Time Travel and Character Motivation

I've been re-watching Season 3 in my spare time. I am especially paying attention to Juliet's back-story and her time on the island.

Now, we all heard the "you look just like her" and other comments that many people took to mean Juliet = Annie replacement. Watching with new eyes, I see that Ben has a pained look when he tells Juliet that she can't leave the island in the episode "One of Us." Could it be that Ben already has memories of Juliet from his time as a child?

When Desmond woke and suddenly remembered that Daniel talked to him at the hatch 'front door,' I assumed that the time travel memories only kick in after we see it happen in real time. However, this assumption may be very wrong. Desmond, as we have heard, is special. Perhaps, the meeting is suddenly in his memory because it was not really supposed to happen at all and did not happen in the original time line.

Our heroes going into the past, however, always happened. Therefore, Ben has always known what is going to happen. He is in an almost (I kind of remember a line that a few Dharma people changed sides) unique position to be alive and still remember DI Juliet.

I don't think Ben remembers Jin though; perhaps the message to Desmond resonated through time to save Jin, which made the French chick's crew go to the Temple instead of the Black Rock (remember the epi when Doc Arzt blew up? She mentioned that her crew got "sick" at the Black Rock), and maybe also changed some other details we've yet to see or realize.

Now, what if Ben is trying to re-create all of this because he believes that things have to happen in just the way they did originally? What is the point of letting Juliet go if she still has to become part of the crash survivors and go back in time to Ben's childhood (and maybe do something important to save his life?). Ohhh, that little tizzy fit when he says "you're mine" sounds like a childhood crush to me.

In fact, could the island mother deaths be something hatched by Ben just to intrigue Juliet enough to take the red pill (erm, drink the drugged juice)? The whole 'mothers who get pregnant off-island are safe' could be a Ben-ism to cover for Claire or other successful island births. Perhaps, had Claire not gotten away, Ben would have done something to harm her after all. I've never been fond of the purge gas being used as a reason for mothers and babies dying for a number of reasons. First, because there are other mammals on island who seem completely unaffected. Second, because gas used for such a purpose should have dissipated and should either affect or not affect new women (post purge) on the island no matter where they became pregnant.

In short, if we take what we know now and look to the past of the show, the possible motivations of all of our characters change. I think we may be on the brink of discovering something key to Ben's personality and motivations. Perhaps, he's not a bad guy after all - but don't tell him you heard it from me!

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).

Can't Sleep - So I'll Obsess About Lost

I have such a bad case of insomnia. It's a good thing I have Lost to think about! I have a few thoughts rummaging in my head. These are mainly notes to myself, but why not share with all 2 readers of my blog. . . *wave*

One came to me as I was commenting on DarkUFO:

I think she [Ellie] may be Eloise Hawking (and possibly Daniel's mum as well).

Somehow I see Ms. Hawking as a neutral character (representing destiny and the absence of free will) who is as likely to help Ben as she is to help Widmore; no matter what she does or which side she takes, she believes that things will "course correct."

Daniel could be her son and could also represent free will. He shows his willingness to change things by contacting Desmond and creating a new memory and by trying to find loopholes in the "rules" of time. I believe he will start taking this even further in future episodes, especially with Charlotte's life on the line.

His slowness in recognizing her could be related to how much time they actually spent together; he may have grown up only seeing her occasionally.
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I'm also thinking about the idea that Locke was shot in the leg near the drug plane and that is the exact spot where he has trouble walking when we see him go there for the first time with Boone.

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Could the voices (one of my personal favorite mysteries) be the time travelers? One voice heard occasionally sounds like Sawyer. The only thing that makes me think this is incorrect is that there is an obvious "Hi Sis" that sounds like Boone right before Shannon is shot. Boone is, obviously, dead at the time and not part of our current group.

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Does there have to be a dead person along for the ride when people crash on the island (Jack's Dad, Locke, probably dead slaves on the Black Rock, etc)?

I said before that the coffin Jack finds and beats to pulp in Season 1 looks a lot like Locke's coffin (white interior, same wood, etc). How would that fit into what we know about island physics and time "rules?" Could some of the debris near the cave be from them coming back to the island?

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Of Cabins and Coffins

I was pondering Lost this morning and started wondering about the Cabin. Something was definitely fishy with the way Locke found the Cabin at the end of Season 4 and I just put my finger on it.

It was the wrong cabin!

Horace gave Locke a way to find the real physical cabin, but is that really where Jacob is or has Locke been mislead? The clue to this is where the plans for the cabin are found - on Horace's physical body. Let's think about this:

- On the Island there are often distinctions made between physical and spiritual/ non-corporeal/ mystical.

- There is a distinction between the visage of Horace and the physical skeleton in the pit.

- There is a distinction between the Cabin that Horace built and the mystical moving cabin that Jacob resides in.

So, this all started when I asked myself where Jacob was and why he didn't speak to Locke himself. Then it hit me, Locke wasn't at Jacob's cabin (you know the one that moves all over the place and seemed desperate to get Hurley to enter a short time earlier). My conclusion is that the order to move the island may not have come from Jacob at all, but from Christian (?), Horace (Dharma) and possibly Widmore.

Now, if you haven't read my faction theory, please find it a few posts down or the rest of this won't make as much sense:

What I'm trying to get at is that Locke may have been manipulated by the Dharma faction to move the island and possibly upset Jacob's plans. I am now thinking that Christian isn't in league with Jacob at all (just because they're both ghosties doesn't mean they have to like each other), but is the spiritual (i.e. Jacob-like) leader of another faction not yet in control of the island. Heck, Widmore may have ordered the freighter to the island (and given the other protocals to set things up for Christian to convince Locke to move the island.

Note that Locke never tells Ben that the orders didn't come straight from Jacob.

On another note, I saw a post that got me thinking about the coffins. Is it me or does Christian's Season 1 coffin look a lot like Locke's coffin in Season 4? I need pictures of the two to compare, but I am wondering if there is something to this. I have often speculated that the show will again find itself where it began - Jack's eyes opening in the field.