"Across the Sea" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister, Alex aka Congested, and other fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 15, "Across the Sea".

Season 6 Episode 15 "Across the Sea":
Flashback:

• A woman (Claudia) comes out of water gasping - she's pregnant and wounded
• Another woman says in Latin, "You hurt?  Let me help you."
• Claudia and the other woman both speak Latin and English
• Woman: "If there are other people on the Island, I will find them."
• Claudia gives birth - "His name is Jacob."
• She didn't pick a name for the twin - Esau?
• In the Bible, Jacob and Esau were twins, but Esau was born first (not the other way around as in the LOST story of Jacob and his brother)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esau
• I called him Esau in my notes since the young boy was never named in the show and I needed something to call him other than Man in Black since he wasn't a man.  In the script he's called "Boy in Black" according to Kenton Duty, the actor who played young Jacob (see interview link in spoiler section; some of the interview may contain spoilers)
• Woman kills Claudia with a rock
• How does she expect to feed the babies without their mother's milk?
• "boar milk" -kane
• This must be the mother that the Man in Black was telling Kate about
• Her name is apparently just "Mother" in the script; we never get her name in the episode, either
   
• Esau teaches Jacob how to play a game - it has light and dark pieces like Backgammon, the game Locke taught Walt
• This young Jacob, by the way, is the boy that the MIB saw in the jungle in previous episodes
• Why did the MIB see young Jacob, rather than seeing Jacob at the age when he died?
    
• Woman: "Do you love me, Jacob?  Then tell me what happened."
   
• Woman to Esau: "Jacob doesn't know how to lie.  You're... special."
• She says she left the game for Esau, refuting his belief that it came from "across the sea" (the episode title)
• Woman: "There is nowhere else.  The Island is all there is."
• Esau: "What's dead?"
• Fake Mother: "Something you will never have to worry about."
• Why do Jacob and the MIB seem to be (mostly) immortal?
• Was Mother lying, or wrong?  MIB looked like he died when he became the smoke monster; his body was left behind, and Jacob buried him.  Is he supposed to not be dead, even though he no longer has a body?
• Is Mother currently immortal because she's the current "Jacob" (Island protector)?
• Mother doesn't seem to be immortal because she was impaled by MIB
• Jacob was immortal but was impaled by Ben because MIB found a loophole; if Mother was immortal like Jacob, what was the loophole MIB used to kill her?
   
• Jacob and Esau chase a boar - a scene straight out of the book "Lord of the Flies" which Sawyer has mentioned before
• Natives kill the boar
   
• Mother: "We are here for a reason."
• "What reason?"
• Mother: "It's not time yet. [She gives into pressure from Esau.] Come with me"
• Mother: "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt, it always ends the same."
• Same line as MIB used in Season 5 finale
• Mother: "I've made it so you can never hurt each other."
• How?
• Was this a lie?  Jacob was able to bloody his face, and threw him into the light which seems to have (apparently, sort of) killed MIB
• Glowing tunnel in the stream
• Mother: "This is the reason we're here.  Don't go in there."
• Mother: "A light.  The warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt.  And we must make sure that no one ever finds it."
• Mother: "A little bit of this light is inside every man.  And they always want more."
• Mother: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• "there's a theory, that's it's the garden of eden down there,lol" -kane
• She says "It will have to be one of you" who protects the light forever
   
• Playing game
• Esau: "You can't do that Jacob.  It's against the rules.  One day you can make up a new game and everyone else will have to follow your rules."
• Esau sees a manifestation of his real mother, Claudia, but Jacob can't see her
• Hurley can do this too
• Esau is "special" -- and Jacob is not?  Esau has communion with the Island and can see dead people --congested
   
• Claudia leads Esau across the Island to the natives' village
• "They came here 13 years ago.  The day before you were born."
• Claudia tells Esau the truth that he comes from "across the sea" (the episode title again)
   
• Fake Mother tells Esau "You will never be able to leave this Island."
• Esau vows to prove it one day, and goes off to be with the other people
• "i wonder how mib introduced himself to that camp. hey hows it going i been wondering around in the jungle for 13 years and taught myself english" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Fake Mother tells Jacob she couldn't let him go with Claudia and her people because "I needed you to stay good."
• Jacob: "Then why do you love him more than me?"
• Woman asks Jacob to stay with her, and he says "Yes.  For a while."
• At the time I wondered: Does he plan to go with the other people when he leaves her?
       
• Older Jacob building a tapestry on a loom, still with his fake mother
• Jacob watches MIB with the other people and plays the game with him away from the others
• Jacob frequently watches and visits MIB
• MIB says he found a way off the Island and throws a dagger at a magnetic well
• Jacob doesn't want to leave the Island because it's his home, and MIB says "Well it's not mine"
   
• MIB is a blacksmith, making weapons
• Fake Mother visits him
• MIB says he's searched for the light for 30 years, and figured out another way to reach it
• Esau pulls a stone out of the wall and the light shines through onto a wheel
• The wheel (apparently the frozen donkey wheel) is part of "a system that channels the water and the light.  I'm going to turn it and when I do I'm finally going to leave this place."
• "the light went out so it got cold" hence the freezing of the wheel -mibmadedonkeywheel
• "the light can't go out" -kane
• Mother said earlier: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• Fake Mother bashes MIB's head against the wall near the light opening
• Was she trying to kill him to stop him from leaving the Island?
       
• Fake Mother wakes up Jacob and said "It's time."
• Mother: "You're going to protect it now."
• Jacob: "What's down there?"
• Mother: "Life, death, rebirth, its the source, the heart of the Island.  Just promise me, no matter what you do, you won't ever go down there."
• "before jacob and his brother there was no balance. she said it herself the light is life, death and rebirth  all in one. i think now the light is only life and rebirth" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Jacob: "Would I die?"
• Mother: "It would be worse than dying, Jacob.  Much worse."
• How does she know?  Were there already smoke monsters prior to the MIB?
• She pulls out a bottle, says something in Latin, and gives it to Jacob to drink
• She says he'll protect this place as long as he can
• Mother: "Please, take the cup and drink" - Biblical reference?
• Taking the cup is a metaphor for committing to a task or duty, especially a difficult one
• Jacob was uneasy about taking the cup, similar to Jesus:
• Luke 22:42 "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
• Mother: "Now you and I are the same"
• Both protectors of the Island
• This may also be another scriptural reference/metaphor.  See this passage in which Jesus prays to the Father that the disciples may become "one" ("the same" in Mother's terms) "even as we are one" (being perfectly united in purpose; in the case of Jacob and Mother, their purpose is to be protectors of the light):
• John 17:21-23 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one..."
   
• MIB wakes up above ground, back of head has blood on it
• The well has been covered up with dirt and rocks, and there's a fire elsewhere on the Island - all his people are dead and their structures are burning
• How did Fake Mother kill all those Other People?!  Is she a smoke monster?  
• "i think she was a smoke monster" -kane
• Does being a smoke monster explain how she knows what entering the light will do to you?
• She can't be a smoke monster because MIB killed her by impaling her - MIB can't be killed that way as we know from when Sayid tried - no blood
• "sayid was a candidate. maybe he [Sayid] couldn't kill him [MIB]" -kane
• However, Bram shot MIB and he didn't bleed then either, and Bram was not a candidate
• Maybe there's another smoke monster on the Island, and that's how she knew what going into the light would do, and also how the other people died
• MIB recovers his game board and gets very angry
   
• Mother finds her camp, loom, etc. destroyed and Esau's game is there
• She opens it and finds a white and black stone.  She examines the black one and is impaled from behind by MIB
• Is she Eve from the caves?  Then who's Adam?  (We find out later)
• Jacob throws the MIB into the light and he comes out as a blast of black smoke - the Smoke Monster
   
• Jacob later sees MIB's dead body at the stream and brings it to the caves next to his fake mother's body - Esau is "Adam" from the caves
• So he no longer has a body - this must explain what the MIB meant when he said Jacob had taken away his humanity
• This may also explain why the MIB can't be shot/stabbed… although he does still seem to have some physicality because he can hold guns, he carried Richard and later Sun, etc.
• Flash to when Jack and Kate found the bodies and the stones in the bag
• They didn't show that Jack guessed they had been decomposing for something like 50 years
• "the episode was supposed to be named 23 A.D." -mibmadedonkeywheel -- if that was the original title of the episode that would mean it's been nearly 2000 years but Damon Lindelof said in an interview (linked in the spoiler section because the interview may contain spoilers) "it's several thousand" years

Other questions, comments, and theories discussed in the chat:

• Did the smoke monster exist prior to MIB being thrown into the light?
• Looked to me like the MIB became the smoke monster immediately after entering the light
• "like it took his mind maybe" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Very interesting theory!  This makes sense because we know the smoke monster has John Locke's memories.  Perhaps the smoke monster already existed before, but it just took the MIB's memories
          
• Alex (congested) thinks that the MIB/smoke monster wants to get into the alternate timeline where there is no cork because the Island is sunk
   
• What happened to the light in the alternate timeline?  It's under the ocean with the Island, or was it extinguished?
• Mother: "A little bit of this light is inside every man.  And they always want more."
• Mother: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• So if the light goes out, what happens?  Everybody dies?  Becomes corrupt?
• Did the light go out in the flash-sideways timeline when the Island sunk?
   
