UConn James

Desmond isn't immortal. He was shot by Ben and iirc, by Penny's reaction in the hospital, it was touch-and-go... so to speak. I think it's just another case of "The island isn't done with you yet." You're correct about MIB not being able to kill him, but it's clear that other of the candidates can, which is why FLocke tried to order Sayid to do the deed. It will be something to see what the Light does to him, if that is what Des is meant to do. As I said last week, the last two electromagnetic events... he's not "immune" to EM energy. He survives it. But there are consequences to such exposure. Consequences of the space-time-travel sort. What was the sacrifice that Widmore was talking about? Can the Light actually do some harm to Desmond, and yet, it won't matter b/c of the consciousness transfer to the Sideways world?

Re: the Light Canal, it's almost like only the island's Protector can bring other people, including candidates, there. As MIB said, he'd been searching for it for 30 years --- and in his Smoke form, he can probably cross the entire island in a few minutes. Jacob tells Jack that the light isn't very far from the banyan trees he woke up in post-crash. So, it's right near the crash site. Jack says there's nothing out there. Perhaps this place is more a state of mind than an actual location... maybe a kind of blindness to the spot is included in the "gift" given to the candidates, or maybe, it's just really, really, really well-hidden. Thinking about the Sideways world.... So, the island is deep underwater (and yes, I was wrong upthread in the LA X discussion, it is deeply covered). We've been shown the outcome of the war already and the result seems positive for our castaways (Maybe. Can the "light" exist sunken in the ocean? It seems to exist sunken in the canal...). The Sideways flashes just seem to be Desmond's attempts to reconcile the consciousnesses of the 'special' 815 passengers, so their memories of what happened on-island won't be lost. But I propose an ethical question that Eloise Hawking was on the other side of --- namely, should Desmond be doing this? Should he just let the flashes be revealed naturally and not screw up whatever progress/happiness these people have experienced in the sideways world? Should we even be calling it the "sideways world" anymore? Because it looks like it's going to take over as the main timeline. The on-island, '74-'77 and the timeflash experiences will be spliced and removed, kind of like how segments of the Swan hatch film were. Speaking of the timeflash experiences, we saw the outrigger that Widmore and Zoe arrived to the main island in. Case closed with that telltale big silver box in the middle, that was the source of the gunshots at time-flashing Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Dan and Charlotte. Evidently, the Widmore group was trying to get a shot off on Locke pre-MIB-incarnate... but, actually, it would seem they didn't know it was a timeflash, b/c Widmore knows full well that you can't change what happened already, because it always happened that way. Lindelof and Cuse said that there wasn't going to be an exposition of the outrigger shootout b/c the logistics of it would be difficult to do and we've seen the most important part of what happens anyway. But, now we know that it was Widmore. Chalk one up in the Answered column. Re: FLocke's plan to "destroy the island" by self-sacrifice.... No way. Now that he knows Des is still alive (and from Widmore seeking to save Penny in that whole Hannibal Lecter-like deal to the trussed-up Italian detective ("I'm seriously considering having your wife for dinner...."), that Des is immune to electromagnetic energy situations, FLocke is going to find Des and send him down the Light Canal to... something. Turn off the light somehow? Destroy it? And that effectively destroys the island's mystical powers, but probably not the physical island itself. MIB has no intention of dying / suicide. He wants to get across the sea.

OK, I don't quite know how we got to some dude Roubini talking about the European economy in a thread about Dick Blumenthal, but whatever. That's the course of things on PPP. Distraction from the original story, and pretty soon the focus is off of the original story as people spin away just like the spinners want them too. Back on topic, in the Hartford Courant political section: Link It'll be interesting to see the next Quinnipiac poll....

Someone probably already did. There's no Lieberman road for Arlen, tho. He is persona non grata to Republicans, Dems just replaced his ass (predictable), and I'd say that many Indies aren't in the 'Vote In the Incumbent' mood generally, and this year specifically. File Arlen Spector under 'Self-centered Stooge' in the history section.

