonna tractor beam him into this mess, eh?

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1977

Ben continues to visit Sayid in DI jail...

Ben: Four years ago I ran away into the jungle and Richard found me.

So, Ben saw his mother, ran into the jungle, and first met Richard in 1973, a year before the time skippers arrived in 1974. How long before that did Roger and Ben first set foot on the Island? For now, I'll keep it in my head as the same year, 1973.

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2007ish

Sayid succeeds in killing all of Widmore's partners and agents at large.

Ben: Congratulations... Mission accomplished.
Sayid: What do I do now?
Ben: I suppose you should go live your life. You're free, Sayid.

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1977

Horace visits Sayid to question him. If he doesn't come around in an hour, they're gonna take him to Oldham.

Horace: I'm just gonna have to have Oldham do his thing on him.
Sawyer: That psychopath? No way!

Sawyer attempts to get Sayid to play ball, but Sayid has no interest in escape anymore...

Sayid: A 12-year old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich, how do you think I'm doing?... How can you live with him here?
Sawyer: I don't have a choice.
Sayid: Is that so?

Sawyer's *really* looking to preserve the life he's built over the last three years. He's drunk the DI Kool-Aid. And who can really blame him? Three years of friendship and working relationships with a village full of mostly decent, civilized, people, not to mention an apparently satisfying home life vs. 108 days in the jungle with a band of strangers and survivors.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria... The not-so-cool kids are sitting together. Hurley is the one who breaks the news to Kate about Sawyer and Juliet cohabitating. That seems kind of ridiculous.

Meanwhile, back in the DI brig... Sayid meets Roger Work Man! Wack! Sayid gets to witness Roger's expert fathering skills. Sympathy for Ben? Ha! Not bloody likely!

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2008

Back in the DR, Sayid continues killing for the greater good... only now, instead of shady agents for the protection of his Sixer friends, it's dirty trees for children's schools. Gosh, look who's come to visit! Why, it's buddy Ben...

Ben: John Locke is dead. I think he was murdered.

Gosh, do you, Ben? You F-ing A-face... Obviously, the timing is *after* Locke/Bentham's visit. But how long, I wonder? Ben then goes on to paint a picture of malevolent forces (Widmore) gathering and escalating things, having killed Locke, they're moving in on Hurley. Ben wants to enlist Sayid once again to protect his friends...

Ben: It's in your nature, Sayid. You're a killer.

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1977

They're taking Sayid to Oldham...

Sawyer: He's our you.

Only with more psychadelic tools. Played by Larry, of Larry, Daryl, and Daryl, aka DEADWOOD's E.B. Farnum! Another DEADWOOD crossover! Trixie, Calamity Jane, and now, Farnum.

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2008

Sweet. Now we get to see Sayid's 36 hours before boarding Ajira 316. Sayid's drinking Widmore's favorite Scotch when Alanna hooks him. Seeing her pick him up, play him, immediately got me thinking that she must be an agent of Widmore or a contingency plan of Ben. The Widmore option is especially appealing cuz that means that Charles has an agent on the Island, with Locke and Ben.

Of course, she identifies herself as something else entirely. A bounty hunter working on behalf of the family of the Widmore frat brother that he wacked on the golf course a while ago. Not a bad story, but is it true, or a cover? It could be true and she's an unwitting pawn. Regardless, fun to know that there's someone w the skills of a bounty hunter on the Island in 2008.

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1977

Oldham's drugs work. Sayid gives it all up, his name, Ajira 316, Oceanic 815, someone named Sawyer, the DI stations, and his origin in the future...

Hey!
Sayid Jarrah. "Jarrah" is what Alanna says when Caesar wakes her in the Ajira plane crash.

Hey!
Mind control. Ben used Room 23 on Carl for behavior modification. The tech and methods behind that must have been developed by the DI, right?

and...

Sayid: You're all going to die, you know. You're going to be killed.
Horace: How exactly would you know this, Sayid?
Sayid: Because I am from the future.

Ha. He actually tells the truth, but it's so Out There no one will buy it. Nice.

Juliet gives Kate a tour of DI Apex Tech. Guess the Kate-Juliet catfight rematch 2 will have to wait. Nuts.

Horace holds a kind of council meeting to figure out what to do with Sayid. Radzinsky wants to execute him but Sawyer wants another chance to talk to him. Horace wants more time to consider, and Radzinsky continues to push...

Radzinsky: Horace, you've got to call for a vote. Either we make a decision, or I call in Arbor, and they make it for us.

Who or what is Arbor? R. Burr? Raymond Burr? I could see a mean spirited Radzinsky referring to him in the plural. R-Bur? R.B.R.? An acronym for some DI advisory board? Who'd be on that, do you suppose? A Shephard? A Paik? A Chang? A Hanso?

In the end, Amy makes the case for the danger to Ethan and all the DI children, which sways Horace into calling for a vote. When LaFleur looks to be the only holdout, Horace pressures him into making it unanimous. Whatev.

Sawyer visits Sayid and tries to get him to play at an escape, but Sayid refuses...

Sayid: I appreciate the offer, but I'm fine right here... I'm going to stay here, James... Because, when I woke up in the jungle, and I realized I was back on this Island, I felt there was no purpose to it. But now I know exactly why I'm here.
Sawyer: To get shot? Then what? You're out of your mind.

C'mon, Sawyer, you've GOT to see it. The would-you-kill-baby-Hitler scenario? Hrmm... maybe he DOES see it, but chooses to let himself be distracted by a flaming DI peace van, to LET Sayid do his dark deed...? Maybe...

Sawyer: Three years, no burning buses, you all are back ONE day!

So, back in DI jail, little Ben shows up to spring Sayid. Sayid continues to play the Hostile to gain little Ben's rebel trust, allowing him to get close enough to bust Ben's skull open. Nice.

Ben: I really hate it here. If I let you out, will you take me with you? To your people?
Sayid: Yes, I will. That's why I'm here.

Nice.

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2008

Ha! Too funny. Alanna escorts Sayid to the airport. He's to be flown to Guam(?), presumably the home of the family who hired Alanna, right? Anyhow, at the airport, Sayid spots Hurley, then Jack, then Kate...

Sayid: Can I ask you a favor? Can we get the next plane? I'm very superstitious when it comes to flying...
Alanna: I'll buy you a rabbit's foot at the gift shop. This is the plane we're taking.

And on the plane, Ben boards. They look at one another and Ben looks... surprised. Ben's not behind Sayid being on the flight. Still, Sayid has to ask...

Sayid: Are you working for Benjamin Linus?
Alanna: Who's Benjamin Linus?... Why would I work for somebody like that?
Sayid: I did.

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1977

Little Ben and Sayid are on the run in the jungle. Jin comes on them and Sayid tries to talk his way past him, but in the end has to knock him out. Sad, that. Young Ben is way impressed with the takedown. Sayid searches Jin and finds a gun...

Sayid: You were right about me. I *am* a killer. BLAM!

A shot to the heart, gotta be a 1-ring. But why not one to the head, Sayid? Where's your professional pride? I guess he might be feeling a bit torn up over shooting a kid, or conflicted over having to play Jin the way he did, or he might not be completely himself, post-Oldham treatment... Whatever was bugging him, he failed to put one in the head.

