1977
• Now the horsemen ride up, nice guarding job there, cowboy.
• Why does Widmore think that Dharma's declared war? Faraday with a pistol?
2008
• Richard building Black Rock model in bottle?
• Dried squid on rack
• How did Locke kill boar? Knife throwing?
• Say hello to the new "take charge" Locke.
• Interesting that the 2008 Others aren't hostile to Sun.
• Richard is an "advisor".
• Richard watched "them all" die. This should be interesting. Still some uncertainty as to who "all" is.

1977
• I'm really looking forward to the explanation of why the Others are the way they are. I'm especially intriguied by their air of moral superiority.
• How do people with British accents end up as Others? It would be different if all the Others had the same accent.
• Here's where Hawking's lesson in how things can't be changed begins.
• Dharmaville was built over the bomb? Nice survey job.
• Radzinsky is staging his own off-broadway production of "Lord of the Flies".
• I'm surprised Radzinsky didn't threaten Juliet, as in cut off her hand or the like.
• Of course, closet Jimmy is the woman-hitter.
• You never know when vanilla cookies will come in handy.
• Hurley's ninja skills work on everyone but Chang.
• Hurley worries about other people. This is one of the defining aspects of his character.
• Is the dead guy right? Consider his record.
• Ellie seems to outrank Richard.
• Ellie has a condition, probably pregnancy.
• "Love can be complicated"-brother and sister? They're the only Others we've seen with British accents.

2008
• Richard confirms that Locke is the leader of the Others
• There were other people with Richard when he helped wounded Locke. Close observation of the scene partially showed Locke through the beechcraft window
• How did 2008 Locke know when 2005-Locke would appear at the beechcraft?
• Does the Locke/Richard beechcraft scene play out like it did before? I need to compare the dialogue.
• The Island told Locke when to help his earlier self.
• Locke thinks Ben has never seen Jacob.
• People disappear with a thumping noise when they time-shift.

1977
• There must be something really bad due for Radzinsky. I predict his mind will get scrambled in the S5 finale.
• Sayid is still killing people to protect his friends, and he doesn't seem to have much of a problem with it.
• Richard and Sayid-this ought to be good. It's like a summit of Island coolness.
• "Since when did shooting kids and blowing up hydrogen bombs become OK?"
• Just how big is that sub? Can it hold all those people?
• He talked Juliet out of going on the sub because he wanted her with him.
• Water parallels-Sub and moon pool
• This isn't the big waterfalls
• No Jack, we won't bring the bomb back through the pool, you dick.
• Sayid can't miss the excitement.

2008
• Sun is focused on one thing, Find Jin.
• Locke wants to upset the traditional ways.
• Is Richard in on a "Jacob Con"?
• Forget why Jacob has to remain hidden, why do people follow his orders?

1977
• Nemo - heh.
• Juliet and Sawyer make a great couple, now let's get them armed.
• Nice CGI of sub leaving.

2008
• Locke is going to kill Jacob? Ben's life just sucks harder and harder.

Predictions:

1: Jack is screwing up. He went 180 degrees-from having faith in the Island to grasping at loony Faraday's half-baked "we can change things" theory. He's falling back into action-Jack mode in yet another attempt to Fix Things.

Of course, it isn't his fault. Screwing things up IS his real purpose, at least for now. Jack's job in 1977 is to help create The Incident-that's why he was sent back in time..

2: After the finale we will all be going WTF. I think the time-travelling will be gone, to be replaced by something even stranger.

3: Widmore didn't fake the 815 crash site to fool Ben and the Others-they knew exactly where the plane crashed. And he didn't need to fool the "real world"-If he can't find the Island, how can they? No, Widmore faked the deep-sea remains in an attempt to throw someone off the scent-someone who could tie the crash and the Swan event together and who is looking for the Island too: Illana's "Shadow of the Statue" group.

1: This episode accounts for all of Daniel's time once he gets off the Sub. He and Pierre Chang never have an opportunity to make the "Dharma Booth Video". So much for the DBV being "strict canon".

2: I found Faraday's explanation that "people are the variable" and that they can indeed change the past to be very, no, INCREDIBLY weak. That was it? The whole of season 5 so far has been predicated on the notion that "whatever happened, happened" and now it's all out the window because "gee, I guess I was wrong".

3: What happened to the sneaky "king of the jungle" Others? "Twitchy" Daniel Faraday just waltzed into their camp.

4: Just how stupid is Faraday's plan? In 4 hours he wants to convince the Others to let him dig up Jughead (and let him explode it on their precious Island), dig up said atomic bomb that should be encased in concrete and lead, transport it to the heavily guarded Swan site (without motor vehicles), repair it, and then make it go BOOM. Yea, that'll work.

• Number on microwave
• Pierre Chang's "wife"?
• White ceramic rabbit.
• Miles has been talking to dead people since childhood



---

• Tommy Lasorda became manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 29, 1976.
• Sawyer: I owe you one - this is new
• Video tape numbers?
• Ponytail on Horace
• "Circle of Trust"
• Radzinsky is operating on Hostile territory
• Nice whistle, let everybody in 2 miles know you're out there
• Hairy guy, shot in head
• Sooooo looking forward to Radzinsky meeting the unpleasant end of a flaming arrow.



---

• Have a few piercings - they would not react well to Island electromagnetism.
• T-shirt pattern?
• Miles' Mom has cancer.
• Pierre kicked Mom/Miles out - Mom's story.
• Pierre died on the Island



---

• Still no sign of Jimmy
• Miles doesn't like what he heard from the corpse
• "You on a secret mission?" - Hurley not as dumb as he looks.
• Juliet and Kate don't have a story ready.



---

• Song - boarded 747 Seems It Never Rains In Southern California Hammond Albert
• "There is no bounty hunter"? What the heck?
• Alvarez died from EM yanking out his filling through his brain
• Hugo calls Miles' talent.



---

• When they're desperate, ask for more money.
• Miles lied to the Dad
• Naomi is a fox.
• T shirt pattern?



---

• Lost loves that swing set.
• Nobody can lie to anybody this episode.
• So much for the Kate/Roger friendship
• Captain and Tenniele, "Love Will Keep Us Together".
• Young Miles would have preferred Joy Division
• Hugo goes by Hurley in Dharma
• Pierre isn't impressed with the Hydra Polar Bear experiments



---

• Dead guy is Felix, delivery guy (like Miles) to Widmore.
• There really were empty graves, who emptied them to fake Flight 815 is still uncertain. Why would Widmore need pictures if he emptied the graves?
• 1.6 million, half what Miles asked from Ben.



---

• Yes Miles, why did you tell Hurley?
• Miles' Mom is on the Island.
• Moist rags work better to clean blackboards.
• Blackboard lesson is about ancient Egypt
• Jack is incurious about Ben's disappearance.
• OK Jack, let's see you be apathetic about a threat to Kate.
• Porter? Who's Porter?



---

• Miles is 3 months old in 1977, which would make him 31.
• Miles is horrified that his Dad like Country Music.
• Hurley is really pushing it.
• Yea, that fake bush will really fool the Others.
• Hurley is thinking about trying to change the future.



---

• Bram, one of Ilana's merry men.
• "Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue"
  
  Why would Bram think Miles might know the answer? Why would Ilana think Lapidus might? It sounds like they don't they know who might be in their group. Were the members of Ilana's group recruited/enlisted one by one, and then "spontaneously" came together?
• Bram offers knowledge and community, he sounds like a true believer - like the Others, if they recruited.
• If Bram works for Widmore, he either doesn't know it, or he being used to test Miles.
• Bram's recruitment spiel to Miles doesn't confirm my theory that Ilana's group are the ancient pre-Other inhabitants of the Island, but it doesn't hurt it either. They don't seem to be Others or Widmorean. And their zealotry fits well.



---

• Hurley in van mirrors Bram in van.
• Hurley's notebook has a Dharma logo featuring an apple and a book - school?



---

• Pete shows some loyalty. Too bad it got him busted in the chops.



---

• Miles shows a sense of responsibility..



---

• Oh crap, Juliet is wearing a red shirt. Don't do this to me.
• Luke Skywalker got hand cut off - Pierre Chang will get his arm cut off.
• Dharma baby clothes
• Polar bear storybook.
• Faraday got off the Island, did he stowaway on the Sub?

1. Screencaps - "Some Like it Hoth"
2. LOST Episode 5x13 "Some Like it Hoth" - Screencaps, Easter Eggs, Audio, & Analysis

I have an idea about Ilana and her band of merry men. Even for a Lost theory, this is very speculative, but I like the way it might work.

I think Ilana and her crew could be members of an old (or even ancient) group that is the true enemy of the Others.

Pro:

1. Ilana's question: "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" is a reference to the far past, when the statue was still standing and had more of a shadow than from a giant ankle.
2. Ben's famous answer to Michael: "We're the good guys". This implies that there are Bad Guys.
3. The Others are fanatical about defending the Island, and have been since at least before 1954, when they repelled a US military force. What if their focus on defense stems from knowing about a specific persistent threat? And by persistent I mean a group that has been trying to take the Island for possibly centuries.
4. If Ilana is working for Widmore, either he neglected to tell her about Ben and Locke, or she was told to leave them alone.
5. Lost is a show full of reversals. Losties become Others, or become Dharma. Dharma members become Others. Others live where Dharma lived, then Losties live where Others lived. Con men become heroes, Doctors become addicts. Dead men become live. I could go on and on. What if the Others, who are seen as the "indigenous" true-believer defenders of the Island, were actually once the invaders? What if they took the Island from an earlier group, and then "went native"?
6. Widmore seems to be fading as an active villian. I can see the show wanting a clear antagonist in the run to the grand finale.

Con:

1. A third group would complicate things even more than they already are, which is PLENTY.
2. I can't think of any clues to this new group appearing in the first 4 seasons, which is kind of like having the Empire show up only in the last half of Return of the Jedi.

• Widmore rode up on a horse, where the heck did they get horses?
• "Island chooses who it want to"
• 1977 Charles is rocking the flowing pirate locks. I bet he missed that hair.

---

• I knew Ben would have a story
• We don't even have a word for it - my ass, they've got to call it something, even if it's "That which shall not be named".

---

• What's in the box? Is it MAGIC?
• "Have a great day" - Friendly Ben is double creepy.
• Caesar doesn't work for Ben, at least not knowingly. And he doesn't seem wary of him, so it seems he isn't much in the know.
• Look, Ben has found another Sayid

---

• Ben and Ethan, messing with Danielle - pre-Purge?
• 1992 - 1977 = 15, that might work for Ethan's appearance.
• The French arrived in 1988, when Danielle was 7 months pregnant. So at the latest Alex was born in 1989. That was not a 2+ year-old Alex. So either the facts about the French are wrong, or the Purge didn't happen in 1992, or this scene is 1988/89, before the mass murder of the Dharma Initiative.
• And that's how Ben learned Alex's name.
• Run away from whispers- Why?
• Ben knows something about Whispers, they existed before the Losties.

---

• Photo of Alex
• I was afraid that Locke was letting Ben run around free
• I killed you to get the O6 back, and hey, It all worked out in the end. I did it for the Island.
• Ben didn't apologize
• Be careful what you wish for, Ben.
• How exactly is Locke supposed to be forcing Ben to go?
• Well, that was unexpected. Why did Ben kill/shoot Caesar? Why did he manipulate Caesar into confronting Locke? How convenient that Caesar left his most important asset unguarded.
• Ah Caesar, we hardly knew ye.
• "Will you be patient? Will you stay awhile? I have overshot myself to tell you of it. I fear the honorable men whose daggers have stabbed Caesar, I do fear it!"

---

• Ben lying? I'm shocked, just shocked.
• Locke has insight now.

---

• Much older Widmore,
• Ben refuses to kill innocent child
• Widmore's case is that killing babies protects the Island? How are Danielle or Alex threats to the Island?

---

• Ben didn't answer Locke's question - was it his idea?
• Locke is just wonderfully spooky this episode, almost Richardesque. Except that Caesar would have shot him.
• Game of Risk shows this isn't an alternative timeline (w/o Losties).
• Ben freaks at hearing Christian's name. This whole episode is a Bug-eyed-Benfest.
• Ben says he didn't know the Losties were in 1977. Is he lying or did his Temple visit erase it all? Does this mean Young Ben doesn't return to Dharma until after the Losties have left?
• Ben doesn't know a everything, in fact he's in the dark.

---

• Stone faced Sun
• "As long as the dead guy says everything is ok..."
• Jacob Lantern
• Ben pulls the plug - Smokey contained by water
• Ben can talk directly to Smokey

---

• Widmore wasn't tricked into turning FDW
• There has to be more to Widmore's "exile" than Ben kicking him off.
• How did the Others get on/off the Island before the Sub?
• Widmore broke the rules by constantly leaving the Island and having a daughter with an outsider - so Penny isn't Ellie's daughter.

---

• Ben basically admits to killing Locke, claims he didn't know Locke would be resurrected/reanimated, it scares him. I think he's telling the truth.
• Ben expects Smokey, gets Locke instead. We're clearly supposed to make a connection between Locke and Smokey.
• Was Locke dealing with Smokey or is Locke Smokey? Or Smokeyesque?
• Ben can't control Smokey, and he can't control Locke.
• "Not a train", though sometimes it sounds like one.
• "it's weird for me too" "I'm the same man I've always been" - maybe he's always been Smokey, at least since Sun knew him.

---

• Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
• Widmore hasn't got people watching over his daughter? What good is having bazillions of dollars if you don't use them?

---

• Ben and Locke have traded places from their first time around Jacob's cabin.
• Wall around the Temple. Temple is half-mile away - BIG WALL
• Locke is receiving special knowledge.
• Is Ben sorry?

---

• Ben wouldn't kill Danielle/Alex, but he would kill Penny
• No bullet wound that I saw on Desmond, groceries or Island/Timeline?
• That is one pissed-off Scotsman
• I would say no dead Penny or Charlie. So how is Desmond going to get to the Island now? Or more importantly, "Why"?

---

• Illana and which three?
• "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" - Is this a passphrase like "What did the one snowman say to the other snowman?" - Others?, why not Latin?
• Did Illana have allies on board, or something else? Sudden conversion to Othership?
• 
  

---

• Ben's fall mirrors Locke's down the Well
• More hieroglyphics
• Jackal god and Smoke monster
• Grating - 7x7=49
• Shows Ben scenes from the past
• Torch relighting, nice touch
• That's not Alex - It's a Yemi/Smoke-Zombie
• Smokey wants Ben to follow Locke. This is going to be interesting.
• 
  

I have got to cut down on the toad licking.
I had a dream that Billy Holiday was licking my frontal lobes.

or,

Dammit, just when I get the DharmaBong© fired up, you buzzkills drop in

The Play-by-Play

Theories, Predictions, and Deep Thoughts

Articles

"Bizzang!! Here comes THE SUN! Ow ow!!"

"Let's go, Frank. The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away."

("Dad, drop us off at the end of the street. I don't want my friends at the dance to see you.")

--2008--

• Frank has a bad feeling about this.
• Illana doesn't look worried at all
• "You're gonna rip us apart"
  THATS WHAT SHE SAID.

• Now would be a great time for the vehement "nothing that already happened can be changed!" movement to explain why the original Dharma radio transmission is playing on the co-pilot's radio as he attempts his mayday call. Especially since Rousseau had changed the message in the mid-80's and had actually turned the message off about two seasons ago. Following the one time string theory, hearing that message in 2007 would be an impossibility.

  Vozzeck69 - (Were there 68 previous Vozzecks? Ah, nevermind)

  Well, not impossible, just highly improbable. Someone would have had to turn the message back on. And why would they do that?

  Hey, isn't the Looking Glass jamming gone for good? Could the "new" numbers broadcast be reaching the outside world?

• That sounded like Pierre Chang reciting the numbers to me. This is turning into an internal "guest shot" - first Hurley, now Chang.
• Lapidus is a damn good pilot, even without a beard.
• Lost's Emergency Plane Landing Goes off the Runway - Popular Mechanics
• Damon and Carlton infer that Jacob ordered the runway built. In any event, somebody had foreknowledge of Flight 316's arrival.
• The Others had 3 years after the Island moved to finish the runway.
• We've got one dead copilot added to the moral cost of going back to the Island.
• Does Illana says "Sarah" or "Jarrah" when she wakes up?
• Caesar and Illana don't seem to know each other from before the flight.
• Sun not teleported - dead in original timeline, or work to do in 2008?. I vote for "still work to do".
• Ben not teleported - Still full of deadpan, bugeyed snark.

--1977--

• Sawyer calls him Hugo-graduated from Hurley.
• Losties think Locke is dead
• "Dead, how?" - "It doesn't matter" - one thing is certain about the Losties: They never pass up a chance to NOT share information.
• It's 1977, so much for Jack's "Nothing weird is happening" schtick.
• Good for you Kate, ask questions.
• This finally got to bothering me: Sawyer has had 3 years to think about what to do if Locke brings back the 06 - but he doesn't have any plan ready.
• The long awaited Radzinsky, who is a MAJOR DICKHEAD.
• He's got some nice paintings though. No landscapes for him.
  

  

• Radzinsky is building a model of the Swan.
• Swan Model and Blueprint Image
• Radzinsky (he needs a nickname) refers to the Island as "Our Island".
• Radzinsky started the Blast Door Map in the yet-to-be-built Swan:

  The big question now is "Why", since Radzinsky should have known already known all the info on the map, and wouldn't need it, or need to go exploring to locate stations.

  Maybe the upcoming "Incident" scrambles him, like Faraday, Charlotte, and Minkowski.

• Jin has no good story ready.
• If Hugo hadn't told Jin that Sun was on the plane, if Jin hadn't gone running off, if Sun had just asked Radzinsky if anything was up, if Jin hadn't found Sayid-well, I think Sayid would have eaten Radzinsky's lunch, handcuffed or not.

--2008--

• So much for Frank's attempt at leadership. He would have had an interesting time telling the survivors the truth.
• Time for Ben to make his exit.
• Freaky deadpan Ben - he's getting creepier.

