Smokey stuff, cont'd

-Does anyone else thing Ilana and her followers are being controlled by Smokey, just like Rousseau's crew? "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" sounds like a question to see who is under Smokey's control and who is not.

-The painting in the underground room at the Temple showed what I think is Anubis summoning Smokey. Anubis is the jackal-headed Egyptian god associated with death and the afterlife. One of his jobs is to weigh the hearts of men to see if they are worthy of continuing to the afterlife, as depicted here:

The hearts are weighed against a feather. If your heart is lighter, than you are good to go.

Now, the question is... was Smokey created by the Egyptians, or was he merely worshiped/used by them? It seems that the Island, at one time, was home to Egyptians... either they crashed there or the Island was very close to Egypt at some point in its history and was actually part of the kingdom.

Question for Monday

What appeal does being leader of the Others hold? I understand that for Locke it means being special and having a purpose in life, but what is so attractive about it to Widmore or Ben?

Widmore, especially, didn't find everything he wished for on the Island; he went off and got a wife and started a family.

You don't get a nice car or more money or anything. Your decisions are always subject to Jacob (Alpert), and you spend most of your time doing what he says. It's not like you can be promoted to the new "Jacob" one day, is it?

John's Late-in-the-Week Post: "Dead is Dead"

Ok, Losities.

"Dead is Dead" was awesome. Do doubt one of my favorite LOST episodes eva.

So this week's post is a bit different.

Here's a potential convo Ben and Charles, who in the following script will be known as Widmore.

Because it's his last name.

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Ben: (sitting in the shadow of "the statue") So, uh, Charles..

Widmore: Yes, boy?

Ben: Why were you so mad that Richard allowed the island to save me?

Widmore: Oh Ben, I don't--

Ben: --Seriously, that really sucked, old man. Did you want me to die? My father basically left me for dead...at least emotionally.

Widmore: Listen, Ben, all I want to do is finish carving this blasted statue so I can get on my merry way and be judged by the island. I don't have time to hear the daddy-son issues of your soft underbelly.

Ben: (widdling a piece of wood) I mean, I just thought you might--you know--learn to love me the way I know and you know the island does. The island loves me, Charles. I guess that's why I feel so attached to it. I kind of attach myself to anyone that shows interest in me. Honestly, I don't know what I would do if I found a smart, doctor-like blonde with a penchant for delivering babies....ooh, that would be nice. Oh, and check out this book that washed up on shore.

(Hands Widmroe a copy of The Dark Tower)

Widmore: Stephen King? Please. Canterbury Tales only, boy.

Ben: So why are you carving this gigantic statute? And what is judgment?

Widmore: Dear Dummy, This statue has been erected since before 1965 and is more than 20 feet tall. It is a near impossibility that I, or someone like me, erected it. It most likely came from aliens, since it is the only science fiction subject yet to be established in the mythology of our island. Signed, The Guy Who Just Can't Seem To Rid Himself Of You.

Ben: And the judgment?

Widmore: The island is mad because I've been carving "Charles + Ruth" in trees all over the place. Apparently there is some destruction of chattel and property statute that prohibits such defacement. What a load.

Ben: Rats.

Widmore: Well, I guess I'm going to hop in the sub, jet-set around the U.S. for a while, skip on over to Jolly Ole' for a bit, then have a baby with someone who is not one of us. See ya round, Boy.

Ben: Don't worry, if you're ever banished for breaking so many rules, I won't gloat. But I will consider killing your future daughter as revenge for your hand in the killing of my daughter. But it will probably be my own fault that she dies anyway.

But I don't think in judgment Inchoate Offenses are really considered. I might be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Widmore: Bummer.

Ben: Yeah.

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OK, so I'm not sure where all that came from, but a couple of unanswerables so far: What is the statue? What happened in its shadow? How does Smokey know exactly what is in the minds of those it judges? And why did Widmore try so hard to find the island (and says himself to have failed), if he "understood" so much that what the island wants cannot be changed? He makes reference of that to Ben just before his banishment and is yet driven completely.

Also, if anyone doesn't know yet, I did not see James in the scene when Claire has Aaron in Season One.

Alas.

A treatise on ye olde "smoke monster"

Last night's episode made me think about the smoke monster a bit, and here's what I came up with:

Smokey manifests in four separate ways, at my counting:

1. As smoke.

2. Taking the form of a person. See: "Walt" appearing to Shannon, "Yemi" appearing to Eko, "Alex" appearing to Ben. In these situations, Smokey makes little to no effort to mimic the individual; he takes on the form to evoke an emotional response in the person he's working with.

3. Altering people, ie. Rousseau's group. Also potentially with Ilana and the 316-ers following her.

4. A theory, but Smokey may be able to use dead bodies to engage in face-to-face conversation. Christian is the main reason for my theory... we have no idea what he is, and "puppet of Smokey" makes as much sense as anything else. This form differs from number 3 in that Smokey works harder at passing himself off as the person he's masquerading as. Either that, or the person retains a level of their own personality and control? This is getting creepy.

Now, assuming my last theory is correct, does Locke fit here? The writers are doing their darndest to make us think it's a possibility, anyway. Locke leaves Ben before Smokey arrives and then returns after Smokey is gone, Ben calls Smokey and Locke comes out of the jungle, etc. Locke also questions Ben about his choice to move the Others to the barracks, and knows as much about the temple as Ben does. In general he's not acting like your typical pre-death Locke.

