I didn't realize Horace brought Ben's father to the island, was the one chopping the wood out in the forest, etc. What else has he done previously?

So an interesting thing happened tonight. Strong gusts of wind today screwed with my cable, and ABC didn't come on until 20 minutes in. Undetered, we watched the episode, and waited until midnight when they announced they were going to replay it. In some ways, it threw off the reveals, but it also really made me feel like I was having a flash back of my own. Overall, a very strong episode - Sawyer hasn't been this interesting since Hurley forced him to go around saying nice things all along. I've still felt like declawing him was a major mistake. He was a borderline sociopath who felt like he needed to fuck other people over, even when he had nothing to gain in such an isolated community. I get that he relished being a leader, and being able to be good, but I don't think it's so easy for people like him to just stop stabbing others in the back.

Wow..crazy episode. I liked it a lot, but since they are nearing the endgame, I was expecting more answers...and what I keep getting are more questions!

The single best moment was the damn statue, though! WHAT A TEASE!

Yeah. It better have a part to play in the mythology and not be just some simple explanation

Gather around people, I have got my VERY ORIGINAL Lost theory that is so unlikely but may be true...

I was talking with my brother the other day about Ben and Wudmore and the timeline of when they were there and when Widmore was exiled.

And if you all remember, I brought up Annie a little while back in this thread asking if anyone remembers what ever happened to her. Annie was Ben's childhood friend who gave him the wooden people.

What we know or assume to be true...

Widmore was on the island as a young lad in the 50's
He was seen in association with Richard
Ben arrived on the island sometime in the 70's (right?)
When Ben ran into Richard in the jungle as a kid, Richard was a hostile, so Widmore must have been among the hostles as well.
There is NOTHING we know about what happened to Annie between the time Ben was a kid and grew up to kill all the Dharma people
Ben had Widmore exiled off the island (right?)
How old is Penelope... in 2001 (when Desmond travelled around the world and got stuck on the island), it's safe to say she's at least 25, right?

Ok... my theory is that Ben kept Annie alive during the hostile take-over of Dharma. Widmore and Annie had an affair. Annie got pregnant. Ben found out and somehow had Widmore exiled off the island. Annie is Penelope's mom!!!!!!

And I just did some research on Annie...

On the DVD commentary track for "The Man Behind the Curtain" Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse describe Annie and Alexandra as the two most significant women in Ben's life. Annie is described as a character that is going to play a "huge part" in upcoming storylines: "Annie is going to prove to be very significant in Ben's life," and that even the island's volcano will be "slightly less important than Annie, but still seismic."

I think the craziest Lost theory I have read so far was that Charles Widmore is actually Penelope's son who travelled back in time eventually and became Penny's father...creating some sort of a loop in time (which is why Ben apparently said that Widmore can't be killed by him).

Insane

Well, that's just silly but at this point, I wouldn't put it past them! haha

Ok, so according to Lostpedia...

1954: U.S. military arrive to make the bomb; Sawyer/Juliet/Locke run into young Widmore
1974: Sawyer/Juliet/Daniel/Miles/Jin land in time with the Dharma Initiative and stay with them for at least 3 years
1977: Horace is drunk and seen on the security camera; Kate/Jack/Hurley land on the island and meet up with Jin/Sawyer

What is unknown is when Ben and his father came to the island. Horace was off the island during when Ben was born and was also the person who recruited Ben and his father in what seems like a decade later

Apparently in 1978 there was a Dharma Initiative Recruiting project.

1988: Danielle crashes on the island with her crew


What I'm curious is that if Sawyer/Juliet and Co. were with Dharma for 3 years... then they know what Dharma is doing. And how did they become the defacto leaders? how does that factor into the past and what really happened during the those 3 years. Ahhh... this is too confusing to figure out. Are we to assume that now that they time travelled and lived those 3 years on the island that that is in fact the actual history of the island... as in Sawyer/Juliet and Co. were actual Dharma people?

Kate arrives on the island in 1977. She was reportedly born that year!

Did a plane still crash? I can only reference Season One events because I've stopped watching the show.

yeah, the plane the Oceanic 6 were on did crash I think... and I think Sun/Sayid/Lepidus crashed with it though I'm not 100% sure on that. We don't know when in time it crashed but Locke is alive and well with them.

when did you stop watching?