--1977--

• What book is Amy reading? It looks like a Bible.
• Juliet is still baby-doctoring. I wonder how they explained that.
• Dharma used sedatives on immigrants like the Others, or visa versa.
• Amy and Horace's baby is Ethan Rom, who goes on to join the Others and be their surgeon. Is "Rom" Amy's maiden name? How Ethan becomes an Other sounds like an interesting story.
• Don't play poker with Juliet - she doesn't blink.
• Could Amy become the Other Amelia, of bookclub fame?
• Ethan sure as hell didn't look 27 in 2004.
• Juliet: "Timings gotta be right" - heh, like not 30 YEARS OFF.
• Sawyer: "Everyone gets knocked out before the trip, so no one meets each other until we process 'em." -What, EVERYONE on the sub is unconscious? How does that work? Who's driving the bus? How do people really get to the Island?
• The Looking Glass exists
• Dharma has motion sensors (1977)
• Rad leaves his post
• Jin doesn't know the wink-wink signal.
• Hurley cuts to the chase - the shit will hit the fan in 1992.
• Sawyer: "Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here." - Are there interesting things they can do?
• Faraday is gone? Where?
• Blues Image - Ride Captain Ride:

  Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship
  Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
  Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship
  On your way to a world that others might have missed

• Dharma has some interesting haircuts.
• 14-J at the Flame - Intruder Alert.
• And there's tonight's "Son of a bitch"

--2008--

• How does Ben know there are 3 outriggers?
• Ben actually tells the truth, he doesn't know where Jin is. He's gotten to the point that when he doesn't lie it's news.
• Hi, I'm Ben, and I'll be your tour guide.
• Ben: "Why are you following me?"
  Sun: "Where are you going?"
  Ben: "Back to our Island. ...You wanna come?"
  

  Interesting choice of words. Does Ben now consider Sun to be a rightful inhabitant of the Island?

• Those branches covering the canoes look fresh.
• Oh, that's why Sun followed Ben-nice move. No more "I'm a scared female" or half measures for her - she's a player now dawg.
• Ben is injured not by crash, but by oar.
• Where is Locke on the first day?

--1977--

• Pierre Chang!
  Why is he processing lowly workmen? Doesn't he have some science to do?
  Oh, he's doing Amy's job.
• Why is Chang wearing a Swan station logo? According to Radzinky they haven't built it yet.
• Chang thinks the home office in Ann Arbor has their head up their collective behinds.
• Jack's not a good liar
• Chang: "You've been assigned to the Shed." - I believe we have another station. One without a cool name.
• Kate is quietly freaking out.
• That baby blue color scheme is getting old fast.
• Juliet to save the day!
• Will Chef Hurley arrange the Dharma food drops?
  From The Fuselage
• Did the Losties get shots of Mystery Vaccine?
• They haven't built the Swan yet.
• Radzinsky is fraking OBSESSED with the Swan. Hey buddy, if you like it so much, why don't you marry it? It's not like you'll ever become trapped in it until you blow the top of your head off.
• Sawyer: "The terms of the truce say you gotta identify yourself as a Hostile, or we got the right to shoot you."

  This makes no sense at all. Who the hell else would they be? Is there a third party on the Island they might be confused with?

--2008--

• Oh Oh, Smokey time.
• Whispers
• Christian, Mr spooky himself.
• 5x09: Was Smokey with Christian?
• What, Christian was just sitting around in the dark? I think he showed up/appeared just before he turned on the light

• Why is it that Christian Shephard can pluck Dharma photos from a wall, but he couldn't help Locke get to his feet in "This Place is Death"?

  Filmfodder - The Lost Blog
• 5x09: Dharma Recruit Photo.
  Oh, and there's no "missing person". That guy was REALLY short.
• 5x09: The Woman With Christian?

--1977--

• Right on! Back at you, Phil.
• Phil is wound a little too tight. He should try some brownies.
• Phil is going to get suspicious. Those eyebrows need prey.
• What is Sawyer reading? The damn cover is blank. Sawyer's Book - Screencaps
• Sawyer refers to Dharma as "My People".
• Sawyer references Winston Churchill
• Sawyer is not going to take any shit from Jack
• Jeezus, just tell Jack that all this ALREADY HAPPENED, so there are only so many things they can do.
• I hope Dharma doesn't bug the houses like the Others did.
• Mustard, what's up with no mustard? Sayid's handcuffed in a cell in 1977; lack of mustard is the least of his problems.
• Sayid tells young Ben his name. Can you say "foreknowledge"?
• Either Ben has been on the Island for some time, or he just showed up on the sub. If he's been there, why didn't Sawyer mention that the little fuck was there?

  A friend of mine asked a good question - how is it that a newbie on the island gets to bring a prisoner a sandwich? Ben could not have been there before because Sawyer would have known. And I want to know how Juliet didn't notice Ben's name on the list from the sub.

  Gitsie Girl

  Note: I'll cover this in more detail in the "He's Our You" writeup.

• Young Ben Meeting Sayid Mirrors Young Ben meeting Richard: Long Hair/Dark Skin

---

Theories/Speculation/Predictions/Gripes

Based on his behavior, Ben Linus does not believe that the past can't be changed.

The Facts:

1. Young Ben Linus met Losties in the past, so Post-Crash Ben would know that time-travel had occured (1973) and would occur (sometime after the crash).
2. Ben was leader of the Others for years. It's not an unreasonable assumption that he was aware that John Locke had/would time-travel to 1954.
3. After Jacob made his existence know to Locke, Ben shoots Locke.
4. Ben is not someone who takes desperate, futile actions.
5. Despite knowing that murdering Locke would mean Locke wouldn't time-travel to 1954 (thereby changing the past) Ben tries to kill him.

Does this mean the past can't be changed? I don't know. But Ben thinks he can change the past, and besides Richard, who else knows more about what is going on?

P.S. Here's another thought: Did Ben convince Locke that pushing the Swan button was meaningless hoping that Locke would die when the Swan imploded?

Of course, in doing so Ben screwed himself. Button doesn't get pushed, Swan implodes, Desmond gets flashes/becomes "special", Charlie doesn't die until the Looking Glass, jamming is stopped, freighter can land science team/mercenaries, O6 leaves Island . Ben turns FDW, Ben is exiled.

Was the Past Changed?

It's not clear whether that was the real New Otherton or a place that's as ethereal as Jacob's cabin, but it's definitely not the barracks we're used to seeing. Why does New Otherton look like that? We see the swinging sign of the Processing Centre and the Dharma symbol on all of the buildings. The Dharma symbols were all taken off the doors after the Purge (at least… I've never seen one). Locke blew up the sub, so most of the dock should have been missing, but instead it still looked pretty long. Is it possible Daniel was wrong? Can the past really be changed? Is it possible the Oceanic 4 are back in 1977 to prevent the Purge, they succeed, and what we see in the present is simply the abandonment of the village?

What Nikki Noticed

---

It certainly looks as if things *have* changed. From the moment Sun and Faraday walk past the rusted lamps on the rundown Dharma dock to minute they arrive at the overly ramshackle barracks... something's way, way off. This isn't the way the Others left the barracks not-so-long ago, and it's definitely not the result of a few short years of neglect. Big trees grow way too close to the buildings, and everything looks extremely beat up. As Christian takes them inside the recruitment center, we see printed signs hanging at odd angles and the dust-covered photographs and recruitment materials used by the Dharma Initiative. We saw this place 10 minutes ago in 1977, and now we see it 30 years later... only it can't look this way because after the purge we know the Others lived here for a good decade or more. And when they did live here they kept shit neat and tidy - they kept the bushes groomed, the grass watered, and Ethan was pretty handy with a hammer and nails. It's not possible that the Others would live here without de-Dharmatizing the barracks, especially considering It would get a little creepy living somewhere surrounded by photos of people you mass murdered with poison gas. So what does it all mean?

Vozzek69

I've poked this question with a sharp stick at length, and in my considered opinion the buildings Sun and Frank see are NOT part of Greater Dharmaville/New Otherton/The Barracks, and are NOT evidence of a new timeline.

They are at the "Greeting Hall" on the coast, while the Barracks are some distance inland. One source of confusion about this is the fact that there is also a dock for the submarine near the Barracks. This dock is where Locke blew up the sub and where Sawyer convinced Juliet to stay. How the hell the sub gets into that little lake is a mystery. The dock where new recruits get off the sub and Sun and Frank meet Christian is far enough from the Barracks to require a "shuttle driver".

No Evidence For Alternate Timeline

And just to reference one of my favorite Lost loose ends, there is the Trawler, , a large ship of the Others, which is apparently NOT docked where Sun and Frank landed. The Trawler looked plenty big enough to use to get off the Island. It's still out there somewhere.

On the other hand:

So the ongoing war between "whatever happened, happened" and "timeline changed" is picking up steam this week. I LOVE IT. Nothing like a good internet debate to get the blood going. I do so love how the "whatever happened, happened" believers so adamantly ridicule the "timeline changed" believers as though it were OBVIOUS that "whatever happened, happened" is true. Somehow, after 4 1/2 seasons, I don't think ANYTHING is all that obvious. Still, I do think the timeline has changed HOWEVER, does that necessarily imply that the outcome has changed as well?? I don't think so. There are many ways to travel from one point to the next and just because the elements along the way are different doesn't make the voyage less intriguing nor does the final outcome radically change...

1. The Frenchies:

Everything Danielle told the 815ers in the early part of the series is basically getting proved incorrect this season. From how Mortrand lost his arm, to the numbers being played at the 316 landing, we pretty much have seen that what Danielle said in the past is NOT how things are playing out this season. I know, I know, "Danielle is crazy and we can't believe her". SERIOUSLY, is that REALLY a plausible argument to defend the "whatever happened, happened" theory. I think not. BECAUSE..... to say that Faraday is dealing with a full deck is ALSO a bit of a stretch. The man is eratic, often talks to himself, and generally displays some fairly contradictory behaviour that, while not full blown crazy, is still pretty unerving. Danielle spent most of her time on the Island alone and scared, and yet managed to A) stay alive B) not become Smoke Monster food C) build a network of traps all over the Island D) build herself a nice little underground fortress. I could go on, but suffice! to say, I don't think we can simply say "oh she's crazy so forget EVERYTHING she has told us". Absurd reduction if so.
THEREFORE,
Due to Jin's presence in the past, the Frenchies found the Temple and Rousseau never got to the radio tower to change the numbers message. All this means timeline change to me. Does this imply that the purge never happened, or that Sawyer will have black hair instead of blond... NO. It just means that the elements from the "original timeline" have been altered. Mortrand still loses his arm, Rousseau still loses Alex but the CIRCUMSTANCES are different.

...

4. Ben and Widmore:

To me the biggest proof that the past can be altered lies in how desperate Ben and Charles are to regain control of the Island. Both men have manipulated, conned and killed several individuals in order to get people where they BELIEVE they need to be. I doubt very much they are motivated to do so to maintain the "original" timeline because they shouldn't have to.... if "whatever happened, happened" than the "original" timeline will always remain intact. By virtue of their actions, I believe each man is TRYING to change elements of the past in order to alter the overall picture.

Timeline changed but the outcome remains the same? by John Doe

Other Moles

I've read theories that Amy is a mole for the Others. A lot of her behavior supports this, with the glaring exception of her being hooded by the 2 Others and her unfeigned reaction to Paul's death and her abduction.

But it got me thinking. The Others have shown a strong habit of infiltrating groups that show up on "their" Island: Goodwin/Tailies, Ethan/Losties, Ben/Henry Gale. It's not a big leap to imagine them putting some of their own into the Dharma Initiative ,they certainly have the motive.. And as evidenced by Jack, Kate, and Hugo, it doesn't take much to fool the DI.

The Foreknowledge Season

So, much like Richard Alpert knew about John Locke and Eloise Hawking knew about Daniel Faraday for a good half a century, Ben Linus has known about several figures he would "meet" decades later since childhood.

Suddenly, the "her" to whom Juliet bears the striking resemblance commented upon by Harper Stanhope in "The Other Woman" might not be Annie or Ben's mother after all, but rather Juliet herself. Suddenly, the selection of Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer as the group to be rounded up by Michael for the Others in trade for Walt in "Three Minutes" makes a lot more sense.

And over the rest of Season 5, we're only going to see more and more examples of foreknowledge being given to Ben and to any other DI Purge-survivors who later become Others. I'm totally on board with the theory that elderly Other Amelia is Amy 30 years later now that we know her son—quite possible the last human actually conceived and born on the Island—would grow up to be none other than Ethan Rom.

Looking at the Little Things

The Dharma/Other truce was in effect in 1973. But soon after Ben arrives on the Island their's an attack on the Barracks, an explosion, and his father drives into "a firefight". Did Ben arrive before the truce?

Houston, We Have Overlap

If the Purge happened, as has been calculated, in 1992, does that mean Ben already had four year old Alex in his care on the day he killed his father? Speaking of which, why didn't Rousseau ever get run over by any of the cheery blue VW busses and jeeps rumbling all over the Island? And why didn't she ever mention any such weird occurrences when she was freaking out the Season One Losties?

Fishbiscuitland

Alex, born January 1989.

The Purge, December 19, 1992.

---

Info Drop

• Remaining Season 5 Episode Airings:
  
  March 18 - Episode 5.09
  March 25 - Episode 5.10
  April 1 - Episode 5.11
  April 8 - Episode 5.12
  April 15 - Episode 5.13
  April 22 - Clip Show - Working Title
  April 29 - Episode 5.14
  May 6 - Episode 5.15
  May 13 (9:00 PM-11:00 PM) - Episode 5.16 & Episode 5.17 (Two-Hour Season Finale)
• LOST Episode 5x09 "Namaste" - Screencaps, Easter Eggs, Audio, & Analysis
• 5x09 "Namaste" Investigations
• Make your own Dharma Jumpsuit
• Jacob's Well

---

Recaps

• Dharmatopia, by Fishbiscuit
• Things I Noticed - "Namaste" , by Vozzek69
• My ReVIews!! Episode 5x09 - NAME the Master!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
• 'Lost' Dueling Analysis: 'Namaste' , by Celebritology
• 'Lost': 'Namaste' Thoughts , by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly) - Precap
• 'Lost' Recap: The New Long Con , by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly)
• Thoughts on Namaste, by EYE M SICK
• Lost Friday - "Namaste.", by The C.D.P.
• Lost Recap 5x09: Namaste, by The Ack Attack!
• NOBODY LOVES A GIRL WITH A GIMPY HAND, The best of the Ack Attack! ongoing Lost Post
• Key Points from "Namaste", by Filmfodder Lost Blog
• Initial Thoughts, by Gitsie Girl
• Episode Review - 5x09 "Namaste", by Lostpedia Blog
• Lost 5.09: Namaste, by Nik at Nite
• Talking LOST - 5x09 Namaste, by Sledgeweb
• Looking at the Little Things: 5.09 "Namaste", by SonyaLynn
• Lost: You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby, by Tubular
• S5Ep9 - Namaste, by Long Live Locke

And there's a Geronimo Jackson poster in the cafeteria:

P.S. How about young Ben catching a 9mm to the chest? This is going to whip the forums into a frenzy.

In 1973 the Dharma Initiative and the Others/Hostiles have a truce. Dharma probably agreed to the truce because they just want to do their secret research projects in peace. But why would the Others agree to a truce?

I think Dharma must have something that threatens the Others enough to scare them into peace. The Others have been on the Island for possible centuries and think nothing of kidnapping, mass murder, and taking on the U.S. military with bows and arrows - they are serious mofos and wouldn't agree to a truce without a serious reason.

So, Dharma and Others both want to abide by the truce. So what were those 2 lost boys doing killing Paul and bagging Amy in preparation for a forced march back to Other central? What could have been so important that they would risk Dharma using whatever they used to force a truce?

I wonder if the 1973 Others were already having a problem with pregnant women dying and were in desperate need of women.

"Look, Richard. Spoiler alert. That bomb you buried is named Jughead. A bald guy named John walked into your camp, claiming to be your leader. You apparently never age. Vader is Luke's father. Rosebud was a sled. Bruce Willis was a dead guy. Kristin Shephard shot J.R. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same dude."

The Ack Attack

Island - The Well

• Rope into ground mirrors Swan hatch door-mystery to be unearthed?
• Woohoo, ass-end of the statue!
• Is the statue Anubis?

  5x08: The Egyptian God Anubis

  Or Tarewet?

  - "Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth."
  The island seems to have a pregnancy problem of some sort... HM...

  - "The counterpart of Apep... Taweret was seen as being the northern sky, the constellation roughly covering the area of present-day Draco, which always lies above the horizon."
  Certainly seems to fit the location of the statue on the show; overlooking the horizon from the beach.

  - "Taweret was depicted as a hippopotamus, since this is what the constellation most resembled, with the arms and legs of a lioness... with features of a pregnant woman. She was also seen with pendulous breasts, a full pregnant abdomen, and long, straight human hair on her head... On occasion she carried an ankh, the symbol of life."
  Hippo ears? Check. Long, straight human hair? Check. Ankh in her hand? Check.

• Statue built before the Well was dug.
• Locke's FDW turning sent Losties back to 1973
• Time skip is different - feels like earthquake, time-sickness gone. Toppled statue.
• Sawyer will wait
• It's interesting that the Losties just assume that Locke has gotten off the Island.

Dharma Station - 1977

• Is this the Arrow or a another station?
• Phil and Jerry, brownie eating 1970s hippies,
• 5 pointed star Dharma logo.
• Tony Orlando and Dawn - "Candida" - 1970
• Rosie brought brownies, are they special ~*brownies*~ ?.
• Rosie is wearing a Geronimo Jackson t-shirt.
• I thought for a second that Horace was lighting up a stogie/doobie the size of dachsund. Silly me, everybody knows that booze and explosives go great together.
• Why can't they use a phone to call LaFleur?
• In ep #213, "The Long Con", Sawyer proclaimed that he was the "new sheriff on town". Now he really is.
• Sawyer and Miles: "Boss" and "Enos" - Dukes of Hazzard reference.
• Dharma security carries "zappers".
• Horace's drinking is the big secret, not dynamiting trees?
• Sawyer is going by "Jim LaFleur".

Jungle - 1974

• Faraday is fixated on not telling child Charlotte not to come back to the Island.
• Did Charlotte's body get time-skipped or left behind in the deep past?
• Juliet backs Sawyer as leader.
• Juliet: "You should thank me, it was a stupid idea" - I really like Juliet - she's smart and she speaks her mind.
• 2 gunshots
• Faraday is so out of it he doesn't register gunfire as a threat.
• What's with the bag? Were the Other's abducting her?
• That looks like a bad place for a picnic.

  "Lost note: So what do the writers have against picnics? No, seriously? Sayid and Shannon have a picnic and when they get back, that's when she learns that Boone died. And when Hurley and Libby try to have a picnic, she ends up shot to death by Michael. You know, there's a great quote by Christopher Hitchens r egarding picnics, but this being a family site, I won't repeat it. (Those of you who are adults in the room, feel free to do a little Googling.)"

  From Tubular

  "The four most over-rated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics." - Christopher Hitchens

• Another reason to like Juliet-when she says she has your back, she has your back, and she's a crack shot.
• Bury them how? 2 shallow graves are still a lot of digging, and they don't have shovels.
• Faraday is still oblivious.
• Nice job of not noticing Amy putting earplugs on.
• Lost Fact vs Fiction: Is the Sonic Fence on Lost Possible? - Popular Mechanics

Infirmary - 1977

• Dharma women deliver babies in the outside world. Do they have the same problem the Others will in the future?
• If Amy's baby was conceived on the Island, then it is the first all-Island conception, pregnancy, and birth we've seen.
• Amy's baby, Ben, and Locke were all born premature.

