Thoughts on Jughead...

Sorry for the delay in posting. Apparently, the Island doesn't want me blogging about this critical episode in its mythology, because I lost my notes on Jughead twice -- the first time about a quarter of the way through rewatching, and then again just as I was finishing. D'oh! Needless to say, I sympathized with Locke's frustration at not being able to complete his conversations with Ricardus Alpert. But not even the Island can stop me from dropping this little bombshell (groan...) on you all.



In my post Lost Time, I suggested that a book called The Big Time might be a major influence on Lost. The premise of Fritz Leiber's sci-fi classic is that two time-traveling factions (the "Snakes" vs. the "Spiders" -- the rest of us are "Zombies") are battling in a temporal conflict called the Change War. As that name suggests, the combatants fight to alter key events in history. Their efforts, however, are constrained by the "Law of the Conservation of Reality," which says that changing the past never alters the future more than the barest minimum possible.

The Big Time is set in a small Spider base outside of spacetime known simply as the Place. By virtue of its location, the Place is immune to the temporal disruptions of the Change War. The book's chilling description of the effects of this Change War was what originally set my Lost sense tingling:

Have you ever worried about your memory, because because it doesn't seem to be bringing you exactly the same picture of the past from one day to the next? Have you ever been afraid that your personality was changing because of forces beyond your knowledge or control? Have you ever felt sure that sudden death was about to jump you from nowhere? Have you ever been afraid of Ghosts -- not the storybook kind, but the billions of beings who were once so real and strong it's hard to believe they'll just sleep harmlessly forever? Have you ever wondered about those things you may call devils or Demons -- spirits able to rage through all time and space, through the hot hearts of stars and the cold skeleton of space between the galaxies? Have you ever thought that the whole universe might be a crazy, mixed-up dream? If you have, you've had hints of the Change War.

The part about the "Ghosts" of people from timelines that no longer exist made me think of Jacob and the Whispers, both of which have a ghostly quality. I was also struck by the reference to "spirits able to rage through all time and space," which reminds me of Desmond's consciousness time travel, and which evokes the message of the Others' brainwashing video that "only fools are enslaved by time and space." To me, moreover, the Law of the Conservation of Reality sounds a lot like course correction. No surprise, therefore, that Ms. Hawking wears a snake pin (i.e., the Ouroboros).



What I didn't mention before, but seems highly relevant in view of Jughead, is the nuclear weapon that drives the plot of Big Time. The characters are trapped in the Place with a "tiny tactical atomic bomb" counting down to detonation. I remember thinking the bomb would be a great metaphor for the Swan -- I never expected we would actually see such a nuke on the show. If you think about it, though, the jughead serves that symbolic purpose perfectly. Like the Island itself, the bomb suffered a breach that must be plugged with lead and buried in cement.

In the spirit of Herb Caen, here are some three-dot thoughts on Jughead:

ARE YOU THE DOCTOR? Penny's difficult childbirth, especially all the hemhoragging, brought to mind the pregnancy problems on the Island. Maybe this was merely for suspense, but I doubt it given Sun's difficult childbirth, as well. A pattern seems to be emerging the whereby children of people connected to the Island are somehow abnormal. Penny never visited the Island herself (at least so far as we know) but Desmond became basically a living extension of it after bathing in its exotic energy during the Swan imposion...When Des told little Charlie (awww...) about the special island he left long ago, I thought for a split second he was talking about the Island. That scene is pregnant with irony (groan...) particularly Penny's warning about her big bad daddy, whose reaction to Desmond's return is surprisingly meek.

YOU JUST COULDN'T STAY AWAY, COULD YOU? At first, I figured that Ellie's line about Daniel not being able to stay away was a reference to some future jump that would take Faraday even further into the past. But it seems clear she was alluding to her belief he was U.S. military...Let me preface my next comment by stipulating that Rebecca Mader is beautiful. Unfortunately, no thanks to my friend MB, I can only see Eric Stoltz's character in Mask whenever she's onscreen...Did Miles simply see the trip wire for the landmines, or did one of those dead soldiers warn him?

SEMPER UBI SUB UBI. Who says Latin is dead? As a former student myself, I was pleased the Others chose it as their secret language. Gives them a kind of secret order feel, like the Freemasons or Knights Templar...Now we know why only some of the Others wore U.S. military uniforms and carried guns -- they scavenged these items from the dead soldiers...The Others took down 18 armed and presumably well-trained soldiers with only bows and arrows. This earlier group of Others seems quite a bit more badass than their modern counterparts...Curious how Daniel makes a point of never revealing his name to Richard.

NO RECORD OF ANY FARADAY. When Desmond was told there were no records of any Faraday at Oxford, I briefly feared they might be going the cliched route of erasing Dan from history. So, I shared Desmond's relief at seeing familiar sights like Faraday's radiation machine and Eloise's maze...I really appreciated how the writers slowly and carefully established the plausibility of Dan's profession of love for Charlotte. Those two have a nice chemistry...It's interesting how Widmore snapping Cunningham's neck parallels Goodwin doing the same to Nathan. Those Others do what needs to be done...Did fate intervene to make Locke hesitate, thereby ensuring a future with Charles Widmore?

AFTER WHAT HE DID TO THAT POOR GIRL. It seems that Theresa is either an intentional or unintentional victim of Faraday's time travel experiments. It's hard for me to believe he would actually test the device on her -- I'm guessing it was an accident of some kind. However it happened, she's obviously unstuck in time, not merely demented...Mr. Widmore has taken a keen interest in Daniel's career, even cleaning up the latter's messes like Theresa. He also obviously knows Daniel's mother, but if they were ever friends, I think they're now estranged. I wonder what she thinks of Widmore's generosity toward her son...

THAT SODDING OLD MAN. I loved the transition from Widmore's dismissal of Locke's tracking skills to the latter surveying the camp from the hillside...Richard is very old and has apparently been on the Island for some time. That suggests his agelessness isn't the result of time travel, as some have speculated. My own pet theory, of course, is that Richard died on the Island long ago but was reincarnated by the Smoke Monster, which is why he never ages...What is it about Ellie that so disturbs Faraday? Is it just her appearance, or does he actually know her in the future? One thing seems clear: whatever brought the Others to the Island, it clearly wasn't time travel, because they seem utterly baffled by the possibility.

JACOB SENT ME. It was fascinating how the name Jacob held such power over Richard as far back as the 1950s. I do wonder how Alpert managed to speak with the Island's ghostly patriarch. I've always thought that was Ben's special talent, which is why he was chosen to be the Others' leader. Richard seemed to be in charge of this crew, but I got the sense his title was interim, which got my whackadoo wheels turning. Is it possible Richard actually knew Jacob? Perhaps Alpert was the latter's second in command. Maybe Jacob was a casualty of the Others' conflict with the U.S. military team...

MR. HUME IS A COLLEAGUE OF MINE. Interesting choice of words by Charles Widmore. He referred to Desmond as a "colleague" instead of an "acquaintance." That implies a level of equality Widmore has never previously afforded Des...I wonder if Widmore has similar precognitive abilities, which is why Richard orignally recruited him to join the Others. That could be what Widmore meant (in the Shape of Things to Come) by the nightmares that drive him to drink in the middle of the night...The revelation that Daniel's mother is in Los Angeles seems to confirm what many of you speculated last week -- i.e., Ms. Hawking is his mother.*

ONE LAST THING. The implication is that Widmore selected Charlotte, Daniel, and Miles for his science team because he remembered encountering them on the Island in the past. That presumably is why he's been funding Faraday's work for all these years. What confuses me is why Widmore didn't track down John Locke sooner. I would have expected him to be present at the Chosen One's birth in Tustin just like Richard Alpert...

*Correction: The original sentence erroneously suggested that Ellie's accent was Kiwi. Her casting call, however, specifies that the character's accent is supposed to be British. So I'm apparently wrong about her being from New Zealand. D'oh!

Thoughts on Because You Left and The Lie...