• "now the question is who found out the pylons would keep smokey out" -mibmadedonkeywheel
   
• "i just wish I knew half the stuff she knew. seems like there was a lot she didn't share with Jacob when turning over the job." -cliftongibbons
   
• "i bet locke will come from the sideways and battle mib to see the light" -mibmadedonkeywheel
   
• "oh one more thing when mib went to live with the camp he learned greed,mistrust and all the other bad things from them. and it was like their mother knew that he had to take in all that bad energy. jacob stayed pure" -mibmadedonkeywheel

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Congested's alternate version of the scene where Jacob buried Mother and Man in Black (with Jack, Kate, and Locke clips cut out): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn0wo5P4x30

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Various clips of Jack, Ben, Sun and Jin, the temple, clips from the flash-sideways (James punching the mirror), MIB breaking the bottle, Locke (both in casket and alive)
• The Doors song "The End" plays
• "The End" is the title of the final episode of the series finale according to The Official LOST Podcast
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTMGCvPeY18 

Geronimo Jack's Beard:

• After Sayid tells Jack that Desmond is in the well, he also says "It's going to be you, Jack."  According to GJB, "you" is underlined in the script.  When I watching this scene, I assumed that Sayid meant that Jack would be the one to save Desmond.  However, Beth Shady (aka Sidekick22) from GJB points out that in the script, the stage direction just after this line says "And Jack's just as confused by that as we are."  Jorge Garcia and Beth Shady both believe that Sayid meant that Jack was the candidate who would replace Jacob.  This theory would seem to fit with the episode title ("The Candidate") as well as the centricity of the episode (Jack-centric), even though Jack called Locke "a candidate" for reconstructive spinal surgery in the flash-sideways.  Perhaps the remark about Locke being "a candidate" was a red herring, and the candidate is Jack.  On the other hand, how would Sayid have known that Jack would be the candidate to replace Jacob?  Sayid was infected and on the MIB's side.
• Alex (congested) doesn't think Jack replacing Jacob is going to be the main ending of the show

The Official LOST Podcast:

• Carlton Cuse said the issue of Kate apparently not being a candidate will be addressed in the show.
   
• Not all people who are dead on the show are manifestations of the Man in Black.  Hurley sees dead people on a regular basis because he has a special ability, so he can see genuine dead people such as Isabella.
   
• Not all of the "rules" (e.g. Ben and Widmore's rules) will be revealed.  Carlton Cuse: "Some of them will become clear.  Others you as an audience member are gonna get to speculate about after the show is over."
• Maybe this has to do with the rules that Esau said in this episode that Jacob would get to make up
   
• Carlton made a casual comment about the Egyptians building the Taweret (four-toed foot) statue, but Damon seemed surprised so this may or may not have actually been decided by the writers
   
• Next week's episode is titled "What They Died For" and Damon said that after watching "The Candidate": "Now you understand, perhaps, what that title means."
  

Interviews:

• HitFix interview with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse:
• http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/exclusive-interview-lost-producers-damon-lindelof-and-carlton-cuse-talk-across-the-sea
   
• Comic News Insider interview with Michael Emerson ("Ben"):
• http://www.comicnewsinsider.com/2010/05/episode-258-michael-emerson-returns-part-1.html
• Ben has scenes with Widmore this season
• Flash-sideways?  Flashback?  Or just on the Island?
• Alex (congested) speculates that Ben and Widmore see each other on the Island - maybe that's where Ben and Richard have been
• Michael Emerson also said that he filmed a 14-minute epilogue that's apparently going to be on the Season 6 DVD
   
• Lost Causes interview with Kenton Duty ("young Jacob"):
• http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lostcauses/2010/05/13/lost-causes-ab-aeterno
• The actor said he will be back on the show in at least one scene with a number of the main actors
• Based on Congested's recollection of the interview, it sounds like Ben's group may reunite with Jack's group... but how does the young Jacob character tie in with them?

---

Show off your LOST fanaticism with one of several cool designs on shirts, stickers, and other items! Visit http://bit.ly/loststore and support this site!

---

"The Candidate" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 14, "The Candidate".

Season 6 Episode 14 "The Candidate":
2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke wakes up from surgery and sees Jack
• Jack asks what caused Locke's original spinal injury that put him in a wheelchair
• Jack: "Because I think you're a candidate"
• Jack offers to fix Locke, but Locke refuses

2007 on the Island:

• Sayid to Jack: "Welcome to Hydra Island"
    
• Sawyer and Kate get put back in the cages
• Charles Widmore reveals that Kate isn't on his list, but Ford, Reyes, and the Kwons are
• Interesting... then why was Austen not crossed out in the lighthouse, as confirmed on an Official LOST Podcast?
• "i stopped taking damon and carlton seriously in season 3" -diesel929
• Widmore asks if the fence is live yet, and they say in about an hour
• Widmore says they haven't got an hour because "he's coming"

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Jack introduces himself to Bernard Nadler and asks about Locke's original injury
  Bernard gives Jack the name of the man who was with Locke: Anthony Cooper
• They realize that they were both on Flight 815

2007:

• Sayid to Jack: "Locke saved you."
• Sayid says "It's just the three of us now" because the rest of them scattered when the bomb was dropped
   
• The Man in Black asks Jack to help him convince his friends to trust him
    
• Sun puts Jin's wedding ring back on him
• The power goes out and the pylons stop working, and then the smoke monster appears and kills one of Widmore's men
• Jack shows up and takes the dead Widmore guy's keys and sets his friends free, explaining "I'm with him"
    
• Jack says that Sayid turned off the generators

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Anthony Cooper is in a nursing home
• Sawyer had been looking for Anthony Cooper
• "the james ford con may have been the last of his cons. he had been redeemed." -diesel929's theory
• Or perhaps Anthony Cooper was still in the middle of his long con of John Locke when the accident happened

2007:

• MIB finds a strange wire in the plane; is it rigged with explosives?
• MIB explains to the candidates that the plane was rigged with C4
• MIB says they need to take the submarine instead
• Sawyer pretends to be on the MIB's side, saying "Maybe I was wrong about you"
• Claire apologizes to MIB and he says it's all right
• Sawyer tells Jack to not let the MIB in the sub because he doesn't trust it

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke mutters in his sleep, "Push the button" and "I wish you had believed me"
• Lines from original timeline!  Explanation?
• Claire shows up and asks if she can talk with Jack
• Jack gets an Apollo bar from the machine
• Jack figures out that Claire was also on Flight 815; he's starting to figure out that something is weird
• Claire said she'd never even met "this man" presumably meaning her father
• In the original timeline, Claire remembered that Christian Shephard used to sing "Catch a Falling Star" to her when she was little.  Apparently in this timeline Christian didn't visit her and sing to her, or at least he stopped visiting her earlier in her life prior to the time she can remember
• Claire asks how Christian died; Jack gives the same cause of death as the original timeline
• Claire has a music box that Christian left for her that plays "Catch a Falling Star" and she doesn't know why
• Jack offers to let Claire stay with him instead of her hotel

2007:

• Sawyer and Frank Lapidus enter the sub and take control
• MIB tries again to convince Jack to board the sub, and says whoever told him he should stay didn't know what he was talking about
• Jack says that John Locke told him that, and Jack pushes the MIB into the water
• Jack made the point that he can't kill them, so the MIB couldn't directly get revenge on Jack
• Kate is shot
• MIB gets out of the water and begins taking out Widmore's men with gunfire along with Claire
  Sawyer chooses to leave Claire behind on the dock because the MIB begins to approach the sub
  Jack discovers that the MIB gave him a backpack with a bomb in it; it has less than 4 minutes left
• Sayid tries to defuse the bomb
• Jack says "Locke can't kill us" and tries to convince Sawyer not to pull the wires because they'll be killing themselves
• Sawyer pulls it anyway and it ticks down rapidly
• "when did Sawyer work for the bomb squad?" -baileybear
• Sawyer inadvertently killed Jin, Sun, and Sayid (and Frank?) if Jack is correct
• Sayid tells Jack about Desmond and then runs with the bomb to get it away from them, and sacrifices himself
• "Sayid was redeemed" -baileybear
• Here's confirmation that Desmond really is still alive; Sayid didn't kill him
• Jack, Jin, and Sawyer try to rescue Sun, who's trapped, but it's not enough to save her
• Sawyer gets knocked unconscious and Jack takes him to the surface
• Jin stays with Sun and they die together underwater
• Who will raise Ji-Yeon?  Why did neither of them think of their child?
• It's frustrating that Jin wouldn't save himself; this is similar to Charlie deciding to shut himself in rather than shut himself out with Desmond

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke explains how he got injured: "I was in a plane crash" and his father was his first passenger, and the accident was his fault, and now his father will never walk or talk again
• Jack: "What happened, happened.  And you can let it go."
• Jack: "I *can* help you, John.  I wish you believed me."

2007:

• Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate are all alive on the beach
    
• MIB: "It sunk."
• Claire: "What, they're all dead?"
• MIB: "Not all of them"
• Somehow he seems to have a connection with the candidates where he knows if they die
• MIB tells Claire he's going to go finish what he started

Other questions, comments, and theories from the chat:

• Question in chat: "do we think ajira plane isnt done yet?"
• I never thought it had a chance of working to leave the Island anyway
• "im telling you i could swear that wndshield busted. didnt a stick impale the copiloot? a stick that crashed through on impact of the olanding... lostpedia:  The co-pilot died when a tree branch came through the window and harpooned his chest, spraying blood over Frank Lapidus." -diesel929
• "Maybe MIB just used the excuse of the plane to get all the lostees together" -baileybear
• "that is the only thing that makes sense" -diesel929
   
• "interesting tidbit from lostpedia:  As of the end of this episode, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Claire, and Walt are the only main cast members from Season 1 who are still alive in the original timeline." -diesel929
    
• "the only candidates left are Jack, Sawyer and Hurley" -baileybear
• ...unless Ji-Yeon is the Kwon candidate!
• Maybe Widmore does know that Kate is still a candidate, but he was tricking Sawyer
    
• Theories: Will Kate die?
• "she can' die.  she has to resolve something with Claire first" -baileybear
• "someone needs to tell claire that her mom is out of the coma. i thnk kate should be that person. and that aaron is with his grandma" -diesel929
• "weird thing is Claire never asked where her son is" -baileybear
• ...unless that conversation happened off-camera, or was filmed but didn't make the cut to the show
• "the lost lowdown went into deep discussion about this on their podcast. the last recruit" -diesel929
   
• "what is desmond there for?" -baileybear
• Has he already fulfilled his purpose?  Widmore got him to consciousness-travel to the alternate timeline, and now in the alternate timeline Des is bringing together the Flight 815 people and getting them to have memories of the original timeline.  Perhaps that was Widmore's whole purpose in bringing Desmond back to the Island
   
• When Des ran into Locke he may have wanted to get Locke to have a near-death experience so he would remember the original timeline; we didn't get confirmation that Locke remembers it in this episode, other than his mutterings while asleep in the hospital being from the original timeline

LOST News:

• The series finale episode has been extended from 2 hours to 2.5 hours, as reported here and later confirmed on The Official LOST Podcast (thanks to KateJack for the tip)

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• There were once again reflections in the flash-sideways: a reflection of Jack and Claire was seen in the music box's mirror (screenshot)

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Locke from Season 1: "Two players, two sides.  One is light, one is dark."
• Shots of the Man in Black and Jacob
• Looks like it may be a MIB/Jacob-centric episode about their origins
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyulYb5wUVA 

Geronimo Jack's Beard: (spoiler about characters in the finale)

• Hurley, Kate, and Ben are all in the series finale episode (listen here)

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"The Last Recruit" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 13, "The Last Recruit".