OK, to backtrack a second (but, it's still relevant to this ep): From Doc's Totally Lost video, he chats with Marc Pelligrino and Titus Welliver (I'm transcribing it here):

The man who switched parties b/c it was his best chance to keep "his" seat is ousted by a Dem upstart after Obama et al. all but promised carte blanche and a free ride to the general. This is what happens to team-swapping whores who make Faustian deals. Link Thingie

There are just so many turns in this show. So, Ben finally got his revenge on Charles Widmore, who claimed to be on a mission from Jacob shortly after the freighter blast (when Ben was busy teleporting to 2005). He was to use Des as a "fail-safe" to presumably shut off or move the "light" so that MIB wouldn't have access to it. We learned that Kate's name was crossed off the cave wall b/c she was a mother. I don't quite get why that would disqualify someone, but Jacob appears to have gotten the EOE notice and offered Kate the chance to be the Island's protector. (Does that mean that Claire would still be considered a candidate, as 'Littleton' was crossed off?) But, since no one else was in a volunteering mood, Jack stood up, as ever, and chose to be the leader. Was there ever any doubt? Seemed like he was Jacob's man all along, and there was a certain twinge of happiness that Jack did chose in a moment of his own free will (tho, I'd say more accurately there was a decided Compatibilist flavor to the choice). And yet, Jack doesn't know quite what he's got himself into: "How long am I going to have to do this job?" And so the game is on --- Flocke has kill the candidates and probably everyone else, and Jack et al. are going to try to find a way to kill Flocke. I just wonder... if something happens to Jack, are the others still candidates? As we saw last week, Jacob said that his actions created the Smoke Monster. He bashed his brother's head against the light canal's rock which killed MIB's human body / separated MIB from his corporeal form. Seeing as Mother made it so they could "never hurt/kill each other" the universe found a way around this and made him into the ancient black column (stemming from the Egyptian hieroglyphics from earlier than the 23 A.D. date we learned of last week, the smoke monster had been around for a while, tho not as MIB, but that gets into a touchy subject of last week where people wanted to see every layer of turtles there is, to borrow the metaphor from an above post....). Jacob chose them "because you were flawed" and their off-island lives were a mess, they were lost.... And so, Jacob found these characters, and gave them purpose. A continuation of everything Ben would like to be on-island played out in the sideways world. More Napoleon comparisons, concern for the kids and the school environment, and... an unlikely budding romance b/w Ben and Danielle? Ben gets weepy when he learns that Alex thinks of him as a father figure. Rousseau: "I'll use less onion next time." Ben: (Next time? Wait.... I'm a PhD. I should know what this means....). Nice to see Ben set up for a happy end in the sideways, where he hasn't been corrupted by the Temple pool. Ben is probably my favorite character b/c Michael Emerson plays him so well, and you just never know what to expect from him. Everything seems to be depending on the sideways world, where Desmond is the Danny Ocean to Hurley's... Brad Pitt (Wait, what?). All building toward a serious crashing of Daniel Faraday's concert. You know, I'm just getting giddy at how things are shaping up here. I think they can do this and it can all end happily ever after. Or the last 2.5 hours could run the gamut and screw everything up. Edit / Add-on: Richard is railroaded and thrown through the jungle after he tries to be a diplomat of sorts, and thinks he's important to the FLocke's plan. Is he dead? Probably not. Jacob gave him the gift of eternal life and that seems to be lasting even after Jacob's death. Gets you to wondering.... What is Richard's place in the sideways world? If he's still on the island, he's dead unless he's a very good swimmer or he died naturally (or unnaturally, if he still killed the doctor) in the 1800s. But I suppose that is what needs to happen for Richard, to find forgiveness for his sin and be with Isabella in the hereafter. I expect this will be one of the sad touches of the finale. Speaking of diplomacy, there's Jack trying to provide some consolation for Sawyer, who is just numb as he figures that his actions killed Sun and Jin. After so many of their pissing matches of who was right or wrong after this or that course of action/leadership 'n' stuff, Jack was the bigger man this time. If Jack, et al. got detoured at Jacob's campfire, Locke found the well empty, and Widmore seemed a little dumbfounded before he got plugged, Desmond escaped from the well... how?

I'm hearing that this is a great episode for Ben.

Well, does it really matter? That whole post is a red herring designed to divert attention and turn this into a 'They do it too!' saga. This thread is about Dick Blumenthal, and his trying to build a political reputation by standing on top of honorable soldiers' gravestones. There is a presser called for 2 p.m., at which Mr. Blumenthal will try to defend his actions. I've always wondered at people who try to defend the indefensible. He should do the graceful thing and bow out. Any general campaign will now be about his lying. And if his opponent is Mr. Simmons, you can just imagine his staff salivating over this; but he seems to be taking the high road (note that the high road doesn't include not being angered or upset), which as a citizen of his former district, I would expect from him.