Still... AweSUM! Sayid should've brought some camping gear so that he could set up right near the body, wait for the Island to bring Ben back, and then kill him all over again. Hopefully he'd mix things up a bit, y'know? If it's the gun again, maybe a kneecap or two and then the gut. Or y'know, reach into a grab bag of hammers, knives, and power tools?

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: time after time

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Theory:
Sun doesn't flash back to 1977 because the cosmos won't let her visit a time when she could potentially meet her younger self (the baby daughter of Pierre Chang).

I like this theory because it follows a powerful logical time travel rule: that the universe won't allow an individual to encounter him or herself, presumably because of some kind of causality something-or-other which would result in a tear in the fabric of spacetime...

... or something.

And, if we look at Sun's experience, and Charlotte's—that her body, and her life, don't make it to 1977—it makes sense. There's also a lot of fun follow-thru possible. Like, Mr. and Mrs. Chang have their baby. She's brought to the Island. Maybe, before the Purge, Widmore orders that the DI children are spared. Some are indoctrinated as Others, but perhaps the powerful Paik patriarch, who has connections w the Island and the Others, finds that he and his wife cannot have a child. Widmore offers him baby Sun to raise as his own... Kooky, no? But...

I *dislike* this theory because we've already witnessed at least one explicit exception to the rule. Sawyer and company, while time skipping, revisited the night that Claire gave birth to Aaron. The time skippers could easily have run into their 60-some-days-younger selves (except, of course, for the fact that they hadn't already, so far as we know) and torn the universe a new one. Other exceptions include the skips to 1988, as all of the skippers were alive and walking around SOMEwhere on the planet, just not on the Island.

Maybe because the time skipping phenom itself was a kind of error or malfunction, the cosmic rule doesn't apply? That's a lame out.

There's absolutely no reason we should have expected Ben, Locke, or Lapidus to get pulled back to 1977, so I don't see any reason to try to justify they're remaining in the present day.

The only way I can see Sun being kept from 1977 on account of her younger self living then is if the Island "consciously" filters her out. The Island somehow actually KNOWS that if Sun flashed back to 1977, she'd encounter her younger self, so it kept her in 2008. The Island also somehow KNEW that the time skippers would jump to moments where they could *potentially* encounter their younger selves, but are destined NOT to, so it allowed them to visit those moments.

Lame. Far fetched, even for LOST, donchathink?

So, I hafta reject this theory. Sun remains in the present because she has Something To Do. For now, I like Miles for Pierre Chang, junior. No doubt that notion will get pooped on in the next episode, eh?

In light of this time traveling talk, it's kinda funny how Abaddon lures Locke to Australia (and ultimately, flight 815) with talk of a walkabout, the goal of which is to actually meet yourself.

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Timeline:
The donkey wheel...

On the Island, there's a subterranean chamber. In that chamber, there's a wheel. The wheel is set into a wall. On the other side of that wall is a "pocket of negatively charged exotic particles." Turning the wheel correctly moves the Island from one point on the surface of the planet to another, apparently randomly. Turning the wheel incorrectly sets the Island to skipping to apparently random points in both space and time.

Historically, the first characters whom we know to have been in the chamber are Locke and undead Christian. The chamber walls have hieroglyphics carved into them. We've also seen glyphs on the Swan's clock and the Temple walls.

At this time, year Y, there's no obvious access from the chamber to the surface. Above ground, an Egyptian statue stands on the shore of the Island, facing the water. A rope from a well that has not yet been dug is bonded to the ground above the chamber. Locke turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004 and sending the Island and the time skippers on a final time jump to 1977.

Some time after year Y, a well is dug. Did someone KNOW (thru time traveling intel?) to dig a well where they find a rope mysteriously embedded in the solid earth?

Locke uses/falls down the well to get to the chamber. At the start of his fall, he's in year X, when there is a well, but at the end of his fall, he's in year Y, when there isn't.

Some time after year X and before 1974, the well is filled in. In 1974, Sawyer jumps into the filled well, hoping to go after Locke.

Around this time or soon after, DI begins excavating the Orchid, very near the site of the well. Sometime after 1974, after Daniel Faraday has begun working as a member of DI, they inadvertently break into the chamber, but do not continue.

The wheel chamber may have been accessed by Charles Widmore sometime in the late 70s or 80s. I'm about 50-50 on whether he turned the wheel. If he turned the wheel after the purge, the Swan lockdown pallet drop could not successfully continue. But we know it does, so IF he turned the wheel, he must have done it BEFORE the Purge, and the DI would have had to adjust their procedures to the Island's new location...

Actually... That's what happened! Ben convinces Widmore/the Others that killing the DI contingent on the Island isn't enough. They need to keep DI from returning to try to take back their campus, stations, and the Island. So, Widmore turns the wheel as part of the Purge! Wow! OK. I'm going with this, then. Charles definitely turns the wheel in the 80s as part of the Purge strategy, exiting sometime in the 80s (when he goes on to build or assume his fortune, raise his daughter, and fund his son's time travel research).

The next time that we know the wheel chamber is accessed is at the end of 2004. Ben tilts the Orchid's time machine to create an explosion that breaks open a hole into the chamber. There's an aged metal ladder bolted to the rock wall within. No other access to the chamber is visible. Ben turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004.

Question: Does turning the wheel push the wheel turner thru time? I could swear that we're told that Ben appears in Tunisia six months after he turns the wheel. Not sure if the show told us, or maybe a newspaper date, or when he questions the concierge at the hotel.

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Keep on keepin on~

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Keep on keepin on~

LOST: So what's up with you guys and the old Dharma jumpsuits?

_______________________________

Hurley (to Caesar): Dude, you might want to fasten your seatbelt.

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2008.

We get to watch Ajira 316 go down in what I'll call "present day."

I'm digging Jeff Fahey, and y'know what? I'm not sure why. His recent GRINDHOUSE role just sort of... I dunno... rebooted him. He just suddenly kind of came into his own, grew into his own skin, y'know? Maybe it only makes him really good for a certain kind of character, but if that's what he's doing, nothing wrong with that.

His Lapidus is so straight-shooter, fair-minded, and down-to-earth, he's the closest thing to an able man-on-the-street involved in the LOST madness, y'know? Not bringing any crazy baggage, just his skills, common sense, survival instinct, and respect.

Lapidus: Oh, no... Oh my god!

So fun to watch and hear him in the moments before it all hits the fan. He Knows. And when we see the Island appear through the clouds, it's like being in the cockpit of the Falcon when it's being tractor beamed to the Death Star.

Copilot: Is that a runway?

How awesome is it that Lapidus Sullys Ajira 316 down on the gravel that Kate and Sawyer were busting back when they were Ben's captives? Pretty frickin awesome, that's how awesome. =)

Could this be Lapidus's gift? Flying? Or maybe it's more of an Abaddon trait. Getting people to where they need to be, but in more of an unconscious manner than Matthew.

Is it just me, or did Alanna not look all that surprised or worried about the freaky turbulence? And when Caesar rouses her, who does she ask for? Sarah? She doesn't make a big deal about her prisoner (?) being gone, tho, does she? So, Sayid got flashed back, but...

Sun is still in the present! Blerg! So, she's the woman who scarpers off with Lapidus and the manifest. I couldn't think of a reason why Sun wouldn't be flashed back, but I guess there must be one!

Actually, having her get Christian to pull a SHINING moment on her and show her the 1977 DI new recruits photo is reason enough. =)

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1977.