Welcome back, you all everybody! You've got to hand it to the writers of Lost. Like the cook who boils a frog alive by slowly increasing the heat, they ratchet up the craziness notch by notch, cooking your brain before you know it.

Some complain the creators played unfairly by first denying the science fiction and time travel elements of the show. These skeptics feel understandably misled now that Lost has clearly and unequivocally been revealed as such. But I'll bet most of the skeptics are still watching despite their reservations.

This is mainly due to the slow and deliberate way the show has acclimated us to the possibility of something so outlandish time travel. First Desmond's consciousness became unstuck in time. Then we were introduced to physical time travel via Bunny 15 and the corpse of Doc Ray. Now the Island itself has apparently become unstuck in time, blurring the line between mental and physical time travel. The absurd seems plausible thanks to this incremental progression.

But I think even skeptics can appreciate Lost as a kind of "anti-time-travel" story. Unlike more traditional takes on the subject, time travel is the problem, not the solution on the show. Dharma's efforts to manipulate time have disrupted the course of destiny. It's up to Ms. Hawking and Co. to nudge things back on track. In the spirit of Herb Caen, here are some three-dot thoughts on the Season 5 premier:

POWER TRIANGLE. I loved the opening shots of Dr. Chang, particularly the way he makes a power triangle with his hands that subtly evokes the symbol for the Arrow Station...The "limitless source of energy" is presumably the pocket of negatively charged exotic matter that Chang mentions in the Orchid Orientation. The drill technician who collapsed with a bloody nose is probably unstuck in time as a result of drilling too close to the exotic matter...Very cool seeing Faraday during that opening sequence. Now we know for sure that he was the "reliable source" cited by Dr. Chang in the 2008 Comic-Con video...

IT HAPPENED BECAUSE YOU LEFT. Ben's line is the latest of many reinforcing the notion that the Oceanic 6 were not supposed to be rescued. You'll also recall that Locke said something similar when trying to persuade Jack not to leave the Island. As I describe in the Anti-Christmas Carol, Desmond changed the "picture on the box" by postponing Charlie's death. This ability to change the course of fate is what makes Des the "wild card," a point I'll return to shortly...When Ben asks if Jack knows what happened to the people left behind on the Island, I sense the former already has this information and is actually testing the latter, though I'm unclear why...

PURPLE SKY. The purple sky is one of my absolute favorite recurring images on Lost. I could easily see the show ending with a purple sky event that moves the Island forward into the far future, perhaps via one last turn of the Frozen Donkey Wheel..."We must have been inside the radius" is presumably a reference to the event horizon of the wormhole that was opened when Ben turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel...The camp disappeared because the Island is now unstuck in time as a result of passage through the wormhole. As I describe in the Island Needs a Constant, its "consciousness" will oscillate between key periods in the Island's history. People and things from different times will appear, interact, then disappear like ghosts.

BORN TO RUN. You don't simply get a court order for a blood test as a matter of course. I suspect Sun was the one who's responsible, whether directly or indirectly, for those attorneys from Agostini & Norton wanting to test Kate and Aaron. Or maybe it was simply fate driving Kate back to the Island. Either way, it's fascinating how Kate's first instinct is to run just like it was in her life before the Island. It's another sign the Oceanic 6 have regressed to their former selves since they defied destiny by leaving the Island...

WELCOME TO THE CHINA CLUB. Sawyer's hilarious slap of Faraday was on behalf of every fan who's been frustrated by bigmouths like me for delving waaaaay too deep into the science and pseudo-science of Lost...I love the way Daniel's metaphor of the record skipping mirrors Dr. Chang's difficulty playing his Willie Nelson record. Many of my other favorite shows -- e.g., the Wire, Dexter, and Battlestar Galactica -- similarly use twinning and parallelism to underscore core themes. In this case, the skipping record reinforces my belief that Dharma somehow "scratched" the timeline, necessitating intervention by the likes of Ms. Hawking and her Chronology Protection Agents.

IT POINTS NORTH. Locke's encounter with Richard seems to suggest not everyone on the Island is unstuck in time. That's more difficult to conceptualize, but Daniel expressly alludes to the possibility earlier in the episode...Richard's gift of the compass harkens back to the scene in Cabin Fever where he gives young Locke the Dalai Lama test with the compass as one of the objects. I've always suspected that test wasn't so much about reincarnation as time travel. I believe Locke will soon travel back in time and meet a version of Richard who does not yet know him. Locke will gain Richard's trust by giving him the compass. Richard will then seek out Locke as a newborn, young child, and teen, in an effort to understand why. This is also why Richard and the Others seem to know Locke in earlier scenes -- they've been expecting him for some time.

WILD CARD. In posts like the Course Correction Conundrum, I've explored the tension between Ms. Hawking's rule against changing the future and the special case of Desmond. He's a "wild card" in part because he sees the path of destiny in advance and can manipulate course correction to change the "picture on the box." But Daniel's comments imply something even more profound -- Des is the only one who can undo the temporal disruption caused by DHARMA and the Others. His freedom from fate is actually what makes him the key to getting it back on track...So who is Daniel's mother? Like many of you, my first thought was Ms. Hawking. After sleeping on it, however, that feels incorrect to me. I think it's very possibly Ms. Hawking is connected to one of our Losties, but my gut tells me it isn't Faraday.

RED SHIRT ALERT. I let out a yelp of recognition (holy *&$% -- that's Frogurt!) when I saw Neil "Frogurt" in the Zodiac raft. Hard core fans will recall Frogurt from the Missing pieces mobisode the Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt. Sadly, the moment I recognized Frogurt, I knew he was going to die and soon. The writers confirmed my worst fears when they subsequently emphasized that Frogurt was wearing a red shirt -- a nod to the show's practice (in the tradition of Star Trek) of killing off minor characters so clad. Still, the flaming arrow was quite a spectacular way to go -- it brought to mind the shocking sight of Doc Arzt being blown to bits.

CHRONOLOGY PROTECTION AGENCY. Ah, Ms. Hawking, you are truly one of my favorite characters on the show! As stated previously, I think she's a Chronology Protection Agent whose mission is to nudge destiny back on course by convincing the Oceanic 6 to return to the Island. She seems to have recruited Ben, though it's unclear whether he has always worked for her or only since leaving the Island. I'll bet Ben wallowed in anger and depression over Alex's murder and his banishment for some time thereafter. I could plausibly see Ms. Hawking recruiting him with the promise he might one day return to the Island with her help.

ONE MORE THING: I was going to edit to add one further speculation but I see from the comments that someone has beaten me to the punch. I'm with Wayne Allen Sallee that the British fellow who wanted to chop off Juliet's hand was none other than a younger version of Charles Widmore himself.

An Anti-Christmas Carol...

It's the holidays, and that has me contemplating a classic:



The moral of A Christmas Carol is that it's never too late to change your fate. I used to think the same was true of Lost -- that its resolution would involve changing the fate of humanity to avert our prophesied extinction. But I've come to believe that Lost is more Tao than Dickens. The message of the show is to embrace your destiny. Fighting the future inevitably fails and backfires, causing needless suffering for those affected.

My posts typically focus on the mythical and sci-fi elements of Lost, but the show is ultimately character driven. Not surprisingly, therefore, the stories of principals like Locke clearly reflect this theme of accepting fate. A great example is Locke's refusal as a teen to embrace his destiny as a man of science. One of my all-time favorite scenes on the show is where Locke's teacher urges him to accept Alpert's offer of science camp -- to no avail.



Really, though, no storyline exemplifies the moral of Lost better than Desmond's futile efforts to save Charlie. I've previously praised Desmond's interventions for changing "the picture on the box" by making Charlie's death heroic. But the consequences of this heroism, particularly the rescue of the Oceanic 6, have proven less than positive. Indeed, the grim flash forwards seem to bear out Locke's insistence that the O6 were "not supposed to leave."

The mythology of the show, particularly the Valenzetti Equation, similarly embodies this fatalism. We know Dharma tried to save the world through the power of physical science but ended up creating in Swan Station the very same threat of human extinction they sought to avert. I suspect the Others also seek to save the world albeit using "para" science (i.e., psychic power). That's why they covet children with special abilities like Walt.