• "Lost note: Sawyer says that he's "speaking for" Horace which mirrors Christian telling Locke that he's not Jacob, but he "can speak on his behalf.""

  From Tubular
• Juliet and Sawyer had an agreement, probably that she not be a baby doctor.
• Jin has improved his English in the 3 years since Locke left.
• Jin is methodically searching the Island for Locke and the O6.
• Now we get to wonder if Amy and Horace's son is someone we know

Rec Room - 1973

• Horace is wearing an Arrow station logo on his jumpsuit. How did a mathematician get involved with the "development of defensive strategies against the Hostiles"? Heck, why is a mathematician leading the DI on the Island? Is Horace in charge, or is Pierre Chang his superior?
• Sawyer blends fact and fiction to con Horace.
• Horace: "What kind of ship" - "Salvage vessel": The lack of detail would ring false to me.

• But Skaters take heart! Sawyer's choice of alias -- i.e., La Fleur, which is French for "the flower" -- may be a clue that his relationship with Juliet is merely a dalliance. I suspect it refers to the alias (i.e., Flower) chosen by Leopold Bloom to correspond with his mistress in Ulysses, the novel Ben was reading on Ajira 316. That episode of Ulysses parallels the Land of the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey, where Odysseus and Co. meet a people who feed them soporific lotus flowers that cause the Greeks to lose their desire to return home.

  The implication may be that Sawyer and Juliet's relationship and the last three years generally have been a kind of fantasy for the Lefties. Like the phone jarring Sawyer and Juliet from their sleep, the Lefties' dream existence as members of Dharma is about to end with the return of Kate and the rest of the Oceanic 6...

  From Eye M Sick
• Juliet: "The Others took over these Barracks and wiped out most of the people living in them.". Were there other survivors/defectors besides Ben?
• The little red-headed girl is Charlotte, despite the fact that she shouldn't be born for 5 years.

  The writer's screwed up: ABC Podcast (Spoilers)

  Or Rebecca Mader didn't want to be 39.

• Daniel doesn't go with the Losties into the house and we don't see evidence of him in 1977. Where did he go, and how did he end up in the Orchid?
• Why isn't Richard in scruffy-pirate clothes like his two dead minions? Isn't he giving away the masquerade?
• We don't hear all of Horace and Richard's conversation
• The Arrow station has "heavy ordinance".
• Sawyer takes leadership and responsibility, and he tells Richard the truth.
• Locke uses Jacob's name with Alpert, Sawyer uses Locke's.
• Never play poker with Richard, he barely blinks when Sawyer drops the bomb on him. And the appearance of a time-traveller doesn't distract him from the problem of 2 dead Others.
• What the hell does Richard want Paul's body for?
• Paul was wearing an ankh:

  The ankh was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life". Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. It is also known as the key of life, the key of the Nile, or as crux ansata, Latin for "cross with a handle".

  The giant 4-toed statue was probably carrying ankhs in both hands.

1977

• Where is the White King?.
• Mister LaFleur picks a flower.
• Juliet isn't crying over burned brownies anymore.
• Juliet is a sucker for big roguish blondes.
• Well, they're happy, so things are going to have to go to hell soon.
• Sawyer's book has no title on the cover. What does an anonymous book mean?
• Sawyer tells Jin that they'll wait as long as it takes, but he tells Horace that Kate's never coming back.
• Jin can call Sawyer's phone from out on patrol but Phil and Jerry have to deliver vital news on foot from security central?
• Cue the love Rhombus.

---

Theories/Observations

• 

  Sawyer's fluctuating beard is probably evidence of a FDW-related reality flux

• Olivia Goodspeed might not have been Horace's wife, she could have been his sister.
• What kind of truce lets the Others kill and abduct picnickers?
• The Others have always seemed highly motivated - why would they agree to a truce?
• How did Dharma build their infrastructure with the Other's opposing them?
• I'll be real interested to see if Sawyer's bunch has learned anything during their 3 year tenure as Dharma Initiates, like:
  
  
  1. How did Dharma learn about the Island?
  2. What the hell is Smokey? Did they know it was here before they came?
  3. Is there a sickness? What is the Vaccine?
  4. What does Dharma know about the Others?
  5. What is Dharma doing on the Island? No, Really, what?.
  6. Why are people sedated and moved on/off the Island via submarine?
  7. Why are the stations named the way they are?
  8. What's up with the polar bears?
  9. Why does Pierre Chang use so many different names when he makes orientation films?
  10. Is there a secret door to "Smokey Control" in 197x?
  11. Who knows about the FDW under the Orchid station?
  12. Do Dharma members get the Island's health benefits?
  13. Who was head of security before Sawyer and what happened to them?
• Widmore told Locke in 2007 that he had been the leader of the Others for 30 years. Since Widmore was an Other in 1954 the earliest he could have been deposed by Ben is 1984.

  The Purge happened on Dec 19, 1992.

  Was Widmore deposed and did Ben become leader before/after/or simultaneous with the Purge? The Purge could be more than the gassing of Dharma. It could also be the expulsion of Widmore and any of his loyalists.

• Sawyer and the Losties lie to Dharma mirrors the O6 lie.
• "You look just like her" - now Juliet could be her!
• Faraday ran the other way when Richard showed up. There's no sign of him in 1977. Where did he go? Could he talk his way into the Others?

• How might all of these bits add up? Like this: John Locke is no longer alive - not in the traditional, off-Island sense of being ''alive.'' The new Locke who washed up in last week's episode is an Island creation imprinted with the old Locke's consciousness. This is not the same thing as reincarnation, which is an eternal soul that puts on new flesh. New Locke can thrive only on the Island; if he strays from its life-giving power, he will gradually wilt like a flower denied sunlight. Similarly, as long as New Locke continues to think of himself as Old Locke — as long as he allows himself to fall prey to old weaknesses or return to old habits — he will not experience the fullness of strength that the Island provides its new creations. (And yes, I say ''new creations,'' as in plural. My hunch is that some or all of the other castaways currently experience life in this fashion. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Oceanic 815 castaways are actually divided between people who really did miraculously survive the crash and ''reasonable facsimiles'' of Oceanic passengers created by the Island.) And if all of this sounds vaguely reminiscent of a certain superhero comic book — you're right! This week's Doc Jensen No Prize goes to whoever can figure out the reference. Send your best guesses to JeffJensenEW@aol.com.

  But here's the thing about New Locke: He has no soul. And herein lies the secret to the great saga of Lost. You see, John Locke's body, in any form, has NEVER had a soul. His life is the story of adulterated destiny - and radical course correction. Remember: Locke was born three months prematurely after a car struck his pregnant teenage mother. We never saw the driver. Locke grew up nagged by a feeling that he was meant for a different kind of life. And he was: We now know that the Island has been trying to bring him to its shores since he was a wee lad. My theory is this: Somebody went back in time to kill Locke's mom in order to prevent Locke's birth. It didn't work - but the would-be murderer (Ben? Widmore? Ms. Hawking?) did succeed in making a mess of Locke's predestined life. Locke's eternal soul was displaced from its body - and it went to the Island, where it's been waiting for reunification. And my guess is that this great, redemptive moment will occur...in the final five minutes of the last episode of Lost.

  Jeff Jensen
• Where's young Ben?
• Where are the DeGroots? Have we ever seen any evidence of them being on the Island?

• Aside from the "pirate-garb" we saw Alpert wearing once, and the suit we saw him in off-Island when recruiting Juliet, it seems apparent to me that not only does Richard not age, he also has only one outfit -- that pair of slacks and blue dress shirt. Speaking of which, there must be something VERY important about Juliet, that Richard Alpert HIMSELF left the Island to bring her to it, other than the whole fertility thing (which Richard told Locke that Ben was wasting their time with)...

  The Lost Blog
• It's my theory that the Losties are being skipped through time in a directed fashion to accomplish necessary tasks. If so, it would follow that there's some thing or things that need doing.
  
  
  1. Rescue Amy
  2. Save Amy's baby
  3. Give Richard another experience with time-travellers.
  Big Question: Will the Losties have to do something new, something to create a radically different timeline?
• Whatever the Losties do this season, they won't have to worry about the Purge, that won't happen for 15 years, so barring another time-skip, they're safe. Even the Incident doesn't happen until 1985, 7-8 years from 1977. So what big crisis will take up the rest of Season 5?
• Faraday:

  I think, seeing the way he was when the others came upon him in the jungle, I know now why he was crying at the beginning of "Confirmed Dead" when he first saw an image of the underwater plane. It was all Charlotte.

  What Nikki Noticed
• Island Burials:

  "There are Two Types of People in this World: Those Who Have Guns... and Those who Dig

  A seemingly normal practice has started to intrigue me, very subtly, when it comes to LOST. To put it out there, I'm amazed at how almost everyone who seems to die on the island ends up in pretty much in the same place - and that place is buried.

  Now I know Amy's insistence on burying the dead Others had good reasoning behind it, but I'd imagine burying a full grown man (much less two) without a shovel would be pretty time-consuming. And considering the Others' ridiculously TV-esque jungle tracking abilities, I'd also imagine they'd find evidence of such a burial. If you can pick out a broken leaf in an overgrown forest, you can definitely pick out the disturbed soil of a recently-dug shallow grave. Just saying.

  And the way that Danielle and Karl got buried has always bugged me. I couldn't imagine Keamy's freighter jocks taking time out of their busy mission of tracking down Ben Linus in order to bury two people they just killed - especially when they could just as easily be pushed into some thick undergrowth and covered with those giant jungle leaves. That, coupled with the eerie way they looked when their bodies were found, led me to believe less and less that they were buried and more and more that the island 're-claimed' them.

  The Marshal, Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby... all buried. Ethan got buried. The tail-enders buried their own dead. Locke buried Eko. Nikki and Paulo even got buried alive, and all the Dharma purge-victims ended up in a giant open grave. The American soldiers got buried. Someone even buried poor Henry Gale - he got a makeshift tombstone and everything. In fact, the only person I can think of who never got buried (besides Arzt, who got evaporated) would be the one and only Christian Shephard. And he's still walking around.

  What does this mean? Probably nothing. Especially since I just thought of 4 more people who never got buried (Ben's dad, Adam, Eve, the skeleton in the bear cave). But on the island, one way or the other, almost everything seems to return to the ground."

  From Vozzek69

  The Others didn't bury Colleen, they floated her out to sea in a "Viking" funeral.

  "In other words, I believe that not burying a body means that person or spirit will not be at rest, and therefore, has the potential to become a "ghost", for lack of a better word. "

  Burying the Dead by Scott E

• Thanks to reader Bobby for pointing this out. As far as I know, no-one else has made this connection. At the very end of the comic con ‘08 Pierre Chang film, when Chang is struggling with who we assume to be Faraday, the final thing he says is "LaFleur, what are you doing?"

  From DocArzt

---

Articles/Screencaps/Easter Eggs

• Episode 5x08 LaFleur - DHARMA Security HQ
• LOST Episode 5x08 "LaFleur" - Screencaps, Easter Eggs, Audio, & Analysis
• I am A Furker!!
• Synchromystic Librarian's Lost Links/Blogs
• The Still Point , by Tsar Bomba. This is a great theory/analysis. I wish I'd thought of it.
• What Happened Didn't Happen by Faithful Scientist. In short, the notion that the past can't be changed is a long con.
• That Damn Statue again...and an afterthought, by Mr Cat.

---

Recaps

• Flower Power , by Fishbiscuitland
• Lost Episode 5.08: Nothing Stays Buried , by Luhks
• Things I Noticed - "LaFleur" , by Vozzek69
• Lost Recap 5x08: LaFleur , by The Ack Attack
• Thoughts on LaFleur... , by Eye M Sick
• 'Lost': 'LaFleur' Plan? , by Jeff Jensen
• My ReVIews!! Episode 5x08 - The FLOoor!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
• Lost: This Charming Man , by Tubular
• 'Lost' Dueling Analyses: 'LaFleur' , by Celebritology
• Lost 5.08: LaFleur , by Nik at Nite
• Looking at the Little Things: 5.08 "LaFleur" , by SonyaLynn
• S5Ep8 - LaFleur , by Long Live Locke
• 5 X 08: LaFleur , by Gitsie Girl
• Episode Review - 5x08 "LaFleur" , by Nickb123 - Lostpedia Blog
• Key Points from "LaFleur" , by The Lost Blog

"

"

("JACK YOU DONT UNDERSTAND BEN LEFT AND SPUN THIS WHEEL AND SENT THE ISLAND THROUGH TIME AND EVERYONES IN TROUBLE AND EVERYONES GOT BLOODY NOSES AND I HAVE TO SAVE EVERYBODY BY BRINGING EVERYONE BACK SO I BROKE MY LEG AND SPUN THE WHEEL AND THEN WIDMORE GAVE ME A PASSPORT AND THE GUY FROM FRINGE TO DRIVE ME AROUND BUT THEN HE GOT SHOT TEN TIMES AND YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!")

From C.D.P.

Hydra Station / 316 Crash Site

• Caesar is in Ben's office in the Hydra Station
• Life Magazine - dated April 15, 1954

  Cover story: "Color Pictures of Hydrogen Test" - Jughead reference

• Skull on desk
• Daniels notes/ Maps:
  • Daniel's time diagram
  • Copy of Daniel's lab notes - with the settings that mentally time-travelling Desmond told Faraday visible.
  • 5x07: Daniel Faraday's Journal and Map
• Ben has shotguns everywhere, piano benches, under desks.
• Caesar seems to have a Hispanic accent, not bad for French actor.
• Obi Wan Kenobi
• Lapidus left with a woman, Sun or Flight Attendant
• Mango mirrors Orange from pilot episode
• "I remember dying" - Does Locke only tell the truth this episode? He lies to Walt by omission about Michael.
• When and Where Are the 316r's?

Tunisia

• Teleporting makes you puke.
• Widmore doesn't send the A-Team, the chuckleheads almost run over Locke.
• Has Widmore always known about Tunisia being an exit point? Were the two guys who greeted Ben Widmore minions?
• Don't get sick in rural Tunisia.
• Abaddon got there quick. Locke's been off-Island for less than 24 hours/
• Widmore and Locke:

  "Widmore: "They're not the "Others" to me. They're my people. We protected the Island peacefully for more than three decades. But then I was exiled... by him... just as you were. "

  Widmore: [Leaning in] "Because there's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win."

  Widmore: "I'm deeply invested in the future of the Island, John. So, yes, I've been watching them. I wouldn't mention I'm involved in this. I can't imagine what they think of me, having listened to Benjamin's lies."

  Locke: "How do I know that you're not the one who's lying?"

  Widmore: "I haven't tried to kill you. Would you say the same for him?"

  Widmore: [Chuckles] "You still don't trust me."

  Locke: "You sent a team of killers and a boatload of C-4 to the Island. That... doesn't exactly scream "trust.""

  Widmore: "I needed Linus removed... so it could be your time."

  Locke: "Right."

  Widmore: "The Island needs you, John. It has for a long time."

  Locke: "What makes you think I'm so special?"

  Widmore: "Because you are."

  The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - Lostpedia Transcript
• If Widmore is telling the truth and was 17 in 1954 and was exiled 30 years later, that would be in 1984.
• Penny is older than 24, so she was born while Widmore was leader of the Others and presumably on the Island. Was Penny born on the Island, or adopted?
• John actually has the sense not to tell Widmore everything.
• Locke told the 06 to lie.
• Someone on the island must be reporting back to Widmore. How else would he know that Ben tried to kill Locke?
  From Gitsie Girl
• Widmore gave Locke the name Jeremy Bentham. This is the first sign he has any sense of humor.
• Locke's Passport
• Shepherds crossing the road - symbolic of Locke shepharding the O6.
• Wheelchair - not a good omen
• They screwed up the continuity on the sheep. They were crossing from right to left, but when the Range Rover drove away they were back on the right side heading away. Or this is evidence of skipping between mirror universes.

Santo Domingo

• Widmore's surveillance photo of Sayid shows Sayid working on the exact same house in the exact same spot he is still working on when Locke comes to see him. Considering the time it takes Locke to travel from Tunisia to Santo Domingo, Sayid should have at least made some progress.

  Continuity Errors
• Sayid has picked up Spanish.
• Sayid is hammer slinging for "Build Our World".
• Why did Sayid stop working for Ben?
• Locke has no good argument for returning. Does he just assume that everyone else shares his belief?

NYC

• Abaddon: "I'll give you two some privacy" - mirrors Ben on flight 316

• In "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3" Walt tells Hurley that he was visited by Jeremy Bentham. However, when Locke meets Walt in New York City, he never mentions that he is travelling under the name Jeremy Bentham. Unless there was another off-Island meeting between Walt and Locke, this is a continuity error. Jack and Kate also refer to Bentham, despite the fact that we never see Locke introduce himself this way, nor would he need to.

  Continuity Errors

Santa Rosa

• Hugo's making a painting of the Great Sphinx of Giza.

  The word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, apparently from the verb σφίγγω (sphíng), meaning "to strangle". This name may be derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride of lions are the lionesses, and kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. The word sphincter derives from the same root.

  Greek traditions about sphinxes

  Yea, the greek characters are screwed up. Go to Wikipedia, they're fine there

• Hugo thinks Locke is another dead visitor.
• Hugo: "Wait, What?" - My favorite phrase this month.
• Hugo thinks about why the other O6 won't return before he thinks of himself.
• Abaddon: "We're all in serious trouble" - Go ahead John, ASK HIM - what kind of trouble?
• Abaddon: "I get people to where they need to get to"

L.A.

• Kate: "Everyone on the Island is going to die if I don't go back" - Locke is coming up with slightly better arguments.
• Kate thinks he's obsessed. It doesn't help that he is.

Santa Monica

• Is Helen really dead or is her tombstone a con?
• Abaddon: "Is it inevitable or is it a choice?"
• Why did Widmore have only one man watching out for Locke? He can certainly afford better.
• Locke's car was hit on both sides - Ben vs Widmore symbolism?
• 3 Santas/Santos: Santo Domingo, Santa Rosa, Santa Monica

Hospital

• Jack is so stoned. I think he's already been getting visits from Christian.
• Locke actually offers proof - Christian's name. I don't think Jack ever mentioned seeing his father alive on the Island or his name. In "White Rabbit" he told Locke he had seen someone who couldn't be on the Island, but not who - or his name.
• Jack: "We were never important"

• In "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3", Jack stated that Locke had
  a) told him Ben was off the island,
  b) that "some very bad things happened" after Jack left the island,
  c) that those bad things were Jack's fault because he left,
  d) that the only way he could protect Kate and Aaron was by returning to the island, and
  e) that if Jack and the rest of the Oceanic Six didn't return to the island, the people they left behind would die.