We return to Sawyer's reunion with Hurley, Kate, and Jack. Another opportunity for the show to kill some time with people looking at each other and sizing one another up.

Sawyer should TOTALLY kiss Jack!

O well. Hurley leads with a hug, of course.

Sawyer: Easy on the ribs there, Kong.
Hurley: Kong... I actually missed that.

And then, the Sixers get bonked over the head with time travel.

Hurley: So what's up with you guys and the old Dharma jumpsuits?
Sawyer: You didn't tell them?
Jin: No, I was waiting for you...
Sawyer: We're in the Dharma Initiative.
Jack: What? They came back to the Island?
Sawyer: No, we came back. So did you.
Jack: What?
Sawyer: It's 1977.
Hurley: Oh... What?

Jack wants to find out what happened to Sayid, and Sun. Jin races off to see Radzinsky(!) at the Flame, who would be the DI guy who'd know if a plane (crash)landed on the Island.

Radzinsky's kind of a tool, but that's to be expected from Kelvin's talk about him. Kind of a reach to have the designer of the Swan as one its snowmen for so long that he'd end up killing himself, but, whatev.

Were Kelvin and Radzinsky the first snowmen? I would have thought that there were a few shifts before Kelvin arrived, post Gulf War, right? In 1977, Radzinsky is designing the Swan, so maybe it doesn't get completed for 10 years. What w the Swan being controlled by an Apple II computer from the 80s, I guess that makes sense.

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2008.

Lapidus steps up to rally the survivors. Caesar's interested in checking out the nearby buildings (the Hydra). Ben realizes where they are and sets off into the jungle on his own. Sun follows Ben. Lapidus follows Sun. Ben leads them to the outrigger canoes and thinks he's going to make it to the big island with Sun. He removes the sling from his arm—arm healed by the Island! Ben lectures Frank, and Sun oars Ben!

Lapidus: I thought you trusted him.
Sun: I lied.

Wheee!~ I *like* dark Sun now that she doesn't seem (AS) unbalanced.

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1977.

Ethan Rom is the son of Amy and Horace?! Bleah. I had a fraction of a thought that that would be the case, but I couldn't buy it. That means that he's growing up in the DI while Ben is growing up there, and conspiring w the Others. Ben and the Others wipe out the DI, and we're never shown any sign of any Dharma men, women, or children being spared. And I think it's kind of important that we're led to believe that Ben is a loner, and friendless in the DI. For Amy's Ethan to be Ethan, that means that he was recruited or handed over to the Others as a child. Maybe he grows up to wish his mom and dad dead, the way Ben does?

Bleah. I still don't like it. I liked Ethan as a long-time Other. What other DI peeps survived to be assimilated into the Others? Some or all of the children?

Boo.

LaFleur's plan to bring the Sixers in: have them join the groggy new recruits coming off the sub. I was hoping that this would be when Roger and Ben Linus arrive on the Island, but alas, not to be. We do get to see Peter Chang hand Dr. Jack a "Workman" jumpsuit and explain that he's been assigned janitorial duties. We also get to see Sawyer stick him with a wonderfully ridiculous preppy tool outfit! =)

Hurley asks Sawyer about revealing to the DI their ultimate fate (aforementioned pit of dead).

Sawyer: I ain't here to play Nostradaus to these people. Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories about waht we can and can't do...

Unfortunately, we don't get to visit w Faraday this episode. Sawyer continues to write him off as fruitcake material, cracked, nuts. No doubt when he's not playing Weird Uncle to little Charlotte, he's mucking about in the fringe science research of the DI, looking for clues to time travel. Or who knows, maybe leaving clues to be found 30 years later...

Do you suppose Daniel's middle name might be Jacob?

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2008.

Frank and Sun arrive in ruined New Otherton, abandoned except for one bungalow, occupied by Christian Shephard, whom neither recognizes, of course. Sun asks if he knows where Jin is, and he tells them to follow him. He leads them to a DI hut with framed photos on the wall. He pulls down the 1977 "New Recruits" photo, shows it to them...

Christian: I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you.

I'm really glad he said that. I'm taking that to mean that we're gonna get some more time hopping. Eventually, at least. Of course, that also leaves the door open for all kinds of even more destined to have already happened manipulations.

For a minute I was scared that Christian was gonna lead them to the pit of the DI dead and point out a jumpsuit with the label "Jin - Security." That would've sucked in a kinda cool way.

The SHINING photo reveal is way better, tho. =)

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1977.

Jack, Hurley, and Kate are now DI. Sayid has been brought in as a Hostile. Radzinsky believes him to be an Other spy who should be summarily shot, but LaFleur invokes the terms of the truce, gets Sayid to admit to being a Hostile, and then gets to bring him into the village as a captive.

Jack goes to visit Sawyer in his cabin. Juliet answers the door. Heh. He thinks he's got the wrong place, but she tells him he's got the right place, and invites him in. Sawyer is sitting in the living room, about to read a book. Jack and Sawyer have words about what to do. Sawyer takes Jack's leadership skills to task...

Sawyer: Thats how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't matter to you...

There is something seriously ominous about Sawyer's presence in that room, in this scene. Something that hints to me at his role as a serious player in the struggle on the Island. Could Sawyer somehow become Jacob? A Jacob? A Widmore?

Jack leaves.

Meanwhile, back at the DI brig. Young Ben brings Sayid a sandwich! Ben wants to get closer to a Hostile...

Ben: What's your name.
Sayid: Sayid. What's yours?
Ben: I'm Ben.
Sayid: It's nice to meet you Ben.

I predict that we are going to see Sayid attempt to off a little kid... Woohoo! =)

So, Roger and Ben are already on the Island in 1977. I'm gonna guess that they arrived after 1974. This means that Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, and Faraday would know that they share the village with young Ben, but haven't done anything about it. Faraday's theories applied, perhaps? The logic being, since we know that Ben will be alive in the future to torment us, if we DID try to change or even kill him in the past, we must have failed, so, what's the point in trying?

But, hey, Sayid hasn't heard Faraday's theories, right? He gets to do the old kill-Hitler-as-a-baby thing, but with Ben! Wheee!~ =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Some random outbursts...

Do Miles and Ethan have the same, or same sounding, last name?

Jacob's cabin was surrounded by a circle of ash, or salt.

Have any time-skippers given up Ben's name or destiny to Alpert?

Does Sawyer do regular face-to-face meets w Alpert?

Where are Elle and Charles in 1977?

What's going on with Aaron, Desmond, Penny, and Charles in the present?

How does Ben know that he's going to need a gravel runway for Ajira 316 to safely crashland him back onto the Island? Why, he goes back in time to tell himself, of course!