The problem is not just that these attempts are doomed to failure. They also suffer from an inaccurate -- or at least incomplete -- understanding of the Valenzetti Equation. I've argued previously that its prediction of extinction may also refer to our evolution into a new post-human species capable of transcending time, space, and even physical form. Altering the Valenzetti's core factors risks delaying this evolution or even derailing it completely (i.e., by destroying the world).

I believe Ms. Hawking, Brother Campbell, and maybe Matthew Abbadon are working to fulfill the Valenzetti's evolutionary mandate. These Chronology Protection Agents, as I've dubbed them, manipulate people and events along the timeline to nudge destiny back on course. The show depicts the culmination of their intricate plan, executed over many decades, to mitigate the distruption and delay caused by Dharma and the Others.



Like the eponymous device in the game Mouse Trap, however, Hawking and Co.'s machinations have a Rube Goldberg quality. There are several critical stages where their plan can fail, breaking the desired causal chain of events. One key point (pun intended) is Desmond's activation of the Fail-Safe. If Des delays going to the Island by marrying Penny, he risks missing this linchpin event, in which case "every single one of us is dead."



Ms. Hawking managed to avoid that outcome by persuading Desmond not to propose. But her speech on course correction was less successful in achieving its other intended effect. The lesson of the man in the red shoes was meant to dissuade Desmond from trying to save Charlie. Ms. Hawking knows the Oceanic 6 are not supposed to leave the Island. In fact, their presence is a prerequisite for fulfillment of the Valenzetti -- they are its six core factors.

The Oceanic 6 are thus pawns of prophecy. Their miserable existence is the universe course correcting them back to the Island. The problem is that these pawns have a measure of free will. They can postpone fate indefinitely -- or at least as long as they can stand the misery -- but their friends and loved ones will also suffer. The Chronology Protection Agents must nudge the Oceanic 6 back to the Island and bring the suffering to an end.

Spoiler: New Dharma Symbol

Thanks to fellow Lost blogger Dark UFO for pointing us to the latest installment of the official Lost Book Club. In a new video, Team Darlton plug James Joyce 's Ulysses (an even more referential work than Lost) and reveal that episode 5:7 will be titled "316." At the very end of their video, a new Dharma symbol flashes on-screen for a split second.



I believe this new symbol is a lantern, which may also be the name of the station it represents. The graphic evokes the lamp post in the woods marking the entrance to Narnia in the classic series by C.S. Lewis. Nor would this be the first such reference on Lost. As we've discussed before, the name Charlotte Staples Lewis seems a clear shout out to the author (i.e., Clive Staples Lewis).



The Narnian symbolism fits well with the episode title (i.e., 316) also revealed by Darlton. Regular readers of this blog may recall my post Purple Sky wherein we discussed the possibility that moving the Island would reorient it in spacetime "such that a bearing of 305 no longer provides safe access." I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that 316 is the new bearing for reaching the Island safely.

That, in turn, raises another possibility we've kicked around recently. In the Island Needs a Constant, I suggested there might be another Dharma station, either on the Island or somewhere else across the planet, that the Oceanic 6 must find to get back. How fitting would it be if this hypothetical station turned out to be none other than the Lantern?

UPDATE (December 14, 2008): A poster on the Fuselage named Founder raises another plausible explanation for the title 316. It could refer to the number of people who purportedly died in the crash of Oceanic 815 -- i.e., 324 passengers minus the eight who initially survived impact. The episode might therefore deal with the unraveling of the lie told by the Oceanic 6.

The Island Needs a Constant...

One of the more provocative speculations this off-season has been Doc Jensen's that turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel moved the Island into the past. This possibility got a boost from recent promos apparently depicting Daniel Faraday encountering an intact Swan Station. I'm all in favor of such a scenario, which would be a great way of exploring the Dharma Initiative. But because this is Lost, I'll bet there's a twist. What if the Island itself is now unstuck in time?

All indications are that the Island is accessible via one or more wormholes. People passing through the wormhole(s) risk becoming unstuck in time like Desmond and Minowski. This presumably is what Ethan meant when he warned Juliet that the trip to the Island can be "intense." Turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel apparently moved the Island through a wormhole to whenever they are now. If people can become unstuck by wormhole travel, maybe the Island can as well.

But what could it mean for the Island to be unstuck in time? In the Constant, Desmond's consciousness jumped between various points in his past. I'm guessing that an unstuck Island will do much the same. Its "consciousness" will oscillate between key periods in the Island's history. People and things from different times will appear, interact, then disappear like ghosts. I have in mind somethng like Jacob's cabin, which may already be similarly unstuck.

Here's where things get really whackadoo. According to the Constant, people unstuck in time must find someone or something to reorient themselves. Desmond's constant was Penny; Dan's is apparently Desmond. In the case of Jacob's cabin, I'll bet that ash-like circle serves as a kind of temporal anchor. I believe the Island's constant was the Swan Station until it imploded. That may even be why Swan was originally built -- the Incident unstuck the Island previously.

If so, the Island needs a new constant to resolve its temporal confusion. Maybe that's the Oceanic 6, as a group, which is why they all need to return together. I'm guessing, however, that there's another Dharma station, either on the Island or somewhere else across the planet, capable of exerting the same stabilizing force the Swan once did. Finding it will be the key to the Oceanic 6 getting back to the Island...

Casting Spoiler: Patrick Fischler

I don't usually report on spoilers. Recently, however, a deep throat within the Lost production empire clued me into a casting spoiler with some potentially interesting implications for the direction of the show. I have it on good authority that Patrick Fischler of AMC's critically acclaimed Mad Men will be playing a character in episode 5x08, which is currently filming in Hawaii.



Fischler is an extremely talented actor whose work on Mad Men was recently praised in a New York Times Magazine story about the show. My source was uncertain what role Fischler would play on Lost, but I do have my own speculation. Something about Fischler's nervous energy reminds me of Daniel Faraday, who's so ably portrayed by Jeremy Davies.



That brings me to the above-mentioned implications for the direction of the show. The casting call for episode 5x08 mentions a "[s]mart, hippy-ish, well-trained doctor who finds himself thrown into a situation outside of his medical experience and has to adjust." Many, myself included, have been hoping the hippy reference means we'll be seeing more Dharma flashbacks this season.

The Fischler spoiler supports this speculation, albeit indirectly and with some inferential leaps. Remember the recent Comic-Con video wherein we met Dr. Pierre Chang? The voice off-camera who converses with Chang sounds an awful lot like Daniel Faraday. At the time, I suggested that Dan the Man might eventually travel back in time, becoming Chang's "reliable source."

Now, however, I have to wonder. What if Fischler, who reminds me of Daniel Faraday, will instead be playing his father, a Dharma Initiative doctor?

UPDATE: I've learned that Fischler will not, in fact, be playing the hippy-ish (hopefully Dharma) doctor in episode 5x08. Instead, he will be one of the two characters in "corporate security," though I'm unsure which. Either way, it looks unlikely he'll be Daniel Faraday's daddy. Oh well, it was a great speculation for the 24 hours it lasted...

The Key to the Whole Game...

Many of the most important lines on Lost are delivered to, or through, the character of Hurley. One example I've discussed previously is "you make your own luck," which we first heard from Martha Toomey and subsequently from Chee-, er, David Reyes. Another is Hurley's own admonishment that "Australia's the key to the whole game" of Risk. In this post, I explain why his warning may actually be an ironic reference to the Island.



For those unfamiliar, Risk is a game of global strategy and conquest. Players begin by placing armies in various countries, then compete to take over the world. The player who starts in "Australasia" has a natural advantage because that region is the most defensible. Here's an hilarious riff by comedian Eddie Izzard on how Hitler obviously never played Risk. About a minute in, Izzard summarizes why Australasia is so advantageous:



So the literal meaning of Hurley's statement seems clear. But what about the ironic significance I alluded to earlier? Later in the same episode (i.e., 4:9) Ben accuses Charles Widmore of changing the rules of the "game." That could mean many things, but the objective of the game of Risk suggests one highly plausible candidate: world domination. Perhaps the two are vying for control of the planet with "Australia" as the key.

