Christian Shephard

Christian was very spectral at the start of the show and seems to become more substantive as time goes by. Either that or there are two Christians - one being an island specter (appearing and disappearing, etc) and the other being the "now alive" Christian. The spectral Christian (for lack of better name) appears in Jacob's cabin to Hurley. He is clearly not the same as the Christian who appears to Locke later at the real cabin.

Now, bear with me, Christian has changed substantially in the past two seasons. The change happened around the time when he met with Claire. When Locke met him in the cabin, the first thing I noticed was that he was dressed differently - no suit and white tennis shoes (note that this was also the real/physical cabin and not the spectral-Jacob-moving cabin). He seems to be able to hold things (the baby) and also seems more human.

Am I reading too much into this or do you think that there could be something that splits the real and the spectral of those brought back by the island? Perhaps we'll see a disappearing Locke at some point also.

Locke, Locke and more Locke!

I am preparing a longer post, but here is one thought I had:

I was wondering why Ben killed Locke. First, I think he needed to know all of Locke's instructions (the last being to see Eloise). Second, it is possible that the island wouldn't have taken Locke back had he committed suicide. The island doesn't like loss of faith and Locke's suicide would have been that. Maybe Ben was saving Locke by killing him so the island would accept him back and resurrect him.

I have to go think and maybe watch this episode a hundred more times to wrap my mind around everything. For some reason, this one threw me for a loop. I am about a half a percentage point more certain that my faction theory is in the ballpark of what is happening here.

Cheers!

Destiny or Free Will and other thoughts

- I now think that Widmore is involved in "helping" Theresa because he is using her as a guinea pig to test vaccines against the "sickness." Who knows what kinds of chemicals the man is having her injected with or what kind of experiments he is ordering with her blood.

I wonder if those vaccines somehow went back in time to Dharma days - maybe Desmond taking the vaccines is why he survived turning the failsafe (relatively unscathed albeit naked)? The very idea that there is already a vaccine on the island for the "sickness" opens up many doors and answers many questions.

- Desmond saw the white flash! I repeat, Desmond could see the white flash! Nobody else is able to see it. Whenever a flash happens the others who aren't moving in time have no idea of what is happening. However, when Faraday goes to talk to Desmond, it is extremely obvious that Desmond is watching and hearing the flash. Remember, this was before he turned the failsafe and became the variable/ special person.

- I now believe that the factions warring for the island are representative of destiny vs. free will.

Desmond certainly changed the destiny of the islanders when he put off Charlie's death long enough for Charlie to be able to get the message "Not Penny's Boat" across. If Desmond hadn't tried to keep Charlie alive then that message would never have reached the group and events would have unfolded very differently.

Think about it; Hurley would not have gone to Locke's side (and everyone loves Hugo despite the title of a certain episode). After Hugo makes his decision then others follow. I still think Hurley is really the special person to the island, but that is for another post (one that I've been trying to put into coherent words for a while now).

What would have happened if everyone had stayed at the beach (minus Locke of course)? Would they have been easily slaughtered or some still alive? Would Ben have been captured by Keamy without the help of our group at New Otherton? Would Claire and Aaron still be together? Maybe Claire and Aaron would have been on the plane if Desmond had followed his first vision and allowed Charlie to die (was it the arrow in the head first)?

The problem with Desiny and Free Will is that there is no real answer; no way to tell if something was meant to be or not -if your actions to change destiny actually help to create the very outcome you are trying to avoid.


Destiny

• Mrs. Hawking
• Ben - I think Ben's absolute belief in destiny is what makes him so cold toward the fate of others.
  
• Locke

Free Will

• Faraday (not only does he give Des the memory, but apparently he also warns Charlotte not to come back to the island).
• Jack (He may have gone to the other side now)
• Probably Widmore
• Desmond (although he believes in destiny beacuse of his time with Mrs. Hawking, he works on the side of free will).

Theresa Spencer

Just a short note on Theresa Spencer. Everyone seems to be missing one spectacular fact about this woman; that is, she is still alive and has yet to die of the time travel sickness! That is quite amazing since even the people on Widmore's freighter don't know the secret; knowing the danger they would be in, you would think that he would have told them if it was something repeatable -if only to help his mission succeed.

He must be in on the secret or totally baffled by it since he is providing all the funding. So, we have two possible questions to ponder:

What makes Theresa special/ different?
What is the secret to stabilizing someone mind traveling without a constant?