Season 6 Episode 13 "The Last Recruit":
2007 on the Island:

• Man in Black to Jack: "I think we have some catching up to do."
• Jack to MIB: "Who else have you looked like?"
• Jack asks whether the apparitions of Christian Shephard were the MIB
• MIB: "Yes, that was me."
• Jack: "Why?"
• MIB: "You needed to find water. ... All I've ever been interested in is to help you.  Leave. ... Now Jacob's dead.  We don't have to be trapped here. ... Because it has to be all of us." 
• "MIB to jack 'because Jacob choose you, you were trapped on this island, before you even got here'. there must be a pull to the island from Jacobs' touch" -RedWalrus

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke says he was going to marry Helen Norwood
• Sun and John Locke get to the emergency room at the same time
• Sun recognized Locke: "What is he doing here?"
• Did she recognize him from the plane, or from the original timeline on the Island?

2007:

• Claire to Jack: "Did he tell you that he was the one pretending to be our father? ... You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us.  Whether you like it or not, you're with him now."
• According to Jorge Garcia on Geronimo Jack's Beard, Claire's line "You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us" was not in his version of the script
   
• Sawyer tells Jack, and Kate tells Sun, their secret plan to steal the submarine

2004 "flash-sideways":

• James Ford talks to Kate about her record
• "did Sawyer call Kate freckles in the squad room or did i hear wrong?" -baileybear
• Yep, he did
• Miles fills in Sawyer on the multiple homicide at the restaurant, and they plan to go after Sayid because he was caught on camera leaving the scene

2007:

• Zoe: "You took something from us, and we want it back."
• Zoe calls someone on her walkie-talkie and says "Do you have a fix on my position?  Show them what we're capable of," and a bomb is dropped and explodes nearby
• Zoe: "You have until nightfall ... or next time we won't miss.  Call me when you're ready for us to pick him up."
• They actually did miss the next time, later in the episode  ;o)
• Zoe leaves the walkie-talkie with the Man in Black
• As the members of the Man in Black's camp watch, he smashes the walkie-talkie and says "Well, here we go."

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Desmond tracks down Claire and offers to get her a lawyer to represent her with the adoption process for free
• Des and Claire go to floor 15
• Ilana Verdansky says she's been looking for Claire and asks Desmond to speak with her alone for a few minutes
• "speaking of ilana, how did des know she was looking for claire?" -kane
• We finally get her last name now that she's dead
• Her last name does not appear to be on the list of candidates in the cave or in the lighthouse

2007:

• Sawyer asks Jack to help them escape
• Meanwhile, MIB orders Sayid to kill Desmond and MIB asks Sayid if he still wants to be with Nadia again
• Is the MIB lying?  Or being deceptive?  Or will Nadia come back as a "zombie" like Sayid?
• "sayid will have to die to be with nadia. mib can't bring back the dead just like jacob couldn't bring back isabella." -kane
• "MIB can't kill Sayid right now though because he's on the list of candidates" -kane
  
• Desmond tries to reason with Sayid
• Sayid: "I died and he brought me back."
• Des: "So what will you tell her?  This woman, when she asks what you did so you could be with her again, what will you tell her?"
• Sayid shoots, but did he kill Desmond?
• Later when the MIB confronts Sayid about whether he went through with it, Sayid says he did but smiles to himself shortly after the MIB seems to have believed him
• kane and baileybear agree with me that Des is still alive
• "why didn't Zoey just take her crew and retrieve Desmond?" -baileybear
• I don't think Widmore's people knew where Desmond was
• "another one is why didn't flocke and the gang take zoey hostage,lol" -kane

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sayid: "Nadia, I'm leaving, and I'm never going to be able to come back again."
• Miles knocks on the front door
• James arrests Sayid as Sayid tries to escape out the back

2007:

• Kate is upset that Sawyer didn't tell Jack to bring Claire because Kate promised to bring her back
• Sawyer asks Kate if she really thinks it's a good idea for Claire to be around Aaron, and Kate doesn't argue
• They swim with the guns.  Wouldn't that wet the gunpowder and possibly prevent it from firing until it dried out?
   
• Claire watches Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank run off
• They get to the boat (the Elizabeth, Desmond's old boat which the MIB has claimed as his own) and Claire approaches with her rifle drawn
• Kate convinces Claire to come with them
• Claire: "He finds out we're gone, he's gonna be mad."

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Jack is walking with David and talking to David's mom on the phone
• Jack and David came to see Ilana
• Ilana introduces Jack to Claire
• Jack: "You were in my father's will.  Do you mind if I ask you how you knew him?"
• Claire: "He was my father, too."
• Jack gets a call; there's an emergency at the hospital and he says he has to reschedule

2007:

• Jack says that leaving the Island "doesn't feel right"
• Jack: "We were brought here because we're supposed to do something."  He says that maybe they need to stay on the Island, not leave, in order to thwart the Man in Black's plan
• Jack: "The Island is not done with us yet."
• Sawyer makes Jack leave the boat, and Jack apologizes for Juliet's death
• Kate watches as Jack swims back to shore and they exchange looks
• I think Jack wants Kate to feel guilty and come back for him, which she always does
• Theory: Jack's going to stay on the Island and become the next Jacob
• Or maybe Kate will; her name was crossed off in the cave but not in the lighthouse.  Perhaps Jacob did this intentionally to trick the MIB into thinking she's no longer a candidate

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sun is at the hospital in recovery, and Jin tells Sun that their baby is going to be fine
• Jack was called in to work on Locke, and Jack recognizes him
• Jack had talked with Locke at LAX when Locke lost his knives and Jack lost his father's body, and Jack offered to give Locke a free consultation about his spinal injury
• Theory: Jack is going to not only repair Locke's car crash injuries, but he's going to make him walk again
• "i agree. makes sense. lots of people have been expecting it to happen this season" -diesel929
• "unless he pulls a "ben" on him,lol, (when jack had to do surgery on ben)" -kane
• The dural sac was also mentioned in the Pilot episode of Season 1: "It was when Jack counted to five when he was operating on a girl and he cut her and her nerves spilled out like angel hair pasta" -RedWalrus

2007:

• MIB to Jack (after Jack swims to the beach): "Nice day for a swim"
  MIB: "Sawyer took my boat, didn't he?"
   
• The sonic fences are turned off so Sawyer and his friends can get through
• Sun and Jin are finally reunited
• Sun can speak English again
• "funny they don't talk korean" -RedWalrus

• Zoe makes them all kneel, and Jin does too
• Zoe tells someone via her walkie-talkie to bomb Locke
      
• The first bomb explosion lifts Jack through the air
• "great explosion, Jack really flew, liked the sound effects ...just like Kates' lost of hearing in LA X" -RedWalrus
• MIB carries Jack away from the beach and tells Jack he's okay, and "You're with me now."

• "kate and jack are adam and eve, i think. maybe it was another time loop" -kane
• "think its' rose and bernard" -RedWalrus
• Maybe, but wouldn't they have jumped back to 2007 with Kate, Jack, Sawyer, etc.?
• "even if it's rose and bernard, it would have to be another time loop" -kane
• "Now that the stones are more significant to us now maybe they aren't adam and eve. rose and bernard that is" -RedWalrus
• "yeah, i thought jack still had the rocks" -kane
• "Probably in that backpack he's been hauling around for ever" -RedWalrus

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• HIS SOUL HAD GONE MAD... BEING ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
• MIB: "[If I could?] kill you..."
• MIB: "I'm going to kill every single one of your friends."
• MIB: "There's not a [?] that you can do to stop me."
• MIB shoots someone on team Widmore
• Someone says something like "men were dead"
• Kate with clenched teeth and eyes closed
• Flash of Claire and then of the MIB's eyes and then Sawyer
• Charles Widmore: "He's coming"
• Flash of blurry Jack
• Ring being put on someone's finger - looks like a woman's hand putting a plain gold band on a man's finger
• Probably Sun returning Jin's ring
• Sawyer saying "He doesn't need you, Kate"
• Kate in the dark, apparently behind bars, with eyes wide open looking frightened
• THE HORROR
• Flash of Sun with eyes wide open
• A hand (MIB's?) grabbing a wire (perhaps in the sub?)
• Sayid in foreground, with Hurley, Sun, Jin, and the Ajira plane in the background
• MIB grabbing Claire from behind
• Sawyer holding a handgun in the jungle with Sun behind him
• Jack and Claire looking into a mirror together
• Sun turning her face toward the camera
• The MIB's angry face, with Claire's hair at the bottom of the frame
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0faS0REHPE 

• The next episode is titled "The Candidate"
• Does the title refer to Jack again, or perhaps Kate?  Who will be the candidate to replace Jacob?
• "kate really has nothing to go back to" -kane

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"Everybody Loves Hugo" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister, Spivvy from The Lost Flashbacks, and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 12, "Everybody Loves Hugo".

Reminder: Please donate if you can afford it!  I don't intend to make a profit from donations, but I'm asking for donations to help pay for getting LOST on TV so I can continue doing the live show this season.

Season 6 Episode 12 "Everybody Loves Hugo":

The episode title is a reference to Season 2 Episode 4, "Everybody Hates Hurley".