I put "Australia" in quotes because I don't believe the writers were referring to the Land Down Under. It's tempting to think otherwise given the prevalence of Australia in flashbacks. But that's because most of the flashbacks over the first few seasons involved survivors of a flight from Sydney. As the cast has expanded, we've met many characters with no apparent connection at all to Australia, including Desmond, the Others, and Widmore's freighter crew.

In my opinion, the reference was to the Island itself, which is obviously a point of strategic importance to Ben and Widmore both. And what makes the Island the "key" to their "game"? Part of the answer may be its isolation in spacetime, which makes it more defensible like Australasia in Risk. But its real significance was summarized best by Locke, who explained: "It's not an island. It's a place where miracles happen."



Stated another way, the Island is a place where the infinitely improbable is entirely possible, even routine. It's a place where 72 passengers survive a catastrophic plane crash with mostly minor injuries, where terminal cancer and paralysis are cured, where time travel actually happens -- all against preposterously long odds. It's the kind of place one might very well analogize to a "magic box," where dreams become reality.

Ask yourself, why did Dharma pick the Island as the location for their experiments? The secure design of the stations and the the sonic fence around the barracks suggest they knew it was hostile. Bringing people by submarine had to be difficult. Why go to the trouble? Dharma realized the Island is ruled by the physics of the improbable. It's one of the few places they might actually succeed in altering the Valenzetti Equation's grim probability forecast.



If that sounds familiar, you may be a fan of Douglas Adams's works. One technological premise of his Hitchhiker's series is the infinite improbability drive, which exploits quantum mechanics to enable instantaneous travel across the universe. Its activation has all kinds of random and unpredictable side effects -- e.g., turning nuclear missiles into sperm whales and petunias. Now that we know the Island moves, maybe it's really one big infinite improbability drive!

The physics of improbability also resonates with the works of Stanislaw Lem. His novel Solaris, in which cosmonaut Kelvin investigates the fate of scientists studying a sentient planet that manifests their dreams, is a major inspiration for Lost. Another of Lem's short stories features the "improbability automatic," a gun that slays dragons of probability by making them less likely -- again with strange side effects. What was it the Blast Door Map said? "Here be dragons..."



Improbability physics is nonsense, but there's an interesting scientific parallel. General relativity and our everyday experience suggest that the universe is an orderly, predictable place. At the atomic level, however, quite the opposite is true. Quantum mechanics tells us that uncertainty rules the universe at very small scales. Here's a great explanation by physicist Brian Greene of this basic contradiction between general relativity and quantum mechanics:



Like Greene's Quantum Cafe, the Island seems to be a place where the laws of quantum mechanics are experienced even at macroscopic scales. As a result, "there's a chance that things we'd ordinarily think of as impossible can actually happen." The main example Greene discusses is walking through walls. Do you suppose it's just a coincidence that Hurley specifically mentioned (in episode 3:17) that the Flash can "vibrate through walls and stuff"?



That's what makes the Island a "place where miracles happen" and "the key to the whole game" of world domination. Let's just hope our Quantum Cafe doesn't also turn out to be the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

America the Beautiful...

There are no red states, or blue states, only the Island:


Graphic courtesy of the talented Mike Garrett of Triple Point Studios

In all seriousness, I try not to be political on this blog, but something happened yesterday that transcends politics. Much like Barack, I'm a minority, the product of a mixed-race couple, one of whom was an immigrant. I owe everything that I am to the American Dream. Yet I used to secretly scoff when I overheard minorities tell their children that anyone can grow up to be President in America. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd live to see a black man elected Commander-in-Chief. Never have I been so ecstatic to be so wrong...

A few years ago, I went to see the film Legally Blond. As the closing credits rolled, I saw a little Latina girl applauding furiously as her immigrant father smiled and looked on, no doubt dreaming of his daughter's Crimson future. It's important that our children believe they can grow up to be anything they want to be, but that's not enough by itself. To become reality, adults have to believe the dream, too, or it inevitably gets deferred. That's why Barack Obama's election is so key. For the first time since I was a kid, I really believe, in my heart of hearts, that anything is possible in America.

Beautiful...

Dr. Chang, I Presume...

Another year, another Comic-Con. And with it, comes an intriguing new Dharma video starring Francois Chau. This time, he identifies himself as theoretical astrophysicist Pierre Chang and reveals that his other names (i.e., Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund, and Edgar Halliwax) are lies. Dr. Chang claims to be broadcasting through a "pinhole" 30 years into the future. He displays knowledge of current events and claims to know from a "reliable" source that he'll be dead from the Purge by the time we receive the broadcast.



Obviously, this is meant mainly as a teaser for the new alternative reality game, the Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project. But I believe there are also some important clues contained in Dr. Chang's video transmission. Here's what I've noticed so far:

Pierre Chang: My guess is his new name is a sly reference to the actor who plays him. Pierre=Francois, and Chang=Chau.

Theoretical Astrophysics: Dr. Chang identifies himself as a professor of theoretical astrophysics from the University of Michigan -- the same institution as the DeGroots. Chang's area of study reminds me of another famous astrophysicist, J. Richard Gott of Princeton. I've written before about Dr. Gott's potential relevance to the show, particularly his interest in doomsday equations and time travel. Could Gott be the inspiration for Chang?

Kerr Metric: Dr. Chang came to the Island to study the Kerr Metric, which is also mentioned on Daniel Faraday's chalkboard and in his journal. The Kerr Metric is a solution to General Relativity that describes the geometry of spacetime around a massive rotating body. In the case of a rotating black hole, the Kerr Metric predicts a region of spacetime where time travel into the past is theoretically possible.

At a minimum, the writers are using "Kerr Metric" to signal time travel, much like they used "Casimir effect" as shorthand for "wormhole." But consider the whackadoo possibility that the Island's bubble in spacetime is located within the "safe" region of a massive rotating black hole and accessible by a wormhole. As with the best Lost explanations, this one toes the line between science fact and fiction. Physicist Igor Novikov hypothesizes that information and energy might be extracted from the interior of a Kerr black hole via wormholes.

30 Years: Dr. Chang mentions that he's transmitting through a "pinhole" (presumably, in spacetime) 30 years into the future. I believe this time interval is a reference to the film Frequency, which I've mentioned before in various posts. In the movie, solar activity opens a wormhole that swallows a communications satellite, allowing a son to make radio contact with his deceased father 30 years in the past. Aside from the shared time interval, there are other Lost parallels, including a character named Jack Sheppard. Elizabeth Mitchell, who portrays Juliet on Lost, also stars in the film.

The question is whether Chang's link is similarly two way -- can he receive messages in addition to sending them? His foreknowledge of the presidency of George W. Bush, the existence of the internet, and the death of the Dharma scientists in the Purge all seems to indicate the answer is yes. But there's also the question of Chang's "reliable" source...

Reliable Source: My instinct is Chang's source isn't just a voice at the other end of a radio link. I believe it's someone physically in his presence. Initially, I thought it might be Ben, who gained foreknowledge of events through some combination of the Island/Jacob. But a number of posters have raised an even more intriguing possibility. Listen again to the voice off-camera who converses with Chang. Doesn't it sound like Daniel Faraday's? Maybe he eventually travels back in time from 2008 to 1978...

Mysterious Object: The inference of physical time travel is bolstered by a mysterious object on the shelf behind Dr. Chang. The camera lingers on this item quite conspicuously, leading me to believe it's significant. At first, I thought it might be a notebook -- either Daniel's or maybe even the Black Rock Ledger. Here again, however, other posters have persuaded me to think again. What if Dr. Chang has firsthand knowledge of the internet? Maybe the mysterious object over his left shoulder is, in fact, a laptop computer...

As the Donkey Wheel Turns...