  Locke said none of those things. Unless there was another off-island meeting between Jack and Locke, this is a continuity error.

  Continuity Errors

Locke's Hotel Room

• We still don't know how Hawking got Locke's note.
• Stain on ceiling mirrors Swan ceiling stain (Radinsky's suicide by shotgun - If Inman was telling the truth)
• Suicide gear provided by Angel Hardware.
• Locke has 5 toes
• Isn't it nice that everyone is keeping everyone safe.
• Here we go again with the "special/important" line.
• Ben's set dressing of a suicide is implausible. You try standing a limp, dead person straight up on a shaky table and slipping a noose around his neck. And the ligature mark on Locke's neck won't match a hanging, the angle will be wrong and there won't be any mark on the back of his neck. Locke's body will also be missing the likely marks left by frantically clawing at the noose. And Ben's cleanup will have removed a lot of fingerprints that are supposed to be there. Can Ben be certain that Locke has never been fingerprinted? What will the Canadian consulate say when they're informed their citizen Jeremy Bentham is dead? Did Ben take the cell phone that has Widmore on speed dial?
• Locke's death by strangulation mirrors his father being killed by Sawyer.
• Ben: "I'll miss you john, I really will" - Indicates Ben is unaware that Locke will be resurrected.
• Referenced by Tubular for "316", but resonates stronger for this episode:

  Oh hello
  I am the ghost of troubled joe
  Hung by his pretty white neck
  Some eighteen months ago
  I travelled to a mystical time zone
  And I missed my bed
  And I soon came home
  
  They said :
  There's too much caffeine
  In your bloodstream
  And a lack of real spice
  In your life
  
  I said :
  Leave me alone
  Because Im alright, dad
  Surprised to still
  Be on my own...
  
  Oh, but dont mention love
  I'd hate the strain of the pain again
  A rush and a push and the land that
  We stand on is ours
  It has been before
  So it shall be again
  And people who are uglier than you and i
  They take what they need, and just leave

  Smiths - A Rush & A Push & The Land Is Ours

Hydra Station Office

• I love Locke and Caesars's exchange - Locke volunteers information, Caesar actually cares about what's going on, and asks direct questions - it's the all new resurrected Lost.
• Caesar: "And this really big guy with curly hair... was gone, man. I mean, literally gone." - I bet Locke has a inkling that Hugo was on flight 316.
• If Locke becomes leader of the Others, how will he deal with the survivors of flight 316?

---

Theories / Predictions

• I think Widmore was working against Locke.

  Widmore's statements at the Tunisian hospital:

  • "We protected the Island peacefully for more than three decades."

    This from a man who considered cutting Juliet's hand off the proper way to begin a conversation. Widmore was also in charge of the flaming arrow attack on the obviously non-Army 1954 Losties. And while we're learning that Other internal politics are complicated, as far as we know Widmore was the leader of the Others when they slaughtered the Dharma Initiative.

  • "I haven't tried to kill you"

    Widmore is lying. He has tried to kill Locke, and everyone else on the Island:

    Keamy: "'Cause he's a very smart man, and if Linus knows that we're gonna torch the Island, there's only one place that he can go." - "Cabin Fever"

    This is Martin Keamy
    the leader of the mercenary team.
    He was hired by Charles Widmore
    to capture Ben and kill everyone on the island.
    There's No Place Like Home, Part 1-Enhanced transcript

  • Widmore: "I needed Linus removed... so it could be your time."
    
    Widmore: "That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again."
    
    Charles Widmore is not about to relinquish his claim to the Island to a former Regional Collections Supervisor for a box company.

  ---

  The name Widmore gives Locke:

  • JEREMY BENTHAM IS THE ANTI-JOHN LOCKE

    Jeremy Bentham was a 18th century English ethicist and founding father of legal positivism, which stands in opposition to natural law, which was promoted by...17th century English philosopher John Locke, one of the founding fathers of the so-called Age of Reason. Locke was a deist (i.e., a creator God) who believed that man had certain intrinsic, unalienable rights; his philosophy was capable of integrating science and faith. Bentham said: BWA-HAHAAH! He thought natural law was ''nonsense on stilts.'' Bentham is a very post-God thinker: He believed the only rights a man had were the rights society gave him.

    Bentham was the opposite of Locke, his philosophical enemy.

    'Lost': The Keys to Locke

  ---

  Abaddon plays Locke:

  • Putting Locke in a wheelchair is a good way to make him feel like shit.
  • Abaddon: "Anything you need, Mr. Locke, you just let me know. Anything. Anybody from your past you want me to look up for you? The whole world thinks you're dead, Mr. Locke. There must be somebody who'd be happy to see you."

    Abaddon plants the idea of looking up Helen. And isn't it cheering to be told you're dead to the world? And there is no one who is happy to see him.

  • Abaddon: "I take it you didn't invite him along. That's 0-for-2, Mr. Locke. Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought you had to bring everyone back."

    Subtext: "You're fucking up, you're a loser".

  • Abaddon: "You may wanna step up your game, Mr. Locke, or we're all in serious trouble."

    More "You're a loser", with added guilt. Plus Abaddon makes sure that Hugo can see him and get freaked out. Hugo is the only O6 member to meet with Abaddon.

  • Abaddon: "No, I didn't. I'm sorry. [Sighs] Three years is a long time. It's possible she got married, changed her name. Maybe she moved out of state."

    Abaddon is waiting till the end to play the Helen card

  • And Helen is dead, or at least has a tombstone. The one person that might be happy to see Locke, who might give him some support and not run a con on him is forever out of reach.
  • Abaddon: "Mr. Widmore told me Richard Alpert said that you were going to die. So you tell me, John. Is that inevitable, or is it a choice?"

    You know, I don't know what the hell this means. I do know that the subject is certain death or suicide, which is just plain depressing.

  • Ben The Good vs Charles The Not-So-Good by Roland
• What was Ben's motive for killing Locke? Whatever it is, the fact that Locke was supposed to get help from Mrs. Hawking was the crucial factor in Ben's decision.

  I have a real hard time coming up with a "good " reason for Ben strangling Locke. Ben would have to know about Richard or Christian telling Locke that he has to die or deduce from the mention of Hawking that a proxy for dead-body-Christian would be required. Then he might decide that since Locke was required to die, he might as well get it over with. Ben might also believe that a suicided Locke would be displeasing to the Island.

  But there were no witnesses to Locke's conversations with Christian and Richard, and I don't even think Ben knows that Christian is anything but a corpse, so I think Ben lacked the knowledge to make an arguably ethical decision to kill Locke. But then why does Ben keep Locke's corpse around? Did Hawking tell him it was a necesary prop?

  But evil Ben, that totally works. Once Ben knows that Locke was supposed to go to Hawking, he can infer that Locke must have been told by someone reliable, and that Hawking can get them back to Island. And if Locke is out of the picture, Ben becomes the new returner of the O6. Locke even gave Ben the leverage he needs to bring Sun back. If the O6 can return, then Ben will hitch a ride back with them.

  Ben: "I'll miss you, John. I really will.": This suggests that Ben did not expect Locke to come back to life.

  If Locke confronts Ben about his murder I know exactly what Ben will say: "But John, I was only helping you do what the Island wanted. I knew you'd come back, because your so fucking SPECIAL". What would be great is if Locke undercuts Ben by just acting saintly and accepting of Ben killing him, even thanking him. Just don't trust the little bastard.

• Did resurrected Locke create a time-loop by getting the information that he had to die to Richard in the past?

  So Locke HAD TO die because he ALREADY died?

• Locke's resurrection - wow. Because Locke wasn't pseudo-dead from a medusa spider bite, or just mostly dead - he was all the way, completely dead. Bringing his corpse back to life without extreme nanotechnology would be a miracle - which makes me wonder if the new Locke shares something with some of the other walking dead that have appeared, like Yemi, Christian, or even Montand.
• Is Locke resurrected or reincarnated?

---

Articles

• Screencaps and Easter Eggs
• LOST Does the Metafiction Mambo
• Is Lost's Wormhole Linking the Island to Tunisia Possible?
• Episode 5.07 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - Continuity Errors
• The hidden evil by creepyricky

---

Recaps

• The Last Temptation Of Locke , by Fishbiscuitland
• MY REVIews!! Episode 5x07 - The LIFE and debts OF Gerald Benthams!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
• Things I Noticed - "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" , by Vozzek69
• Lost Episode 5.06 Another Life, Part One , by Luhks - ("316" recap)

  "I am not a neuroscientist, but I am fairly certain that whenever Evangeline Lily jumps a guy and starts making out with him, the portion of his brain required for forming questions shuts down entirely."

• Lost Episode 5.06 Another Life, Part Two , by Luhks - ("Bentham" recap)
• Key Points from "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" , by The Lost Blog
• Initial Thoughts: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham , by Gitsie Girl
• Thoughts on the Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham... , by Eye M Sick
• Lost 5.07: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham , by Nik at Nite
• What Nikki Noticed: 5.07 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" , by Nikki Stafford
• 'Lost' Recap: Magical Mystery Tour , by Jeff Jensen
• As good once as it ever was. . . , by Lost in Thought...in Alabama
• 'Lost' Dueling Analyses: 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham' , by Celebritology
• Lost Recap 5x07: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham , by The Ack Attack!
• 5 X 07: The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham , by Gitsie Girl
• 'Lost': Driving Mr. Bentham , by Patrick Kevin Day (Los Angeles Times)
• S5Ep7 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham , by Long Live Locke
• Lost: I Started Something I Couldn't Finish , by Tubular
• Looking at the Little Things: 5.07 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" , by SonyaLynn
• 'Lost': The Keys to Locke (Precap) , by Jeff Jensen

As a last resort, Desmond gives Jack the notorious "Glaswegian Stink Eye"

• This episode was originally scheduled to be #507, but was switched with "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

---

Island - Dharma Era

• Rerun/Mirror/Proxy for the Pilot opening-minus Vincent and plus note fragment.
• Watch the spinal surgeon dive headfirst into shallow water. Hey! Maybe that was "a leap of faith". Thanks, I'll be here all week.
• You cannot tell me that Hugo doesn't float. When did he forget how to swim? He used to do cannonballs into the ocean.
• Kate: "What Happened?" - That would be the question.

L.A. - 46 hours before

• That would be 46 hours in perceived time.
• Hawking and Ben don't seem too disturbed by the lack of Kate, Hugo, and Sayid.
• Under the church is the Lamp Post Dharma Station

  • The name of the station is in reference to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia. In the book, a lamp post marks the passage between Narnia and our world. The Lamp Post serves a similar function with regard to the Island.
  • The lamp post in Narnia was explained in Book One of the The Chronicles of Narnia, "The Magician's Nephew". In that story, which is a prequel to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and features the creation of Narnia, a young boy named Digory discovers a "place between worlds" that allows him to visit other versions of reality by jumping through pools. He awakens Jadis, who then comes back to London and wreaks havoc, eventually tearing a bar off a lamp post before she's sent back to Narnia. When she gets there, children in tow, Narnia has yet to be made; Aslan is in the process of doing so, and she attacks him with the bar. He ignores the attack, and she throws the bar away, where it plants itself in the ground and begins "growing" into a second lamp post. Both the "jumping into pools" and using the lamp post as the lone connection to the outside world seem related to Narnia.
  • Also in that story, Digory's Uncle Andrew tricks Digory's friend Polly into traveling to the place between worlds by having her touch a yellow ring; this is similar to how Ben got Sun to come on the trip.

• The Swan station had one counter, the Lamp Post has a bunch. Too bad they Longitude and Latitude columns are mislabeled.
• Eloise: "The Dharma Initiative called it the Lamp Post. This is how they found the island."

  By her phrasing, Hawking indicates that she wasn't/isn't part of Dharma. Yes, I know she was an Other, but one doesn't preclude the other.

• There's a photo of the Island, labeled "9/23/54 - U.S. Army - OP 264- Top Secret - Eyes Only". No reason to believe it's not part of a con. The date is one day short of 50 years from the date Flight 815 crashed - September 22, 2004.
• "A very clever fellow built this pendulum" - But I won't say his name.

• I don't buy Hawking's explanation - she's either outright lying (no!, that couldn't be) or leaving out crucial aspects. What I think she glossed over is exactly where (or when) the Island is between the predictable "windows". It's got to be somewhere.

  Eloise: "Well, this fellow presumed, and correctly, as it turned out, that the Island was always moving. Why do you think you were never rescued? Now while the movements of the Island seem random, this man and his team created a series of equations which tell us, with a high degree of probability, where it is going to be at a certain point... in time" - but not in Space? Is that why they got time skipped out of Flight 316?

  The island seems to be behaving like a quantum mechanical particle - Fuselage Forum

• Why can't the Island tell Desmond directly that it's not done with him? It told Hawking.
• Desmond remembers Hawking.
• In another case of classic Lost apathy, no one cares that Desmond has met Hawking before and that she sent him back from his mental time travel.
• If I were Desmond, I would stop sailing around in Penny's bloody boat and relocate somewhere far inland, like Nebraska.
• Desmond's warning to Jack mirrors Sayid's to Hugo.
• I'm with Desmond - If I were the O6 I would be wondering why I should trust Locke, Ben, or Hawking as far as I could spit. For all they know they're needed back on the Island to be used for human sacrifice. You want me back on the Island, sure, I want explanations. Long, detailed, footnoted explanations. Faith my ass - Locke had faith and he ended up in a pine box.
• Hawking's office is a couple of stories underground - why does it have windows?
• How did Hawking get hold of Locke's note?
• Per Hawking, it's belief that powers the mojo.

• proxy (plural proxies)

  1. : An agent or substitute authorized to act for another person.
  2. : The authority to act for another, especially when written.
  3. : (software) An interface for a service, especially for one that is remote, resource-intensive, or otherwise difficult to use directly.
  4. : (sciences) A measurement of one physical quantity that is used as an indicator of the value of another

• What?! Direct questions? Stop it Jack, you're ruining the magic show.
• Ben: "Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack." - Convinced of WHAT? I'm till waiting to hear what everybody is supposed to believe. Is it that the Island is a place where miracles happen, a land of milk and honey? Wasn't the last episode titled "This Place is Death"? There's a mass grave, a slave ship, and a nuclear bomb on the Island - not good signs of paradise.
• Ben: "I made a promise to an old friend of mine. Just a loose end that needs tieing up." - Sounds like Ben is going to go kill Penny. In the captioned rerun it's revealed that the promise was to kill Penny.

  How does Ben know how to find her? He looked damned surprised to see Desmond.

Nursing Home

• Another white rabbit.
• The first (and only previous mention) of Grandpa Ray: The Mobisode Lost : Missing Pieces Episode 1 - The Watch (YouTube)
• Jack's grandfather Ray looks suspiciously well preserved, and he really wants to go someplace, maybe someplace warm with nice beaches - and polar bears.
• Ray has a pair of Christian's shoes, the first in a long line of "coincidences" in this episode

Jack's House

• Don't worry about that strange noise Jack, it's not like there are guys running around with dart guns or anything.
• Big Apparent Mystery: What the fuck happened to Aaron?
• Jack wants to go back to the Island so bad he'll just write off Aaron so that Kate will come.
• There's an theory that Kate "has to" sleep with Jack in order to become pregnant so as to better "proxy" Claire.
• Jack's all chipper, Kate is a little preoccupied.
• Kate: "So why don't you get rid of 'em? Why hold on to something that makes you feel sad?" - This is strange coming from a woman who engineered a bank robbery to recover a toy airplane that would always remind her that she got her high school boyfriend killed.
• Why is Ben calling Jack's home phone?
• Ben looks like he fell into the marina.
• Putting shoes on Locke - "tying up loose ends"?

Airport

• "You want to take your friend's corpse to Guam, sure thing, no problem" - The airport/plane scenes have a strong air of unreality to them. Yesterday they were all famous, now they can all hop on a plane to Guam (and who the hell goes to Guam, really? Nothing against Guam, but it's not a famed destination, unless you're Japanese).
• Kate is not a happy camper.
• Here is where the west coast feed started losing the dialogue , but not the music, which really freaked me out. I thought it was a deliberate part of the show, and that I was supposed to start lip-reading.
• More Weirdness: Why would the Federal Marshals be escorting Sayid to Guam? Did he kill one of Widmore's associates there?
• Even More Weirdness: No one questions why Hugo, famous O6 survivor and recent triple murder suspect, has bought every available ticket.
• Hugo is the only character who's first impulse is to worry about the welfare of others. I'll repeat my long standing prediction that Hugo Reyes (King) will end up the ruler of the Island. Don't forget he can see Jacob, just like Locke and Ben.

  A different take on "Good vs Evil" - Fuselage Forum

• Just like on flight 815, Hugo is reading a Spanish-language comic book - "Y: The Last Man", by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan.
• Ben looks like he has kick marks on his head, or at least something rectangular about the size of a shoe heel.
• Why would Homeland Security care about Locke's note?
• Jack: "And the other people on this plane--what's gonna happen to them?"

  Ben: "Who cares?"

  Maybe people who aren't psychopaths? This is more evidence that Ben is not one of the good guys. Though the rest of the O6 (minus Hugo) are quite willing to sacrifice innocent passengers too if it means getting back to the Island.

• Lapidus: "We're not going to Guam, are we?" - Couldn't Frank come up with a plausible excuse to turn the plane around?
• Ben is reading James Joyce's Ulysses - I thing he's either secretly freaked out (He's not supposed to return), or he wants to show off how smart he is.
• Ben's mother didn't teach him to read, she died in childbirth. And ghost mom showed up when Ben should have already been reading.
• Ben is lying - he knew that Locke hanged himself.
• Ben knows that Jack has to read Locke's note, that's why he leaves Jack alone.
• Gee, I guess Locke does blame you, Jack. If you had believed him he wouldn't have had to die.
• We don't know what happened to the O6/Ben/Lapidus/passengers. Did we get "unpredictable" results?
• Jin could have been rocking out to Geronimo Jackson.

  The actual song used is "Excelsior Lady" by The Donkeys

• Spoilerish: New Dharma Logo on Jin's Jumpsuit

---

Theories and Broad Observations

• This was a strange episode, even for Lost. What seemed to be a big, complicated problem - returning the O6 to the Island - got wrapped up in record time. A lot of story happened off-camera and a lot of necessary details seemed to just drop out of the sky.

  This episode sets up a lot of flashbacks to fill in the gaps:

  • What happened to Kate and Aaron.
  • How Ben got beaten and soaked.
  • What happened to Desmond and Penny.
  • What changed Hurley's mind.
  • How Sayid ends up in custody.
  • Who is Caesar and who is he working for.
  • Is Illana just a Federal Marshal.