A little more from that last 'Cultural Learnings' link:

Another bit from an article Doc mentioned.... Link. Agreed on both points, even tho they seem to contradict. We won't have another mythology ep, and may not even get another flashback scene. It would be interesting to learn how Mother became the Island's protector, but that may very well just lead to another island protector whose story we'd be curious about, and from that, another. This whole "game" as Richard's backstory title would suggest, has been playing out 'since the beginning of time.' How many iterations of the Candidate process must be shown before we're appeased? I think it's enough to take what we've been shown.

Except that Bush II never claimed that he went to Nam. He was in the Texas ANG, and even if some people deride the location, etc. of where he did it (BTW, your post makes it sound almost like Dan Rather never offered a retraction and retired/was fired by CBS for reporting with such flimsy evidence), Mr. Bush completed his service. He didn't make it out to be something it wasn't. Hey, if someone's service comprised of saying "GOOOD MORNIN' VIETNAM!!!" on a radio station and they never saw action, then they should freely admit this to any and all. No shame in that, a lot of people didn't see action and were nonetheless important and played their own small part. I guess it's only/mostly people who have actually served in the military who consider this to be a gross fraud, "stolen valor" is something that you just don't do b/c it cheapens the sacrifices other people made to claim credit for things you never did.

Doc Jensen's thoughts heading into WTDF. For those still questioning the worth of "The Candidate" (so, pretty much everyone) this is a worthy, quick read. Link.

Given that the remaining candidates now know exactly what FLocke is doing (namely, trying to get them to kill each other), he's got to change tactics. Methinks he'll be enlisting the help of the Ben/Richard/Miles group, unaware of the sub bomb, that went to the Barracks for explosives to blow up the plane. But what can kill the candidates now? Last week's ep, titled "The Candidate" was about Jacob's candidacy. Still TBD who is the chosen candidate among the current pool. We'll also be learning an interesting bit about being a candidate vis-a-vis the names on the cave wall. Yellow-fonted for a spoilery tease: Kate's name was crossed off in the cave, so that means she's not a candidate anymore.... right?

Just like the Tim Graham thread, it's a few vocal *s who can ruin everything. Why do some people enjoy pissing in others' corn flakes? Ya wish it weren't like that, you wish there was a big button that would make these people go away permanent-like, but it is like that. There's always a fresh supply of ignorant, argumentative and stupid.

Kerry has more honor in this regard than Blumenthal has in his pinkie. Kerry at least served in Vietnam when he said he served in Vietnam.

NYT story link I have an uncle who was among a handful of guys 1/2 mile from the DMZ (with pictures to prove it) when Tet came down. "Eight divisions of Charlie half a click away, headed for your 20!" was the last call he heard on his radio there. How he got out, Lord knows. He gets royally, royally pissed when people brag about service they didn't perform. Mr. Blumenthal is a very intelligent man. No excuse for lying and misrepresenting with some of the statements he's made over the years that made it seem like he went to Vietnam. Not cool, Dick. Not cool. Mr. Blumenthal has survived for 30 years in state politics making these statements. Now running for higher office, it looks like his words are catching up to him. His poll numbers were initially strong against any Republican in the field, which includes Rob Simmons, a former U.S. Congressman from eastern CT and a highly decorated Vietnam vet. Wonder how this will affect the race....

We had a pair of robins that were pretty much trying to do the same in many glass surfaces (car and garage windows, our door, cold frame in the garden). Very determined, and it was crashing/fluttering at our door every couple of minutes for a while. It was a little aggravating and there's a few scratches, etc. Didn't call the police or animal control, tho... and in a couple of days, they moved on. But there comes a point at which a nuisance animal needs to be dealt with. Animal behavior can get pretty odd, and you have to be careful wrt rabies, etc. Now, I'd just plink it with a BB gun, but then again, that can get you cuffed and stuffed these days. State agencies and PETA would rather that $18/hr be spent on sh-- like this rather than a homeowner doing a 1-cent solution.

