I thought that the creators confirmed that the “eye” that scared Hurley was Jacob.
Speculation:
I suspect that the 2 factions are pretty clear here: The Others, descendants of the pirates from the Black Rock (aka The Natives, etc) who have mystical powers, immortality, and everything else that Widmore wants, and Widmore’s group, the Dharma Initiative, who came to the island to study it and take advantage of the mystical features of the island.
Anyone spooky, immortal, and the like is bound to be with the Others. The DI folks are less powerful, but their science has allowed them to grasp some of the mystical tech of the island and use if for their own gain.
Ben’s a crossover. He was born on the island to the DI group, and eventually rebelled against them when Jacob thought that his characteristics meant that he was the one intended to save them. There’s a great theory out on the web where someone points out there are certain characteristics of Ben’s and John’s birth that might have gotten someone with only half the information need to find “the one” might get confused (mother’s initials EL, and some other details I’ve forgotten). This is why Ben is jealous of Jacob’s attention to John: He thought he was the superhero to begin with, but it may turn out to be John after all.
I’m wondering if The Others are a relatively communistic society: Ben didn’t seem to think he was a consistent ruler of anything, and Richard Alpert certainly had his own ideas about what “the one” should and shouldn’t be (he was very disappointed when John’s pics during the pseudo-Dali Lama test pointed toward a life of violence).
So, to sum up: The Others are time-travelling immortal bad ass Ninjas trying to protect an island who’s main inhabitant appears to be made of noisy smoke that can read your mind, while the Dharma Initiative are a bunch of runny nosed nerds hired by a gozillionaire in an attempt to make him a time-travelling immortal bad ass ninja.
I can’t believe how completely drawn back into this show I am after the low points of season 2 and 3.
Manta
3784
I’ve pretty much decided that the guy who wrote…
http://www.timelooptheory.com/ (linked a few posts back also)
has inside information. His basic outline about time travel and loops fits recent events really well. Claire and the Dad aren’t quite dead, but they’re not really alive either (same as Jacob, Charlie, etc…) and its due to the island being in a time loop, or at least it was until the plane crashed. its a long read, and some of his points are streched, but pretty interesting especially after the past episode.
The island is a boat. They go to The Helm (or a similarly named structure) and fire 'er up.
I think they forgot to put a midget who speaks backwards in the cabin, aside for that it had an awosome Twin Peaks vibe.
bloo
3787
He doesn’t get to the island until he’s around 10 or 12. He was born outside Portland, Oregon, though, interestingly, Horace (from the latest episode) and Olivia were there, and Mittelos is near Portland. Maybe she was an other but pregnancy screwed her up as it does on the island.
jeffd
3788
Honestly - trying to figure out what’s really going on is something I’ve given up on. It’s obvious they’re making it up as they go along.
So fuckit - I’m enjoying the ride. This season has been fantastic, the best since the first season. Sure they’ve handwaved away most of the initial mysteries (the numbers, anyone?). I just don’t care. I’m enjoying the ride again, which is more than I could say for the third season. I legitimately cannot wait until the next episode airs!
Dogar
3789
Totally agree. Fumbled mysteries aside, I’m just happy that shit is happening! We’ve been promised a catastrophic showdown of epic proportions ever since they saw the black smoke rising in the end of the first season. They fudged that up, but now it looks like they’re finally going to deliver it.
Chuck
3790
I think it was Goodspeed, the dead Dharma guy chopping down trees. It seemed clear he was gathering timber to build something. (A cabin?)
I’ve now seen every episode again from the start on a daily basis (via ABC.com), and must say the writers have had a pretty clear vision from the start and throughout it’s four year run.
I just hope I live long enough to see it all end!
I swear the eye that looked out of the cabin looked to me like Mikhail’s, but I’ll accept it as being Goodspeed or someone else like that.
I spent some time reading the timeloop theory site and I have to admit, he does a good job arguing for that. Definitely worth checking out.
Maybe they just need to do something really sweet for the island to “move” it emotionally. More pit sacrifices perhaps.
I agree that la-la-land-Lost (incorporating Medium & Ghost Whisperer traits) isn’t as compelling as straight up sci-fi Lost. I’m all for aliens/the future having technology we can’t grasp, but we’ve more than that dharma initiative shark to jump at this point.
I just figured out that Richard is Bat Manuel.
It’s going to take me a little bit to get over that…
Great episode though. Clearly Ben and Locke are fighting over the same fate.
Every time he appears on screen (in any show or film) I say to myself “Bat Manuel?” in my best impression of him answering his cell phone.
THANK YOU. I finally watched this ep on my Ipod, and I was thinking the exact same thing. Claire’s facial expression really freaked me out, and it was TOTALLY Twin Peaks.
Or Ben wants us to think they are. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted Locke to take over for one reason or another. Maybe the leader isn’t allowed to leave the island and he wants to be able to go after Widmore. Have we seen Ben off the island between the time he took over and the rescue? Just a guess. Either way, I still think Ben is saving up a big “fooled you!” for the end of the season.
The twist ending is that Ben and Widmore developed “Cop Rock” and the island is the way that they escape from the hate mail
JeffL
3798
Ah, that makes a lot of sense - so it probably won’t happen. ;)
But it would fit perfectly - we know that Ben gets off the island, and if making Locke the island “leader” allows him to leave (and locks Locke to the island) it all falls in place very nicely.
I don’t think Ben has been “locked” (“Locke’d?”) on the Island. Didn’t they find a cache of passports, money, etc. alluding to Ben-as-007 previously? I think that Ben’s angst is more real, more like sadness from having someone else be considered the “Boy who lived” than any kind of Machiavellian ploy.
The stuff with Richard and Locke as a small boy leads me to believe that Locke may have been meant for Ben’s role all along, and that the original Others “settled” for Ben when they found Locke unsuitable in his development (both as a small boy and later as a teen when he refused the offer to attend the Mittelos science camp). Ben’s coming to that realization would explain a lot of his actions, and having sacrificed everything to the island, including his “adopted” daughter now, he’d be pretty freaking pissed about it at this point. If he thinks Widmore was behind everything, from the initial plane crash to the most recent events, it would explain his vehement hatred of the guy.