  The "coincidence machine" was working overtime. Jack needs something of his father's - Grandpa Ray has his shoes, improbably packed in his getaway bag. Jack has no problems flying Locke's body to Guam. Hawking only explains to Jack about Locke being Christian's proxy (that we know of), yet all the O6 and some of the passengers and crew find themselves unconsciously playing roles from Flight 815. Locke's suicide note keeps finding it's way into Jack's hands. The marina where Ben has the O6 meet is probably the same one Desmond and Penny are at. I have to wonder if this phenomena is related to Ben's metaphor of the "magic box" or is it "course correction? I'm really looking forward to how TPTB explain this, assuming they do.

  It it just me, or did the O6 seem strangely passive?

---

• "For all that faith often seems to get the upper hand on science in that particular great debate on the show, it sure does seem to be for suckers, doesn't it? People making appeals to faith on Lost all seem to be manipulating others or are being manipulated by others (and sometimes Others). Ben and Hawking trying to buck up Jack's courage to get him back to the Island, Locke trying to convince Jack of his "destiny" of staying on the Island, Locke seeming more and more like the Island's dupe as time goes on, and so forth.

  Most of the people who keep asking for faith from others - Ben, Hawking, the Island via Christian - seem to have empirical data to work from and don't exactly need faith. The faith is for those who don't have "need to know." The fate of the faithful on this show is certainly looking like it's to be used and then discarded...usually involving death. We the audience don't need any convincing that there are miracles to be had on the Island. We've seen them. Actual gnosis kind of eliminates the need for faith, don't you think? If you have direct knowledge of the supernatural, you don't need to have faith that it exists.

  Looking at the Little Things

---

• 2 Big questions:
  • Did Widmore use the Lamp Post to locate the Island?

    We don't know how Widmore got the general location to send the freighter.

    Why can't Widmore find the island? - Fuselage Forum
  • What is the "regular" means of getting on and off the Island? Is it just knowing where it is and sailing/flying in or out on the correct bearing? And why couldn't the O6 go back that way?
• Why does Ben have the O6 meet at the Long Beach Marina, slip 23?
• Hawking knew that the "coincidence machine" would deliver the rest of the 06, that's why she didn't raise much of a fuss at Ben showing up with only Jack and Sun.
• I hope that Desmond and Penny's sailboat isn't at the marina ,because it doesn't make sense for Penny/Dez to sail all the friggin way to L.A. from England - it's around 8000 miles (through the Panama Canal).

---

• "The question is: WHEN, in island time, did 815 crash? What year was it, on-island, that first day? Furthermore, WHEN have they been during seasons 1-4? Did any of the flashes that happened during those first 4 seasons (like the purple flash from the failsafe key turn) involve a time jump? Elloise stated the island moves. Does it also move in time when it moves?

  The "when's" in the Lost storyline may be critical to understanding the show better as we head forward. It's now a given that time travel is a part of the whole. But how big a part?

  When is When by When is When

---

• Who Proxies Who
  
  • Hurley - Jack: Comforts passenger next to him

    Charlie: Guitar case (What's in it and can he play?)

  • Sayid - Kate: In custody of marshal
  • Sun - Sayid: "he sat with his hands in his lap the whole flight, never said a word", travelling to reunite with a loved one
  • Kate - Sun: Reluctant traveler

    Claire: Possibly pregnant

  • Lapidus - Jin: Flying on business?
  • Ben - Hugo: Almost misses flight

    Sawyer: In a recent fight, con man, murderer

    Locke: Injured limb

    Bernard: Gets up and walks around on flight, not in seat for the big finale

  • Caesar - Rose: Comforted by the person seated next to them
• Subtitles for "This Place is Death" tell us that Ben believes he protected the O6 by using Sayid to kill Widmore's associates.
• The FDW and it's chamber predate the Well

---

Articles

• "Sources confirm that Team Darlton is looking to introduce two new characters this season - and they're both as mysterious as they are lethal. They're also coming in as recurring players with an option to become series regulars in season 6.

  First up is Caesar, a dangerous, physical and extremely intelligent male between the ages of 35 and 45. Although his intentions are unclear, this much is certain: He's as skillful at charming people as he is at killing them. He also has a dark past, but, c'mon, that much was a given. (Utility Fog: He also seems very polite, which is nice.)

  The other newbie is Ilanna , a European female in her late 20s to early 30s who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."

  Scoop: 'Lost' Finds New Season 5 Blood!
• Thoughts on last night's episode (316) - Gnosticism crops up again
• Time loops: Every time Ben is surprised, its because of Desmond ,by ivey_driveshaft

---

Recaps

• 'Lost': 'Caspian,' See? - (Precap), by Jeff Jensen - Lots on the connection between Lost and Narnia
• 'Lost' Recap: Keeping the Faith , by Jeff Jensen
• Initial Thoughts: 316, by Gitsie Girl
• 5 X 06: 316, by Gitsie Girl
• Lost 5.06: 316, by Nik at Night
• Proxies are the new Constants, by Lost in Thought... in Alabama
• Things I Noticed - "316" , by Vozzek69

  "It's not enough to just want to go back to the island - I think the island has to want you back as well. Jack's trans-Pacific flights always failed because he never had faith that they'd work in the first place. Hawking asks him to take this leap of faith, and for Jack that leap is to put his father's shoes on Locke's feet. For Hurley it was listening to those inner voices/visions, realizing that he's NOT crazy, and denying the big lie. For Sun it was believing that Jin is alive. For Kate it was giving up Aaron. And maybe for Ben, it's *not* knowing everything and letting someone else take the reins for once. He all but asks Jack what Eloise said to him in the church, but later on he leaves Jack in peace to read Locke's suicide note. Ben's always been omniscient, manipulative, controlling... but now he must let go and let things play out the way they're supposed to. That's his penance for returning to the island.

  Hawking tells Jack they must recreate as many 'circumstances' as possible in parallel with the original flight. But in essence, it's not so much a physical scavenger hunt to scare up random objects that the island needs to get them back. Bringing these items is no more than a demonstration of faith; much the same way Locke had to show the island that he believed way, way back in S1. Remember when he didn't believe? The island took his legs. Yet every time he restored that faith Locke came back stronger and better than ever. Belief is everything in LOST. And belief seems to manifest itself into reality, time and time again, all throughout the show.

  And speaking of Locke, his own act of faith was dying so that he could return to the island. Back in S2, Locke explains to Eko that Boone was "the sacrifice that the island demanded". Now he himself is this very sacrifice, acting as "proxy" (Hawking's word) in parallel to Christian Shephard's corpse from flight 815. What happens when Locke returns to the island is going to be very big and probably just as weird."

• The Return of the Natives, by Fishbiscuitland

  "And in much the same vein, the lesson of this episode was that those who believe, those who have faith, are the heroes we should admire. The story seems to have taken a firm stand against the concept of rational scientific analysis and logic, which I do believe is a first for a story that has been aggressively hyped as a Science Fiction genre show. Instead, it seems that we in the audience are being admonished, much like Thomas was, to "Stop thinking how ridiculous it is". In other words, sit down, shut up and just enjoy the ride.

  And I think this is good advice. The story probably will never make sense, but it doesn't have to make sense any more than Alice in Wonderland made sense or The Wizard of Oz made sense. It's a fantasy, a fun one, with clues and puzzles and anagrams and self referential jabberwocky galore. The fun of it is surfing through all the cultural bric-a-brac and watching the loose ends of past seasons resurface as threads of a crazy quilt that's constantly darting off into new patterns. It wasn't an accident that our ubiquitous White Rabbit showed up this episode to remind us that white rabbits don't just run down holes into Wonderland, they also serve the strictly utilitarian purpose of disappearing at rec center magic shows."

• Lost Dueling Analyses: '316', by Celebritology
• My ReVIews!! Episode 5x06 - FLIGHT 812!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
• Lost Friday - "316.", by CommunistDanceParty
• Lost Recap 5x06: 316, by The Ack Attack!
• Thoughts on 316... , by Eye M Sick
• S5Ep6 - 316, by Long Live Locke
• Looking at the Little Things: 5.06 "316", by SonyaLynn
• Lost: A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours, by Therese Odell (Tubular)
• Key Points from "316", by The Lost Blog

• "There's a war coming" - between who? Right now, I'm betting on Ben vs. Locke.
• Widmore is looking a bit less evil.
• Wow, that was the Mother of All Lost Car Crashes.
• Ben is looking VERY VERY EVIL.

Charlotte remembers the special 'shroom chocolate she had as girl

L.A. - Marina

• The episode begins with a shot of Sun's eye.
• "Hi mommy, did you bust a cap in the bad man's ass yet?"
• If Ben is still on his truth kick, he's messing with Kate/Aaron because Kate isn't Aaron's mom, not to pressure/spook her.
• Kate isn't Aaron's mother, Ben wasn't Alex's father.

Island - Friday, November 18, 1988

• "As anyone watching the show has noticed, many of these events repeat themselves. But why? Is this all the island knows? Lacombe plays violin, Charlie plays guitar... were they both lured there specifically for the same purpose: because a musician was needed to disable the jamming equipment in the underwater station? And if so, did the island kill the both of them in order to remain hidden? Because it sure seems like it did, or at least in the case of Charlie it was trying to kill him while Desmond kept on preventing it."

  Things I Noticed - "This Place is Death" by Vozzek69

  ---

  "It's not a coincidence (because remember, nothing's a damn coincidence on Lost) that this doomed group of Frenchies consisted of a pregnant girl, a sarcastic blond tough guy, a string instrument player and a guy who leaves no one behind. Ok, there were no incestuous siblings, no lame man finding his sea legs, no angry little boy with a dog. It's not exactly the same. But there is a befuddled Korean man trying desperately to comprehend a foreign language. In fact it's the exact same befuddled Korean man, more confused now than ever."

  Down The Rabbit Hole, by Fishbiscuitland

  Which leads us to the grand question - why all the coincidences? Why the parallels, the repeated lines, the six-degrees-of-Hugo-Reyes? Are these artistic touches by TPTB or is there some reason for all the interconnectedness?

• On November 15, 1988, the day the French sailed from Tahiti, the Soviet space shuttle Buran made it's one and only spaceflight.
• There are 6 people in Rousseau's group: Rousseau, Brennan, Lacombe, Montand, Nadine, Robert.
• It can be argued that Jin enables the French to take the route they do to the radio tower, but they were going to look for it anyway, and could have gone the same way without him.
• Is that Hurley reading the numbers on the radio?
• Alexandra is already named. How did Ben learn her name without either overhearing this conversation or talking with Rousseau? Maybe Jin caught enough to pass the name on to Ben in the past.
• Listen, Jin says there's a monster, there's a goddamn monster. What do you think made that noise, wandering hobos?
• Nadine in the tree mirrors the Pilot after Smokey killed him.
• A breeze starts up when Montand sees Smokey.
• Did Jin save Rousseau's life by stopping her from entering the hole? Or would Robert have stopped his pregnant girlfriend from following them?
• "We don't leave anyone behind" - mirrors Jack getting Losties off Island
• "Help me, I appear to be hurt. If you would be so kind as to climb down this hole and assist me with my recently acquired armlessness I would be forever in your debt. I'm not a soul-stealing black cloud, I promise."
• We don't know if this temple is the same temple that Ben sent the Others to for safety.

Island - November 1988, after monster attack

• The pillar of smoke mirrors the one Rousseau lit to scare the Losties and steal Aaron.
• The music box is later repaired by Sayid.
• Dancing couple on music box - marriage theme this episode.
• Box of explosives - from the Black Rock? The stenciling would indicate the French brought it. Maybe Rousseau stashes it in the Black Rock later.
• It's an open question, were the Frenchmen "sick"/controlled dead-people (like Island-Yemi?) or did Rousseau go batshit crazy?

  Robert seemed a bit too quick and easy with "It's not a monster, it's a security system guarding that temple" - like that explains anything - IT'S A GODDAMN HOWLING, CLANKING, MURDEROUS PILLAR OF BLACK SMOKE.

  And Robert looked kind of murderous when he pulled the trigger.

  Me, I'm going for possessed dead people - because how cool is that? The Zombie season is looking a little more likely.

• Rousseau took the firing pin out of Robert's gun - crazy like a fox.
• Rousseau: "You disappeared..." - This is the first indication of what people see when someone else time-skips.
• Why didn't Rousseau recognize Jin 16 years later? Maybe because after that long on Craphole Island she was totally bugnuts?

• Island - Unknown Date

• This episode's tearful reunion: Sawyer and Jin.
• We may never know why Charlotte speaks Korean.

L.A. - Marina

• Damn, I was hoping Kate and Sayid would team up. I miss the old canny fugitive-conwoman-'splody Kate.

Island - Unknown Date

• If the time-skips are directed and purposeful, then this quick series must be to kill Charlotte.

L.A. - Carpet Van

• Ben: "What I'm doing is helping you! And if you had any idea what I've had to do to keep you safe - to keep your friends safe - then you'd never stop thanking me!" - Great, Ben is reduced to trying to guilt-trip the kids into behaving until they get to Grandma's house.
• Yes Ben, what exactly have you been doing to keep us safe, and from who? Obvious questions that never get asked - #237

Island - The Future (post 2005)

• Charlotte warning Jin mirrors phantom Claire warning Kate.
• Someone Charlotte knew almost married an American, and she's an expert on Carthage, which was located in what is now Tunisia - home to teleported Polar Bears and Ben Linuses. The Carthaginians, like the Dharma Initiative, were wiped out by Latin-speakers.
• That time-skip was a clear message: Abandon the Redhead. She's told Locke to find the Well, her job here is done.
• Charlotte was a big fan of Geronimo Jackson. Juliet blinks when she hears the name, does it mean something to her?
• How does Charlotte know there was a well at the site of the Orchid? Did she see it as a child?
• It must be after December 2005, the Orchid station is in ruins.

Island - Before Dharma (pre-1970s)

• Now that they've found the Orchid, they skip to a time when the Well existed. The time-skips are not random.
• Charlotte "grew up" on the Island. She may or may not have been born there. She pointedly does not say that her parents were part of the Dharma Initiative, only that Dharma was on the Island when she was.
• Charlotte met Faraday on the Island during the Dharma period.
• If they don't bury Charlotte will Smokey be able to move her around like the other dead people from the island? - From Gitsie Girl
• Jin: "No! Stop! You don't bring Sun back."
  Locke: "No, I have to bring them all back, that's...that's how it works."
  Jin: [Incredulous] "How you know?" - Holy crap, a direct question!!
  Locke: "I...I just know. " - And Locke still doesn't see the puppet strings.
  
• Jin is having none of this "faith" bullshit.
• Jin gives Locke the ring to prove he's dead and to keep Sun off the Island. Ben uses the ring to prove Jin's alive and to get Sun back to the Island.
• Locke promised not to bring Sun and Ji Yeon back to the Island. Does he intend to and does he keep this promise?
• Jin's ring - marriage theme.

Island - After Well, Before Orchid

• Juliet thanks Locke for what he's doing mirrors Ben getting no thanks for his "helping" the O6.

• Too Much Fun = Creepy Grin

  

  "Where would be the fun in that?" - I think the stress of doing the Island's bidding is beginning to push Locke around the bend.

• Locke climbing down the Well mirrors French climbing down the Smokey hole and Kate going down the Swan station.
• The flash comes up out of the Well.
• The time-skip could have waited till Locke was lower or on the ground. Was it's purpose to break his leg? Why would someone/something want to send a crippled Locke back to the world? It'll be harder for him to gather the O6. How did Locke/Bentham hang himself with one very bad leg?
• Locke buried under time-shifted Well mirrors Nikki and Paulo being buried alive.
• Did somebody find the rope sticking out of the ground and wonder where it went? Is that why there's a well there?
• They must have gone back a long way in time, if the Well was built around the same time as the Smoke Monster Temple and/or the 4-toed statue

• We never heard Christian tell Locke that Locke had to move the Island:

  • Christian: "We don't have time for this. The people from the boat are already on their way back, and once they get here, all of these questions won't matter one bit. So why don't you ask the one question that does matter?"
  • Locke: "How do I save the island?"
  • ......
  • Ben: "Did he tell you what we're supposed to do?"
  • Locke: "He did."
  • Ben: "Well?"
  • Locke: "He wants us to move the island. "
• Was this a just a case of miscommunication or did Ben have a reason for being the one to move the Island? Did he want to get off the Island so he could kill Penny?
• Locke: "But Ben said he knew how to do it! He told me that I had to stay here and lead his people."

  Christian didn't tell Locke how to move the Island! Sweet Jeebus, even the undead masterminds on this Island can't communicate worth a damn.

  And of course Locke didn't bother to ask. That would make to much sense. "Move the Island? Sure thing, no problem, do it all the time, I'll get right on it. See you later."

• Once again Locke has to "clean up his mess".
• Christian says Locke has to get "Everyone who left". That would include Aaron, and might include Lapidus and Ji Yeon.

  On the other hand, Christian says that Locke has to get all his "friends" together.

• That's why they call what sacrifice?
• Christian never tells Locke what bringing back "everyone who left" will accomplish.
• Christian can hold lanterns but he can't help Locke?
• "Say hello to my son" - mirrors Faraday telling Desmond to find his mother. It's interesting that "Christian" is assuming the identity of the dead body he's in.
• The FDW isn't frozen anymore.
• Christian came to the Island in a coffin, now it looks like Locke will come back in one.

• "Locke lived his life with hopes of becoming a great leader. At the end of Season Four, his dream appeared to come true. The Island had cast out his two rivals, Jack and Ben, and chosen him to lead the people left behind. The ending of This Place is Death reveals the true nature of the destiny he had been seeking for so long. He was chosen not as a leader, but as a martyr, the sacrifice that the Island demanded. His whole life had been pointing him towards his one great accomplishment, his death. In possibly the most heartbreaking moment of the entire series, Locke accepts his fate, without a single complaint. He loses everything in one scene, more than any character in this epic story called Lost. Locke loses his friends as the Island buries him under its surface; he once again loses the power to walk, in a remarkably painful fashion; he loses his beloved Island, never to return to it in living form; and ultimately he will lose his life. In return, he gains nothing, except the assurance that someone believed in him."

  Lost 5.05: Die Together, Live Alone

L.A. - Church

• Is Ben surprised that Eloise Hawking is Faraday's mother, or that Widmore must have told Desmond where to find her?
• Does Ben even know that Desmond and Penny are together?
• Ms. Hawking is standing in front of the painting The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, by Caravaggio. Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus.

---

Theories and Broad Observations

• I think the "time skips" are controlled and purposeful. The Leftbehinds are being moved around in time in order to accomplish specific tasks.