Last night's episode also solidifies the Island's endorsement of Locke as Ben's replacement (insofar as Smokey speaks for Jacob). "I know you're already planning on trying to kill John again," Smokey says. "I recommend against it." In this case, why allow Ben to live? If he is no longer the leader of the Others, and he's a threat to the current leader, what purpose does he serve?

The scene also solidified Smokey's role as judge. He judged Eko for Eko's past sins, found him unrepentant, and killed him. He judged Ben for Alex's death, found Ben sincerely repentant, and spared him.

This ties nicely into the Anubis theories, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Dead is Dead

I enjoyed the Ben/Locke interaction last night. I hope we get more of it in the coming weeks.

Here's what the LOST writers gave us:

1. Charles from last week's episode is Widmore.

2. Ben is the one who took Alex. I guess that makes sense, but I never put it together. Also, Widmore ordered Ben to kill Rousseau (and assumed he'd kill Alex?).

3. "When you hear whispers, run." That was interesting.

4. Widmore was booted from the Island for having a separate life off of it. This also explains that...

5. Penny was born off-Island.

6. Desmond is the one who beat Ben up on the docks.

7. Ben was unable to go through with killing Penny after seeing lil' Charlie, and thus Penny, Charlie and Desmond are most likely still alive.

8. Christian told Sun to wait for Locke if she wanted to find Jin.

9 We learn how Ben summons the Monster.

Posts to come.

Theories on Whatever Happened, Happened

-Time travel clarification based on what Miles said: if you're traipsing about in your past (ie. you left 2008 to go to 1977), you have no guarantee of surviving. This is your present self in 1973, and since you never existed past 2008, you can die without negatively affecting the timeline.

However, people who are in the time they're supposed to be in (ie. lil' Jack in 1977 or lil' Ben in 1977) cannot die unless the original timeline has them dying at that moment, anyway. You can't kill JFK, Jr. as a time traveler unless you get him from the grassy knoll.

Clear?

- I'm intrigued by almost everything in the scene with Alpert. First off, Ben will be changed forever, and be an Other from that time on. His innocence will be lost. Is this part of the process of becoming an Other? Did Juliet do this? Widmore? Ethan? It does seem like the one defining characteristic of an Other is undying loyalty to the Island and the willingness to do just about anything to protect it (though Juliet sort of defies that stereotype).

Also, one of the Others mentions the fact that "Ellie" and "Charles" won't like Alpert taking Ben. Charles has to be Widmore, right? And could Ellie be Ms. Hawking? Her first name is Eloise.

And then there's the fact that Sawyer basically goads the Others with the fact that they don't want war any more than Dharma does. The Others live in an uneasy peace with Dharma for almost 20 years... and then in 1992, the Purge takes place. What changed between 1977 and then?

-Do you think Locke is ticked at Ben? Ben was honestly surprised to see Locke alive... he can't pull off a "I killed you so you could get back, it was the only way" argument. Or at least, if he does, I hope Locke isn't so gulliable as to believe it.

-It turns out that Ben's dad really is a good guy at heart. He just allows his grief for his wife and the bad situation he's in control how he acts towards his son. That said, Ben still kills him in cold blood in 1992. If Roger had some kind of change of heart after Ben's shooting, is it possible that he tries to reconcile with Ben, but New Ben won't have any of it?

-Jack refuses to save Ben, thereby causing Ben to become who he is in 2004. I think this is just another object lesson on Whatever Happened, Happened. Acting won't change the timeline. Not acting won't change the timeline.

-Someone on Lostpedia made an interesting observation comparing the kings of the Old Testament to the leaders of the Others:

A good comparison for Alpert might be in the Old Testament, where the prophet Samuel picked the first couple of kings of Israel (Saul and David), but had no real power himself. Does, then, Charles = Saul (the rejected/banished king), Ben = David (the one who fully vanquishes his people's enemies), and John = Solomon (king of the "golden age")?

Interesting theory.

That's all I've got. As always, your thoughts welcome.

Whatever Happened, Happened

To get started, my favorite part of this episode is when the writers used Miles and Hurley to take out their frustrations on the (apparently) stupid LOST fanbase.

DEAR LOST VIEWERS: WHAT HAPPENED, HAPPENED. PLEASE WRAP YOUR HEADS AROUND THIS VERY SIMPLE VERSION OF TIME TRAVEL WE HAVE CHOSEN TO USE ON OUR SHOW. YOUR OVERLORDS THANK YOU.

Good times. Without futher ado, here is what we learned from LOST last night:

1. Kate told Cassidy everything. I'd forgotten that she and Kate were tight, but remember how Kate helped her out after Sawyer left Cassidy and Cassidy was trying to make a living conning people? Well, she did. And then Cassidy helped Kate get in touch with Kate's mother. They are tight.

2. The reason Kate returned to the Island was to find Claire, whose status of "living or not living?" is not exactly clear. But good luck with that, Kate. Oh, and Aaron is with his grandma. Why Kate couldn't just tell Jack that, I dunno.

3. Jack didn't return to the Island to save the left-behinds, but instead came back for his own, more selfish, reasons.

4. We learn for sure what Sawyer whispered to Kate in the helicopter, but come on, we already knew it was about Clementine.

5. Ben is taken by Alpert to go through a process that will change Ben forever.

6. My theory as to why Ben messes with the 815-ers is temporarily out. If lil' Ben will lose all memory of "this" (the shooting?), then he won't remember it was Sayid who shot him. I suppose later on he could find out the truth, but it doesn't seem good.

Theories to come.