LOST: a little on the insane side...? me? =)

0:39:36 CB: know anything about egyptian mythology?
0:40:08 JG: just a tiny bit
0:40:12 JG: from reading crap fiction
0:40:14 CB: frickin LOST
0:40:21 CB: i'm gonna hafta, like, look stuff up
0:40:31 JG: haha
0:40:34 JG: what part?
0:40:38 JG: there wasn't an episode, though
0:40:40 JG: last week, right?
0:40:49 CB: yeah
0:40:57 CB: a week off - i don't know what was on instead
0:41:12 CB: the egypt stuff
0:41:23 CB: i always wanted it, but now i think we're actually gonna get it
0:41:40 CB: y'know, over the next couple seasons, and only as backstory
0:42:02 JG: like that statue?
0:42:02 CB: but i feel like there might actually be some "useful" biblical and egyptian lore
0:42:08 JG: what makes you think that it's coming?
0:42:09 CB: the statue, definitely
0:42:13 JG: do you have some inside information?
0:42:25 CB: my friend jim suggested that horace set paul up
0:42:29 CB: paul, amy's husband
0:42:45 CB: so that amy would be single and horace could wed and bed her
0:43:01 CB: which led to the birth of the only baby conceived and born on the Island that we know of
0:43:06 CB: i think that's kind of important
0:43:19 CB: and if horace planned it, then that means that he's kind of a LOST big picture guy
0:43:24 JG: huh
0:43:31 CB: cuz to get away with it, he needed time traveling help
0:43:41 JG: horace?
0:43:43 CB: and okay, this might be a stretch
0:43:45 CB: yeah, horace
0:43:46 JG: hahaha
0:43:47 JG: oh boy
0:43:49 CB: but horace ~ horus
0:43:52 JG: HAHAHA
0:43:55 JG: hm
0:44:03 JG: why would he need time travel help
0:44:07 JG: to get amy's husband
0:44:07 CB: and this one jim mentioned to me Richard Alpert ~ R.A. ~ Ra
0:44:10 JG: killed?
0:44:14 JG: oh boy
0:44:17 JG: the inititals
0:44:19 JG: are REALLY a reach
0:44:28 CB: yeah, i kinda think so too
0:44:40 CB: where'd alexander the great come from? greece?
0:45:04 JG: yeah, i think so
0:45:07 JG: but not modern greece
0:45:10 JG: it was bigger then
0:45:18 CB: my ancient history's all screwed up, but i had a thought that maybe Alpert could be Alexander
0:45:22 JG: Macedonia, I think
0:45:31 JG: HA
0:45:35 CB: and maybe the Island once held the library
0:45:39 JG: what made you think THAT?
0:45:40 CB: in the temple
0:45:43 CB: no good reason
0:45:46 JG: hahahahah
0:45:51 CB: just some thin connections in my cobwebbed memory
0:46:10 CB: but okay, never mind that =)
0:46:11 CB: Horace
0:46:26 JG: i mean, I made up the fact that Alpert was Greek
0:46:28 CB: in order to get away with having 2 Others kill Paul, he'd have to be able to break the truce and get away with it
0:46:41 JG: well, we don't know what they were doing in the woods
0:46:42 JG: and plus
0:46:47 JG: how did he know that Amy would get saved?
0:46:51 JG: she was about to get killed herself
0:46:57 CB: see?
0:46:58 JG: you think HOrace planted Sawyer?
0:47:00 CB: no
0:47:18 CB: BUT, if he planned to kill paul and get amy for himself, he had to know that something/someone would intervene
0:47:36 JG: yeah, but doesn't that make it kind of a silly plan?
0:47:41 JG: to put amy in danger?
0:47:51 JG: wouldn't have have been better off getting rid of paul some other way?
0:47:51 CB: and how would he know something like that? he can see destinies, like Eloise and Abbadon, or he can communicate with Jacob/the Island
0:47:59 JG: just seems kind of... roundabout
0:48:14 CB: well, i assume he couldn't do the deed himself
0:48:31 CB: overtly or set-up accidentally
0:48:59 CB: and no one else from Dharma could do it
0:49:00 JG: yeah, but to put her in the hands of Alpert's crew
0:49:11 JG: when he' s only after the husband
0:49:13 JG: just seems
0:49:18 JG: like playing with fire
0:49:20 CB: maybe he was in cahootz w alpert... i dunno
0:49:24 JG: hm
0:49:41 JG: and alpert's coming to claim retribution was a fake?
0:49:46 CB: it seems strange that alpert would allow two of his guys to go biker thug during the truce
0:49:58 JG: definitely true
0:49:59 CB: hrmm... maybe he needed a body for some reason... hadn't thought of that
0:50:46 CB: would two of alpert's guys behave like that without some OK of some kind?
0:51:17 JG: i can't imagine why
0:51:20 JG: they would go rogue
0:51:21 CB: that whole scenario bugs me as conspicuous without any meddling or scheming behind it
0:51:34 CB: thusly my conspiracy theory
0:51:41 JG: ahhh
0:51:43 JG: it's true
0:51:44 JG: that scene
0:51:48 JG: is not justified yet
0:51:49 JG: at all
0:51:57 CB: it DOES get sawyer and company into Dharma safely
0:52:02 CB: and into Horace's good graces
0:52:10 CB: so really, on the surface, it's a Great Thing for them
0:52:17 JG: definitely
0:52:21 JG: so they can pass those three years
0:52:23 JG: in comfort
0:52:34 CB: but why would it have happened in the first place - i feel like Horace had a hand in it
0:52:45 JG: interesting
0:52:52 CB: what's Horace doing hanging out at the Blackrock anyway?
0:52:52 JG: i don't get the whole part about the baby
0:52:58 JG: that is definitely important
0:53:00 JG: for sure
0:53:31 JG: but Aaron was born on the island, just not conceived
0:53:40 JG: and Sun's kid was conceived but not born
0:53:46 CB: yup
0:53:48 JG: so I don't really get the whole baby thing anyway
0:53:51 CB: so the trick is both
0:54:12 CB: it was an interesting check on the growth of Other-ness
0:54:15 JG: is that kid going to be Locke or something?
0:54:20 JG: well, they just had them born
0:54:23 JG: off the island, right?
0:54:25 CB: nah, we saw Locke
0:54:29 CB: Dharma did
0:55:04 JG: right
0:55:25 CB: the Others during Ben's era kept trying to have them on the Island
0:56:06 CB: hence juliet's recruit-ment
0:56:13 JG: right, right
0:56:30 JG: mysterious!
0:57:34 CB: it seems like the idea of "Good" Others is a Ben era thing too
0:57:47 CB: back in the 50s and 70s, they seem more like a biker gang
0:58:03 JG: HA
0:58:04 JG: totally
0:58:07 CB: or maybe the 50s is when they started, when they encountered regular/military people messing w the Island
0:58:18 CB: widmore says he protected the Island for 30 years until Ben
0:58:44 JG: yeah, i don't really get the history
0:59:01 JG: widmore was dharma?
0:59:20 JG: is widmore gone already by the time that sawyer is there?
0:59:25 JG: in the 70s?
0:59:37 CB: i dunno, i usedta think he helped fund Dharma
0:59:55 CB: widmore was Other, and yeah, i'm guessing that he's already gone in 74
1:00:10 JG: how do you know he was an other?
1:00:19 JG: so, is Alpert his replacement?
1:00:31 CB: alpert is like Other leader pro tem
1:00:43 CB: i think he steps in when there's no one around who can talk to Jacob
1:01:01 CB: (in my head, i've got it that only those who can hear Jacob can be Other leaders)
1:01:06 JG: oh, hm
1:01:08 JG: interesting
1:01:14 CB: (altho, i don't know where Jacob "lived" before the 70s)
1:01:40 CB: (cuz Horace apparently builds the cabin where Ben, Locke, and Hurley go to interact w Jacob0
1:03:01 JG: i wonder what the deal is
1:03:03 JG: with Jacob
1:03:10 JG: seems like it could be biblical
1:03:23 CB: yeah, that's why i want more bible lore
1:03:24 JG: also, I don't get the smoke monster
1:03:32 JG: i feel like the smoke monster was some abandoned idea
1:03:36 JG: that is not going to tie in
1:03:40 JG: and it's going to be sad
1:03:43 CB: heh
1:04:04 CB: i think they'll give us an explanation, but it may not be as satisfying as i'd once hoped it would be
1:04:25 CB: i feel like the monster's sort of a rogue servant of the Island
1:04:39 JG: interesting
1:05:07 CB: an antibody, with its own OOProgramming