  1. First shift: Between 2001-2002: Tells the Leftbehinds that they are time-travelling.
  2. Second shift: 2005 or later: Locke has to get the watch and partial instructions from Richard.
  3. Third shift: Between 2001-2002: Faraday tells Desmond to find Faraday's mother in the future. ***
  4. Fourth shift: 1954: Widmore has to meet Miles, Faraday, and Charlotte, so that he picks them for his freighter's science team. Locke has to give Richard the watch and tell him Locke's birthday. Locke has to disappear in front of the Others, creating his "specialness". Faraday has to get his mother interested in time travel.
  5. Fifth shift: Monday, 1 November 2004: Locke sees the column of light from the Swan hatch and Sawyer watches Kate help Claire deliver Aaron. I admit it, I see no purpose for this skip beyond fanboy coolness.
  6. Sixth shift: January 1, 2005 or later: There are boats on the beach they can use.
  7. Seventh shift: Friday, 18 November 1988: Jin is moved so he can be rescued by the French. Jin takes them towards the Radio Tower, so that the French can be attacked by Smokey. Jin saves Rousseau from going down the hole.
  8. Eighth shift: Between January 3-17, 1989: No task I can see, though maybe Jin needs to know about the "sickness" or Rousseau needed to be made more crazy.
  9. Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh shifts: Unknown : Disconnects Charlotte from time so that she can remember the Well and tell Locke.
  10. Twelfth shift: After the Orchid greenhouse is destroyed: The Orchid has to be there so that they know they've found it.
  11. Thirteenth shift: Between the time the Well and the Orchid are built: Locke has to go down the well to get to the FDW.
  12. Fourteenth shift: Before the Well is built: Locke has to be cut off from the Leftbehinds. Maybe his injury serves some purpose and/or this is the time that Christian is waiting for him.

  ***Big Prediction Time:

  This is the exception that proves the rule. Faraday DID NOT talk to Desmond in the original "supposed to happen" timeline. If he had, Desmond would have remembered meeting him at the Swan when he meets him again at the helicopter. Why Desmond "remembers" the meeting 3 years in Faraday's (non-time-travelling) future instead of only a few hours after escaping the Island I have no idea. But if this meeting was the reason for this time skip then I THINK THAT FUTURE FARADAY AND/OR DESMOND IS CONTROLLING THE TIME TRAVEL: Faraday because of his scientific knowledge, Desmond because of his "unique" properties. One or both of them is making sure that the Leftbehinds go to the times in the past they have to go to (because they did go, it did happen) because if they don't then the past they came from won't exist, and that would be bad. We know Faraday spends time working at the Orchid station, so this is where the time skips are controlled.

  This prediction is quite tragic (which adds to it's probability, to my way of thinking) because I think that whomever is controlling the time skips deliberately unhinges Charlotte to allow Locke to get to the Well.

  The way I see it, at the very least Locke (and probably Jin and the Science Team) and maybe all the Leftbehinds (and probably the O6 too) were "destined" to go time-travelling, whether Charlie killed the jamming and let Widmore know where the Island was or not. Even in a timeline where the Losties don't find Naomi and don't contact the freighter, and don't get in a escalating conflict with Ben and the Others, some or all of the Losties would have to time travel in order to "create" the past that underpins the present. I've made my brain hurt very much imagining the alternative plot that allows them to time travel without Ben turning the FDW. I do know that if they didn't leave Sun would have died in childbirth. And the lightning that was supposed to kill Charlie should have killed Claire and Aaron too.

  I think that the reason the O6 have to return is that they are needed to do their own time skipping tasks. And if Faraday/Desmond are controlling the time skips, using the Losties to properly create the past, then they themselves are creating their past - not just mirroring, but a hall of mirrors.

• "If I'm right, this will create the fifth confirmed predestination loop on the show:

  1. That the time-skipping Lostaways themselves assured the crash of Oceanic 815 by giving the Others 50 years to plan for it and ensure its occurrence.
  2. Locke was the one who first made Alpert interested in Locke, eventually precipitating his arrival on the Island and his seeming ascension to Others leadership.
  3. Daniel cemented his own grooming as a temporal troubleshooter by demonstrating to his future mother, Eloise Hawking, that time travel was possible.
  4. Charlotte confirms that it was Dan Faraday whose warning to stay away from the Island on pain of death no doubt had the reverse effect, guaranteeing it.
  5. It was Hurley's own voice heard by Leonard Simms and Sam Toomey at their listening station broadcasting the Numbers which found their way to Hurley, allowing him to win the lottery and secure his place on flight 815.

  This would also strongly imply that 1) the O6 will get back to the Island, and 2) that they're going to spend some time with the DHARMA Initiative in the past. I'm also betting that we'll see at least a few more of these loops before we're done.

  Again, I put it to you that the big question we all need to be asking about time travel is, "from how far into the future have time travelers come back, leaving a warning of their existence?" I'd be willing to bet that at least the Island and Eloise Hawking have knowledge from farther in the future than the O6's departure on their return trip to the Island."

  Looking at the Little Things --- 5.05 "This Place is Death"
• If Smokey's Temple is the same as the Other's safe refuge Temple, are the Others "sick" the way the French were?
• Theme of Marriage and Divorce

  "Welcome to the messy divorce season of Lost. See: an Island separated from its place in space; souls ripped from their designated points in time; a fellowship of castaways pulled apart, a band break-up of such unholy wrongness in the eyes of almighty destiny that unless they are reunited...well, "God help us all," as we've repeatedly been told this year. (If only someone had used that argument on the Beatles 30 years ago...) "This Place Is Death" brought out the theme of dissolution in bold relief, as unions of all sorts were dissolved in various ways. Charlotte died on Daniel. Danielle Rousseau and her French dude, Robert, decoupled with shotguns and madness. Jin turned in his wedding ring. John Locke split from the Island. And good lord, did you see that arm get ripped off poor Montand?! Did you heart the wet icky splooge of his limb being shorn away?! "Put asunder," indeed."

  'Lost' Recap: Married To It
• Other themes: The underworld and rings.

• Thoughts on Smokey:

  • For a entity of such stealth, speed, and power, Smokey hasn't shown itself to be an effective killer. I suppose a lot of this is due to dramatic considerations - you don't have much of a story if Smokey kills off most of the characters.
  • Also, if Smokey is too powerful, Widmore wouldn't pose a threat.
  • But even considering this, I think that Smokey deliberately "played" with the French to lure them to the temple. It could have killed Montand just like it killed Nadine and then gone after the rest of the group. If it is just a "security system" why does it drag some people into holes instead of just kill them?

  • "The Great Radzinsky used a different name for the creature, Cerberus, which offers another clue as to its purpose. In Greek mythology, Cerberus was name given to the three-headed canine beast which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent souls from escaping. No one who crosses into the Underworld is ever supposed to return to the world of the living. Lost's version of Cerberus seems to serve that same function for the Island. It possesses other abilities as well: the ability to re-animate corpses (Yemi and perhaps Christian), and to infect living bodies (Montand and Robert). In the seminal episode Walkabout, John Locke stared down the Monster face-to-face. Since that point, Locke has taken it upon himself to perform the task designated to Cerberus: to ensure that no one ever leaves the Island. It was Locke who eventually smashed that same transceiver, who detonated the Flame station, destroyed the submarine, killed Naomi, and turned a gun on his friends as they trekked to the radio tower. Locke may not be 'infected' in the same manner as Robert, but he has been acting as the willing agent of Cerberus for some time. John himself has become another security system of sorts, assigned to protect the Island."

    Lost 5.05: Die Together, Live Alone

---

Articles/Screencaps

• Smokey and the Temple
• The Temple & More Hieroglyphs
• Hieroglyphic Characters Translated (or, we know the words, kinda, but not the sentence).
• Hieroglyphics Translation , sort of.
• Official Lost Podcast.
• Hurley's DPE ("Dudes" Per Episode).

---

Recaps

• Down the Rabbit Hole, by Fishbiscuitland

  The theme of the week was HOLES. Holes in the head.

  Holes in the heart.

  Holes in space.

  Holes in time.

• Lost 5.05: Die Together, Live Alone, by Luhks
• Thoughts on This Place Is Death... , by Eye M. Sick
• Lost Recap 5x05: This Place is Death, by The Ack Attack!
• Things I Noticed - "This Place is Death" , by Vozzek69
• Looking at the Little Things — 5.05 "This Place is Death", by SonyaLynn
• 'Lost' Dueling Analyses: 'This Place Is Death', by Celebritology
• 5x05 This Place is Death Review, by Nickb1 (Lostpedia)
• Lost Friday - 'This Place Is Death.', by CommunistDanceParty
• MY ReVIews!! Episode 5x05 - This face IS death!! , by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
  (The best BAD Lost recaps on the web. It isn't easy being this stupid)
• 'Lost' Recap: Married To It , by Jeff Jensen (EW)
• Lost: Oscillate Wildly, by Tubular
• 5 X 05: This Place Is Death , by Gitsie Girl
• That wheel, how many handles does it have anyway? , by Lost in Thought...in Alabama
• Episode 5x05 -- The Funeral Party, by Anna
• S5Ep5 - This Place is Death, by Erika (LongLiveLocke)

I'm not crazy in love with this episode, and I'll go crazy if I'm always 3 weeks behind with my homebrew recaps, so for this episode you get the quick and dirty version:

• Sayid, strangling sinister dart-men with his own IV line!! When Lost wraps up somebody better put Naveen in some big budget flicks, he's worth it.
• The left-behind Losties don't know when they are, they don't know what they're doing, they don't know why...the usual story.
• Jin is alive. I like Jin.
• Say hello to the nice french people. They're all doomed-most of them sooner, Danielle quite a bit later.
• I think Ben spends the whole episode telling the truth.
• The name on Ben's carpet van is an anagram for "reincarnation".
• The longer you've spent on the Island, the quicker you start to bleed out when time-skipping. This mean Miles and Charlotte were probably born on the Island.
• I would buy the complete box set of a show on the "History of Landscaping" if the hosts were Evangeline Lilly and Elizabeth Mitchell.

---

Easter Eggs / Articles

• Sun's Private Investigator Report Transcribed
• Sun's Package HQ
• Lost's Dart Gun Tech Misses the Mark
• 'Lost': Digging Inside Season 5

---

Recaps

• The Elephant In The Boa, by Fishbiscuitland
• Thoughts on the Little Prince... , by Eye M Sick
• Rousseau Redux... , by Eye M Sick
• Lost 5.04: It Takes An Island, by Luhks
• Things I Noticed - "The Little Prince" , by Vozzek69
• Lost: Draw Me a Hexadecimal, by J Wood
• 'Lost' Dueling Analysis: 'The Little Prince', by Celebritology
• 'Lost': My Name Is 'Prince'! , by Jeff Jensen (EW)
• Key Points from "The Little Prince", by the Filmfodder Lost Blog
• LOST Episode 5x04 "The Little Prince" - Easter Eggs, Screencaps, Analysis, by the Get Lost Podcast
• What Nikki Noticed: 5.04 "The Little Prince", by Nikki Stafford
• 'Lost' Recap: Life Goes On , by Jeff Jensen
• Lost Friday - 'The Little Prince.', by Communist Dance Party
• My ReVIews!! Episode 5x04 - The brittle Rinse!!, by ThEmIsFiTiShErE
• J. Wood's Otherville Book Club - 5.04 "The Little Prince", by J. Wood
• Looking at the Little Things -- 5.04 "The Little Prince", by SonyaLynn

Somebody set up us the bomb

Jughead's Time Police

Lostpedia: Jughead / Jughead Transcript

Philipines - 2005

• Dez and Penny have a wee bairn...

Penny's Boat - 2009

• ...named Charlie. Named after Charlie Pace or Charles Widmore?
• Desmond:"I have to do this, Penny" - Moral imperative or Course Correction/Destiny?

Island - 1954

• Two more anono-Losties bite the dust. If I was really ambitious I would try to do the math and see how many spear-carriers are left.
• The Claymore mines are an anachronism - they weren't in use in 1954.
• Since Miles can read the side that says "Front Toward Enemy" he's on the lethal side. Miles would be dead, jumping or not.
• What is up with the FPS -gunsight-point of view? Is there some reason for it?
• "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" - She hasn't met Faraday before, she thinks the Losties are with the Army.

England 2009

• Desmond: "I know how insane it sounds" - Hasn't Penny been brought up to speed on how insane EVERYTHING is?
• Desmond DOES NOT promise to not go back to the Island.

Island - 1954

---Faraday Miles Charlotte

• Lostpedia estimates that there are at most 3 redshirts left, based on Ellie's statement that there were 20 Losties at the start of the beach arrow attack.
• Why does Ellie think that 20 unarmed people without equipment or uniforms, who can't even light a fire, were with the Army?
• Ellie's going to need some dental work, grinding her molars like that.
• Ellie: "Once we leave here, I will be out of control of what happens to you. But if you cooperate now, things will go much easier for you." - This is the first of the references to the Other's chain of command/leadership this episode.

---Locke Sawyer Juliet

• Is there something going on with Time? No, I mean something else.
• The 3 in uniform are Mattingly,Jones and Cunningham. Mattingly is dead.
• Locke's military hobbies come in handy.
• The uniforms are Others. We know this because they speak Latin. Wait, What?

---Faraday Miles Charlotte

• Faraday doesn't even blink at Miles' ghost-whispering. He even wants to know if the dead know what year it is. He must know about Miles' ability.
• Richard has big forearms. He must work out.

Oxford - 2009

• Now that he's off the Island, Desmond is free to dress like an Italian gigolo, or possibly Dr. Who.

• The Oxford clerk is the same as the Oceanic airlines clerk who allowed Hurley on flight 815.

  

  Is she the same woman or just the same actress?

  Episode 5x03 Jughead - Oxford Woman from Exodus??

• Why can't Desmond remember the year he visited Faraday?
• I think it's a little too convenient that Faraday's lab is still there 3+ years later, complete with talkative janitor to fill in the blanks. If Oxford is so ashamed of Faraday or has been bought off by Widmore why wouldn't they take the logical step of cleaning out the lab? I hope this is somebody leaving bread crumbs and not the writers being lazy.

Island - 1954

---Locke Sawyer Juliet

• Juliet: "Others 101. Gotta learn Latin--language of the enlightened."

  Is Juliet referring to the Age of Enlightenment?

  "The intellectual and philosophical developments of that age (and their impact in moral, social, and political reform) aspired toward more freedom for common people based on self-governance, natural rights, natural law, central emphasis on liberty, individual rights, reason, common sense, and the principles of deism. These principles were a revolutionary departure from theocracy, autocracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, and the divine right of kings. The Enlightenment marks a principled departure from the Middle Ages of religious authority, absolute state power, guild-based economic systems, and censorship of ideas toward an era of rational discourse and personal judgment, republicanism, liberalism, naturalism, scientific authority, and modernity."

  Or to one who is enlightened?

  "Enlightenment broadly means wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religious or spiritual enlightenment and secular or intellectual enlightenment. This can cause confusion, since those who claim intellectual enlightenment often reject spiritual concepts altogether. In religious use, enlightenment is most closely associated with South and East Asian religious experience, being used to translate words such as (in Buddhism) bodhi or satori, or (in Hinduism) moksha. The concept does also have parallels in the Abrahamic religions (in the Kabbalah tradition in Judaism, in Christian mysticism or Gnosticism, and in the Sufi tradition of Islam)."

• Locke doesn't know Latin, kinda strange for the leader of the others.
• Locke: "I suggest you talk to us. Once we get back to the creek and meet up with the rest of our people, there's gonna be a lot of anger directed at you for attacking them. " - Mirrors what Ellie said to Faraday's group.
• Once again Locke can't kill in cold blood. Plus, Widmore can't die in 1954 because Widmore didn't die in 1954.
• Why not take Locke, Sawyer, and Juliet to the camp? It's not like the 3 of them pose a major threat. They could come to some arrangement.

Teresa's House - 2009

• Faraday's old lab assistant has Minkowski's syndrome.
• Widmore funded Faraday. How many of Faraday's's ideas come from Widmore?
• Teresa's sister tells a sad story, but we don't know if it's true, or the full story.
• Teresa's last name might be a shout out to the English Philosopher Herbert Spencer
• In the bookcase behind Teresa is a "Lost Book":

  The Lost Book is a common way to refer to the Inventio Fortunata, a book allegedly written by a monk from Oxfordand later recovered by a man named Jacobus Cnoyen, who popularized it before losing it again. This book that didn't want to stay found described the North Pole as a magnetic island surrounded by a violent maelstrom, and helpfully described this magnetic island as being made from "Rupes Nigra", or in Lost lingo - Black Rock. And yeah, I'm going on the assumption that absolutely none of this is random.

  Dropping H Bombs

  Since the cover actually says "Lost Books, it could be This.

Island - 1954

---Faraday Miles Charlotte

• The bomb gets it's own section, because it's problematic.
• The blonde Other is named Ellie.

  Eloise Hawking is the old woman/Ben Ally/Time-cop. Faraday named his mentally time-travelling rat "Eloise". Widmore says that Faraday's mother is in L.A., Ms. Hawking is in L.A.. Q.E.D.: Ms. Hawking is Ellie is Faraday's mother. Could Widmore be his father? And who is Penny's mother?

• Richard: "We gave them the opportunity to leave the island peacefully. They weren't willing to do that, so I was forced to kill 'em. All of 'em."
• Faraday: "Forced?"
• Richard: "Yeah."
• Faraday: "By whom? "
• Richard: "You answer to someone, don't you? You follow a chain of command, right?"
• Faraday: "Yeah."
• Richard: "Yeah, well, so do I."

In the enhanced rerun of "Jughead" , the subtitles call Richard "an advisor to the leader of the Others".

So, in 1954, who is the leader of the Others? Why aren't they with Richard dealing with the Army/Bomb problem?

• "Jones" refers to Cunningham, who's uniform also said "Cunningham". Are some of the Others defectors from the Army?

  Oh yea, Cunningham can't be a defector from the Army, he knows Latin.

  This is either a production screw-up or an Other decided to take Cunningham's name.

• "Jones" lies to Richard, and he is an arrogant dickwad.

---Locke Sawyer Juliet

• Cutting to Locke looking over the camp right after "Jones" dismisses him was classic.
• Juliet: "Richard's always been here. " - how long is always?
• Richard wasn't telling Locke how to save the Losties, he was telling him how to save the Island, there's a crucial difference.
• Locke doesn't care that Faraday is apparently being marched off into the jungle to be executed. Why? Because Locke is not the hero.

---Faraday Miles Charlotte

• I think Faraday has realized that Ellie is his mother.
• After a long day of flaming death and atomic weapons, Faraday can get a little sarcastic.

Widmore's Office - 2009

• The painting behind Widmore's receptionist looks like a Jackson Pollack. "Jughead" originally aired on Pollack's birthday.
• One of the paintings in Widmore's office has a polar bear, "namaste", and an upside down buddha.

  Paintings (Widmore)

• Widmore refers to Desmond as a "colleague". From him this is high praise indeed.
• Desmond told Widmore the deal and he's sticking to it. He's not going to answer any questions.
• Widmore knowing the address for Faraday's mother brings up a whole host of issues.
• Why does Widmore think that Desmond is delivering a message?