I've been putting together a chronology of possible Donkey Wheel turns, based on the assumption that the antipodal relationship described in How to Find the Island is correct. Let me know what you think.

pre-1840s I'm guessing there was at least one turn of the Wheel in the distant past, before the Black Rock's arrival. Somehow, Magnus Hanso knew roughly where and when the Island would reappear. He was exploring this region when the Island rematerialized under them, which is why the Black Rock is so far inland.



1840s-1970s Someone from the Black Rock (the first mate?) turned the Wheel, changing the Island's entrance to just outside Portland, which is how the Black Rock Ledger ended up in Madagascar. Richard may have begun using the Island during this period (circa 1950) as the location of his summer camp for special children.



1970s-2004 The Dharma polar bear turned the Wheel, changing the Island's entrance to the South Pacific and depositing the polar bear at its antipode in the Tunisian desert.

2004-? Ben turns the Donkey Wheel yet again, changing the Island's entrance to the antipode of wherever he landed in the desert. This is its current location.

How to Find the Island...

In my recap of the Season 4 finale, I suggested that turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel moved the Island forward in time to early 2007, shortly before Jeremy Bentham's "reappearance." Upon further reflection, however, I've concluded it's more likely that the Island jumped ahead a mere ten months to October 2005, when Ben arrived in the Tunisian desert. What's more, knowing where Ben landed will be the key to finding the Island once again...



Let's begin by clarifying what Locke and Co. mean by "moving" the Island. Turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel transforms the Island into a giant time machine straight out of HG Wells. For those on the Island, the trip through time is instantaneous. To outside observers, however, the Island disappears until the rest of the world catches up in time, at which point it miraculously reappears. During the interim, the Island effectively ceases to exist in our world and cannot be accessed by anyone.



Here's the catch. When the Island jumps in time, the rest of the world continues turning, orbiting, etc. through space. The Earth will thus be in a different position relative to the Island when it reappears. If you have trouble visualizing what I mean, consider an analogy inspired by the comments of poster Wayne Allen Sallee. Due to the Earth's motion, the constellations you see from a given location tonight will be different from those you'll see from the same location in six months.



Why is this information useful to someone trying to find the Island? In the Mind of Magnus, I suggested that the Island is located on a wrinkle in spacetime or vile vortex connecting points on opposite sides of the planet (i.e., antipodes). Notice how Ben and the Dharma polar bear both landed in the Tunisian desert. Notice, as well, how the South Pacific is opposite Tunisia on the globe. My suspicion is that using the Frozen Donkey Wheel deposits one at the Island's precise antipodal point.



The polar bear skeleton is located at the antipode of the Island's previous location in the South Pacific. That's why Charlotte was so excited by its discovery. Ben's landing point, which is different from the bear's but in the same general area, is at the antipode of the Island's new location. The difference is due to the aforementioned movement of the Earth relative to the Island. That makes Ben invaluable to anyone looking for the Island. Like the man said, he always has a plan...

Thoughts on There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3...

As I watched the last two scintillating hours of Season 4 unfold, I found myself marveling for the umpteenth time at the brilliance and audacity of Lost. Writing this risky finale was clearly no mean feat. If rumors are correct, there will be no more flashforwards next season. Instead, the show will take place after the Oceanic 6 have returned to civilization with flashbacks to Island events. That's basically a mirror image of the first four seasons, which took place on the Island and flashed forward or back to events in the real world. Locke's corpse symbolizes the death of this old format perfectly.



In that regard, the S4 finale served as a kind of memorial retrospective, repeatedly evoking pivotal moments from seasons past. The Others' attack on Keamy's men resembled the ambush of our Losties in the S2 finale. Keamy confronting Locke in the Orchid paralleled Des doing the same in the Swan. Juliet drowning her despair in Dharma rum recalled Des getting drunk on Dharma wine. The rescue of the O6 by Penny reminded me of the Others taking Walt from the raft. Jack saying "see you in another life" expressly echoed Desmond's line before running off into the jungle.

Perhaps the clearest reference to something from a past episode was the one I predicted in my post Purple Sky. Ben turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel was obviously meant to parallel Desmond turning the Fail-Safe key. In both instances, the act of turning was followed by a blinding flash of light, an earthquake, a whining drone, and electromagnetic discharge. There's even a connection between moving the Island and the mystery of how Charlie, Des, Eko, and Locke survived the Swan implosion. The Fail-Safe hurtled them forward in spacetime much like the Frozen Donkey Wheel jumped the Island to safety.



After the S3 finale, I worried that the writers might be tempted to take a page from Battlestar Galactica, jumping the main story ahead in time to the real world without first depicting the rescue. Instead, they kept the narrative focused on the Island, using flashforwards as a transition to off-Island events. Now that we know how the O6 made it back to civilization, I'm comfortable with a chronological leap forward. At this point, in fact, such a jump makes total sense from a plot perspective. Ask yourself, why did Locke suddenly reappear in their lives a few months ago?

It's because turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel moved the Island forward a few years in spacetime. The rest of the world caught up with it only recently. Here are some other thoughts and reactions I had to There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3:

*I really like how they started the episode at the airport, right where the flashforward from Through the Looking Glass ended.

*The moment they mentioned Jeremy Bentham's name, I knew this character had some connection to John Locke. Bentham, of course, was another famous Enlightenment philosopher who was influenced by Locke.

*Interesting how Sawyer has taken to calling Hurley "Hugo," but Jack still calls him "Hurley." It subtly foreshadows Sawyer and Jack's respective choices to stay and leave the Island.

*Keamy asks a good question: why would Widmore go to all the trouble and expense of capturing Ben alive?

*Sometimes the Others fight like ninjas, other times, not so much.

*Oh, Omar! You deserved a more badass death than that...

*Clearly my main man Ricardo Alpert has no qualms about killing himself...and clearly it was *not* his pleasure to come to Ben's aid.

*Taller Walt was a trip! It's rather brilliant the way locating part of the story in the future allows them to bring the same actor back despite his growth spurt. That's just one of many upsides to the writers' bold narrative gambit.

*You know something? I think Walt knows his dad is dead, and Hurley isn't lying when he says they need to protect Losties like Mike, who didn't make it back. That's because the Island is a place where the living and dad can interact, where "we don't have to think like that anymore."

*Hurley mentions the Dharma crackers from a box dug up out of the the ground are still good. I can't help wondering if this is a metaphor for a coffin, which can similarly be "dug up out of the ground." Question is, will Locke's body still be "good"?

*"You're not supposed to go home. Then what am I supposed to do?" The constant refrain of "supposed to" reminds me a bit of "you make your own luck."

*Anthuriums are the same flower surrounding the manifestation of Yemi whom Eko accused of impersonating his brother.

*"The bomb needs a charge from the battery to detonate. And the battery runs on a chemical reaction. I spray the battery, I keep it cold, no reaction." My first reaction was that they're giving a shoutout to MacGyver. Then it occurred to me the frozen battery might just be a metaphor for the Frozen Donkey Wheel. Did Ben kick-start some chemical reaction by turning the thing?

*What *does* Miles mean by Charlotte spending so much time to get back to the Island? In my recap of Confirmed Dead, I mentioned that the "look of elation on Charlotte's face would suggest she's been trying to find the Island for some time." I then speculated that "some of these Freighter folks were born on the Island." Now we learn that Charlotte herself believes she was born there. Does that mean her birth predates the pregnancy problem? Was she conceived on or off the Island? Flashbacks to Charlotte's childhood will be another excellent window into the Dharma Initiative...

*Did anyone else get the sense Locke and Ben were descending into the underworld as they rode down in the Orchid elevator?

*"Same things all the Dharma stations are for -- silly experiments." To my mind, this line supports the inference that Dharma was meddling with technology from some arbitrarily advanced ancient civilization they neither understood nor appreciated.

*Ben telling Locke to watch a video while he takes care of some business reminded me of Ben's patronizing tone with Jacob. I had an image of an exasperated parent parking a child in front of a DVD while "Daddy works"...

*I totally thought of the Fly remake when we first saw the Orchid teleportation chamber Halliwax calls the "Vault."

