Questions to Ponder and Spoilers, 23 May 2006

Last week's episode, "Three Minutes," brings up a lot of questions.

I think the biggest question is why were those four people—and only those four—on the list that Ms. Klugh gave to Michael? It makes sense that the Others would want to capture the leader types, which at the very least would include Jack. Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley have not proven themselves to be leaders, however. If they want Jack and Sawyer, it only makes sense for them to want Kate because she's the perfect bartering chip for both of them, like Walt is for Michael. So why Sawyer and Hurley? Why not Locke? If the fake Henry Gale was telling the truth (which is difficult to determine), his mission was to retrieve Locke, so why wasn't Locke on Michael's list? On the LOSTCasts podcast [links to podcasts can be found in the sidebar] and again on Jay and Jack's Monday podcast, it was suggested that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley were on the list because they're the only ones who have seen visions on the island (not counting dreams—that is, these four have all "seen things that shouldn't have been there" during the day). This makes sense at first; Jack saw his dead father running through the jungle, Sawyer and Kate both saw the black horse that Kate knew from before the island, and Hurley saw his imaginary friend Dave. However, the puzzle piece that doesn't fit with this theory is Sayid. Both Shannon and Sayid saw Walt in the jungle just before Shannon was shot. So if that theory is correct, then why wouldn't the Others want Sayid? So far I haven't come across any theories that adequately explain why only those four and none of the other survivors were on the list.

Another mystery: how in the world did "Walt" (or whoever was communicating with Michael via the terminal) type so darn fast? That didn't seem to make much sense. One theory is that Walt was sending the message using his mind rather than typing it. However, if it really was Walt who wrote the message, why would he have insisted that Michael come alone? It seems a lot more likely that one of the Others was writing the message in order to lure Michael in, "compromise" him, and use him as bait for the other survivors. On the other hand, wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just get Michael to bring the people on the list in the first place, rather than having to take a second trip?

What in the world made Vincent bring a heroin statue to Charlie? That seemed more than a little bit strange to have been a mere coincidence... but then again, the strange and unexplained seems to be a popular theme on this show. =)

Where did Locke go at the end of the episode? Some have speculated that he went back to The Pearl to check the printout to see whether the fake Henry really pushed the Button. This would certainly fit with the official synopsis of next episode, which says that Locke and Eko "come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the 'button' and the hatch." We can expect to find out where Locke went at the end of "Three Minutes" during this week's season finale.

What's up with the boat? My theory is that it's Desmond's boat. We know from the official ABC synopsis of "Live Together, Die Alone" that Desmond is returning for the season finale, and apparently there will be Desmond flashbacks, so it makes sense for Desmond to come back at the beginning of the episode.

On another note, The LOST Experience alternate reality game continues to go strong. See the Lostpedia timeline and clues pages for details. The most interesting thing is that "Hugh McIntyre," a Hanso Foundation employee, is scheduled to be on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tomorrow night after the season finale airs. Did ABC hire an actor to play Hugh McIntyre on the show? I'm interested in seeing what ABC has up its sleeve, so I'm planning to record it.

**SPOILER ALERT!** Here are some interesting spoilers about the season finale. According to the LOSTCasts podcast, executive producer Carlton Cuse told Newsweek that the season finale is going to explain why the plane crashed, show what happens when the button doesn't get pressed, and resolve the Michael and Walt story. Desmond (the hatch's previous occupant) reappears and isn't in good shape, "though he gives the survivors fresh hope for escape." We'll also start to understand that what happens on the island has a significant effect on what's happening in the rest of the world. Newsweek also reveals that another character might die in the season finale; they had previously interviewed Michelle Rodriguez ("Ana Lucia") and asked her to guess who would die next after Libby, but she said she couldn't guess because she already knew. On the Official LOST Podcast for May 19th, the executive producers hinted that Kelvin (who, as I've mentioned previously, was Desmond's former hatch-mate and will be appearing in this week's episode) might have been the one who created the blast door map. Thus, it was implied that we might find out more about the mysterious map in the season finale.