1:05:14 CB: not always under control of the Island
1:05:30 CB: when i squint, i also can see him as the serpent in the garden
1:05:33 JG: HA
1:05:38 JG: hm
1:05:41 CB: looking to mess w the great works of the Island
1:05:51 CB: but within certain rules
1:06:27 CB: it can judge people, kill them, turn them into puppets, test them
1:06:39 JG: judge people?
1:06:44 JG: and test them?
1:06:50 JG: that's a hefty allowance
1:06:51 CB: it's kind of b.s., but it seemed to do that to Eko
1:06:52 JG: for a smoke monster
1:06:57 CB: and Locke
1:07:01 JG: oh, Eko
1:07:04 JG: i wonder if his role
1:07:11 JG: will also be under-explained
1:07:24 CB: and Rousseau's people... altho i don't know why it would find them all guilty
1:07:35 JG: yeah, they were on the island for a hot minute
1:07:40 JG: before there were exterminated
1:07:50 CB: Eko... no, i think that's a show production issue that got resolved crappily in the story
1:07:59 JG: haha
1:08:02 CB: apparently the actor had to be dismissed
1:08:05 JG: oh, really?
1:08:07 JG: that sucks
1:08:08 CB: so they shat on his character
1:08:15 CB: yeah, Eko was wonderful
1:08:16 JG: wow, lame
1:08:35 JG: i guess the only other option would have been to swap actors
1:08:39 JG: which I hate when they do
1:08:44 JG: and you have to be like:
1:08:52 JG: I'm pretending that this is the same person
1:08:57 JG: when it clearly isn't
1:09:03 CB: ha! yeah, totally annoying
1:09:08 CB: no one's gonna step in for Eko : P
1:09:12 JG: seriously
1:09:33 CB: but yeah, we saw Rousseau's people get taken...
1:09:49 CB: one of them had his arm yanked off, but still spoke from the darkness to lure the others in
1:09:56 CB: the smoke monster took over their bodies
1:10:04 JG: yeah, that was creepy
1:10:23 CB: the Others are very particular about what happens to the bodies of their dead
1:10:32 CB: they had a ceremony for the girl that Sun shot on Desmond's boat
1:10:42 CB: viking-like, i think - they burned her body on a raft
1:10:43 JG: oh yeah
1:10:49 JG: i forgot that part
1:10:52 CB: so, neither the Island nor the smoke monster could reanimate her
1:11:06 CB: or so my take is
1:11:42 JG: you
1:11:46 JG: are a little on the insane side
1:11:50 JG: with the details
1:12:04 JG: but I mean that in a good way
1:12:20 CB: i know it
1:12:31 JG: i only hope
1:12:34 JG: that the writers
1:12:36 CB: and i avoid looking around at LOST crap online
1:12:39 JG: turn out to justify your love
1:13:00 JG: good for you
1:13:03 JG: it's more fun to do your own math
1:13:08 JG: than be influenced
1:13:13 JG: by people online
1:14:54 CB: thing is, i feel like i need a team
1:15:03 CB: like the one that widmore/abbadon put together
1:15:29 JG: HA
1:16:09 CB: an egyptologist, a bible expert, maybe a philosophy academic
1:16:38 CB: a physicist might be good, but i don't think it would be so necessary
1:16:46 JG: what's Rowan's area? ancient china?
1:16:52 CB: cuz this is, like fizzics, not physics
1:16:56 JG: HAHA
1:16:57 JG: totally
1:16:58 CB: yeah, china
1:17:30 CB: and the fizzics is mostly about narrative bending, not actual physical law bending
1:17:37 CB: so rowan's useless
1:17:38 CB: =)
1:17:44 JG: hahaha
1:17:49 JG: yeah
1:17:53 JG: china's not even on the radar
1:17:54 JG: in Lost
1:17:58 CB: korea is, tho
1:18:04 JG: true enough
1:18:18 JG: although I suspect not too much in the "causes of weirdness" department
1:18:19 CB: in the Dharma logo, in Paik industries, in Charlottes fluency, perhaps
1:18:44 CB: i suspect Paik industries was in bed w Widmore in Island hunting
1:18:49 CB: and may have helped fund Dharma
1:19:10 JG: oh, wow
1:19:11 JG: intense
1:19:22 CB: Dharma was founded by this Hanso guy, who's been described as having made his fortune in arms, I think
1:19:38 CB: Alvar Hanso... gotta be nordic
1:20:09 JG: yeah, or Dutch
1:20:11 JG: or something
1:20:15 CB: and Marvin Candle or Wickenham or whatever he calls himself... I have a feeling he himself is Korean
1:20:37 CB: yeah... Hanso... HanSolo
1:20:39 CB: =)
1:20:42 JG: hahahahaha
1:20:50 CB: "Han" is Korean for the number one
1:20:58 CB: that's a Lucas thing, "Han Solo"
1:21:01 CB: the loner
1:21:04 CB: lone star
1:21:09 JG: i did NOT know that
1:21:15 JG: does solo mean star?
1:21:20 JG: it doesn't mean "one" and alone?
1:21:23 JG: in english
1:21:24 CB: no, solo's just one agagin
1:21:24 CB: yeah
1:21:34 JG: ha, one alone
1:21:35 CB: "Solo" is just the english
1:21:37 JG: interesting
1:21:51 CB: Lucas played with character names in episode 4 in some good ways
1:21:57 CB: i mean, Luke Skywalker
1:22:00 CB: Luke S.
1:22:01 CB: Lucas
1:22:10 JG: do you speak Korean?
1:22:14 CB: not so much, no
1:22:19 CB: i know numbers, and some food
1:22:26 CB: i usedta speak a better, but lost it all
1:22:28 JG: do you understand getting yelled at in korean?
1:22:31 CB: heh
1:22:35 CB: go wash your face, yeah
1:22:37 JG: hahaha
1:22:43 CB: practice piano
1:22:45 JG: HA
1:22:46 CB: grow up to be a doctor
1:22:49 JG: lol
1:22:49 CB: =)
1:23:06 JG: speaking of piano - both of the super nice girls who are interested in my apartment
1:23:08 JG: are total non-musicians
1:23:12 JG: don't play any piano
1:23:14 CB: aww
1:23:17 JG: what's up with that?
1:23:24 JG: Do I need to turn them away?
1:23:26 CB: heh
1:23:29 CB: how old are they?
1:23:36 JG: one is 31
1:23:43 JG: and the other is starting nursing school,
1:23:44 JG: so
1:23:46 JG: younger, is my guess
1:23:55 JG: they're both working/schooling at Columbia Med, though
1:23:55 CB: well, maybe the younger one could start lessons
1:23:58 JG: hahaha
1:23:59 JG: totally
1:24:05 CB: write it into the lease
1:24:05 JG: i should put that in the lease
1:24:08 JG: exactly
1:24:09 CB: =)
1:26:01 JG: any other star wars name trivia you'd like to share?
1:26:25 CB: hrmm...
1:26:50 CB: well, i always thought that numbers were important, but that doesn't get carried thru every name
1:26:55 CB: the droids, easy
1:27:01 CB: OB1, obi-wan
1:27:06 CB: han solo
1:27:14 JG: ha, OB1
1:27:14 JG: nice
1:27:26 CB: and there was the naming of the darths
1:27:41 CB: no consistent, tho
1:27:43 CB: in-Vader
1:27:47 CB: in-Sidious
1:27:51 CB: in-Maul doesn't work : P
1:27:53 JG: hahaha
1:27:59 JG: darth sidious
1:28:01 JG: i have to say
1:28:04 JG: might be the dumbest name ever
1:28:11 JG: far, far too obvious
1:28:16 JG: although Maul is a close second
1:28:57 CB: haha =)
1:29:01 CB: i concur
1:29:25 CB: lucas just lost it when he went back for eps 1-3 : P
1:29:31 JG: i know
1:29:32 JG: so sad
1:29:37 JG: a real tragedy
1:29:58 JG: does Lost have an end date?
1:30:04 JG: like, are there a finite number of seasons?
1:30:07 CB: two more seasons after this one - 16 eps each
1:31:09 JG: aha
1:31:19 JG: because you definitely get the sense
1:31:24 JG: that they know where they are going now
1:31:32 CB: yeah, this is all about other shoes dropping
1:31:40 CB: or pennies dropping
1:31:41 JG: hahaha, nicely said
1:31:44 CB: or whatever
1:31:55 CB: what is the scenario that inspired that euphemism?
1:32:05 JG: the other shoe?
1:32:06 CB: shoe?
1:32:07 CB: yeah
1:32:26 JG: (am googling)
1:33:02 CB: it seems like it might be sex-y
1:33:07 CB: or maybe 50s tv sexy?
1:33:19 CB: but 50s tv sexy would be too modern...
1:33:39 JG: ha, apparently, from a joke:
1:33:40 JG: This phrase means "to await an event causally linked to one that
one has already observed". In the form "drop the other shoe",
meaning "say the next obvious thing" or "end the suspense", it dates
from the early 20th century. It derives from the following joke:

A guest who checked into an inn one night was warned to be quiet
because the guest in the room next to his was a light sleeper. As
he undressed for bed, he dropped one shoe, which, sure enough,
awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in
silence, and got into bed. An hour later, he heard a pounding on
the wall and a shout: "When are you going to drop the other shoe?"
1:34:02 CB: ha
1:34:32 CB: got anything about the penny dropping?
1:34:39 CB: or did i make that up? : P
1:34:44 JG: ha, i don't know that one
1:36:41 CB: i kind miss the time-skipping, tho... hopefully we'll get another round, or at least another jump or two
1:37:25 CB: or, man, can you imagine the LOSTies remaining on the Island in 1977 thru 2008?
1:37:30 JG: HA
1:37:31 JG: i wonder!
1:37:33 JG: do you think so?
1:37:37 CB: that's interresting...
1:37:45 CB: they would know exactly where to be when to avoid running into themselves
1:37:51 CB: but to what end?
1:38:37 JG: oh, the paradoxes!
1:38:39 CB: OR... they could go out into the world in these earlier times and pave the ways for everything that's going to happen... altho, again, to what end?
1:38:40 JG: i hope it doesn't go there
1:38:50 CB: sawyer could leave the island and kill locke's dad before he ruins his parents
1:39:03 CB: but of course, he couldn't : P
1:39:14 CB: they can't actually change anything
1:39:16 JG: HAHA
1:39:23 JG: it's a mess, the paradoxes!
1:39:25 CB: but... hiding on the Island... i wonder if there's any value in that
1:39:52 CB: wow, what if their bodies are in the pit of Dharma bodies?
1:39:57 CB: geez
1:40:02 JG: HA
1:40:03 JG: gross!
1:40:04 CB: that would be awful, cool, chilling
1:40:12 CB: if done right
1:40:47 JG: chilling, for sure
1:40:48 CB: it would be like Krypton dying - they'd hafta get their kids off the Island, but not themselves, and die w the Dharma people
1:40:55 JG: hm, interesting idea
1:41:04 JG: yeah, i wonder if we are going to see the massacre
1:41:07 JG: or what
1:41:14 CB: the timing of that is weird
1:41:19 CB: i feel like it was the 80s
1:41:29 CB: cuz ben is born in the 70s, off the Island
1:41:39 JG: but things are already a mess
1:41:40 CB: then brought to the Island when he's maybe 9 or 10? with his dad
1:41:43 JG: from disuse
1:41:48 JG: by 2000 or whenever they show up
1:41:57 CB: well, all the stations are, yeah
1:42:09 CB: the village is still intact cuz ben moves the Others into it
1:42:28 CB: and there are still supply drops for the Swan - perplexing, that
1:42:56 JG: hm, yeah
1:42:58 JG: confusing
1:43:42 CB: so, if Widmore was leader of the Others in the 60s (he's pretty young in the 50s)... when does he leave the Island so that he can be in the real world long enough to build his fortune and father Penny (and is Eloise his mate?)
1:43:57 JG: was penny born on the island?
1:44:47 CB: hrmm.... i don't think so
1:45:15 CB: cuz charles was exiled or tricked or whatever off the Island by himself, right?
1:45:28 CB: well, if he turned the wheel he was
1:45:30 JG: i have no idea
1:45:33 JG: do we know for sure?
1:46:02 CB: widmore's story is that ben tricked him off the Island, and he seems to imply that it was turning the wheel that did it
1:46:30 CB: when locke arrives in tunisia, widmore tells him he was watching the exit cuz he was afraid that ben would do the same thing to locke
1:46:52 CB: altho, that story has a hole in it - he apparently wasn't watching when Ben turned the wheel
1:46:58 JG: ha, oh yeah
1:46:59 JG: hm
1:47:10 JG: but he never says
1:47:12 CB: so... i haven't decided whether to trust widmore's account
1:47:15 CB: yeah, he never says
1:47:15 JG: that he got dumped in Tunisia
1:47:23 JG: he just says it's the exit
1:47:26 JG: not know how knows
1:47:31 CB: yeah - he might have voluntarily left the Island
1:47:43 CB: or been tricked off the island some other way
1:48:13 CB: but turning the wheel DOES make sense... cuz it would kick him off the Island *AND* relocate it so he couldn't just go back by following a magic heading in the right location
1:48:23 JG: true
1:48:34 JG: but he could have taken the sub as well
1:48:36 CB: what else could have happened... he left the Island on a boat or sub or whatever, and then someone else turned the wheel
1:48:42 JG: because you don't get back to the island the normal way
1:48:48 JG: yeah, even when the freighter was out there
1:48:53 JG: Daniel knew some trick
1:48:57 JG: where it wasn't obvious
1:48:58 JG: how to get back
1:49:04 JG: maybe widmore doesn't know the trick
1:49:24 CB: daniel and ben and michael all know the same trick
1:49:27 CB: a magic heading
1:49:45 CB: i'm pretty sure widmore would have known - if people were coming and going from the Island at all
1:49:57 CB: the u.s. military found it, somehow
1:50:03 CB: the nigerian plane
1:50:13 CB: henry gale's balloon
1:50:40 JG: uh oh, i have to run
1:50:44 CB: okily
1:50:48 JG: i've got people coming to see my apartment
1:50:48 CB: happystpats
1:50:50 CB: don't get pinched
1:50:52 JG: haha
1:50:57 JG: thanks, you either!
1:51:09 JG: to be continued tomorrow.. when we will actually get our next installment!
1:51:15 CB: =)

Thanks to JG for letting me go LOST nuts like that via AIM~

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: rambling on time, timing, and Egypt!