Island - 1954

• Locke knows the magic word, but he's lying. Jacob didn't send him, >2005-Richard did.

Penny's Boat

• Oh Desmond, you are so screwed.

Island - 1954

• I was expecting the compass to have some significance to 1954-Richard, but it doesn't mean anything to him. Instead, Locke and Richard are completing a time loop.
• Richard never actually says or indicates that he is unfamiliar or disbelieving in Time Travel - he might just be wary of Locke.
• Richard never told Locke that Locke was the Other's leader, at least that we've seen. Ben told Locke he was the leader.
• Richard: "Look, I... certainly don't want to contradict myself, but... we have a very specific process for selecting our leadership, and it starts at a very, very young age."

  Richard might be referring to the testing of children to see if they are reincarnations or experiencing transfered memories from time-travelling future selves.

  Note that he says "leadership", not "leader".

• Time travel screws with causality something fierce, but on the first level the reason Richard showed up at Locke's birth, and the Others regarded Locke as "special" is because Locke disappeared into thin air after telling Richard to attend his birth. To a large degree, Locke is special because Locke said he was special.

  Considering the higher level, doesn't it seem as if the time skips are planned, especially in light of "The Little Prince"? If so, then who or whatever is controlling the time skips caused Locke to be considered "special" by the Others

Island - Unknown Date

• Poor Miles, he needs a hug.

---

Theories / Ruminations / Implications / Half-Baked Predictions

• How did Richard know when to go help Locke at the beechcraft? Locke told him in 1954 where he would be after Ethan shot him, but Richard would have to know the exact date to be able to help Locke. Locke never knew the date. Did Richard camp out at the Beechcraft for years?
• 3 Time Loops:
  • Richard and Locke:
    • Richard is visited by time-travelling Locke in 1954, gets compass.
    • Richard keeps an eye on young Locke, sees drawing of smoke monster.
    • Richard saves wounded Locke, gives Locke compass, tells Locke to give him the compass the next time they meet.
  • Ellie/Eloise Hawking and Faraday:
    • Ellie/Eloise meets time-travelling Faraday in 1954, He tells her that his group are from the future and then disappears in front of her.
    • Presumably Eloise studies Time, passes on her interest to her son.
    • Widmore finances Faraday's research, possibly because he saw him in 1954.
    • Faraday invents mental time-travel, using another time-loop with Desmond to send his past self the correct settings.
    • Widmore sends Faraday to the Island.
  • Widmore and Faraday/Miles/Charlotte:
    • Widmore sees the time-travelling freighter specialists in 1954. They disappear from captivity, confirming that they are time-travellers.
    • Widmore sends them to the Island.
  Luhks has very good recap on this subject.
• Locke's whole mission to return the O6 could be part of a loop. Richard tells Locke he has to get his friends back, Locke tells Richard that Richard told Locke to GHFB, rinse and repeat. One possible problem with this is Richard telling Locke that he'll have to die - Locke didn't talk about this in 1954. But if Richard didn't gain information about Locke's mission from a source other than Locke then the whole idea came out of nowhere.
• Desmond is going back to the Island. If all the foreshadowing about "never going back" isn't enough, the fact that the rules don't apply to Desmond should make him essential to any attempt to save the world, or whatever.
• I don't think they buried Jughead under the Swan or the Orchid. If it was under the Swan then it's gone-and it's too obvious. With the FDW already under the Orchid who would be stupid enough to put an atomic weapon near it? My bet is that the bomb is under the Arrow. If the bomb is under the Swan then that would suggest that the Losties have to stop Locke from not pushing the button.
• Not My Observation: The Others are like hermit crabs - they inhabit the structures (and clothes) of whoever they kill. This ties in with their habit of disguising themselves - as survivors, balloon pilots, Dharma members, seabilly pirates, etc. But we still know almost nothing about their true nature. And it still drives me nuts that no one has bothered to ask Juliet any direct questions about who the Others are, or Daniel about his lengthy research on Dharma. I can accept lots of reasons for them not to give extensive answers, but the pervasive incuriosity is nagging. If this is a character-driven drama, then having stupid characters is a liability.
• Widmore was an Other. This raises the possibility that we're looking at an Other civil war.
• We never see any of the 1954 Others learning any of the Losties' names except Locke's.
• Widmore could start showing up in Locke's past.

• "Not only is Richard's age a constant, his name is always the same too. Years, decades, even centuries pass, but Richard is always Richard. This is the Ying to the multiple-names Yang (Dr. Candle for example) we've seen throughout lost."

  Things I Noticed - "Jughead" by Vozzek69
• Richard and the Others have known about Locke time-travelling since 1954. Why didn't Ethan recognize Locke at the beechcraft? Didn't he ever hear the story about John Locke, the bald old guy who, back in 1954, said that Jacob had sent him, that he was the leader of the Others, and predicted his own birth, before disappearing into thin air? Of course Ethan had to shoot Locke, to prevent him from reaching and dying in the beechcraft, and so he would be waiting for Richard to tell him to return the O6.
• Richard: "The only way to save the Island, John, is to get your people back here--the ones who left." - not save the world, or save your friends - save the Island. There's no guarantee that this would be a good thing for the Losties.
• Where (or when) did Desmond bollocks up the timeline? Was it when he saved Charlie, Claire, and Aaron from being hit by lightning? This is the theory that supposes Desmond was made "unique" by destruction of the Swan. It also assumes that Claire and Aaron are "supposed" to be dead. Is this why Claire is in Jacob's cabin?

  Or is Desmond's timeline altering act his turning of the failsafe key?

• Missing Time?

  This season there have been 2 instances where it goes from night to day with suspiciously rapidity.

  Hurley and Sayid in Ep #1 & #2 -"Because You Left" & "The Lie":

  1. Los Angeles, Jan 1, 2008 - Sunrise 6:58am, Sunset 4:54pm
  2. Start-Sayid shoots a man watching the Santa Rosa asylum at 8:15pm
  3. Sayid takes Hurley from the asylum - 30 minutes
  4. Sayid and Hurley get food from drive-in, arrive at safe house - 1 hour+
  5. Fight at safe house, Hurley gets Sayid into car - 30 minutes
  6. End - Hurley is driving Sayid in full daylight and gets pulled over by Ana Lucia
  7. I can stretch the times but I can't get them past before midnight. So what were Hurley and Sayid doing for 6+ hours?

  ---

  Juliet, Sawyer, and Locke in Ep #3 - "Jughead":

  1. The Losties overpower 3 Others in the middle of the night.
  2. The next we see them it's bright daylight and the Losties seem to have not done anything except get the Others on their knees.
• Latin

  The Other's speak Latin. When the hell did this start? Because we've had dozens of scenes where Others talk privately among themselves, and no Latin. The only way this works is if the Others have learned Latin just to use in situations where they might be overheard.

  It's the language of the enlightened. It's also the language of the Romans, who practiced slavery and enjoyed watching people and animals fight to death.

• You Dropped a Bomb on Me

  The 500lb gorilla in this episode, in more ways than one, is Jughead the bomb.

  • In 1954, one can hardly imagine something that the U.S. Government values more than one of it's atomic weapons.
  • Being a high-value asset, how the hell did the Army decide to test Jughead on an Island that is near impossible to find and land on? How did they even know about the Island in the first place?
  • Atomic tests aren't done by 18 people-try hundreds, with lots and lots of ships, all visiting Craphole Island.
  • If the Army lost an atomic bomb to an unknown hostile party in the middle of the Cold War I think I can safetly assume that they would freak the fuck out. Questions would be asked, like "where is the goddamn Island?" and "who decided on this island?". The Army would have an intense and ongoing interest in finding the Island again.
  • Theories:
    1. The writers have screwed up. I'm still waiting to learn how the Dharma Initiative found the Island and moved hundreds of people and tons of stuff onto it, and how the Island became hidden afterwards, without a FDW. And if Widmore was an Other, and he was behind Dharma, why didn't they do better in fighting them?
    2. Somebody wanted the bomb-The Island, Jacob, Rocket J. Squirrel: somebody with Juice - enough to arrange for a small group of Army chumps to take Jughead to Island secretly. The Others weren't defending the Island from invaders, they were eliminating the delivery boys.
• Locke - Hero or Psychopath?

  I take the contrarian view of John Locke - he is not a hero. Sympathetic, interesting, finely-acted, but not the "good guy" he so desperately wants to be. Ever since he regained the use of his legs and "looked into the eye of this island" (the smoke monster, an amorphous people-shredder, to be exact) Locke has valued the Island over people. He has lied, assaulted, exploded, and killed in service to his faith. What exactly, if anything, he knows about the desires and goals of the Island (if they exist at all) is unknown; Locke has never seen fit to detail any communications from the Island. I would argue that Locke's situation is worse than being in thrall to some semi-godlike geographical oddity - Locke is the slave to an idea - his concept of the Island as a place "where miracles happen". Not that serving the Island is much better: It apparently demands human sacrifices, keeps people alive until they do it's will, kills pregnant women and unborn children, and has no problem with the death and pain it's followers commit in it's name. In case you haven't guessed, I seriously doubt that the Island is worth serving, or that the Others are "the good guys".

---

Recaps and Articles

• Lost: SISTE VIATOR, By J. Wood
• 'Lost' Dueling Analyses: Jughead, by Celebritology
• Dropping H Bombs, by Fishbiscuitland
• Lost 5.03: Beyond Belief, by Luhks

• Episode 3 of season 5 is entitled ''Jughead.'' Wikipedia tells us that the word ''Jughead'' can refer to many things. Jughead can refer to a search engine. So maybe ''Jughead'' means that the Island is zipping through the world wide web of time looking for something. (Free amateur porn, probably. Naughty Island!) Jughead also can refer to a progressive rock band founded by Ty Tabor, also the lead singer of the Christian prog-rock band King's X, whose first album, Out of the Silent Planet, was named after a science fiction book by Lost-linked author, C.S. Lewis. And Jughead can refer to the Canadian name for the Kool-Aid mascot, that half-man, half-pitcher creature that smashes through walls and growls ''Oh yeaah!'' Kinda like Smokey.

  Of course, Jughead also refers to the Archie Comics character of the same name. Curious fellow, this Jughead. For quite a while, nobody knew his real first name. Kept it a secret. Ironically, in tonight's episode, you will meet two characters whose first names are deliberately withheld from us until late in the hour. One made me gasp; the other made me get all misty. Jughead also wore a sweatshirt with the letter ''S'' on the front, and I'm told that for many years, the comics kept the significance of this conspicuous detail as secret. I'm really no Archie fan, so I can't tell you what the 'S' stands for... but I'm going take a stab and say it's not Smokey.

  'Lost': What's In a Name? Maybe...Clues? , by Jeff Jensen (EW)
• 'Lost': Doc Jensen's 'Jughead' take, by Jeff Jensen (EW)
• 'Lost' Recap: Time After Time, by Adam B. Vary (EW)
• Lost's Nuclear Bomb Tech Decoded: Season 5, "Jughead", by Popular Mechanics
• Thoughts on Jughead, by Eye M Sick
• Things I Noticed - "Jughead", by Vozzek69
• Never Mind The Paradox, by MangoBingo
• Looking at the Little Things, by SonyaLynn (DocArzt.com)
• Probatur Vegrandis Res (Looking at the Little Things, "Jughead" addendum!), by SonyaLynn(DocArzt.com)
• Lost Recap 5x03: Jughead, by The Ack Attack
• J. Wood's Otherville Book Club - 5.03 "Jughead", by J. Wood
• Lost: Girlfriend in a Coma, by Tubular
• Course Correcting Time Flashes, by Lost in Thought..in Alabama
• S5Ep3 - Jughead, by Long Live Locke
• Talking LOST - 5x03 Jughead, by Sledgeweb and Astro

Very Old and Very Strange

Warning: Spoilers for Ep# 503 - "Jughead"

Penny's Boat - Dec 31, 2004 or Jan 1, 2005

• Lapidus and Desmond are drinking Jekyll Island Red Ale.

  "The brand is a prop developed by Independent Studio Services, and is also seen in the shows Dexter and Rules of Attraction."

• Hurley: "You know what, dude? I'm gonna remember this. And someday, you're gonna need my help, and I'm telling you right now... you're not gettin' it."

  This isn't quite a lie, just an idle threat. Hurley spends the whole episode helping Sayid.

L.A. - 2008

• Dead people can give good advice. Still don't know what exactly they are - hallucinations, manifestations of the Island, ghosts working for the Island...
• It's nice to see Michelle Rodriguez being a good sport about police and traffic stops.
• Dead Anna Lucia should have told Hurley to call Ben's cell # and to go with him back to the Island. It would have made a short episode though.
• "Libby says hi" - Kind of creepy.

Beach Camp - 1954

• Rose is still my least favorite character. Frogurt isn't even close. If only she would D.I.A.F.
• Gas from the Zodiac could help start a fire.
• Miles and Sawyer - dueling smartasses.
• What did Faraday do that took 2 hours? His talk with Desmond didn't take that long.
• Faraday has a sextant, or a least something complicated looking that he's going to use to calculate a new escape bearing. If it is a sextant, then he's going to have trouble determining the longitude by celestial navigation, because he needs to know the exact time.
• Juliet says she'll get the water and we cut to Hurley throwing water in Sayid's face. I think they're telling us the O6 and the Island Losties are still connected.

L.A. - 2008

• Sunglasses on unconscious Sayid = Weekend at Bernie's
• I "Heart" my Shih-Tzu:

  The Shih Tzu is reported to be the oldest and smallest of the Tibetan holy dogs

  ...

  Recent DNA analysis confirms that the ancestors of today's Shih Tzu breed are the most ancient dog breeds

  Shih-Tzu (Wikipedia)

  The answer to just how the Shih Tzu were created still eludes us today. Its origin is steeped in mysteries and legends.

  Shih Tzu Have Had Many Nicknames

• Hurley: "I don't believe I'm lying" - "these are not the droids you're looking for"
• Dream Police by Cheap Trick is playing in the gas station.
• Kate just misses Sayid and Hurley at the gas-station. Is the Island manipulating coincidence to get them to return?
• Watching Kate on the phone at the gas station it strikes me that Evangeline Lilly has become a better actress.
• Ben has a package hidden in the airvent of the motel room. Possible contents: Medusa Spiders that are keeping Locke in a state of suspended animation.
• Ben: "And find yourself a suitcase. If there's anything in this life you want, pack it in there... because you're never coming back." - Odd turn of phrase.
• I'm maintaining my own personal fantasy that Ben driving Locke's casket around in a carpet van is a tribute to the Rug Suckers, who-along with the Kolodny Brothers, aid Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers in the raid on Yoyodyne. Apophenia, indeed.
• Ben pointedly does not answer Jack's question about Locke being dead.
• Hurley's dad likes caviar on his ham sandwich, which is odd.
• Is Expose' a clue that medusa spiders have been used on Locke?
• Hurley lugging Sayid around mirrors Ben transporting Locke.
• Hurley's dad is not that bright.
• Sayid goes from couch to pool table to couch again. I think they had to move him to the pool table so the cops wouldn't see him.
• Hurley does not lie to his father. Everything he says in this scene is true.
• Aaron: "Can I push the button?" - sure, but sometimes you can't stop.
• Ben still has loyal minions in the outside world - Jill the butcher, Gabriel and Jeffrey.
• Ben: "Cut the man some slack. He's been through a lot. We all have." - Sympathy for Jack from Ben is surprising. He's not exactly Mister Warmth.
• Locke's body has to be kept safe. Safe from what?

Island, Night - 1954

• Charlotte's showing more signs of Minkowski syndrome. Why is she the only one?
• Miles found a dead boar with his ghost talking ability.
• Nice death for Frogurt - FIRE! Thwack!!
• Sawyer grabs Juliet, he's still the selfless hero.

L.A.

• Sun is muy creepy.
• Sun's daughter is 3 years old, why is Sun showing Kate baby pictures?
• Sun: "Wouldn't you do anything you had to in order to keep Aaron?" mirrors Juliet: "Wouldn't you do anything to save Walt?"
• Does Sayid not being dead on the couch mirror Locke not being dead in Ben's care?
• Jack never agreed to Hurley's Dad's request that he stay away from Hurley, so he didn't lie.
• Ben's tricksy mind must be spinning - he must be imagining a wide-awake and anti-Ben Sayid talking to Jack
• Hurley's pose echoes the painting of the Virgin Mary behind him
• Mom: "A good guy doesn't kill anyone" - Her baby boy has killed an Other. Just about everybody on Lost has killed somebody, and we still don't know whether the Others are Good Guys or not.
• Is it really lying that bothers Hurley or that he left his friends behind and didn't try to help them?

Island - 1954

• There's something going on with that thorn/twig stuck in Sawyer's foot - I can't imagine they would make such a big point of showing it to us if it weren't going to matter in the future. And I don't think he's going to lose a toe and become the inspiration for the 4-toed statue.

  If his foot gets infected we could have a Philoctetes reference.

• Sawyer: "You don't have to be a wise-ass..." - Pot calling the kettle black. It's interesting to watch how well Sawyer and Juliet get along, they're such an odd pair.
• "Jones": "What are you doing on our Island!?" - Considered in light of "Jughead", this is a bit of a stupid question. Either the Losties are with the US Army and are after the bomb or they're someone else and maybe "Jones" and his group shouldn't have tried to kill them all/scatter them to the winds before determing their identity. They could have easily grabbed Miles when he was off by himself.

L.A.

• Sayid is not a morning person.
• Hot-Pocket Fu!
• Poor Ben, he's the boy who cried wolf. He's lied and manipulated so many times that when he is sincere Hurley doesn't believe him. And using Sayid as an assassin has caused a chain-reaction that backfired on him. The sad thing is that Hurley and Ben both want to go back to the Island.
• Ben: "You won't ever have to lie again." - That's laying it on a bit thick.
• Welcome to the new Lost, where Hurley outsmarts Ben.
• Congratulations Ben, people would rather confess to murders they didn't commit than have anything to do with you.
• Irony - Hurley lied to the police.

Island - 1954

• Wow, "Jones" sure is quick to chop off people's hands. Is there a surplus of beautiful women on the Island? I think "Jones" has issues.
• John Locke - Man of Action! Thrower of rocks and knives!!
• Sawyer, take somebody's shoes!

L.A. - Spooky Lab/Church

• Faith (Church) and Science (Basement Lab)
• Ms. Hawking uses a Foucault pendulum and an Apple III Monitor. The actual computer looks more like one of the Apple II variants.
• More on the lab and Foucault's pendulum: What Was That Thing On LOST? 5.02 'The Lie' Easter Eggs
• Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
• Ms. Hawking's lab could be the "Unknown", aka "Lighthouse" Station
• Screenshot of the Lab
• How did they not catch Ben blowing out his match twice in editing?
• It looks like Ben is getting his information about the Island's location and situation from Ms. Hawking.