*The Dharma music always reminds me of some parody of a bad '70s porno soundtrack...

*If the Orchid is "6 OF 6," it was built after the Swan, which was "3 OF 6"...

*Halliwax implies that the "pocket of negatively charged exotic matter" next to the Vault is naturally occurring. But we know, as apparently did Dharma, that it's actually the remains of an ancient alien device.

*The prohibition against placing metallic objects in the Vault reminds me of the same rule regarding microwave ovens!

*The experiment depicted in the Orchid video involves shifting Bunny 15 ahead 100 milliseconds in "four dimensional space." I believe this most recent purple sky event similarly shifted the Island ahead in 4D space to a time contemporaneous with Jeremy Bentham's "reappearance" in the lives of the Oceanic 6 and Walt.**

* I'm personally skeptical of time loop speculations, but you have to wonder given the obvious symbolism of the automatically rewinding tape and Danielle's automated distress call.

*Kate and Sawyer are too similar to end up together -- they each need someone more Apollonian to balance their Dionysian tendencies. That's why I believe Kate will end up with Jack, and Sawyer with Juliet.

*"Hey, Kenny Rogers" LOL!

*The fact that Jack actually saw Sawyer whisper the secret of his baby to Kate makes it all the more baffling why she doesn't level with Jack in the flashforward...

*Who killed Locke and, more importantly, how? Why didn't the Island, the rules of the Game, etc., protect Locke like Ben?

*I personally think Ben killed Locke. Hurley's chess game with ghostly Mr. Eko is a metaphor for Ben's desperate gambit to return to the Island. Bringing Locke's body may be the only way back for someone who has moved the Island. Like Ben says, he always has a plan...

*I find it hard to believe Jin would stay behind with the bomb when the safety of his wife and unborn child is uncertain. Michael shouldn't have to remind him, though I suppose it underscores how Jin has become concerned for all of our Losties, instead of just Sun.

*More whispers before Christian reappears to tell Michael he "can go now"...

*Awwww, hearing baby Ji Yeon say "uma" reminds me of my little cousin Sophia. Ain't she cute?



*I love Sun's dark turn in the flashforwards! Though I'm sure she'd deny it, she's well on her way to becoming just like her father...

*"I believe I owe him dinner after our last game." What game did Charles Widmore mean? I doubt this is an oblique reference to the battle over the Island, but you never know. Are these titans allies or competitors in the race to get back?

"As you know, we're not the only ones who left the Island." This presumably refers to Locke, whose return to civilization means the Island has reappeared.

*"Sometimes, good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional responses. I'm sure you're going to do a much better job than I ever did." I believe this is an allusion to the difficulties Locke will encounter leading the Others, who Ben also promises will follow his "every word." As Locke said to Jack shortly after they opened the Swan Hatch, "I can't do it alone." Locke's instinct was correct -- the man of faith needs to be tempered by the man of science to fulfill their destiny. That's why bad things happen after Jack leaves the Island...

*Was it just me, or did Sawyer emerging from the ocean ironically reference some famous scene from Bond film or maybe Blue Lagoon where a woman does the same?

*So how exactly *does* Ben know how to move the Island? It's almost like he's seen it done before, but there's no evidence anyone has been behind the Vault since it was first built.

*Love the Star Trek shoutout in having to bring the body back to the Island. In Star Trek III, the Enterprise crew must bring Spock's dead body back to Vulcan to be reunited with his consciousness, which he stored temporarily in the mind of Dr. McCoy.

*"Sorry I made your life so miserable." In the Lost Bible, I suggested that Aaron was the messiah, and John Locke his John the Baptist. Recent events, however, have me questioning that biblical analogy in favor of another suggested by BlackLotus, who believes Locke is the Jesus figure on the show. The notion of resurrecting Locke is one clue along these lines. Another is Ben's aforementioned apology along with his claim that whoever moves the Island can never return. I'm reminded of the myth of the Wandering Jew, who taunted Jesus on the road to cucifixion and was cursed to wander the Earth until the Second Coming.

*The title of my post Jacob's Moving Castle was an allusion to the anime classic Howl's Moving Castle. But it didn't occur to me until the finale that the Island itself might be an even better analogy than the cabin. In the film, the eponymous moving castle allows travel to one of four different destinations depending on the spin of a wheel by the magical front door. Interestingly, Sawyer's nickname for Aaron is Turnip Head, which is also the nickname of a main character in Howl's Moving Castle.

*Might the bright white light that accompanied turns of the Swan key and the Frozen Donkey Wheel alike be blamed on a Bosenova? Props to a poster named yung23, who has been preaching the relevance of particle physics generally, and exotic matter called "condensates" specifically for some time.

*Kate's reversed phone message in her dream supposedly says: "The Island needs you -- you have to go back before it's too late." Odd then that Claire yells "don't you dare bring him back!" Is Claire having second thoughts about staying behind with Jacob? At a minimum, it would appear there are two sides, each of whom wants something very different for Aaron and Kate.

*The Searcher was also the name of Jacques Cousteau's boat. One hopes this will put an end to the "Penny is evil" speculations. Surely the ghost of Cousteau would never allow his boat to be bought by someone evil...right?

**Correction: The original sentence erroneously stated that Locke reappears around the same time that Ben lands in the Tunisian desert. In fact, the latter happens in 2005, while the former occurs in 2007.

Best. T-shirt. Ever.

My friend MB recently attended Jazzfest in New Orleans and returned with news that he'd found the perfect gift for me. Turns out, he was right. Behold the coolest t-shirt ever:



The graphic is by Mike Garrett of triplepointstudios. I'm an Obama guy, but whatever your political affiliations, you have to admire Mike's talent and inspiration. Thanks again, MB!

Purple Sky...

Recently, we learned that Locke and Co. must "move" the Island using the Orchid Station. I believe this means they will shift the Island in spacetime so Charles Widmore can no longer find it. I also think I can summarize how they'll do this in two simple words: purple sky. I predict that, before the end of the season, there will be a purple sky event involving the Orchid. This event will reorient the Island such that a bearing of 305 no longer provides safe access. A secondary effect may be to free characters like Michael who are prevented by fate from dying.



Ever notice how they're always playing golf on the show? That's because, as a poster named lostmio notes, golf is a great metaphor for why it's so hard to find the Island. Think of the golf course as the topography of 4D spacetime with the Island located in the hole. To get something to the Island with no temporal distortion takes the equivalent of a hole in one. If you're off by even a degree, you miss the hole completely, necessitating further strokes. The more strokes you take, the greater the temporal distortion. That's why Daniel is so insistent that Frank follow a precise bearing of 305.



That brings me to the purple sky. A poster named kansasgal speculates that the Orchid Station contains a particle accelerator capable of warping spacetime. One clue is Ben's Dharka with the Orchid logo. Another is the "frozen donkey wheel," supposedly the writers' code name for a big scene in the season finale. Kansasgal quotes one Dennis Mackey, who notes that the Large Hadron Collider, a massive particle accelerator in Switzerland, looks a lot like a donkey wheel and requires very low temperatures to operate. Like them, I believe the "frozen donkey wheel" is the particle accelerator in the Orchid.



Some scientists believe that the Large Hadron Collider may be capable of producing micro black holes. In Fixing A Hole, I described how the evaporation of these micro black holes yields Casimir force capable of warping spacetime. Another byproduct of their evaporation is high energy Hawking radiation -- hence the purple sky. The Casimir force generated by the frozen donkey wheel will reorient the Island randomly in spacetime, hiding it again from Widmore. That's why Ben checks with the hotel clerk what month and year it is after landing in the desert -- he's testing the effects of the event.



I further suspect that using the Frozen Donkey Wheel will do more than move the Island. The purple sky may also have implications for Michael, who has proven improbably impervious to death of late. Every time Iron Mike survives another brush with the Reaper, I'm reminded of Dan Simmons's description in Olympos of the Greek warrior Achilles as a freak of quantum probability:

"I see a quantum singularity," says the goddess Nyx. "A black hole of probability. A myriad of equations all with the same single three-point solution. Why is that, Artificer?" The god of fire grunts again. "His mother, Thetis of the seaweed tangled breasts, held this arrogant mortal in the celestial quantum fire when he was a pup, little more than a larva. The probability of his death day, hour, minute, and method is one hundred percent, and because it cannot be changed, it seems to give Achilles a sort of invulnerability to all other attacks and injury."