_______________________________
Egypt!

More Egypt! Woohoo! I'm loving the idea (my crazy idea) that the Island materialized in ancient Egypt. I want it to be as an oasis in the actual desert, but I guess I'll allow for it to have lamely appeared as an island off of Africa, too. Room enough to appear in the Nile? The delta? Is that where the Island first appeared on Earth? First acquired its weird EM pocket of power.

Which Egyptian god is the statue of? Does anyone know? Can anyone tell? Is there only one Egyptian god who is depicted with four toes? What animals have four "toes?" Cats? Dogs? Or was it Egyptian practice to only show four toes in drawings of human bodies? Like on THE SIMPSONS?

Is Richard Alpert an age-frozen Pharaoh?

Jim hit me with the phonetic connection between Horace (Goodspeed) and Horus, whom I last saw in RELIGULOUS. The son of Isis and Osiris, Horus has a man's body and a falcon's head (Thanks, wikipedia). Nothing about four toes, tho. Do all the Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads?

What does this mean about the Island? Does it play some active/meddling role in Egyptian mythology or ancient history? Was its power misguidedly attributed to one of their pantheon? The Others/black smoke monster temple has hieroglyphics on its walls. Why would Dharma use hieroglyphics in the Swan? Are they directions that refer to the Temple or writings on its walls?

_______________________________
Timing problem or not? Bentham's tour, death, viewing.

In talking over recent LOSTness with Emily, she brought up a pretty serious inconsistency in the timing of events surrounding Locke's world tour and his death. The episode in which we see his attempts to recruit the Six and co seems to place his attempted suicide-turned-murder a day, or at most a few days, after he talks to Jack in the hospital. Ben's revelation that Jack bought a round-trip ticket seems to push the idea that Locke only just spoke with Jack. If that's the case, how can we account for the time that seems to have passed between Bentham's visits to Jack and Kate and Bentham's obituary (also Jack and Kate's meeting at the airport)? In that time, Jack grows out his crazy beard (he's already started when he tells Locke none of them are important), flies multiple times, begins cracking up at the hospital, sees his father (Could that have happened before Locke's accident? Beard or not?), loads up on the drugs, ponders suicide. Or Sayid's return from building schools in the DR and his appearance at Hurley's asylum and their short-lived WEEKEND AT SAYID's?

When Emily brought it up, I had to agree that Locke's tour experience and death as we saw it make you think that only a short amount of time passed between his hospital stay and his murder. In the end, tho, I think that that's an illusion of editing, resulting in a compression of the timing of events. To clinch it, I think I'll need to re-watch the episode and look for physical signs of the accident on Locke when he's setting up his makeshift gallows. Is it possible that Abaddon was DRIVING MR. LOCKE for months? Or that Locke was doing his own thing (like what?) most of that time and only calling Abaddon when he was ready to meet with a certain Sixer/Lostie?

Doesn't seem like Locke would allow himself anything like downtime, tho, right?

Blerg. I'll just roll with it for now.

_______________________________
Others = "Good people?"

Ben's lists, and his and Tom's insistence that they are the "good guys," don't seem to jive with the biker gang behavior of Richard's people in the 70s. The two Others that find Paul and Amy picnicking seem to be intent on doing Amy some very un-good harm. And AFTER killing her husband, Paul. *AND* while an apparent Dharma-Others truce is in effect. What up w that? Were the Others more state-of-nature back then? Before Ben? Are "good people" a Ben-era phenomenon or rule?

Horace tells Sawyer that he and his people are not Dharma material. What sort of code does Dharma use in their selection of recruits?

_______________________________
Horace Goodspeed

Jim thinks that Horace may have set Paul up, to get him out of the picture and leave Amy alone. I like the sound of that. If we start from that, and do a bit of reverse engineering, we get to some very interesting possibilities...

Perhaps Horace is a big picture player. At least on the order of a Ben. Maybe on the order of an Eloise?

For Horace to be able to set Paul up, he has to know that he can get away with it. And not just the murder, but the breaking of the Truce. Which means that he has to know that the Island will deliver a way out for him. Which means he has a connection to the Island, or maybe even speaks to Jacob and does the Island's will.

And what would the Island's will be? To bring into the world a baby, the child of Amy and Horace, a baby conceived AND delivered on the Island. DEMON SEED, anyone?

What if Horace and Alpert were in cahootz? For Horace to pull off the murder of Paul, ideally, he'd be able to have Alpert's help, maybe get Alpert to take the muzzles off two of his biker gang Other boys and happen to send them to check out the field where Paul and Amy are picnicking. What would Alpert get out of it, tho? What he gets out of it even after Sawyer's meddling/fixx... Paul's body. What would Alpert and the Others get out of that, tho? A host or reanimated puppet for the Island? For Jacob, a la Christian? A source of inside information, perhaps?

In any case, whether or not tree-dynamiting Horace and/or Alpert orchestrated Paul's death, the situation gets Sawyer and company in with Dharma, and Horace in their debt, setting them up for their LOST ON MARS period. Pretty lucky unluck.

_______________________________
The other LOSTies?

In the time-skipping melee, I thoughtlessly discounted everyone else as insignificant and fire arrowed to death, but Emily reminded me that Bernard spent quite a bit of time working on getting a fire going, back at the beach, just before Frogurt got himself awesomely arrowed. In the subsequent time skips, we follow Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Charlotte, but lose track of everyone else. Like I said, assuming them all to be STAR TREK red shirts, I figured they'd all get dead, one way or another, arrows, monsters, nosebloody headaches. But, hey, we sorta care about Bernard and Rose, right? And we know the Island likes Rose.

So what do we suppose happened to them? Are there any other fringey Losties that I've totally given up on?

Maybe Bernard and Rose joined the Others in 1974-77? Or been living the Crusoe life together in some remote part of the Island? Could they have had a baby in that time? One who grows up to be Matthew Abaddon?

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The other LOSTies?

We haven't seen Sayid or Sun land in 1977 yet. What if they were found by Alpert's Others (Widmore's people at this time?), and have been recruited or taken captive by the Others? Would the Paik name hold any power back then? What could or would they tell Alpert, and vice versa? Locke's mission. Ben's manipulation. Faraday's mom and the Lamppost. Is Eloise "Elle" Hawking still on the Island at this point in time? And hostile takeover Sun might know quite a bit worth knowing to young Widmore.

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Crazy talk.

Egypt! I need a team of experts. An Egypt person, a Bible person, a history/geography person... I have my ideas. The hieroglypics on the Swan clock hinted at Egypt, but y'know, thru the prism of this 60s fringe science research compound, the DI. They co-opted the elemental symbols from the Korean flag for their logo, why not borrow from Egypt for a creative alarm clock alert, right?