I missed a big chunk of last season but I did tune into the season premiere just to be up to date on all the time travel hoopla. I don't really understand the show anymore. Too many new characters, plotlines, the time travel stuff...

Maybe I'll do a season 4 and 5 marathon at some point.

Best cross-over ever.

The car explosion on 24 created a flux in the temporal plane that opened a portal onto the island. Only the year is 1964 and Michelle Dessler is a zygote.

And she's Locke's father.

Still no sign of the Polar Bear though.

They mentioned the polar bears in this last episode....

Two guys who were supposed to be watching the security tapes of the island... one of them goes: What, you think the polar bears will find their way out f their cages?... or something to that effect.

So, the polar bears seem to be there because of dharma.

Large pieces that will play a role in the Lost Endgame...

Annie (Ben's childhood friend on the island)
The hydrogen bomb
The statue/ancient civilization
The volcano
Dharma Initiative/Hanso foundation
Jack/Christian/Claire/Aaron and their relation to the island
and possibly Richard Alpert

I think these are the biggest mysteries yet to be solved that give way to the show's endgame. You guys have any more?

I don't think the smoke monster and the numbers will figure prominently into the larger scheme of things... well, maybe the numbers but I remember the writers saying around season 2-ish times that they had no original endgame for the numbers, but it doesn't mean they haven't created one for it since then.

The one I am most hazy on and for which we may have more info than we think is Dharma and Hanso. There was that whole Lost Experience back in 2006 which gave away alot of details. I never got into it so I don't know exactly what was revealed. Anyone know a summarized run-down of exactly what there is to know about Dharma/Hanso Foundation to date?

Now here's what I'm honestly wondering...

do you think that all open questions will be resolved by the end of the series? Because, personally, I strongly doubt that. There are too many.

It depends on what you mean by "open questions" whether they be things that could be integral to the mythology of the show and characters or mere wondering on our part that don't have particular significance to the the functioning of the show.

All the main "endgame" pieces I listed will definitely be addressed.

I think for the most part, all loose ends will be answered.

Well, things I personally wanna know include:

- What's up with the statue?
- Explanation for the Smoke Monster
- Ben and Charles - what happened?
- Black Rock...surely has some significance
- The numbers (actually a biggie...would piss me off if simply left unexplained)
- Who/what is Jacob?
- Why does the island revive people from the dead and why does Hurley see dead people?
- Why does Alpert not age?
- How do the Others make their lists of people that they abduct and what do they do with the children?
- Who are the others to begin with?
- What happened to Annie?
- What is this "sickness"?
- Why was Libby at the mental institution with Hurley?...will they EVER address that?!
- Who is Eloise Hawking?
- Who was the real Henry Gale (apparently will be explained soon)
- Why is Locke so important?
- What was up with that button and saving the world stuff?


That's mostly it...

What I'm more interested in are the apparent inconsistencies in story and the time time traveling. They better have a very well-thought out explanation for these "rules" and what exactly changes and all that stuff, even for things that have already passed -- like the first time Jin and rousseau meet, did they recognize each other? (I'll watch that episode if I know which one it is)

I also stumbled upon this seeming inconsistency (all according to lostpedia)... Rousseau crashed in 1988 and presumably had Alex in early 1989. The Others took her baby shortly after she was born and Ben raised her as his daughter.

But, the Purge (hostiles/others taking over dharma) didn't happen until 1992... what happened to Alex during those 3 years and why did Ben end up raising her?

Also, from what I've read at lostpedia.com, they seem to assume the purge happening in 1992 as fact with the way they write some of their stuff... was there ever confirmation of this date?

Right before the start of S5, I read an interview with the makers who still insisted that this will figure...eventually. Then again, they always insisted that Danielle would get her own flashback episode and she never did (...not sure the few scenes in the past actually count)



Has been stressed many times, ever since S3. There was a podcast following season 3 in which the producers said that S5 (yep, two season before it happened, they already planned that) will deal with the Four-Toed Statue and that we will eventually find out who was Henry Gale and why he was dead. They also said that there was more significance to Ben posing as Henry and getting captured than it seems. That was stressed again in an interview during S4. Admittedly, since then I haven't heard anything about it again...but I remain hopeful.

