Lostwatch: Locke and Load

Wow. I mean....wow. That episode was shocking.

Since I'm fully behind the "evil-Charlie" theory of Lost, I will note that Charlie (at least as I remember) was NOT at the table with everyone discussing Jack and Juliet. Where was he? Was he there? Did I miss him?

If Charlie WAS an Other, then Jack and Juliet's planning to go to war against the Others without informing anyone may have been brilliant - now it is too late to inform the Others that they are walking in to a trap.

Any other thoughts? WHO is Jacob?

The question is, who are the "original inhabitants"? That was pretty bizarre, especially considering their level of sophistication and the fact that they could get through the electronic gate? More questions but a great episode over all.

In a way, Ben did not lie to everyone about being born on the island. While it's true his actual birth took place somewhere else, the adult Ben, the the twisted, possibly psychopathic Ben, was forged on the island at the hands of his cruel father.

Ben's obsession with childbirth was explained last night. He has tremendous guilt over his mother's death.

Unless there is a triplecross going on, Juliet is good. Yeah!

And who/what the hell is Michael? He never ages. He's not a ghost, ghosts don't have to wear gasmasks. He was the one who enticed Juliet to the island.

I don't think Locke is dead. Repeat after me: Locke is not dead. One more time: Locke is not dead.

Bluelady, you mean Richard, right? I was wondering that. Really good moisturizer, I'm guessing.

I was reading a wrap up on another website and it mentioned that Jacob was visible in the rocking chair for a very brief moment. I guess I'll have to fire up the old DVR and use the freeze frame and slow mo to check it out.

Not to get all Star Trekky or Star Gatey, but are we talking about people being out of phase with one another? Is Jacob and Ben/Locke occupying the same space, just out of phase? Is that how "ghosts" keep appearing?

Lost has done some pretty gutsy stuff....but could they actually kill Locke off? I'm betting not, but nothing would surprise me.

Was it just me, or did the guy who gave Roger his Work Man job not seem to age either? Roger was older, but the other guy looked pretty much the same.

This "non-aging" Richard thing freaked me out a bit too. Is that the "curse" of the island? You don't age (past a certain point, at least) and cannot die from natural causes if you're "attuned" to the island (Ben is not, which is why he aged and got the tumor; Locke and Rose and Sun would seem to be attuned because they became "healthier" by being part of the island) but you also cannot have children, so you're stuck in a static situation where you never age, but you also lack the joy of raising children, etc.

Thinking about it, this would fit with why the "Hostiles" were attacking the Dharma Initiative (with all the children there, it was a natural target), and why they continue to kidnap children.

As for next week's episode, we know it is called "Greatest Hits" and features Charlie flashbacks, and from the previews we know that it seems to involve the attack of the Others on the Losties (or at least the prep)....it's also the second to last episode of the season. Perfect time to spring the "evil-Charlie" switch, huh?

Oh, and Keith - you can DEFINITELY see "Jacob" for a moment in the scene. Actually, he appeared twice, I think - once when John heard "Help me" and another time when everything was going crazy in the shed.

I thought I was being sooooo smart by researching the names Benjamin and Jacob and found some interesting things. I then looked Ben up at Wikipedia and found the info I "discovered" to already be listed there. The Benjamin of the old Testament is the son of Jacob. Benjamin was born on the road and his mother died at childbirth. Interesting.

Keith - great connection. Hadn't thought of that at all.

On Entertainment Weekly's website (EW.com, a partner of Time, I guess I should add for James' benefit), they have a great interview by Jeff Jensen with Damon Lindelhof and Carlton Cuse discussing Lost's decision to end with 3 seasons of 16 episodes. In it they mention the fact that Jacob is akin to the Emperor in the Star Wars movies - a central character that will gain in importance but who is unseen for the beginnings of the story (i.e. the 60% of Lost that is now almost completed).

So who (or what) is Jacob? Why do dead people (Ben's mother, Jack's father) appear on the island? And most importantly - is Charlie EVIL? (sorry, I just can't let it go)

*slaps self*. I must have been thinking of Seinfeld's Kramer.

Keith, great catch. And how does Ben's taking the name of Henry Gale tie in with the Wizard of Oz?

Chad,

I found an interesting link thru wikipedia. In keeping with using names of "thinkers" from history, Ricard Alpert is a current living individual who now goes by Ram Dass. He was a Harvard professor who worked with Timothy Leary and mind altering drugs. He went to India in search of enlightenment. He founded several organizations dedicated to expanding spiritual awareness and promoting spiritual growth, including.....get this.....the Hanuman Foundation. Remember Hanso? Read about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Dass. I'm bettingthat Richard has a larger role to play in the future.

You'll have to take the period off of the end of the link to get it to work.

At the very tail end of the "next week on Lost" bit, someone exclaims "My people... they're coming right now!"

It's certainly not definite, but it sounds like it *could* be Charlie.

Maybe Chaddogg will be vindicated...

About the reaction of "Jacob" and nothing is going on in Lost that can't be explained by non-supernatural means. Ben told Locke not to use the flashlight, and nothing happened until he did, all the responses could be light activated. Ben had to know at some point he would need to convince someone "Jacob" was real. He has shown he can plan ahead.

