LOST and (not really) Found # 4

As I mentioned before, it finally happened. I’m caught up on Lost.

I’m still digesting most of it, but my thoughts on the last 5 hours of the season are after the jump. As always, beware, there are plenty of spoilers ahead – but if you haven’t watched the finale yet, you’re even farther behind than I was, and that’s pretty bad.



First, where the hell did the island go? And how the hell did it “go” somewhere? I am beyond thoroughly confused on this point, and while I’m sure it will be addressed multiple times on this blog, particularly when the show starts back up, I think for now on this particular issue, I just want to bring up these few questions/points:

(1) The obvious questions are (aside from the two above), what was that wheel Ben was turning to “move” the island, what was the bright light, and why can the person who moves the island never come back?
(2) I don’t believe Dharma put the wheel there – if you remember, Ben had to break through Dharma’s equipment to get to the wheel. Also, on the video Ben had Locke watch, the guy moderating it said that Dharma “believed” what was behind the wall was something like a concentration of negative energy or something like that.
(3) It appears that when Ben turned the wheel, he was in the same outfit that he was in when he ended up in the Sahara desert, with the same cut on his arm, suggesting that he was teleported to that place. But yet another question arises – why did go to the Sahara desert and where did the island go?

Now, on to the man we finally saw in the coffin – I have to admit, I was extremely surprised when we saw it was Locke. Apparently, he was going by the name Jeremy Bentham. Obviously, I wonder what the significance is here. The obvious questions that come up after that are: Why did Locke leave the island? How did he get to the mainland? Why did he contact the Oceanic 6 after he got there? How did he die? (I don’t buy the stated cause of death – suicide – why would he be telling everyone they had to go back to the island and then kill himself?) And why in the world does his body have to go back to the island?

In the conversations the Oceanic 6 had about Jeremy Bentham (Locke), Jack for example, mentioned that Bentham stated that bad things had happened after Jack left, and that Jack was partially responsible for that, and that he had to go back to the island, that all of the Oceanic 6 had to go back.

We learned some more about the flashforwards, i.e. that before bearded, drunk Jack met Kate at the airport, they lived together and were at one point, engaged. However, as Jack kept having visions of his father and drifted back toward the drugs and alcohol, he questioned their relationship and Kate, particularly about her whereabouts on a particular day and she finally admitted she was doing something for Sawyer. What was she doing? She wouldn’t say – however, I believe it was something that had to do with Sawyer’s daughter, Clementine – I think that’s what he whispered to her before he jumped out of the helicopter. Now, while Jack wants to go back to the island, but Kate clearly doesn’t, and I imagine she’ll put up a fight when Ben tells her that she and Aaron must go back, but Ben will probably say something to her regarding Aaron’s safety, something like he won’t ever be safe unless they go back to the island, and eventually, she’ll relent.

Sayid and Hurley are up for going back to the island – and Hurley appears to be back into the full-blown crazy stage, seeing Charlie and Mr. Eko. Whether he is actually crazy remains to be seen.

I’m up in the air about how Sun will feel about going back to the island. Initially, I think she’ll resist, but I also think that Ben will tell her Jin is still alive, and that she can see him if she goes back to the island. Is Jin alive? I don’t know. Do I think there’s a chance he’s still alive? Yes. He knew the boat was about to explode, and I’m sure he knew the helicopter wasn’t going to come back for him, so there is at least a chance he jumped off the boat before it exploded. As a side note, though, I don’t think there’s any chance Michael is still alive. I think an interesting question comes up at this point, though – since Sun was pregnant while they were on the island, will her kid have to go back too?

We also had some interesting flashbacks, and one particularly interesting reference to someone’s past.

We saw two more flashbacks with Locke where he encountered someone from the Dharma initiative and someone who, at least now, is in Charles Widmore’s employ. First, we saw young Locke, at his foster parents’ home, being interviewed by Richard from the Dharma initiative (under the auspice that Richard ran a school for special kids), who asked Locke to pick out certain items that were his. Things seemed to be going well until Locke picked out the knife as being his. Richard asked him if he was sure, young Locke indicated yes, and Richard said no, quickly packed things up and left.

Why was Richard interviewing Locke? How had he even heard about Locke at that point?

Then we have high school Locke, who has been given an opportunity to go to another special program, but Locke instead states that he is interested in boxing, fishing and various other non-geeky activities. I don’t think anyone missed the implication that Locke had been picked on for being so smart.

Was this another attempt by Dharma to recruit Locke? I’d be willing to say yes.

Then we have Mr. Abbadon pushing handicapped Locke around in the wheelchair, telling him that it’s a miracle he’s alive given the injury he suffered, and that he can still do anything he wants, and encouraging him to go on a walkabout.

Here, we clearly learned that Locke had interactions with one of Widmore’s people. I think it’s also clear that this wasn’t happenstance, it was planned. But again, why? How did Widmore know that the Dharma people were interested in Locke? Also, how could Widmore have known that anything beneficial to him would come from Locke visiting Australia?

In other past news, the only flashback we’ve seen on Charlotte was her on some sort of dig in a desert where they found a polar bear skeleton with a Dharma collar on it – this seemed to please her at the time. And while the survivors were preparing to leave the island, Miles asked Charlotte why she was leaving, when she had been trying to get back to the island for so long.

The obvious questions then arise: when was Charlotte previously on the island? Why and how did she leave? Why did she want to go back?

Also, as far as Miles goes, why does he want to stay on the island? He can still hear voices, or spirits, or something, as he was able to detect Rousseau’s death, but what benefit is it of him to stay on the island? To try and weasel money out of Ben again? But even if he were to get it, how would he get off the island?

Finally, the last thing I want to address (for now), is Walt. We see Walt, who has obviously grown up over the past couple years. He visits Hurley and tells him that he thought when the Oceanic 6 got back, somebody would come to see him but nobody did – but then Locke did, and told him some things about the island. Hurley hinted to Walt that people might still be alive on the island, including his dad (which as stated above, I don’t think is true – but I’ve been wrong about Lost-isms before).

How is Walt going to be involved at this point? Is he, too, going to have to go back to the island with the group?

Before I sign off, I’ll leave you with one last question - which I think points out an inconsistency in the story.

Keamy (the mercenary) had what is referred to as a “Dead Man’s Trigger” wired to his body. I know they explained it in the show to a point, that basically, if Keamy’s heart stopped, it would trigger the pounds of C4 explosive they had on the boat. It’s called a Dead Man’s Trigger, because it’s the only time a dead man could pull a trigger, so to speak. (Although I imagine that was pretty obvious to all of you.) Here is the question. With all of the crazy time differences on the island and the real world, the phenomena of people going crazy if they get too close to the island multiple times, and all that weirdness – how is it that this simple radio transmitter could get through all of that and get back to the boat to trigger the explosive, with no problems? I understand that is how the trigger is supposed to work, but how many things on the island go as they are supposed to?

I’m looking forward to the comments – expect another article once some comments have come in and other points have been raised. Also, I’m sure there were some pertinent things I left out, but the notes I took during the shows (yes, I took notes, because I shotgunned five hours at once) are at home, and I’m not. So I’m sure there will be follow-ups.

-PreView