To be clear, I'm *not* suggesting that the time of Michael's death is similarly set in stone. I do, however, believe these purple sky events function like the "celestial quantum fire," locking in certain probabilities along the timeline. Anyone who is present for such an event has a 100% chance of being there even if it means cheating death to make it. Take Charlie, who was present for the Swan implosion and accompanying purple sky. Before that event, he miraculously survived heroin abuse, a catastrophic plane crash, a cave in, and his hanging. Afterwards, by contrast, he couldn't die quickly enough...



I suspect the same may be true of Michael. Because he has a 100% chance of being present for the next purple sky, this grants him a kind of immunity from death until then. That's why he survived his suicide attempt, and why Keamy's gun repeatedly misfired. In each case, the universe course corrected to ensure Michael's survival, however slim the odds. But all bets are off once the purple sky occurs. As with Charlie, Iron Mike will be released from the grip of fate and free once again to die. Let us hope that he chooses to make his death a noble a sacrifice like Charlie's...

Thoughts on There's No Place Like Home, Part 1...

Perhaps I've been spoiled by the fast pace of this "Wrath of Khan" season of Lost, but I was a little let down by Part 1 of There's No Place Like Home. After watching, my friend and I compared notes and concluded that we'd learned nothing new. It was really only the last few scenes, the ones where we saw all of the pieces on the table, that moved me. I was reminded of the spit screen they use with such great effect to frame the action on 24.

I realize the point of this episode was just to set up the next two hours, but that was kind of the problem. All setup with no payoff for two weeks is too much of a tease. It reminds me of all the hype and hoopla leading up to the Super Bowl. I think it would have been much stronger, albeit unorthodox, to air the first two hours together, followed by the third in two weeks. I can't help wondering if this odd schedule is a function of the strike, as well.

Don't get me wrong -- sometimes good stories require lots of setup. Take Pet Sematary, one of Stephen King's more underappreciated works. Very little happens during the first half, which is mostly devoted to characterization and setting. The key difference is that you don't have to wait two weeks for the payoff like the delay after King ended the Waste Lands with Blaine the Monorail's riddle. Let's hope that something more satisfying than Wizard and Glass awaits us on the other side...

Here are some other thoughts and reactions I had to There's No Place Like Home, Part 1:

* The co-pilot has a rabbit's foot -- how fitting! Notice how Hurley's key has a rabbit's foot, as well. Is there an Island connection?

* Michelle Forbes! Any other fans of Battlestar Galactica think it's weird to see Admiral Cain tottering around on high heels? For those unfamiliar, Forbes played a ruthlessly efficient military officer on BSG -- the kind who executes friends for insubordination without blinking.

* I think I know why the Oceanic 6 all seem to stunned. There will be another purple sky event as they're departing that causes the Island to disappear.

* Cheech is back! Any chance we can get Chong some work, as well? Maybe as Hurley's crazy Uncle Tommy?

* Jack's mom looks different from how I remember her.

* Oh, Rose. If it were Sayid and Desmond in the chopper, THEY would just call.

* Ripping a stitch -- is this a reference to what's about to happen with the Orchid? The ominous Secondary Protocol they keep mentioning?

* "We have to get off this Island right now..." That's because they will be lost in time if they stay...

* Jack bleeding reminded me of Roy Hobbes bleeding from his stitches in his final at-bat of the Natural...

* Love the Flash and Green Lantern pairing of Sawyer and Jack -- right down to the contrasting hair color.

* Loved the reappearance of the Numbers -- e.g., day 108 and the 4815162342 on Hurley's odometer.

* Interesting how their story is that Kate gave birth to the baby. Why lie about that? Why not just have Claire be one of the 8 original survivors who gave birth then died?

* One wonders if the doctors who examined them noticed Jack's fresh appendectomy scar...

* At the press conference, I kept thinking of the Beatles landing at JFK in 1965. I wonder if the nickname "Oceanic 6" is actually a sly nod to the Fab 5. Dr. Shephard, is it true you're the funny one?

* Interesting...we know Jin made it at least to the Freighter. Yet he's not one of the other two who survived the crash then died. Who were the other two that survived?

* I have a feeling that going to Widmore's freighter is a big mistake. I've long believed the freighter will be destroyed, and last night we learned how. I find it curious, though, that there are now basically two bombs onboard the freighter -- it's double booby trapped.

* Who was hiding Dharma rations, binoculars, and a mirror 15 years ago? And how did Ben know precisely where to look? Did he hide these things in preparation for the Purge a few years later?

* Did anyone catch any snippets of what Ben signaled?

* Interesting how Faraday has a doodle of the Orchid logo in his notebook. Did Dan have a flash of the future involving the upcoming purple sky event?

* A poster named SKID, who has been campaigning for Daniel Faraday to remove his necktie, humorously notes that Dan the Man missed a golden opportunity to toss his tie to Charlotte ala Mean Joe Green in the famous Coke commercial...LOL!

* Interesting how Sun accused her father of being one of "two people" responsible for Jin's death. My guess is that the other is Jack. Sun blames Paik for putting them on the Island in the first place, and Jack for insisting that they leave. One wonders if Jin will die when Widmore's Freighter is destroyed...

* What's with the Tron references? Behind Mr. Paik is what looks like a Light Cycle and Hurley calls out to "Mr. Tron" and "Lady Tron"...

* I totally thought we were about to get a ghostly visitation from Charlie or even Dave when Hurley saw the coconut and heard the whispers.

* Hunting boars? How did Cheech know? It's almost like working on that car connected him with the Island...and Hurley.

* Love how Hurley is driving an old beater. We know, however, that he ends up driving the car his daddy gave him, despite being initially convinced it's cursed because of the Numbers. What do you suppose changes Hurley's mind?

* What's creating RF interference on Widmore's Freighter? It would seem to have something to do with Keamy's booby trap, which may be wirelessly connected to that device on his arm.

* Well, Jack didn't learn the truth about Claire being his half sister quite the way I expected. Interesting how Claire's mother made such a miraculous recovery -- last we saw her, she was in a coma. It's like she awakened just to give Jack the news...

* Does Kate know that Jack is Aaron's uncle? Did she hear Claire's mum?

* One interesting discrepancy that hasn't really been explored is Michael's bearing of 325. Now we know it leads to an Island -- which one? Was it in the South Pacific? There are still way too many details we don't know. Unless there's some further payoff, this continues to strike me as another opportunity squandered.

* The C4 in the hold of the Freighter reminded me a lot of the Flame, which was similarly rigged with plastic explosive. Does that imply Charles Widmore was behind both? This would certainly fit with my speculation that Mikhail and Kelvin were originally covert operatives sent by Widmore in 1993 one year after the Purge to secure certain vital facilities on the Island. Then again, if that were their mission, why not secure the Orchid, as well, since Widmore obviously knows of its existence?

* Loved Richard's reappearance in an echo of the ambush of Jack, Locke, and Sawyer by Tom and Co. Interesting how Richard is back to wearing the Others' native duds...

* Omar really isn't ruthless looking enough. In a nod to Predator, they should have gotten Bill Duke to play his role...

Thoughts on Cabin Fever...

First, apologies to everyone for taking longer than usual to post this recap. I hate it when work interferes with more important things (ha, ha). On the plus side, I was in New York City, where I used to live and love to visit. The food was typically fantastic, and the weather unusually so. But it was nonetheless nice to return home to sunny LA, where everything is so much...easier. Uh oh, now I'm starting to sound like Paul Simon in Annie Hall.