I mean, it was not a coincidence that Henry Gale is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gale






Yeah...but why? And why did it not implode afterall? Seemed a bit like a cop-out...I dunno.




Overall, the thing is that you agree on almost everything that it should be answered...but let's face it, there are only 26 episodes left, as far as I know...

The time travel inconsistencies will remain just that - inconsistencies. I mean, at least it's not nearly as fucked up as on Heroes. There are barely any occasions in cinema or television on which time travelling is devoid of locical gaps...that is eas<y to understand because time travelling itself is pretty much a paradox, thus trying to explain it in any way doesn't really work. The only film I know in which all actually sounds free of any plot holes is Timecrimes and in that the time travel is not very expansive.

Yeah, most of what you listed are very essential to the series and the explanation of the mythology of the island (and hinted at by the writers that it would be explained) so I find it hard to believe we will be left answerless.

Yeah, there are 26 episodes left. It does seem like such a tiny amount, but that's more than a fifth of the series.

I'm expecting alot from season 6. I mean the last 10 episodes of season 3 was one of the most exhilarating weeks of TV I've ever watched. I'm expecting most of season 6 to bring lots of things full circle.

Overall, season 5 is going to probably be its most in-flux season because of the time travel. For the first time, the episodes have no particular structure week to week. I really hope, though, that most of the time traveling will be done by next season.

Oh yes...the final stretch of the S3 episodes was Lost at its very best, except for some stretches in S1.


Things that have been rather recently said to be answered this season already:

- Annie
- Smoke Monster
- Statue
- Island's healing

However, the procuders also stated that the full backstory of the island and its ancient inhabitants won't be revealed until the final episodes of S6...

I hope the little bit we saw of the statue wasn't all that we're gonna see this season.

And as far as characters... I would like very much for Hurley to be killed off asap. He adds nothing to the show and takes away when he is on screen. He is comic-relief turned some form of inconsistent moral conscience and it's really pissing me off. And I hate to say it but it shows that the actor is pretty limited.

I know this won't happen but they need to minimize Kate's involvement if she plays no significant part of the island. I would much rather see more of Juliet as I don't like how she's been nothing but a tagalong since the end of season 3.

Also... if Sun and Jin don't have any significance to the island either, I'd love to see them get their happy ending (we know it's coming) by the end of THIS season and not deal with their (sorry to say) uselessness next season.

Where are Rose and Bernard? Were there any other significant "original castaways" left with them?

Yeah, Hurley annoys me as well. I used to dislike Jack, but ever since the final episodes of S3, I actually grew to like him a lot to my surprise. The show needs more Desmond right now. His involvement has been very minimal this season so far. I also hope for more Faraday.

That also brings me to another thing...it's about time someone dies on Lost again. We had some pretty big deaths towards the end of S4 (Alex, Danielle), but it's a long time since any of the original castaway died. I mean Locke did, but then he came back to life I'm pretty sure they won't kill off Hurley/Locke/Jack/Sawyer/Juliet/Jin/Sun...at least not before the end of the series. Sayid sounds like a possibility, though. His storyline pretty much ran its course. Nadia is dead, Shannon is dead...he doesn't have much to do anymore.

I really hope Ben won't succeed in killing Penny as her relationshp with Desmond is one of the very best things about the series.

BTW, I read that two more characters will be introduced in the season's finale or around that time.

Oh and in the episode following the upcoming one, we'll find out what happened with Kate/Aaron before Kate came to Jack and boarded the plane.

I liked this last episode the most since Jughead. That scene where Juliet said she was leaving was written and acted great.

I wasn't crazy about the two episodes before this, the reactions of people to seeing Locke and Desmond after not seeing them in so long seemed weirdly calm.

Are they trying to make us hate Kate? She doesn't tell Jack what happened to his nephew, then the next week she acts like a total bitch to Locke, and now this week she's on hand to potentially spoil the Sawyer Juliet happiness.

Sayid is in 1977 because we see that Dharma guy and Sawyer with him in the preview. Sun may be the one who ran off with Frank.