A couple of notes: A) There was a musical tribute to LOST on Friday in La-La Land, similar to the one a couple of years back in Hawai'i. "We introduced this mysterious 'heart of the island' and I think the finale had better tell us more about the heart of the island." -- Carlton Cuse, interview at "LOST Live." Who knows how much, but to those of little faith here, Carlton is throwing you a bone. So don't look longingly at high rooftops or sit in the bath with an electric toaster on the tub wall. We may get answers yet. Video Link (despite the site name, there are no spoilers on this page. But don't go poking around.) 2) The finale episode is frickin' huge, Mr. Bigglesworth! Ad rates are reportedly $900,000 for a 30-second spot. That's behind only the Super Bowl and the Oscars. Either the advertisers figure that the fanbase is really devoted or a lot of people who stopped watching the show are going to tune in to the last episode (and then B word, whine and moan that they didn't understand anything and that it's the writers' fault for not making it simple enough so the casual/one-episode viewer can "get it"). III) You know, the more I think about it, I wonder if Desmond's purpose was centered around the "heart of the island." He is immune to electromagnetic radiation... or at least, he can survive it. There may be a space-time detour, but twice now, he gets back to exactly where he was when the EM pulse went off --- that may be the sacrifice that Widmore was asking him to make. If we do get a closer look at the "light," it will be through Des.

Well, if you read them, you'll see it's a mix of facts and some conjecture that is based on what we have seen. E..g the off-island Others ran a butcher shop, a legal office, etc. This isn't really a show that expects you to sit back, shut your brain off and be entertained. It never was. They expect you to use your gray matter. I guess some people have a problem with that. As I wrote, in the big picture, DI and the Others both existed to push the candidates to where they needed to go, what they needed to do. Can't say it much plainer.... If you're looking for a 'DI/Others saved the world' definitive answer, the answer is yes, they did and no, they didn't. They kept the status quo going, they were part of the set-up to the fulfillment of Jacob's plan, his 20-moves-ahead strategy. They played an important part (and with Ben still aboard, they still are). But it's the candidates who are the main points of focus. You're losing sight of the forest by looking too closely at a couple of the trees.

You are underestimating those who come to rape, pillage and plunder... and mooch off of the social welfare system (health care in ERs whose bills they never pay, food stamps, low-income housing, social security --- yes, there are people who come to the U.S. who never put a dime into SS and collect a larger check than those who did --- etc.) to a higher degree than their "cheap labor" will ever inject into the economy. It's not just about jobs.

Rest In Peace, BiB.

As I referenced, how many people seemed this peeved over the bright light in "Pulp Fiction"? Does it really matter to the story of Vincent and "Bad Mother F----" Jules what's in the briefcase? It's not like it's a 60-watt incandescent down there. Like radioactive material is warm, that warmth is not the most important property. Light is just the visual of what it looks like from 40 feet away. As you say, we've seen the light plenty of times before, only not as close, and now some people are complaining that we didn't get to see it from an inch away. Well, people aren't meant to see it closely. Bad things happen to those who see it closely. It's a kept secret for a reason, and I can understand if it stays that way.