Speaking of returning home, a big(mouth) welcome back to Lost's own prodigal son, Nestor Carbonell. I absolutely loved Richard Alpert as a kind of creepy Professor X figure recruiting special children for his school, which was presumably on the Island. This brings to mind my speculation the Island of Lost Children, which seems mostly wrong in retrospect with a few nuggets of prescience sprinkled throughout. More specifically, it does indeed seem that the Island is a kind of orphanage for special children. And Ben does in fact appear to have usurped control of the orphanage for his own ends.

The test Richard gives to young Locke is modeled after the real test used to pick the next Dalai Lama. After he dies, objects belonging to the previous Dalai Lama are presented to young children, who are told to choose the items that already belong to them. The child who correctly chooses these objects from a group is thought to be the reincarnation of the previous Lama. For those interested in learning more about the Dalai Lama, I can't recommend Martin Scorsese's film Kundun highly enough. It's beautifully acted, shot, and edited, with a quietly urgent score by Philip Glass that complements the movie marvelously.

So, is John Locke the reincarnation of Jacob? It's possible but I actually doubt it, despite the reincarnation reference. Notice how Locke drew a picture of Cerberus smoke monster apparently killing someone. Notice, as well, how some of the objects (e.g., sand, compass, knife) correspond with items we've seen Locke use on the Island. Maybe the special talent Locke possesses is an ability to transcend spacetime such that he really does "already own" the various objects in question. The prophetic dreams are a manifestation of this talent. Ben mentions that he "used to have dreams, too," which would explain his apparent foreknowledge, as well.

Why did Richard react so negatively to Locke picking the knife? It's possible the latter chose incorrectly in the sense that the object never belonged to him. But I actually associate Locke first and foremost with knives -- even more than the compass. I get the sense that his choice was wrong in the sense that it signaled violence and aggression. Locke is destined somehow to play a pivotal role in events that signal either the end of the world or a new beginning. Perhaps his choice of the knife is a sign that events are leaning toward the former. Here are some other thoughts and reactions I had to Cabin Fever:

* Emily Locke is playing Buddy Holly before her date. Holly, of course, died in plane crash.

* Just who do you suppose was driving that car? What if it's the same person who drove the car that hit Michael?

* Grandma Locke mentions that Emily's boyfriend (and presumably the father of her child) is more than twice Emily's age. As a poster named Kansasgal perceptively notes, that makes it unlikely Anthony Cooper was John's real father. If that were so, Cooper would have been 79 at the time of his death -- not impossible but certainly implausible given that Kevin Tigh (the actor who plays Cooper) is about ten years younger.

* So Emily Locke had John prematurely at six months -- just like Emily Linas had Ben.

* Interesting how the Captain doesn't seem to be in charge of the expedition. Keamy is apparently on equal footing with the Captain. Does that mean Keamy is now in charge?

* Keamy's misfiring gun brings to mind Michael's inability to commit suicide. This is probably a good time to reiterate my prediction that Michael cannot die until some event -- perhaps another purple sky incident -- takes place. Once that happens and they return to civilization, Sayid will kill Michael, maybe even at the latter's request.

* Was Dharma building the cabin or rebuilding it? The architectural plans suggest the former. But how much you want to bet that Horace Godspeed had a dream about where and how to build that cabin?

* "That's probably because I've been dead for 12 years." Well, well, well...looks like the Purge did indeed happen in 1992, as speculated in "I Am Not Alone..." But before I take credit where it isn't due, let me confess that I had some inside knowledge on this one. The script for the Man Behind the Curtain actually specifies the year of the Purge as 1992.

* A lot of folks seem confused by this timing, which implies that Alex was taken before the Purge.

* Is Grandma Locke smoking her cigarette backwards? Some have been quick to seize upon this as a subtle clue that something is wrong with this scene. Was John Locke supposed to survive the crash? Did he somehow exert some control over his destiny even in utero to save himself and his mother? Does Locke make his own luck ? Then again, upon closer inspection, Grandma's cigarette is filterless, so perhaps this is all much ado about nothing...

* Love that shot of Richard in the hospital. In view of my recent post the Lost Bible, one wonders if his ageless character is a nod to the myth of the Wandering Jew...

* Hurley is absolutely correct that he, Locke, and Ben can all see the cabin because they're the craziest. Remember how one of the other patients at SRMI saw Charlie's ghost talking to Hurley? There's something about mental illness that opens minds to communication with Jacob. The same is true of mental trauma, which is why Claire began seeing visions after being hit in the head, and why Jack saw Christian while delerious. I believe Jack's operation was crucial to setting up a family reunion with Claire and Christian in the Cabin. Which reminds me, my Schizophrenic Theory of Lost is due for an update...

* "Pit" stop -- get it?

* Locke mentioned that Dharma made the ranch dressing Hurley loves so much. But we now know that everyone in Dharma died twelve years ago. Did the Others take over production of the Dharma ranch, or have those food drops been coming from the past?

* Interesting how both Ben and Locke both insist upon referring to Hurley as "Hugo."

* Who led the Others before Ben and ordered the Purge? Some say Charles Widmore, but I have a hard time buying that. Could it be Jacob?

* It cracks me up how the Captain, who seemed like such a badass when we first met him, seems totally helpless when confronted by Keamy.

* The "secondary protocol" is presumably the Orchid Station. Widmore knows about it because he was an investor in the Dharma Initiative.

* Interesting how Locke was supposed to be a man of science but fought his fate tooth and nail. Interesting, as well, how Richard Alpert is himself a man of science despite working for Jacob, who supposedly hates technology.

* I believe the exchange between Michael and Frank is further indication that Charles Widmore didn't stage that second crash of Oceanic 815. It was Chronology Protection Agents like Ms. Hawking, Brother Campbell, and possibly even Daniel Abaddon. As I describe in Lost Time, the second crash was staged to prevent a butterfly effect that risked changing the future. Widmore has a vested interest in convincing people the wreckage is real because he controls this future in which Oceanic 815 crashed, killing everyone onboard.

* Is that device on Keamy's arm some kind of mechanism that destroys the Freighter if Keamy dies?

* "I've been on that Island for three years. I'm never setting foot on there again. Not when Penny's coming for me." I'm guessing that Desmond's line is ironic foreshadowing. I believe he will learn that he must return to the Island to be reunited with Penny. For whatever reason, the two will decide to remain there together...

* Who is Matthew Abaddon? I mentioned earlier that he might be a Chronology Protection Agent. But something about the way he addressed John as "Mr. Locke" reminded me of Walt. Is it possible Abaddon is Walt from the future?

* Interesting how Locke specifically mentioned that there was a 98% chance he would never get any feeling back in his legs. For someone capable of affecting probability (e.g., Jacob or even Locke himself) a 2% chance is all you need. Indeed, the odds of surviving an eight-story fall from a window and a catastrophic plane crash are even slimmer -- though, again, not impossible.

* Am I the only one who thought of the Al Michaels's call of the Miracle on Ice when Abaddon asked Locke if he believes in miracles? Yes!!!!

* "The Island wanted me to get sick." I believe this is further confirmation that Jacob did indeed give Ben cancer as punishment for the latter's betrayal, as I describe in the Cancer Man's Con.

* As I noted last week, Christian doesn't appear to be wearing his suit and white tennis shoes. Why and where did he get the new duds?

* Claire seems surprisingly sanguine given that she's been separated from Aaron. I'm reminded of her carefree demeanor during her stay in the Caduceus Medical Station, which was presumably the result of some drug. I wonder, though, who else she's met while in this dreamy state. Was she reunited with Charlie, who informed her that everything will be fine with Aaron?

* Where is the baby supposed to be? If he's the Anti-Christ, the answer is off the Island so he can destroy the world. Evil Aaron! Natas! Redrum!

* Locke said they're supposed to "move the Island," and I can summarize how they'll do it in two words: purple sky. I'll expand on this in a separate post, but to summarize briefly, I believe there will be another purple sky event before the end of the season. This event will involve the Orchid Station, which is the mysterious "frozen donkey wheel" that Darlton have been hyping. The effect of this purple sky event will be to shift the Island in spacetime, which is why Ben had to double-check the time and date after waking up in the desert.