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Dr. Pierre Chang narrates a presentation about Hugo Reyes, the museum's Man of the Year
• Hugo's mother Carmen tells him that she set him up with a blind date with Rosalita

2007 on the Island:

• Puts fresh flowers on Libby's grave
• Tells Libby it would be nice if she could visit him like others who have died
• Ilana says they're going to get dynamite to destroy the plane
• Whispers
• Michael: "I'm here to stop you from getting everyone killed."
• What do the whispers mean?  (Note: We find out later in the episode.)  A dead person is nearby?  We used to think it was associated with The Others or perhaps the smoke monster, but now it's really unclear; Michael can't be the smoke monster because he's stuck in the form of Locke, and it can't be The Others either
• Hurley: "Why should I trust you?  You murdered Libby and Ana Lucia"

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Libby sits down at Hugo's table at a restaurant and introduces herself
• "Hugo, do you believe that two people can be connected, like soulmates? ... You don't remember me, do you?"
• Dr. Brooks: "What are you doing, Elizabeth?"
• Libby: "He's an old friend"
• Hugo watches Libby enter a van with "Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute" on the side

2007:

• Ilana accidentally detonates the dynamite and blows herself up, à la Arzt
   
• Man in Black: "You were only able to come back to this Island because you all did it together. ... We're waiting for your friends to get back, Kate. Hugo, Sun, Jack."
• "they still can't leave yet, they dont have jin" -kane
• "trade off desmond for jin" -kane
• Charles probably wouldn't trade Jin back to the MIB, unless perhaps Charles thinks getting Desmond back will be critical to winning the war
• Sayid returns and takes the MIB to see what was on the sub—it's Desmond, who is tied to a tree
• MIB tilts his head to the side and smiles oddly
• What does he think was the purpose of bringing Desmond back to the Island?  Is he smiling out of amusement?  Or was he already hatching a plan (e.g. an exchange so he could get Jin back)?
• Hurley looks though Ilana's stuff, including a book in Russian and her bag of Jacob ash
• What does he plan to do with the ash?
• Ilana's book (if you can read Russian, please post an English translation of the book title in the comments): http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-1544-167.html

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Desmond tells Hurley to give Libby a chance to explain how she thinks she knew him
• Desmond's order is number 42

2007:

• MIB frees Desmond
• Desmond responds, "Of course.  You're John Locke" when the Man in Black asks Desmond if he knows who he is
• Does Desmond really think it's Locke, or has Charles Widmore told him the truth?
   
• Ben comments on Ilana's death and wonders aloud about what will happen to the rest of them when the Island is done with them
• Meanwhile, Jack is holding a shotgun over his shoulder that's almost directly pointed at Sun's head
• Hurley detonates the Black Rock: "I'm protecting us."
• He's lucky the shrapnel didn't kill all of them

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Doctor: "She has issues with reality."
• Hurley offers a donation of $100,000 to see her
• No Leonard Simms; he was only there in the original timeline because the Island existed beyond 1977
• Libby talks about her memories of the original timeline on the Island and in the mental hospital
• Libby is there voluntarily

2007:

• MIB and Desmond see the boy in the jungle
• MIB tells Desmond to ignore him
• He really looks a lot like Jacob!
• "it's definitely jacob" -kane
• "someone point out previously it's like the island is a genesis, so jacob is being reborn. spockish" -kane
• Hurley tries to convince the others to go talk to Locke, and pretends that Jacob instructed him to do that
• What is Hurley's plan?  Why is he lying?
• Does he plan to use the Jacob dust somehow against the Man in Black?
• Richard calls him out on it, and tries to convince the others that they still need to destroy the plane
• Ben and Miles go with Richard
• Frank Lapidus shakes his head at Richard, and Jack says that he's going to go with Hurley to talk to Locke
• Sun doesn't respond; she understands English but presumably still can't speak it, but she obviously didn't choose to go with Richard
• Sun writes "Did we make a mistake?" to Lapidus, who says "Probably."
• Whispers
• Hurley: "Wait.  It's cool.  I think I know what these things are."
• Hurley to Michael: "You're stuck on the Island, arent you?"
• Michael: "Because of what I did. ... We're the ones who can't move on."
• "not sure about the whispers, i remember sayid being in the jungle by himself and he was surrounded by the whispers. so are the whispers (the ghosts) trying to warn whoever at that specific time?" -kane
• Hurley: "Do you know where Locke is?  [Michael tells him.]  Thanks.  Is, is there anything I can do to help you?"
• Michael: "Don't get yourself killed.  And Hurley?  If you ever do see Libby again, tell her I'm very sorry."
• Hurley: "I'll be sure and do that, dude."

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Picnic on a beach with Libby
• Libby kisses Hurley and he suddenly has flashes of remembrance of her
• Desmond watches them from a distance in his car, smiles, and drives off
• What does he think this is going to accomplish?

2007:

• MIB takes Desmond to a well
• MIB says people dug many such wells on the Island to try to find out why compass needles spun
• MIB: "Charles Widmore is not interested in answers.  He's only interested in power."
• MIB asks why Des isn't afraid
• Des to MIB: "What is the point in being afraid?"
• MIB throws Desmond in the well
   
• A little while later, Hurley shows up at the camp
• MIB gives his word that he and his people won't do any harm to Hurley's people

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke in wheelchair, Desmond watching him
• Ben knocks on Desmond's window and Desmond says he's looking for a school for his son Charlie
• Desmond and Ben met in the school parking lot, but Ben was not on Oceanic Flight 815, and neither showed any clear signs of recognizing one another
• Do only 815 survivors have flashes?
• Was Libby on 815 in the flash-sideways, or only in the original timeline?
• After Ben walks away Desmond steps on the gas and runs into Locke, who flips over the top of the car and lands on the pavement, and Desmond keeps driving
• Is Desmond absolutely insane?  Doesn't he realize there are witnesses who saw him do it, and that the damage to his car is also evidence of his guilt?  How can Desmond think he'll get away with this?
• Was Desmond trying to give Locke a near-death experience to try to get him to have flashes of the original timeline?
• "Locke is already with his true love so he may be trying to kill him" -KateJack
• Or perhaps since Locke already has his true love, Desmond was trying an alternative method to get him to remember the original timeline instead of trying to reunite lost lovers
• "do u think locke loves the island more? same thing for ben, ben loved the island more than anything. but des is just getting the survivors together" -kane
• "Locke did just push him down a well" -KateJack
• Sort of.  The Man in Black in the guise of Locke pushed Desmond into a well.  We know that Desmond can see flashes from the original timeline that took place in the future from his current existence in 2004; for example, the flash of Charlie with "Not Penny's Boat" written on his hand occurred nearly three months after the plane crash (see Lostpedia's December 2004 timeline), and only "about a week" has elapsed since the plane landed safely in the flash-sideways timeline according to Desmond (see this episode's transcript).  Bringing this back to Locke, perhaps Desmond had a flash of "Locke" throwing him into a well, and Desmond was getting revenge on Locke (not knowing that the MIB disguised as John Locke was actually the one who threw him into the well)

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Ilana's book (if you can read Russian, please post an English translation of the book title in the comments): http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-1544-167.html

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Weird Willy Wonka music throughout
• Shots of Jack, Claire, Sayid
• Locke from the flash-sideways, all bandaged up
• Kate looking back with a backpack on
• Perspective from above Desmond as he looks up out of the well
• People running through the jungle
• Jack turns around toward the camera
• Alternating half of Locke's face on the left side and the other half of Claire's face on the right side
• "setting up the sides. light dark good evil. sane insane,lol" -kane
• Hurley turning toward the camera, with Jack, Sun, and Frank walking behind him
• A woman (probably Zoe) stands in front of the MIB holding what looks like a walkie-talkie, and a giant fireball explosion happens in the background; MIB is unfazed
• Jack running
• Sawyer coming out of the jungle
• Panning down Sayid's chest to his hands holding a handgun
• People run by with guns, followed by a close-up on Claire
• Close-up of Desmond, turns toward the camera looking up
• Sayid shooting a gun downward (down into the well at Desmond?)
• THE TIME IS NOW
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki2IeVW8fds 

The episode title is "The Last Recruit" which makes me think the Man in Black may try to trade Desmond for Jin now that he has all the other candidates.  I've also heard the suggestion that "the last recruit" might be Jack, who may be the least willing to follow the Man in Black.

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"Happily Ever After" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister, Alex "Congested" from Audibly Lost and DarkUFOlogy, Josh "Spivvy" from The Lost Flashbacks, and other fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 11, "Happily Ever After".

Reminder: Please donate if you can afford it!  I don't intend to make a profit from donations, but I'm asking for donations to help pay for getting LOST on TV so I can continue doing the live show this season.

First, a couple of quick notes.

An additional note about Season 6 Episode 10, "The Package": Since Charles Widmore has Jin, the Man in Black can't get Jin to leave the Island. This may foil the MIB's plan, because he commented to Claire that he needed to get all the candidates to go with him in order to leave the Island.

Big-O's LOST Answers trivia game and LOST Quotes app are now available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad:

• LOST Answers trivia game
• LOST Quotes app

And now without any further ado...

Season 6 Episode 11 "Happily Ever After":

2007 on the Island:

• Desmond wakes up
• Zoe says he's been unconscious for 3 days
• Charles Widmore tells Des that he was shot by Benjamin Linus
• Widmore to Des: "The island isn't done with you yet."
• One of Widmore's henchmen spoke about solenoids.  Definition, please?
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid
• "I'm going to ask you to make a sacrifice.