Then, there was the appearance of Richard Alpert. My cinemascopic mind pegged him as an Egyptian. I know the heavy eyeliner is in fact, NOT makeup, but a physiological phenom, or so I've heard it explained from various friend sources. I always kind of assumed that to be the case, since first "meeting" him on SUDDENLY, SUSAN or whatever that Brooke Shields show was. But I'm not going to take it as an accident that he was cast for the role, looking as he does. I'm going to take it as meaningful that when he shows up on the Island, the first thing I think of is Egyptian.

I personally think the initials adding up to Ra, the Egyptian sun god, is a bit thin, but nevertheless fun.

Hurley, in tune with the dead of the Island, has taken to painting watercolors. Or at least, watercolor. The one subject that we've seen: Egypt, specifically, the Sphinx.

While time-skipping it up, Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, and Miles are treated to a few seconds of the backside of the towering statue that would eventually be spotted by Sayid as a ruin, with only a four-toed foot intact. The statue looks to be a likeness of some Egyptian god, with a human body, a nonhuman or at least head-dressed head, and holding something (a staff?) in its right hand, maybe also its left (I think).

Let me throw some names and words out here... Pharaohs. Horus. Osiris. Alexander the Great. The Library at Alexandria. Pharos.

I did a little clicking at Wikipedia. There is an island near Alexandria, Egypt called Pharos. It was once the location of a towering lighthouse, named after the island, apparently, the Pharos. The lighthouse was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Over centuries it was preserved but ultimately was destroyed. Underwater remnants of the lighthouse, its foundations, and surrounding structures and statues were discovered in the 90s. It doesn't exactly make sense, but I like the Island for being a neighbor of Pharos. I can't get myself to say that the Island *IS* Pharos, cuz Pharos is still actually where it is. Pharos was home to a temple of Isis and the Pharos lighthouse.

I originally clicked over to Pharos after clicking to get to the Library at Alexandria, cuz I thought that maybe the Temple might have been a temple of learning and that it might have been built and hidden on the Island when it happened to materialize in Alexandria.

Is Alpert a pharaoh? Could he be Alexander? Egyptian hieroglyphics in the Swan and on the Temple, but Latin among the Others themselves...

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LOST/Others/Island timeline...

If we buy Widmore's story, he was leader of the Others before Ben. He and his people protected the Island for 30 years before Ben. Maybe he wasn't necessarily leader for all those 30 years, cuz back in the Jughead 50s, it seems like he was already in the business of Island protection, without being leader of the clan, right?

So...

1950s.
Young Widmore and Elle (Eloise) are Others, under the leadership pro tem of Richard Alpert. They encounter the time-skipping Locke, Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Charlotte.

1974.
The Others and the Dharma Initiative have a truce. The final time-skip lands Sawyer, Jin, Faraday, Juliet, and Miles in this time, where Sawyer speaks with Alpert to preserve the truce. No sign of Widmore.

1977.
Sawyer, Jin, Faraday, Juliet, and Miles have joined the DI. Jack, Hurley, and Kate are time-flashed out of Ajira 316, land in this time, and are reunited w Sawyer and company. No sign of Widmore.

1960s late.
Horace Goodspeed and girlfriend (Samantha Mathis?) stop to help Roger Linus get his wife to the hospital to give birth to Ben. The mother dies in childbirth.

1970s late.
Horace gets DI to hire Roger Linus. Roger and son Ben arrive on the Island. Ben sees the ghost of his mother appear to him. Ben meets Richard Alpert.

1970s mid-late.
Penelope Widmore born.

1970s mid-late.
Daniel Faraday born.

1980s mid-late.
The Purge. Ben kills his father, Roger, and helps the Others exterminate the DI. Only the Swan station personnel survive. Ben joins the Others.

1988.
Rousseau and team land on the Island. Time-skipping Jin encounters them at two different times, once by the Temple, before skipping away.

2001.
Under Ben's leadership, Alpert and Others recruit Juliet.

2004.
Desmond kills Kelvin, pushes the Swan button late, triggering an EM pulse that causes Oceanic 815 tears itself apart in the sky above the Island.

2004.
Oceanic Six return to the outside world

2004.
Ben turns the wheel and starts the Island time-skipping. Ben exits in Tunisia.

2008.
Ajira 316 flies into a time flash over the Island. Jack, Hurley, and Kate (and Sun and Sayid?) are time flashed back to 1977. Lapidus crashlands plane on Island. Locke is resurrected. Ben, Lapidus, Ceasar, and Alanna are among survivors.

Let's try to braintease this out. Assuming we can take Charles Widmore at his word when he speaks to Locke about his place w the Others and Ben's shenanigans...

Widmore had to get off the Island and into the outside world in time to amass or usurp his considerable fortune. Widmore had to get off the Island and into the outside world in time to father Penelope. Widmore has been unable to return the Island since he left it.

These facts indicate that he left the Island in the mid to late 70s, MAYbe the early 80s, at the latest. This would allow for Penny being in her late 20s to young 30s in "present day," and the 80s would have been the perfect time to start building up wealth. His inability to return to the Island seems to back up the idea that Charles turned the wheel when he left, since turning the wheel moves the Island. If he'd left using some conventional transpo (a boat or the sub), the Island would not have moved, and he could conceivably return by navigating to the same location and using the magic bearing to get thru the snowglobe glass.

But, if he left the Island in the 70s, how could he have been tricked into it by Ben, who only arrives in the 70s as perhaps a 10 year old? And doesn't actually join the Others until the 80s?

It's possible there's a serious chunk of information that LOST hasn't revealed to us—like maybe Widmore was leader during the truce, but spent some of his time off-Island over the years building wealth and having a daughter and maybe even funding Dharma—but if we assume that Widmore's story is true, then I can only think of two explanations.

1. More time travel. Someone else will take a turn at the wheel in a future episode, sending or pulling Ben back to the 70s or 80s where he'll manipulate his way to a high position among the Others and sucker Charles into turning the wheel. He might also tip Alpert off about his encounter with the young Ben, before it actually happens.

2. A long con. "Present day" Ben will manage to plant some info or artifacts in the past that will convince Widmore that he needs to turn the wheel sometime in the 70s or 80s, exiling himself from the Island and leaving leadership open for the Ben who kills his father in the Dharma peace van. Maybe he's already managed it, and the Losties in 1977 are destined to pass that info along and inadvertently do Ben's bidding.

Another person to try and track over time is Eloise Hawking, aka Elle. She's a contemporary of Charles, and given Daniel's age, probably left the Island around the same time as he did. Could they have left together? Or one right after the other? Could Daniel and Penny be siblings? I like it. Altho it still bugs me that Charles wouldn't (or couldn't?) seek Eloise's help with locating the Island.

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LaFleur.

A creole name, Sawyer say. He improvised. Fits his salvage story? Did he get as specific as saying his boat was out of Louisiana? Was LaFleur ever mentioned in previous Dharma flashbacks? Was it an alias we've heard him, or Locke's dad, use?

Maybe "the flower" reflects/foreshadows his lame-ass domesticated-by-Juliet self? It's not bad to see him happy, but it is PAINful to see him with Juliet, especially all hearts and flowers.

The Island lets Hurley speak to the dead. The Island cures Rose's cancer. The Island gives Locke back his legs. But Sawyer? It turns Sawyer into a girl. Bleah.

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Allright, enough crazy talk.

For now. =)

Keep on keepin on~

Give me back that Filet-O-Fish... Give me that fish!

Keep on keepin on~

The Lorax

Thanks to google for telling me it's Dr. Seuss's birthday today.

Keep on keepin on~