We should have known: after being so informative to us recently, they would have to break out the plot twists for the next season sooner or later. Where to begin:

1) On a lighter note, I can't believe no one pointed out that little scene with 10 year old Ben and his brown haired, freckle faced, dress wearing "girlfriend" on the swings (Annie?). Was Ben's creepy meal with Kate just Ben pretending he was spending some time with Annie?

2) And the Others are clearly not Dharma (well, not members any time recently, anyway). Again, now that the Losties have blown up the only way the Others have of keeping up the ruse (The Flame), when does Dharma show up to clean house? Or have they already with Naomi - again, notice how badly Mikhail wanted to get her?

3) Richard's lack of aging has to be intentional (I couldn't tell either way with Godspeed). But what explains it? Ben's father clearly left the confines of the sonic barrier on his drives around the island delivering goods and he clearly aged, so it couldn't be anything the fence is keeping out. Was Richard previously involved with Hanso's life extension organization? Or is it that the island has decided it likes him, as much as I hate the idea (it is not the least bit scientific). Or is he a native, and the island is the source of the Fountain of Life myths?

4) Speaking of the "natives" - not enough data. No one actually confirms that they are natives, just that Dharma doesn't know who they are (they could still be a Dharma splinter group). Which is why Locke's story of the Black Rock last week matters: is the truth what we guessed the first season, that it was just a random ship that got sucked into the island's Bermuda Triangle zone, or is Locke's story at least partially true: the island was known to the outside world in the past, and some of those miners escaped and became the "natives"? (The electromagnetic shield around the island could have just been constructed to keep Smokey in after Dharma arrived in the 20th century.)

5) And then there's Jacob. Given that the showrunners have said that everything is "explainable" by science, what does that leave us with? I can only assume he's connected to the Whispers, http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Whispers (not really a spoiler, since we've already heard this, albeit not in an audible format). So that leaves us with what? People out of phase with our reality due to some Dharma experiment? (I wouldn't be fond of technology after that either.) Personalities manifested by Smokey out of people's memories? Remote viewers stuck on the island? Heck if I know, but it leaves an extremely sour taste in my mouth.

6) Jacob's containment. Sure, the powder looked like your classical magical summoning circle, but it was an extremely unsandlike powder - notice even Locke stopped to check it out. Was it some kind of ferrous substance, designed to keep something electromagnetic contained inside (Jacob) or something contained outside (Smokey)?

7) The Jacob / Ben connection. Certainly doesn't look like Jacob is in charge of much, although he is "real". The real question is why Ben tried to kill Locke for communicating with him - does he do this with everyone who challenges his reign, have Jacob spook them up and then shoot them when they aren't expecting it (which is why Alex provided Locke with the gun), or what?

All in all, disappointing, not because it asked new questions, but because those questions are more of the "unscientific bordering on ridiculous" variety.

I think one reason they picked such a distinctive-looking actor to play Richard is so we'd remember him, even though we really haven't seen that much of him, not counting the Juliet backstory.

John - much as I'd love the Evil Charlie theory to be vindicated (and it still might!), I think that voice was Ben (anyone else agree)?

From voice and build I thought it was Karl in the preview.
Even if Charlie is working for the Others, why would he warn the Losties? Not that I buy the theory anyway - Charlie's drug issues continue well past the point where he would have been "body swapped" - would the Others really be employing a heroin addict? I suppose you will have your answers in a week.

The person in the preview shouting that "My people are coming..." was Alex's boyfriend Karl.

Tom Shaw - he wouldn't warn the Losties....evil Charlie would warn THE OTHERS that the Losties knew they were coming and had hatched a trap.

And while you say he had "drug issues" after his "hanging" by Ethan, it's never been clear that he ever did drugs. He had weird dreams (leading him to almost drown Aaron), and collected the Virgin Mary statues, but we've never seen him actually DO heroin again. Suspicion, but not confirmation (or, to use a Lost friendly analogy, smoke but no fire).

Are we sure that any of the "hostiles" are even real? And by that, I mean - we see ghosts all the time on the Island. What if Richard (and the other "hostiles") were similarly "ghost" like? (Just an out-there thought...not a developed theory at all)

Here's a screen cap of "Jacob" that appeared for about 2 frames:

---- Click ------

If Ben is Alex's father....and Rousseau is Alex's mother....am I missing the fact that this show has never addressed the issue that obviously Ben and Roussea shacked up at some point in the past 16 years?

Chad,

Hostiles as ghosts? Ethan was with Richard when they picked up Juliet. Ethan was shot, died and buried. I think they are real. They can heal quickly and they don't age, but a mortal would is a mortal wound regardless of enhanced healing powers.

I had forgotten about the sand that Locke inspected. I never got why he found it significant. Perhaps I looked away and missed a cue.

Actually, I don't think Ben is really Alex's father....I think he kidnapped her from Rousseau at a young age, so that Alex THINKS he's her father when she was actually kidnapped.

Anonymous,

What you have missed is Rousseau explaining that her baby was stolen just like the Others have kidnapped other children. The Others took her as an infant and Ben raised her as his daughter. She does not know that Rousseau is her mother.

Awesome episode, best of the season. I loved it. Locke is not dead.

The one I am worried about is Sawyer. Everything sure if being tied up nicely for him.