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Des talks to Claire after Flight 815 and offers to give her a ride
• Des guesses that Claire is having a boy
• George Minkowski picks up Des and offers to take him to his hotel, and Des asks him to go to the office
• Des was in Australia to seal a deal for his boss -- he's the boss's right-hand man
• Des doesn't have a wedding ring and he says he's not interested in companionship
• This is odd because he did wear a wedding ring on the plane; was this a production error?  The actor who plays Desmond—Henry Ian Cusick—is married, which could perhaps explain this mistake
• Des walks into the boss's office and it's Charles Widmore!  They greet each other by first name and with big smiles and a hug
• Charles says his son (Daniel Faraday?) is a musician
• Charles asks Des to babysit Charlie Pace for "Mrs. Widmore"
• Charles is still married to Eloise, apparently
• Charles offers his 60-year-old Scotch to Des, and says "Nothing's too good for you."
• Charlie tried to swallow his heroin to hide the evidence from the Marshal, not commit suicide
• Charlie says when he saw Claire on the plane, and just as he was about to die he felt like they had always been together, in love
• Charlie: "I've seen the truth"
• Charlie jerks steering wheel, car goes into water
• Des has flashes of "Not Penny's Boat" just before he saves Charlie's life
• Des at hospital, goes in MRI machine, has flashes of Charlie Pace, Penny, his son Charlie
• Charlie: "None of this matters.  All that matters is that we felt it. ... Start looking for Penny."
• Eloise Widmore: "What happened, happened."
• Desmond thinks he hears the name Penny on the guest list, and Eloise forbids him from seeing it
• Oddly, it sounded like Penny's last name isn't Widmore; is she previously married?  Would Charles have some reason to conceal that he was her father?
• Eloise pulls Desmond aside and talks very much like Eloise Hawking, as though she knows what's happening to Desmond
• "well what gets me, and we discussed this on big-o, is how does she know so much about desmond specifically. less in this one and more in FBYE. obviously she knows about the alt-split because she knew an alt dan came and blew the bomb up" -congested
• "and could she know about Desmond from what she was told by the Losties?" -Spivvy
• She knows it from the journal!  "Desmond Hume will be my constant."
• Rewatch Season 3 Episode 8, "Flashes Before Your Eyes" for a refresher on Eloise (watch on Netflix)
• Daniel Widmore (aka Daniel Faraday in the original timeline) catches Desmond before he leaves and says he needs to talk to him
• Dan tells Desmond about his first experience seeing Charlotte
• He pulls out his journal and sketches out quantium mechanics even though he's just a musician
• Daniel says the only way to stop it is to set off a nuclear bomb, but he says "I think I already did"
• "Why did you ask my mother about a woman named Penny?  It happened to you, too, didn't it?  
• You felt it? ... Yes, you do.  You felt love."
• "She's an idea."
• "No, Mr. Hume.  She's my half-sister.  And I can tell you exactly where and when you can find her."
• Who is Penny's mother?
• Margo Shephard -congested's crackpot theory
• Penny is running on the stairs in the stadium
• "Hello, I'm Desmond."
• He shakes hands with Penny and immediately wakes up on the Island

2007:

• Desmond volunteers to help
• Sayid kills two Widmore men
• Desmond calmly walks off with Sayid - did Charles Widmore instruct Desmond to do that?

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Des fainted when Penny shook his hand
• Desmond's consciousness travels through time again, à la Season 3?
• Penny: "Have we met before?"
• Des invites Penny to go for a coffee
• Des asks George Minkowski for the flight manifest and says "I just need to show them something"
• This totally reminds me of the plot of a weak movie that's a partial ripoff of LOST: Passengers starring Anne Hathaway: (watch on Netflix; or learn more on IMDb)
• Cindy could get the flight manifest; perhaps she has ties with Widmore in this timeline
• "also my new [joke] theory. desmond is going to get the manifest because he figured out that all their names form a massive anagram explaining the sideways universe" -congested

"jack, kate, sun: mirror [in their flash-sideways]. sawyer: broken mirror. jin, sayid, and desmond: reflection. ben reflection also. john i cant remember i think mirror." -jennielyn

Theory: In the flash-sideways the cork doesn't exist; it got blown up, so the smoke monster has freedom. He wants there to be just one timeline, and not the one they're in now.  That explains why Widmore says they won't exist if the smoke monster gets his way. -congested

Theory: The "normal" timeline may be Jacob's timeline, and the flash-sideways is the Man in Black's timeline. In the alternate timeline, the MIB is free from Jacob because Jacob is presumably dead and all the candidates are not able to be on the Island. -congested

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Dan's journal: (screenshot 1, screenshot 2, screenshot 3)

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Michael to Hurley: "People are going to die and it's going to be your fault."
• Hurley: "I know what we need to do.  Trust me, Jack."
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQrjq1X5zKI 

The episode title is "Everybody Loves Hugo" (a reference to Season 2 Episode 4, "Everybody Hates Hurley").

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"The Package" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister, Spivvy from The Lost Flashbacks, and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 10, "The Package".

Reminder: Please donate if you can afford it.  I don't intend to make a profit from donations, but I'm asking for donations to help pay for getting LOST on TV so I can continue doing the live show this season.

Geronimo Jack's Beard (Jorge Garcia's podcast) had especially good podcast about Season 6 Episode 9, "Ab Aeterno".  Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard Alpert, was a guest co-host:

• http://geronimojacksbeard.blogspot.com/2010/03/episode-609-ab-aeterno.html

Big-O's LOST Answers trivia game is now available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad:

• http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lost-answers/id359273036?mt=8

And now without any further ado...

Season 6 Episode 10 "The Package":

2007 on the Island:

• Someone is watching Sawyer, Kate, Claire, and the MIB with night vision - they can hear what Sawyer is saying to Kate
• Will Widmore know about Sawyer's plan to double-cross him?  Sawyer revealed his whole plan out loud to Kate
   
• The Man in Black (in the guise of Locke) tells Jin that he isn't sure whether Jin or Sun is the Kwon whose name is in the cave
  MIB says that all names that aren't crossed off need to leave the Island together
  
  • Why?
  • Maybe it's his loophole: he can't kill the candidates, but maybe he can achieve victory if he gets them all to leave the Island
  • What the MIB's plan be foiled if Claire killed Kate, or if Kate was left behind on the Island because the MIB doesn't think she's a candidate anymore?

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Jin was supposed to deliver the money that was confiscated at the airport along with the watch
• Jin and Sun are not married and have two different rooms reserved

2007:

• MIB asks Sayid to watch camp until morning
• Sayid says he doesn't feel anything: anger, happiness, or pain
• MIB: "Maybe that's best, Sayid.  It'll help you get through what's coming."
• Jin prepares to sneak away when he sees the MIB leave.  He tells Sawyer he's going to go look for Sun at the temple
• Immediately after this, Widmore's people shoot Jin, Sawyer, Claire, and the other MIB followers with tranquilizers, and Zoe identifies Jin
   
• Sun is upset, presumably because she wants to find Jin
• Jack tries to tell Sun about the lighthouse, but she won't listen

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sun apparently came to Los Angeles with Jin because she was on a shopping trip
• Sun strips for Jin and stays the night in his hotel room; apparently they have a preexisting relationship

2007:

• MIB approaches Sun and says he found her husband
• Sun says she doesn't trust him because he killed the people at the temple.  He sais they could have chosen to follow him but didn't, and that he didn't want to kill them.  Then he gives Sun the choice to go with him
• Um, yeah, sounds like a great plan.  So her choices were to either go with the murderer, or refuse and presumably get killed by him
• MIB says Jin is waiting, and stretches out his hand, but Sun runs away and is chased by him
• Sun runs into a tree and is knocked unconscious.  Meanwhile he returns to his camp
• Why didn't he kill Sun if she's a candidate?  Apparently he can't kill candidates according to the boy in the jungle several episodes back
• Why didn't he at least pick her up and take her back?
• He fought with and picked up Richard Alpert several episodes ago, so we know he's physically capable of doing so
• "because it wouldn't be her free will - she has to go with him freely" -kane

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sun suggests to Jin that they run away together
• Sun looks in the mirror (yet another instance of seeing a main character's reflection in the flash-sideways)
• Keamy is at the door and he invites himself in

2007:

• Zoe has taken Jin to Room 23 on the Hydra island
• It's implied that it's the same one but looks different
• See the link to screenshots below in the Screenshots and Easter Eggs section
   
• Claire asks MIB if her name was on the wall, and he says "No."
• She's concerned that Locke doesn't need her anymore, and she's concerned that Aaron won't recognize her as his mother
• MIB tells Claire that he's "three people shy of getting off this Island and Kate can help me get these people on this plane.  But when she does, whatever happens happens."
• Who are the three?  Jack, Hurley, and Sun?  He has Sawyer and Jin.  He thinks Kate is no longer a candidate.  Does he think that Sayid is still a candidate, or does he think there are only 5 candidates instead of the 6 that Ilana knows about?
• Theory: Kate is going to replace Jacob, or at least she's very important to Jacob's plan; Jacob seems to be keeping her candidacy a secret.  Again, the MIB's plan may be foiled if he leaves Kate behind on the Island

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Omar shows up, checks the bathroom and finds Jin there
• Keamy asks Omar to get Danny's friend Mikhail, the Russian guy who speaks like 9 different languages
• Yep, it's the same Mikhail who was "Patchy" on the Island—only he has both of his eyes in the flash-sideways

2007:

• Sun can only speak Korean after bumping her head, but she can still understand English
• Theory: Is she merging in some small way with her flash-sideways self?
• Richard Alpert comes back with Hurley, and Richard is wearing his cross necklace.  Ilana is happy to see that she was right; Jacob hasn't let her down
    
• MIB sees pylons on the beach
• "i wont lie.  I forgot about Sayid in this scene. I also really hoped the Canoe shoot out would happen" -Spivvy
• MIB to Widmore: "A wise man once said that war was coming to this Island.  I think he just got here." -MIB, recalling Locke's memory of Widmore's own statement from Season 5 Episode 7, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham": "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."
• It's interesting that MIB calls Widmore a wise man (is he just mocking him?)
• MIB seems to be implying that Widmore is the cause of the war

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sun finds out that her father, Mr. Paik, closed her bank account and stole her money
• Keamy and Omar lock up Jin in the kitchen
• Keamy says that the $25,000 was his fee for killing Jin

2007:

• Zoe: "Maybe you should have put a mercenary in charge instead of a geophysicist."
• Widmore shows Jin photos of Ji Yeon on Sun's camera
• Widmore claims that if the MIB leaves the Island, "everyone we know and love would simply cease to be."
• Widmore's statements are very similar to Jacob's statements to Richard; it would seem that Widmore is indeed on Jacob's side
• "what does that mean [that everyone would simply cease to be]?" -baileybear
• Will the MIB kill everyone?  Would it cause some sort of time paradox?  Perhaps that would resolve the two timelines
• Widmore: "Come with me.  I think it's time for you to see the package."
• Jin: "What package?"
• Widmore: "It's not a what.  It's a who."
• Rejected theories mentioned by Spivvy: Flash-sideways Jin?  Walt?  25-year-old Ji Yeon?
• Was Desmond behind the padlocked door?
• "how can Desmond be used? don't they use 'package' in the military?" -baileybear
• Is Desmond a compass because the Island wants him to come back?
• Miles and Charlotte returned
• Desmond returned
• "right, how did widmore find the island?" -kane
• Maybe from Eloise Hawking?
• "Widmore came from the time when Locke was dead. so where is the Alt timeline?" -baileybear
• "i think he means that Eloise would help Widmore get to the Island to stop MIB and in doing so change history so that Daniel lives" -Spivvy
• "if there is an alt time off the island wouldn't Widmore have come from that time back to the island?" -bailebear
• "that's a theory.  that this Widmore is from the alt.   but I don't think it's right" -Spivvy

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sayid gives Jin a small knife to cut himself loose
• Keamy didn't die after all when Sayid shot him
• "Keamy again doesn't die right away. Mirror" -baileybear
• Mikhail returns with Sun
• Jin and Mikhail fight, Jin shoots Mikhail through the eye (so long, Patchy!), Sun gets hit by a stray bullet or two during the fight
• Sun tells Jin that she's pregnant

2007:

• Jack tries to get Sun to write in English, and she can
• Jack promises to help Sun find Jin and get them on the plane and as far away from the Island as possible
•  How the heck does he think they're going to get the plane working?  You need a pilot (maybe Frank) and fuel (although perhaps there's still some fuel left), but how would they turn it around without heavy machinery or a bigger runway?  How would they be able to repair the damage caused by the crash landing?
• Sayid sees them taking Desmond off the sub
• "do you think Sayid will report to Flocke about Desmond?" -baileybear
• What would the fact that Desmond is there mean to the MIB?

"there still has to be [another flashback] (adam and eve in the cave)" -kane

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Screenshots of Room 23

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Widmore: "...make a sacrifice."
• Widmore: "The Island isn't done with you yet" (presumably said to Desmond)
• 6 episodes left until the series finale
• "i thought i saw something torn apart in the middle of he ocean. like a raft." -baileybear 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-h5Wt0dYTY 

Notes from The Official LOST Podcast:

• We're going to see Libby again this season
• The title of the series finale episode is "The End"
• Perhaps this is meant to imply finality; no spin-off TV shows, no movies, etc.; LOST is really, truly done

"In one week, the conversation is going to change." -@DamonLindelof

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"Ab Aeterno" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 9, "Ab Aeterno".

Reminder: Please donate if you can afford it.  I don't intend to make a profit from donations, but I'm asking for donations to help pay for getting LOST on TV so I can continue doing the live show this season.

Season 6 Episode 9 "Ab Aeterno":
Unknown date, Ilana flashback:

• Jacob: "Will you help me, Ilana?"
• Jacob says he has 6 names of "people I need you to protect"
• So Jacob gave her the exact 6 names, but she doesn't know if Sun or Jin is the Kwon?
• Jacob: "They're the remaining candidates."

2007 on the Island:

• Sun: "She said I was one of them. One is you [Jack] and one is Hurley."

Unknown date, Ilana flashback:

• Ilana: "After I have brought them to the temple, what do I do?"
• Jacob: "Ask Ricardus.  He'll know what to do."

2007:

• Richard: (laughs) "I have no idea what we do next. ... Because everything he ever said is a lie.  You want to know a secret, Jack?  Something I've known for a long, long time?  We're dead. ... We're in hell."
•  Oh, great.  This scene was in the preview last week and we thought we were going to get a major revelation in this scene, but it turns out to just be Richard's own speculation—and something the executive producers have repeatedly shot down
• Richard: "Maybe it's time we stop listening to him and start listening to someone else.  And that's exactly what I'm going to do."  (he walks off)
    
• Hurley speaking Spanish to someone on the beach, and Jack wants to know what Jacob said
• Hurley: "It's not Jacob, man.  Sorry, Jack, but this has nothing to do with you."
    
• Frank to Ben: "So you're saying this guy doesn't age?"

1867, Canary Islands:

• Richard (Ricardo) speaks Spanish!
• Isabella: "Siempre estaremos juntos." ("We will always be together.")
• Was Hurley talking to his deceased wife Isabella?  (We find out later that he was!)
• Richard: "Te voy a salvar." ("I'm going to save you.")
• Richard accidentally kills the doctor — the same way Desmond accidentally killed Kelvin in the Season 2 finale, "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1" (see the Lostpedia article Kelvin Inman; for a blast from the past, see also my original blog post about the episode)
• Richard is reading an English Bible in prison
• Prop error: the text in this Bible was far too modern for an 1867 edition (screenshot)
• Very interesting: the passage he's reading is Luke chapter 4, which is about when the devil tempted Jesus; I mentioned this passage recently on the blog and podcast, and I thought about it again during this episode because of the things the MIB promised Richard later
• "i really like when you talk about this stuff Josh, cause I know NOTHING about it.  I learn so much about the show." -Spivvy
• The Catholic priest told Richard that he didn't have enough time to repent for murder because he was being hanged in the morning, and that the devil awaited him in hell
• A man (named Jonas Whitfield according to the casting call) purchases Richard on behalf of Magnus Hanso and is taken as a slave aboard the Black Rock

1867, the Island:

• The Black Rock crashes into the statue, presumably breaking it and leaving only the foot behind
• "wasnt the diary of the first mate of the black rock what widmore bid on at the auction? the auction where desmond confronted him?" -diesel929 (see the Lostpedia article Black Rock ledger; this scene was in Season 4 Episode 5, "The Constant")
• "at that auction though, they said that the Black Rock set sail in 1845, and the journal was found in 1852" -Spivvy
• "but someone told me that the MAIN issue was that Dynamite wasn't invented until 1866 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite" -Spivvy
• "BR left England in 1852, hijacted by slave traders, then took Richard in 1867" -nnnn803er
• "Sir, Captain Hanso's dead."
• Smoke monster saves Richard's life by interrupting Whitfield's killing spree
• The smoke monster analyses Richard and chooses to spare his life
• Why did it choose to save him?
• Perhaps part of the agreement between Jacob and the Man in Black is for the MIB to allow certain people to live whenever a new group comes to the Island — people who have the potential of living righteously and not choosing war and destruction, so that Jacob can have a chance of winning the debate between the two of them
• Not so; see later in the episode
• "didnt we see Richard flashing?" -MsFlipper
• As far as we can tell, Richard seems to have been the only survivor of The Black Rock
• He tries to free himself but is unable to
• Isabella visits him (or so it seems) and says they're in hell and she looked into the devil's eyes and saw only evil
• The monster apparently kills Isabella, which is weird because she was already dead
• Anthony Cooper also thought he was in hell when he was on the Island, and yet he died (again?) when Sawyer killed him
• The Man in Black visits Richard and gives him water
• Richard: "I am in hell?"
• MIB: "Yes, I'm afraid you are. ... I was here long before your ship. ... I want to be free, too.  As luck would have it, I found these [keys] on one of the officers outside. ... You'll do anything I ask?"
• Richard: "Yes, promise."
• MIB: "Then we're agreed."
• MIB: "It's good to see you out of those chains."
• This is the same line as when he (as Locke) spoke to Richard after Ben killed Jacob
• MIB: "I'm afraid there's only one way to get out of hell.  You're going to have to kill the devil."
• The Man in Black tried to get Richard to kill Jacob, much in the same way as when he (as Locke) tried to get Ben to kill Jacob
• This line also seemed very similar to Dogen trying to get Sayid to kill the Man in Black — it's almost as though there aren't good or bad sides, but just two players in a game
          
• MIB gives Richard the same exact instructions (and perhaps the same dagger?) that Dogen gave Sayid when instructing him to kill the MIB, only this time the instructions are given by the MIB for killing Jacob
• "If one is in Hell, can you kill the Devil, and thus escape it? yeah it was the reverse, and I think it's the same dagger" -Spivvy
• "jacob wasnt dead after he was stabbed by ben, he was alve when mib kicked him into the fire. so really mib killed him, finished him off anyway" -didntbelievehim
• MIB claims that Jacob took Isabella, even though we heard smoke monster sounds when she was taken or killed
• Was Isabella an illusion, nothing more than a form of the smoke monster?  This is the same way the MIB tricked Ben; using his deceased loved one (Alex, in that case) to play on his emotions to trick him into killing Jacob
• MIB: "The devil betrayed me.  He took my body.  My humanity."
• "I think what happened is Jacob stole his physical form from him and he is now always the smoke. But he can assume human form as his old self(MIB)" -Spivvy
• "he's manipulating a religious man and is using the devil thing to convince him Jacob is the bad one" -nnnn803er
• "Why did he take his body? Do you think he has trapped MIB on the Island cause he's dangerous?" -Spivvy
• "if mib wasnt evil then why wouldnt jacob just send himback to the real world and out of his way, much easier he let others leave like widmore&walt etc" -didntbelievehim
• "Well I do think the Island needs both of them" -Spivvy
• "i don't think the island needs either one of them. i think the island is special on it's own" -kane
• Personally, I think it's somewhat like Pandora's box; Jacob is making sure that the Man in Black stays trapped on the Island because of the terrible destruction that the smoke monster would cause if let loose in the rest of the world
• MIB makes the same promise to Richard that he made to Sayid: you'll get your deceased woman back if you do what I say
• "during this whole episode i was thinking of the usual suspects...when they say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didnt exist. its not the same...but its like one guy is saying the other is the devil...but maybe he really is! :) maybe HE really is..the one who's saying it i meant" -thelostgringa
• "i am say smoke and mirrors this season" -jennielyn
• smoke monster and mirrors in the flash-sideways
   