---

Theories and Ruminations:

• Let's catch up on missing body parts:
  
  
  • Ray Mullen's missing arm
  • Hibb's missing finger
  • Martha Toomey's missing leg
  • Montand's missing arm
  • Locke's missing kidney
  • Marvin Candle's fake missing arm
  • The glass eye in the Arrow station
  • The four-toed statue
  • Mikhail's missing eye
  • Jack's missing appendix
  From: Tubular
• Lies (Just the outright ones, Not Telling the Whole Truth could be another list)
  • Faraday lied about what he did at the Swan station.
  • Hurley will probably never pay Sayid back like he promised.
  • Hurley lies to the convenience store clerk - a lot.
  • Jack lies to Ben aboconvenienceut intending to throw out his pills.
  • Hurley's Dad lies to the police.
  • Frogurt lies about where the non-existent knife is.
  • Hurley's Dad deceives the police by hiding Sayid in the back of his SUV.
  • It's hard to say what, but Sun must have lied about something to Kate.
  • Hurley lied to his mother about not knowing anyone who would want to hurt him.
  • I'm going to count Ben telling Hurley that he "would never have to lie again" as exaggeration. I'm interpreting him as meaning Hurley would never have to lie about what happened on the Island again.
  • Hurley lies to the police about killing people.

• The Others are really vicious in 1954. Why did they open fire on the Losties? If they had watched them for any length of time they would have known that they weren't associated with the Army. They could have easily grabbed Miles for questioning when he was off by himself. So either they had just come upon the Losties and immediately decided to attack or they knew the Losties weren't the enemy and attacked anyway.

  And what about Widmore beginning his questioning by chopping off hands? His questions indicate that he knows they aren't Army, why does he think that cutting off somebody's hand is justified?

  Contrast the Other's behavior with the lack of overt hostility they showed the season 1-4 survivors. Did the 2004 Others not wipe out the Losties because they knew some of them would have to time travel to the past?
• Locke killed an Other in 1954 - he committed the same crime they convicted Juliet for.

• Let's assume that the O6 need to return to the Island because their leaving creates a "bad" future timeline - They need to do something on the Island that creates the past we have. What part could Locke's body have in insuring the past happens correctly? My head hurts.

  Oh, oh...I'll bet that when the O6 do return to the Island they join in the time skipping. Then they'll have to do something in the past. As "Jughead" showed us, the corollary to Rule#1 (if it didn't happen it can't happen) is that if it did happen it has to happen - example: Locke telling Richard his name before Locke was born and Faraday telling the Others to bury the bomb.

  Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh - but for this to work it means that the O6 were "supposed" to time travel to the past in the future that would have happened if Charlie hadn't contacted Penny and turned off the Looking Glass. But in that future Ben wouldn't need to turn the FDW and set off the time travelling. Or would he?

• Not my Theory: Did time travelers rescue Locke, Eko and Desmond from the Swan implosion?

---

Recaps and Articles

• Lost 5.02 Two-Faced Liars , by Luhks
• DRIZZLE DRAZZLE DRUZZLE DROME (combined EP #1 & EP #2 recap), by Fishbiscuitland
• S5Ep2 - The Lie, by Long Live Locke
• 'Lost' recap: True Lies, by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly)
• 5 X 02: The Lie , by GitsieGirl
• Lost: The Boy With a Thorn in His Side, by Tubular
• Many recaps were of both "Because You Left" and "The Lie" combined. Links for these are at the end of my "Because You Left" Recap

"Following the airing of "Because You Left", many fans attributed Locke's limping when he and Boone found the Beechcraft in "Deus Ex Machina" to an assumed "phantom pain" that had somehow temporarily superimposed itself onto past/future Locke via time travel, caused by Ethan shooting a time-jumping Locke in the leg just as Locke was about to climb up to the newly crashed Beechcraft in "Because You Left". This theory ignores the specifics of Locke's problems in "Deus Ex Machina", however: There, he got hit in the leg (the same one Ethan would shoot him in) by a piece of shrapnel from a broken trebuchet, which caused him to realize that he was losing his feeling in both legs (the piece of shrapnel was not the cause, but an indicator of the problem). On the way to the Beechcraft, Locke's legs - both of them - eventually failed altogether (shortly before that, Boone specifically pointed out that Locke was limping on the other leg, which was not hit by the shrapnel), until Boone fell to his death. None of this bears any resemblance to what Locke was going through after Ethan shot him in the leg beyond a very cursory glance. "

"Apophenia is the perception of patterns, or connections, where in fact none exist. Most psychologists agree that this condition exists in everyone, to some degree; it is a bias of the human mind. "

I still like the idea of memories being transfered between a time-traveler and their "normal" existence.

The Sign Says "No Missionaries"!

• The recap show "Destiny Calls" is narrated by Doug Hutchison , aka Horace Goodspeed. Horace is dead.

---

Dharma Initiative - The Island - 1970s?

• Pierre Chang's baby lets him sleep in till 8:15. Normal babies would wake him up at 1:08.

• Questions:

  • Was the Chang baby born on the Island?
  • If so, what is killing pregnant woman now?
  • Is the baby someone we know? Miles or Jin? If he was born in 1973 he would be 35 in 2008, maybe a little old for Miles.
  • Pierre Chang's Baby

• Pierre likes a little Willie Nelson first thing in the morning.

  Shotgun Willie (1973):

  "Shotgun Willie sits around in his underwear
  Bitin' a bullet, pullin' out all of his hair
  Shotgun Willie has got all of his family there

  You can't make a record if you ain't got nothin' to say
  You can't make a record if you ain't got nothin' to say
  You can't play music if you don't know nothin' to play"

  Subtext: The Dharma Initiative is is under siege and their motives for being on the Island are suspect.

  Contrast this to Desmond's wakeup tune, "Make Your Own Kind of Music":

  "Nobody can tell ya
  There's only one song worth singing
  They may try and sell ya
  'Cause it hangs them up to see someone like you

  Chorus:
  But you've gotta make your own kind of music
  

  Sing your own special song
  Make your own kind of music
  Even if nobody else sings along

  You're gonna be knowing
  The loneliest kind of lonely
  It may be rough going
  Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do

  Chorus:
  So if you cannot take my hand
  And if you must be going
  I will understand

• Foreshadowing: The record skips
• Pierre is using the name "Marvin Candle" today. He's also used Mark Wickmund and Edgar Halliwax.
• He's wearing a Swan station logo on his lab coat.
• Dr. Chang says the purpose of the Arrow station is to "develop defensive strategies and gather intelligence on the Island's hostile indigenous population".
• Dr. Chang is a bit of a dick, which is why he's spilling secrets to construction foremen.
• RULE #1: You cannot go back and kill Hitler - the past cannot be changed.
• Question: What manipulations of time can you do if you cannot change the past?
• If the energy of the Frozen Donkey Wheel (FDW) is released, "God help us all"
• The FDW is older than Dharma. No surprise there.
• Faraday is working on the construction crew of the Orchid station.
• Articles on other orientation videos that concern time travel:
  • Orchid Orientation Video
  • Dharma Booth Video

L.A. - Present day

• Jack: "They're not my friends anymore"

  From S1E14 - "Special":
  Walt: "Mr. Locke didn't do anything wrong. He's my friend."
  Michael: "He's not your friend anymore. I'm looking out for you."

  I'm pretty sure Locke has said this too.

• Jack: "How did all this happen?"
  Ben: "It happened because you left, Jack"
  • Big Question 1: What's the relationship between the O6 leaving the Island and the Big Bad Time Skips?
  • Big Question 2: What are the Losties going to have to do once they're back to stop the Skipping?
• Why doesn't Walt have to go back? Was he "supposed" to leave?
• Sign behind Ben: "Safety First - Don't try to lift more than you are able"
• I wouldn't be surprised if Jack is lying to Ben about not knowing about the Time Skips. Of course Ben knows all about it.
• On a prosaic note, I think there was a football game on the radio in Ben and Jack's motel room.

The Island - 3 years ago

• If it was Dec 31, 2004 when Ben turned the FDW, the L.A. scenes occur around the beginning of January 2008 (hey, that's NOW!).
  • Lostpedia Timeline: December 2004
  • Lostpedia Timeline: Post-Island
  • Lostpedia Timeline: Post-Moving

• See Frogurt. See Frogurt's red shirt. Count the minutes he has left to live.
• Sawyer's pretty observant.
• Please keep asking questions Sawyer, please.
• The first Time Skip happened when Ben turns the FDW and "moves" the Island.

L.A.

• Kate: "He goes into that tunnel, he's never coming out"
• The Tunnel Cartoon
• Tunnel Cartoon - 1940s Superman
• The lawyers are from "Agostini and Norton".

  Lodovico Agostini

  "Agostini was fond of musical enigmas, puzzles, surprise and double-entendre, and his many musical collections display this. Enigmi musicali and L'echo, et enigmi musicali are full of bizarre chromatic progressions, instrumental interpolations, and other musical curiosities."

  Characters from the Incarnations of Immortality - Norton

  "Gawain again approaches Norton, who is left with little direction in life and refuses to father a child with another woman, but this time the ghost comes with the proposition of becoming the Incarnation of Time, Chronos, to rule over all earthly aspects of time. This entails living backwards in time until the moment of his birth—or conception; presumably the officeholder knows, but it is never made clear in the books—which Gawain tells Norton will allow him to see Orlene, who is alive in the past. With this Norton accepts, and Gawain leads him to the place where Norton's predecessor, the future Incarnation of Time, hands him the powerful hourglass.

  Norton immediately begins literally to live backwards in time, and by experimenting with his hourglass and asking Sning learns he can travel in time in either direction, halt time, and temporarily live forwards in time, in synch with mortals and the only instance in which they can sense him outside of his backwards mansion in Purgatory. He is visited by the Incarnation of Fate, who gives him some helpful information and co-operates with him in her work, fixing tangles in her threads of fate with the help of his hourglass, widely recognized as the most powerful magical device in the world.

  Because Norton lives backwards in time, his past is everyone else's future, making him an isolated character even among the other Incarnations. He also realises that this will make it impossible to have a relationship with the forward-living Orlene. He does, however, have an affair with Clotho, the youngest aspect of Fate. This is both awkward and intriguing to Norton since her past is his future."

• Who sent the Lawyers? Ben, Sun, Widmore?
• I wouldn't have left by the front door.

The Island

• It's a tropical Island, why is Miles wearing his hood up?
• See, giving that explanation wasn't so hard, was it? I look forward to more explanations, slapping optional.
• Yemi's Beechcraft crashed in the late 1990's
• If Locke had managed to get to the plane, he probably would have died just like Boone did/would. In fact, Ethan might be a course correction preventing Locke from changing the past.
• Locke's fall references all his other falls.
• Why would Ethan execute Locke? Locke knows things he shouldn't, he should be interrogated.
• Big Question/Problem: If Lost Time-Travel Rule #1 is The Past Cannot Be Changed, then how can Locke meet Ethan years before the crash, tell Ethan his name (which Ethan will see again when he is sent to learn who the tail-section survivors are), and then in a very memorable way, presumably disappear into thin air?

London Airport

• Who was Sun trying to call?
• The Custom's computer is running Adobe Photoshop. Ooops.
• Sun is flying Oceanic Airlines. Widmore says they only do what he says. Does this connect Widmore with the crash?
• I still don't understand why Sun wants Ben dead instead of Widmore.

L.A.

• I think it's a bit much for Hurley to be a suspect. How did he get a gun into the mental hospital? Who was the guy outside the hospital, and why did he have a gun? What was he doing sitting outside at that time of night, and why would Hurley shoot him? Person of Interest, sure, but not a named suspect.
• Rainbow Drive-in, reference to "The Wizard of Oz"?
• We all need cool code-names, Hugo.
• The guys waiting for Sayid aren't very good - that tape was pretty obvious.
• They don't want Sayid dead.
• Dishwasher-Fu!!

Island - After second Time Skip - Night

• Hatch is all 'sploded - It's post-November 27, 2004
• Faraday explains Time Skip Rule #1 - You can't change the past.
• Faraday has studied the Dharma Initiative.
• Who can stop the Time Skips? - cut to Locke.
• Richard: "What comes around, goes around". But Charlie shot Ethan, not Locke.
• Richard may be ageless, but he needs glasses to operate on Locke's leg.
• Richard says that he didn't go anywhere, Locke did. This indicates that the Losties+Juliet are moving in time, not the Island.
• Richard says the O6 are already home. This means Time Skip #2 moved the Losties+Juliet into the FUTURE (Their future, post-January 1, 2005).
• The compass may be the same compass Richard tested child Locke with in Cabin Fever , even though it looks different, or it could just be a reference.
• The compass could be stuck in a loop. Locke gives Richard the compass in the past, tells him to save him in the future, then Richard gives Locke the compass in the future, then Locke jumps to the past, rinse and repeat.

  Compass Paradox

• Richard says that to save the Island, the O6 have to return and Locke has to die.
• The 3rd Time Skip sends Locke back right to after the Beechcraft crashed.

Island - 1990s

• Sawyer calls Faraday "Dilbert".
• Here comes Rule #1 again.
• Nosebleeds - the first sign of Time Skip sickness?
• Why doesn't Desmond remember visiting Faraday at Oxford?
• The Rules do not apply to Desmond. He is uniquely speciial.
• What were they looking for in the trees?

Dez and Penny's boat - Present Day

• Desmond can have time-release memories from the past.
• Desmond is lowering, not raising the anchor. Oops.

Theories/Questions

• If you can time-travel to the future, then the future exists. If the future exists, then the present is the future's past, and cannot be changed. In fact, past present and future cannot be changed. I'm going to let this slide. Besides, Desmond is SPECIAL (It's the accent).
• Desmond changed the future by saving Charlie until his death allowed the O6 to get off the Island. This "wasn't supposed to happen".
• Why is Juliet Time Skipping?
• Are Cindy and the kids and the other abducted Losties Time Skipping?
• Widmore can't be killed because he's alive in the future.
• Did Ben know that Alex was alive in the future, is that why he thought she wouldn't be killed be Keamey? But then why was Ben worried about Alex getting pregnant?
• Theory: In the future you travel to the past. Since you were in two places at once in the past, memories can be shared or transfered.

  Examples:

  • Locke finds Yemi's Beechcraft in a dream.
  • Locke loses use of his legs when he and Boone get to the Beechcraft , maybe a "memory" of being shot by Ethan.
  • Faraday crying about Flight 815

Recaps

• DRIZZLE DRAZZLE DRUZZLE DROME, by Fishbiscuitland
• Lost Recap 5×01 & 5×02: Because You Left and The Lie, by The Ack Attack
• Lost: Telling Time, by J. Wood
• Lost 5.01: Very Bad Things, by Luhks
• Thoughts on Because You Left and The Lie... , by Eye M Sick
• 'Lost' Dueling Analysis: A Moving Season Premiere, by Celebritology
• Lost Friday, by Communist Dance Party
• 'Lost' Recap: Past, Present, and Future Tense, by Jeff Jensen - Entertainment Weekly
• 'Lost': Faith, Science...and Scooby-Doo , by Jeff Jensen, Again
• Lost Season Five Premiere: 2 Hours of Time Travel, Wormholes and Exotic Matter, by Popular Mechanics
• MythBuster Adam Savage on Lost Premiere: James Cameron's Time Travel has Nothing on Lost, at Popular Mechanics, Again
• Things I Noticed - "Because You Left and The Lie", by Vozzek69
• Lost Easter Eggs for Episode 5.1 "Because You Left", by Buddy TV
• Episode 5.01 - Because You Left - Continuity Issues
• Lost: These Things Take Time, by Tubular
• 5 X 01: Because You Left, by Gitsie Girl
• S5Ep1 - Because You Left, by Long Live Locke
• Liveblogging the Lost season five premiere, at Kottke.org
• Is LOST Losing Itself?, by Sledgeweb
• J. Wood’s Otherville Book Club - 5.01 and 5.02
• Talking LOST - 5x01 Because You Left, by Sledgeweb

Lost - Move the Island - YouTube

"Before the show's premiere in September 2004, the producers were unsure that "Lost" would last beyond a few episodes. They therefore spent little time keeping track of the interlocking, overlapping and often confounding story lines that began to emerge even in the first episode.

But when the series proved to be an out-of-the-gate hit, "we quickly realized we needed some system to keep track of all the details, that we weren't going to be able to do that by memory," said Carlton Cuse, one of the show's executive producers.

Enter Mr. Nations, who has now compiled an archive that, were he ever to print it out, might - as he put it in an interview at the "Lost" production offices on Disney's Burbank studio lot - give "War and Peace" a run for its money.

Just how long the entire document is he does not know; he has never printed it out in full, in part because he and his secretive bosses do not want copies falling into the wrong hands. But he has multiple electronic copies, which he keeps in undisclosed locations.

In addition to charting story arcs and tracking characters, Mr. Nations has noted each character's sojourns on and off the island, mapped the research stations established by the mysterious Dharma Initiative and recorded the appearances and disappearances of polar bears, Smoke Monsters and an unhealthy array of guns.

"It didn't take us very long to learn to rely on Gregg when we had to check out an issue of continuity," Mr. Cuse said. "He had timelines, charts, dossiers. He took it into a dimension that exceeded anything that we could imagine.""

I'm slightly surprised that no one has tried to kidnap or blackmail Mr. Nations.

Cue the obsession...

Wed, Jan 21, 2009

8 pm: Recap Show
9 pm: "Because You Left"
10 pm: "The Lie"

Slightly better quality Season 5 Promo and Screencaps

First Six Episode Titles

• Episode 5.01 - Because You Left
• Episode 5.02 - The Lie
• Episode 5.03 - Jughead
• Episode 5.04 - The Little Prince
• Episode 5.05 - This Place is Death
• Episode 5.06 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

More Promo Screencaps

And try to wrap your head around this: Daniel at the entrance to an unimploded Swan Station being greeted by someone in a biohazard suit:

Flashback, Time-Travel, or something else?

Via Lost In Thought in Alabama

"Four years into the magical mystery tour that is Lost, I think it's safe to say, if we're at all honest with ourselves, that there isn't a one of us who has any idea what the hell is going on. There are so many clues in play now, so many images, mysteries, themes, characters, symbols, all swirling around our heads like the chickens and bicycles in the twister that took Dorothy to Oz. We get a sense from time to time that we're glimpsing the secret behind it all, and then just like that, it's torn away from us again and we're as confused as ever before. What none of us know yet, is whether or not Lost is ever going to make any sense. It spins us around in a big whirlpool of pictures and slogans and icons and books and maps and drawings and numbers and faces. It's only natural to wonder sometimes if we're just being dazzled with bullshit. "