Wow. Quite a list. Some of those have answers of a sort, some whose answers are speculation, and some don't have answers (at least, not yet). The point of the last six seasons was showing the progression ("everything that happens until then is just progress") of how the 815 survivors were shaped by what they experienced on and off the island; by their past, by their present, by the past that was their present.... They needed all of it to pare down who would be the candidate. A long, unpleasant, death-filled interview for a job that doesn't have too many perks. The Others did some of their own things, but they also acted on Jacob's lists and generally protected the Island from various invading peoples. They also aided Jacob pushing the candidates along the paths they had to travel. Had they not cleared the runway on Hydra Island, where would Ajira 316 have landed? The best theory I've seen is that the Jughead bomb directly underneath Dharmaville caused some kind of reproductive anomaly. Either that or babies just aren't meant to be conceived and born on the island, as one of the rules. Ethan seems to be the exception... and it was because his future self directly impacted a candidate, and then he was killed when his purpose was done. The Others could leave and return, ostensibly by ships e.g. whatever that Army unit arrived on, the boat took Walt and after the Purge, on the submarine. Richard Alpert said he went off-island three times (and thence, I wonder why he still said that the Island was Hell a few weeks back...). Twice for Locke, and once for Juliet. He was checking out Locke to see whether his claims of being the next Others leader had any veracity. Richard said he never saw anything special from Locke during these visits.... Combined with the time-traveling stuff, I seriously wonder what Young Locke needed to do in order to get Richard's attention, what with the drawings of the smoke monster, etc. But, then again, at that point, Richard had been on-island for ~ 100 years, and even now, he seems pretty clueless as to what's happening. I'm not sure they controlled those events. They could have. But you have to listen to Eloise Hawking about those things; the universe course corrects. With some give and take, what needs to happen, happens. If you're not needed anymore, the universe will kill you or won't go to any trouble to save you. The Flame station, which Mikhail ran, was equipped with a satellite dish. Perhaps it was linked up with the Others who were off-island. Also, the remote camera shot with Richard showing Juliet's sister wasn't out of the realm of reality, nor require Island magic. It's video. The 305 bearing appeared to be a small break in whatever kind of energy that surrounded the Island, and which caused the temporal shifts in some people. Ben Linus had an apparently sizable network of off-island Others who ran front businesses. The people he had Sayid kill were Widmore's people. Ostensibly Ben did this so he could control the island, and probably as payback for the mercenaries that killed Alex. When Ben went to kill Penny, he lost his nerve, especially once he saw young Charlie. That's an unanswered question about Jacob leaving the Island. We don't know how he was able to do that, or why he needed to leave when it seemed that many others had been "pushed" to the Island without being touched. Can theorize though. Perhaps the Lighthouse had a larger function than just viewing the candidates. Perhaps Jacob could manipulate the mirrors to appear in those various times. Or, one could argue that Jacob couldn't leave the Island if he was the Island. Something in what Mother said there after he drank from the cup, "You and I are the same now." Re: the Lamp Post station, it's my belief that Daniel Faraday, during the '74-'77 time-jump when he became a black-suit in DHARMA, was heavily involved. It was he who found the Island for Widmore in 2004; stands to reason he'd know how to go about doing it again. Eloise Hawking seemed overly... proud.... when she explained that a "brilliant man" had constructed it. Dharma was just another in a large number of groups of people who came to the island and snooped around at its properties; only, their work was more advanced than any previous group. I'm not sure if they were all that important other than to, as I wrote above, be part of what pushed certain of the Candidates to where Jacob needed them to be and do what they needed to do.

MIB did not have the Smoke Monster's properties at that point. It was only after Jacob killed MIB that the transition to Smokey and Island Dead happened. Look closely... his head hits a rock when Jacob threw him into the stream, he goes limp and floats. MIB's dead body came out the other side. It wasn't the act of becoming the Smoke Monster that killed MIB; it was a fulfillment of the rule that they couldn't directly kill each other. Funny about the 'Esau' bit. On the DarkUFO blog, there's a screencap of a Hulu PSIP/show description caption that calls him that. Whether that was one that got out of the lab, or whether it was some intern at Hulu who just put that name in as a space-filler ("Esau" has been a suggested name since the S5 finale when he was first shown) and then forgot to change it.... My money's on the intern explanation. I just don't see how something like that slips. And yet, Titus Welliver said in an interview that he was told MIB's name. Maybe it will come out at some point. As I wrote upthread, not to a large degree, and after the finale it will give something to think about and imagine for yourself after the show is done. I can also see some parallels from within the show --- even on the island, not many people have the answers. We, the viewers, know much more about the Island than any one of the characters do, besides Jacob. The Island is meant to have those secrets remain secret. Even from us. I don't know if this is all a byproduct of CSI showing too much that people in general want to know everything. It's not enough for Quincy, M.E. to say someone was shot in the torso. These days, people want to see the bullet enter the flesh. Real-life juries acquit because they don't get CSI-type evidence. I'm sorry, but I'm one of those people who doesn't have to know every detail. There's just not enough time in the day. And revealing some of these things cheapens the magic. As wrote before, some of the questions and details that didn't get answered on-screen (e.g. the food drops) will be answered in a LOST Encyclopedia book that apparently will hit the bookshelves at or around the same time of the S6 DVD release in August. Here's the link. Before everyone kvetches too much, we should wait to see what exactly is left that you're dying to know when its all out there. "All good things to those who wait" as Hannibal Lecter said. I hate to be a stooge or anything here (That tgregg's job! *ba-da-bing* ), but hey, it's their show. And it's not even over yet. If Dickens hadn't sent the reader-liked, sympathetic Robert Carston to his death on the gallows in place of his doppleganger client, would "A Tale of Two Cities" been as good as it was? We wouldn't have, "It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better sleep I go to than I have ever known." Yep, I wrote that from memory. Can't change what your story is for the sake of short-term viewers who, ten years later would complain that they got what they asked for.... IIRC, I believe it was Terry Gilliam who, on one of his DVD commentaries, wore a T-shirt that read, "Art is: working on something until you like it, and then leaving it that way."