• Richard tries to kill Jacob, but Jacob fights Richard and proves to him that he's still alive by dunking him repeatedly in the ocean until Richard says he wants to live
• "when richard was being dunked into the ocean by jacob did it remind anyone else of baptism?" -diesel929
• I actually didn't think of that, but the executive producers specifically pointed out the similarity to baptism on The Official LOST Podcast
   
• Richard: "Are you the devil?"
• Jacob: "No."
• Richard: "Then who are you?"
• Jacob: "My name is Jacob.  I'm the one who brought your ship to this island."
• Richard: "Why?"
• Jacob: "Think of this wine as what yo're calling hell.... malevolence... if it did [get out] it would spread.  The cork is this Island and it's the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs.  That man believes every man is corruptible because it's his nature to sin.  I believe he's wrong. .. It's all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything."
• Ugh... "that man"?  We still don't get his real name!  Stop torturing me, LOST writers!  How can his name be so important or special that you have to keep it secret so long??
• Richard: "If you don't, he will." (meaning, "if you don't force them to do something")
• According to some Christian philosophies, taking away freedom and forcing people to act a certain way is Satan's plan
• Jacob says he can't give Richard his wife back, or absolve him of his sins so he can't go to hell
• Clearly, Jacob is not supposed to be God or Jesus.  In the Bible, Jesus openly forgave people of their sins
• "so jacob isn't god. but he could be an angel" -kane
• Richard: "Then I want to live forever."
• Jacob: "Now that I can do."  He touches Richard on the shoulder.
• "Jacob seems to want people to make the choice not make a trade" -jennielyn
• "then again they had Sawyer and Ben say God has nothing to do with this,   Just sayin. they wrote that in twice for a reason ,  maybe. many themes are referenced, but only up to a point, then it's TV" -nnnn803er
   
• "I'm not very familiar with the bible but could Jacob somehow me evil?" -baileybear
• Based on what we've seen, I kind of doubt it.  Aside from the Man in Black's statements, almost all the evidence on the show so far points to Jacob being the good guy and the Man in Black being the bad guy
   
• "idk, but jacob leaves the island all the time,lol" -kane
• The Man in Black can't leave the Island but Jacob can; is Jacob more powerful than the MIB?
   
• MIB: "I want you to know that if you ever change your mind, and I mean ever, my offer still stands."
• Aha! That must be where Richard is going in the 2007 storyline
• MIB gives Richard his cross necklace
• Oh, the irony; the Man in Black giving Richard a cross necklace is akin to the devil quoting scripture in Luke chapter 4.  Evil has no qualms about pretending to be good.

2007 on the Island:

• Richard digs up his wife's necklace and says aloud "I've changed my mind.  ...  Does the offer still stand?"
• Hurley: "Your wife sent me.  Isabella.  She wants to know why you buried your cross.  Isabella saw you dig it up, man.  She's standing right next to you."
• Hurley passes along messages from Isabella, and then (it seems) Richard can communicate with her directly for a few moments
• Richard puts on the cross necklace
• After she leaves, Hurley tells Richard that she said something else: "She said you have to stop the Man in Black. You have to stop him from leaving the Island.  Because if you don't, todos nos vamos al infierno." ("...we all go to hell.")

Flashback, presumably to 1867:

• MIB says if someone else takes Jacob's place, he'll kill them too
• "MIB gonna need a lot of loopholes!" -nnnn803er
• MIB smashes the wine bottle
• perhaps symbolic of the end of the world
   
• "Do you think MIB is stronger because he is now in the body of one of the candidates?" -Lostgeek108
• As a reminder, the Man in Black is not in Locke's body.  Locke's body was seen lying on the beach when the Man in Black (with the appearance of Locke) walked by.  At present, Locke's body is buried on the Island.
   
• Theory: "He cant kill candidates, he is trying to manipulate them into killing each other" -nnnn803er
• Why, then, did he not just let Claire kill Kate?
• "he was using Claire. MIB saves Kate from Claire to gain her trust. he's recruiting her" -nnnn803er
• Someone in the chat had the theory that maybe he gains power by bringing people to his side, building up an army to defend him
              
• Theory: "kate will join illana and the others" -kane
• I don't think so because she'll want to stick with Sawyer.  Also, she doesn't know the whole picture regarding the MIB, etc.
      
• "I think MIB lies to everyone. he told Sawyer the island didn't need anyone, then he told Ben he could be the leader, which is it?" -nnnn803er
   
• "do you think that MIB and Jacob are one? I heard it from Jay and Jack" -baileybear
• "lol  that's Jack's Crackpot theory. Jay makes fun of him often for it  lol" -Spivvy
• "i don't so either after seeing this episode" -baileybear
• "maybe Jay and Jack are the same person  ;)" -Spivvy
      
• "Can we assume it was a FlashBack not Flashside Ways" -Jeremy_Bentham
• Yes; all of the flash-sideways have been in 2004 and based on changes that took place in 1977 (specifically, it seems, Juliet's detonation of the hydrogen bomb)
      
• "People are saying that Juliet's Flash Back with her parents divorcing that was actually flash sideways. i think it's interesting" -Jeremy_Bentham
• Interesting, perhaps, but not significant to the overall plot

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• The episode title, "Ab Aeterno", is a Latin phrase meaning "from eternity" or "since the beginning of time"
• Ricardo's English Bible was open to Luke 4 (screenshot; read the full passage and see above for commentary)

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• MIB as Locke: "I come in peace."
• MIB to Sun: "I found your husband.  I can take you to him.  Jin is waiting."
• Sun lying on the ground
• Does the Man in Black hurt her?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVSlFj40qlA

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---

"Recon" Discussion and lots more!

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 8, "Recon" and briefly review points from two Season 4 episodes, and discuss at length the revelations from this week's Official LOST Podcast.

Reminder: Please donate if you can afford it.  I don't intend to make a profit from donations, but I'm asking for donations to help pay for getting LOST on TV so I can continue doing the live show this season.

We'll get into "Recon" in just a moment.  First, I had the opportunity to rewatch Season 4 Episodes 9 and 10 this past week.  I chose those episodes because I was looking for any indication about when Claire became infected before she went off into the jungle with (who she thought was) her father, Christian Shephard.  Although I didn't notice any obvious indications of whether Claire was already infected before she walked off in the middle of the night, I ended up making some interesting observations about the smoke monster, who we now know is the Man in Black.  Here are some of my thoughts:

Season 4 Episode 9 - "The Shape of Things to Come"

How is it that Ben can summon the smoke monster to do his bidding?  How did Ben know it would only attack Martin Keamy's goons and not himself?  At the time, Ben (and the viewing audience) had no idea that the smoke monster was another form of the Man in Black, Jacob's nemesis.  So unbeknownst to Ben, he called on Jacob's nemesis for help—right before going to try to get help from Jacob to know what to do next.

Season 4 Episode 10 - "Something Nice Back Home"

Hurley said Charlie said that someone would visit Jack (referring to the apparition that looked like Jack's father, Christian Shephard).  Jack had already seen "Christian" in a crowd at the hospital before that, and the second time he saw his father was after hearing the smoke alarm's low-battery warning beep at the hospital.  The smoke alarm led a lot of fans to believe that Christian was a manifestation of the smoke monster.  Christian being the smoke monster is corroborated by Damon Lindelof's remark in the March 11, 2010 Official LOST Podcast about the smoke monster no longer being able to take on any human form other than Locke; the form of Christian was specifically mentioned by both Damon and Carlton as a form that the smoke monster could have been able to take prior to Jacob's death.  Additionally, in "Something Nice Back Home" we also saw Christian luring Claire into the jungle, after which she left her baby behind and eventally degenerated into an infected Rousseau-esque version of herself who considered the Man in Black to be her friend.  It would make sense that she came to be the Man in Black's friend because she originally got to know him when he had taken the form of her father.  At this point I think it's safe to assume that the manifestations of Christian Shephard have been the smoke monster taking Christian's form.  But if that's the case, how in the world did Charlie know that the smoke monster was coming to visit Jack?  Hurley's ability to see and speak with dead people is supposedly a gift from Jacob.  So did Jacob tell Charlie to tell Hurley to warn Jack about the smoke monster apparition of Jack's father?

• "charlie was smokey visiting hurley maybe" -jennielyn 

And now without any further ado...

Season 6 Episode 8 "Recon":

2007 on the Island:

• Sawyer at Claire's hovel with Jin
• Jin wakes up and says they need to leave before the man who looks like Locke gets back, and 
• Sawyer says he's with "Locke"
• Sawyer agrees to not leave the Island unless Sun can go with them
• I wonder if this deal will come back to haunt him later
• Sayid, Claire, and the rest come to the hovel, and Kate says hi to Sawyer, who replies "Hi yourself"

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sawyer seems to be pulling a typical con, but it turns out he's actually a cop—and working with Miles!

2007:

• Claire checks on her "squirrel baby" and Kate asks about it
• Claire seems agitated and angry about this.  Does Claire still want to kill Kate?
• The Man in Black tells the surviving Others—including Cindy, Emma and Zach from the Oceanic Flight 815 tail section—that "the black smoke" killed those who stayed behind at the temple, but he promises to take care of them

2004:

• Detective Ford is trying to track down Anthony Cooper

2007:

• The Man in Black tells Sawyer the truth, that he's "the smoke thing"
• Man in Black: "It's either kill or be killed, and I don't want to be killed."
• If he's concerned about being killed, he's either lying or else he must have a weakness.  If he has a weakness, what is it?
• Can sawyer kill him since he's following orders from the Man in Black, similar to how Ben who followed Jacob's orders was able to kill Jacob?
• "he is trying to con sawyer by telling half truths" -jennielyn
• "Sawyer is a better conman then Smokey" -baileybear
• The Man in Black sends Sawyer to the Hydra island to do some recon at the Ajira plane

2004:

• The date Miles hooked James up with is Charlotte Lewis, who is still an archaeologist
• Before seeing Charlotte's face, I thought that James would connect with Juliet and Juliet would give the same line about "going dutch" that she said on the Island before she died
• An alternate theory about Juliet: "i am saying juliette will be on a date with jack" [when she gives the line about going dutch] -jennielyn
• A theory from diesel929 (admittedly unfounded) about Charlotte: "she is jack's ex wife, David's mom"
• Jim says he got to the point in his life where he was either going to become a criminal or a cop, so he chose to become a cop
• Books on the dresser: Watership Down, A Wrinkle in Time, Lancelot (screenshot)
• All of these are books that Sawyer read on the Island
• Charlotte finds a photo of Jim with his parents and a newspaper clipping about it, and Jim yells at her and makes her leave
• In a later flash-sideways scene, Jim is watching Little House on the Prairie (which he told Kate in Season 3 Episode 10, "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" that he watched as a child)
• Michael Landon's character tells a little girl that when someone dies, they're not really gone; you still have your memories of them that you can hold onto until you see them again someday
• Jim seems to be touched by this insight and seems to relate it personally to his own loss of his parents
• Afterward, Jim goes to Charlotte's to apologize, but she turns him away and says he blew his chance

2007:

• Sawyer finds the dress that Kate wore at the polar bear cage when they were together
    
• Kate talks to Sayid, asks "Are you all right?"
• Sayid says No, and then Claire attacks and tries to stab Kate
• The Man in Black pulls Claire off, smacks her in the face, and tells her what she did was inappropriate, almost treating her like a child (with the exception of smacking her of course)
    
• Sawyer finds the Ajira plane wreckage, then a pile of dead bodies, and a woman runs by
• Sawyer catches the woman and she says she's the only one left

2004:

• Charlie's brother Liam is trying to find Charlie, who has apparently gotten in trouble with the law because of his drug use
• Miles questions what Jim was doing in Australia instead of Palm Springs like he claimed
• Miles says he's no longer Jim's partner, and Sawyer puts his fist through a mirror
• "the mirror in this ep sawyer broke what do you make of that" -jennielyn
• "he doens't like his image in this world?" -baileybear
• There have been a lot of mirrors and reflections in the flash-sideways: "ben in microwave, kate in mirror" and Sayid's reflection as noted in the script — they all seem to be seeing relections of themselves; what is the significance of this?
• Perhaps this is a reflection (pun intended) of the way in which the two realities coexist, à la Through The Looking Glass
• "i think that the breaking of the mirror/glass is probably important." -baileybear

2007:

• The woman Sawyer caught says her name is Zoe, and in explanation of the dead bodies, she says she heard screams and when she got back everyone was dead (seemingly implying that the smoke monster killed them)
• Sawyer offers to take her back with the other group
   
• MIB apologizes to Kate and explains that he told Claire that The Others had her baby; he gave her something to hate
• Kate asks where Sawyer went, and MIB says "I'll show you"
   
• It turns out that Zoe isn't alone; a bunch of other people pop up out from behind bushes with big guns and make Sawyer surrender his weapon
• Sawyer: "Take me to your leader."
   
• The Man in Black says to Kate on the beach: "I know what you're going through because my mother was crazy. ... She was a very disturbed woman and as a result of that I had some growing pains, problems that I'm still trying to work my way through, problems that could have been avoided had things been different."
• Kate: "Why are you telling me this?"
• MIB: "Because now Aaron has a crazy mother, too."
• Does he want Kate to take care of Aaron?
• Or does this mean Aaron is going to become the next MIB?
   
• Sawyer is led to a sub; Zoe is part of Widmore's team (and it seems Zoe is her real name)
    
• "again I think our losties' friendships are really going to define the end of this show - the line at the end of season 5 "they come they destroy" — MIB is going to be wrong and their friendships run deeper then he thinks and it will start all over - new game" -jennielyn
    
• Very insightful theory: "Remember when Claire came to Kate and said don't bring him back to the island?  Do you think she was smokey? if you think that Smokey wants a normal Aaron that would make sense." -baileybear
    
• Sawyer asks what's locked up behind a door in the sub (screenshot) and doesn't get an answer
• Charles Widmore introduces himself to Sawyer
• Widmore claims he didn't murder all the Ajira people
• Who really killed them?  Widmore's people or Smokey?
• Sawyer makes a deal with Widmore to bring the Man in Black to Widmore so Widmore can kill him, and in return Sawyer get to take his friends unharmed off the Island; they shake on 
• So who will Sawyer ultimately decide to follow?  He has two ways off the Island, potentially:
• Widmore's way seems more certain since we actually know he has a working sub and knows how to get to the Island from the outside world, but as Saywer points out Widmore may not be trustworthy because he sent the freighter with mercenaries to the Island
• On the other hand, the MIB's plan seems pretty weak if he really expects to fix and refuel the Ajira plane.  How on earth could they do that?  Maybe Sawyer will go with the more logical exit
    
• Claire hugs Kate and apologizes sincerely, saying she knows Kate just cares about Claire and Aaron
    
• Sawyer tells MIB that they're setting up pylons "like the ones at New Otherton" that "can keep out that smoke thing"
• Sawyer gives MIB a lot of information; it seems at this point in the episode like he really is sticking with MIB's deal

2004:

• Jim hands Miles a book that says Sawyer on it, and Miles asks "Who's Sawyer?"
• He explains what happened to his parents
• Jim was in Australia (and on Flight 815) to find the man responsible, and that's where he heard the name Anthony Cooper
• He says he's going to kill Anthon Cooper when he finds him
• Someone slams into their car.  It's Kate!  Jim seems pleased to see her again
• Now we know how Sawyer knew that the code on the walkie-talkie in the airport meant that Kate was an escapee
• Someone in the chat pointed out that perhaps the reason why he didn't turn in Kate at the airport was that he might blow his cover and Miles might have found out that he had been in Australia

2007:

• Sawyer tells Kate about Widmore and that they're here for Locke
• Sawyer says he's going to "let them fight it out, and while they've got their hands full of each other, you and me are going to get the hell off this Island"
• Kate asks about the plane, and Sawyer says he intends to take the sub

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Screenshot of Jim's books in the flash-sideways
• Screenshot of the locked door in Widmore's sub

SPOILERS:

Following is a detailed discussion about several points from the latest Official LOST Podcast, some of which may be considered by some fans to be spoilers.  If you're very spoiler-sensitive, you may want to stop reading now.

Notes from The Official LOST Audio Podcast, May 11, 2010:

Carlton Cuse: "The big question that's hanging over the season is how are these two timelines going to reconcile and what are we to make of what's going on in the sideways. But...there's more information about those things coming as the season progresses."

Damon Lindelof: "Do you think that Charles Widmore is perhaps the person that Jacob was referring to back in 'Lighthouse' when he said someone is coming to the Island?"
Carlton: "Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good chance he could be referring to Charles Widmore. ... That would be my educated guess."

Carlton: "What does 'Recon' mean?"
Damon: "Technically, it means that reconnaissance, which is basically sort of sending someone behind enemy lines to figure out what's going on. But it could mean 'to con again.'  Like 're-con.' And he is a conman."

Carlton (reading a fan question): "In the episode 'Lockdown' who was responsible or behind the dropping of the palette of DHARMA food that lands on the Island?"
Damon: "The answer to the question is, we have every intention of answering where the palette came from. However, it might not happen in the actual show itself.  That's all we're willing to say at this point."

• This makes me wonder whether the writers and producers are planning to make some sort of special podcast, book, or documentary that resolves a lot of the loose ends and mysteries that don't get answered by the end of Season 6.

Carlton indicated that Annie is not an important character.  She was only meant to be in that one episode in Ben's flashback, and her character has no "vast mythological significance."  (Thus, I think we can assume that all the theories about Annie are probably moot.)  They did say that Annie probably left the Island before 1977 because we didn't see her or even hear any mention of her in that timeframe.

Carlton said that we're going to learn more about the volcanic and/or seismic activity of the Island "before all is said and done."

Regarding Kate's name not being crossed out in the lighthouse but being crossed out in the cave, "the show speaks for itself."  When the Man in Black brings Sawyer into the cave, is he telling the truth?  Damon feels that there's strong evidence on the show that Jacob wrote the names in the cave.  So why write in both the caves and the lighthouse?  "Is it possible, Carlton, that maybe he wanted his nemesis to find the cave, and that there's a little bit of misdirection going on here?  That maybe he crossed off Kate's name in the cave to throw the monster off his scent?"  Carlton: "I'm going to say that theory could live.  I think that is a possibility.  I think this kind of speculation is actually good speculation."

• Based on this, it sounds like Jacob might have secret plans for Kate to be the one who will ultimately replace him, and he doesn't want anyone—especially his nemesis—to know that.
• But does Smokey somehow know she's a candidate anyway?  He seems very protective of her and friendly with her in this episode.  Perhaps he's trying to get her to become a candidate to replace himself.

Ilana's comment about the Man in Black now being stuck in Locke's form has created confusion.  "It seems that if Locke—if he were stuck in this form, that would sort of rule out the possibility that the monster had been appearing as perhaps other dead figures on the Island: Yemi, Christian Shephard, etc.  So is there something that happened between the end of last season, you know, when Alex appeared to Ben, what happened, Carlton?"  Carlton: "Yes.  I think that the critical event was Jacob's death.  The Man in Black may have had the ability to take multiple forms, but after Jacob died, I think it's a very likely explanation that he was stuck in the form that he was in when Jacob died, which happened to be John Locke."

• Since Christian Shephard was specifically mentioned (first by Carlton and then repeated by Damon), I think it's fair to assume that the post-mortem Christian Shephard sightings have been the smoke monster in disguise, if there was still any doubt in anyone's mind about this.

Preview for next week's episode:

• Richard: "You want to know a secret?  Something I've known a long time? All this?  It's not what you think it is."
• Narrator: Now his incredible story will be revealed.
• 8 episodes left until the series finale
• Richard: "I've seen things on this island that you'd never imagine."
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_DoGTxgHj4

---

Do you have a product or service that you'd like to market to thousands of LOST fans? Find out how you can become a sponsor of this blog and podcast! Send an e-mail to thelostmeister+marketing at gmail dot com.

---