Highlights from the popcandy LOST board

Does anyone else think that what is happening to Desmond and Fischer Stevens may be what Danielle Rousseau considers "the sickness"? They all went crazy.

The Others are immune because they've been on the island forever, Losties are immune because most of them haven't been exposed to electromagnets and radiation but Desmond and Faraday have so they are more open to receiving the illness. Plus I think it has something to do with how they got to the island. Faraday and Ben were both very particular on what degree they would need to leave the island from.

On another note, I'm so happy that Desmond and Penny got to connect! This was one trippy episode.


A thought: When we first saw Naomi with the Penny/Desmond picture and she said she was looking for Desmond, we thought she was working with Penny. Then we found out she wasn't. Now we find out that Desmond is Faraday's constant. So, maybe Faraday got the picture somehow, and that's why they were looking for Desmond. So that Faraday could connect with his constant. Because obviously he was picked for the freighter crew for some reason (the crazy island physics and his vast physics knowledge), so it would be to the benefit of this expedition's financier to have Faraday alive, hence he would have to have contact with his constant. And I guess if Widmore is the backer of this expendition, he could have gotten the picture of Desmond for the crew. Make sense? Yeah, I'm not sure it does to me either!

I guess this episode explains all of Desmond's "visions" from past episodes. His exposure to the electromagnetism from the hatch explosion has allowed him to travel to the past and future subconsciously, but not physically. This is how he knew Charlie was going to die. On the island he sees the future. Off of the island he sees the past.

Also, a central theme of the show has always been EYES. In tonight's episode, the pupils of Minkowski's and Desmond's eyes dilate while they are time traveling. In the pilot episode, I remember it beginning with a close-up of Jack's eye with the pupil constricting quickly. Coincidence?

I’m still scratching my head about Ben’s role in this whole thing. Does anyone else find it strange that, as powerful as he appears to be (and Miles confirms him to be), he keeps turning up someone else’s prisoner – first as Benry and now as Locke’s ward? How could someone so powerful let things get so out of control? How does that fit into the other control issues on the show? (I thought it was strange that Penny’s dad used a washcloth to turn on the faucet. At first I thought it was a hygiene issue – like people who flush toilets with their feet – but then I wondered if it had to do with fingerprints. He never shut the water off once he washed his hands …).

As far as Ben goes, maybe what makes him so powerful is mind control, and he is doing a crazy rendition of the Stanford prison experiment. In the experiment normal college students were put in a mock prison in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford and given roles as either guards or prisoners. The guards turned into sadists in a frighteningly short period of time, and some of the students had to be released from the experiment early. The experiment has been repeated – in one setting with good kids from religious homes – and the results were the same: those with authority over the “prisoners” turned into abusive, power-wielding sadists. The study is said to expose the darker side of human nature. Is that Ben’s mind game for Locke? To turn him into something he’s not, to make him see he too has a dark side? Already Ben has provoked Jack to violate his professional oath (“Do no harm”); now he’s turning Locke into a tyrant.

So the 'numbers' of 4 8 15 16 23 and 42 are all retired New York Yankees numbers, and there are of course the references to the Red Sox winning the World Series, and now tonight Mr. Widmore's auction paddle is #755, which is the famous record number of career home runs that Hank Aaron finished with that Barry Bonds eclipsed this past season. I'm not saying any of this explains anything about the show, other than the fact that methinks the producers may be baseball fans--just thinking out loud here.....



Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I think this episode explains the Asian "ghost whisperer"'s abilitities. He is not communicating with spirits when he turns on his machine; rather, he has set the machine to a certain electromagnetic frequency to enable him to travel through time. In the lady's house, he went back in time and watched where something was hidden. Once on the island, he dialed hmself back in time and watched Naomi's death, that's how he confirmed how she died.

!. Not sure about significance of water showing up in various eps, but in THIS ep it seemed to be one of the triggers that sent Des back & forth. The other trigger was changes in light.

2. Smoke monster goes back to Mirror Matter Moon ref (you'll have to Google it - I'm not sure of web site). I suspect the "storm" they passed thru to get to the freighter may have been the MMM's portal/alignment with its elliptical orbit. Again, check out MMM to understand the reference.

3. Again, a constant is something />significant<>

4. I think Lapidus may be Ben's "man on the boat." He seems very helpful & cooperative with Sayid. And where was he when the door to the sick by opened mysteriously? He's the only one of the four boaties who is doesn't appear to be hiding something, perhaps in an effort to ingratiate himself?

5. Also, keep in mind that Faraday said that not everyone is suseptible to the "side effects," so wondering why so-and-so wasn't affected is pointless.

6. Someone mentioned that Ben cannot take passports and money through his portal. I think that's incorrect. Ben knows the island, its secrets, and its intricacies, and he can obviously move back and forth with ease (when he's not locked up in some room). I'm sure that in all his years there, he has learned how to move comfortably back and forth. THAT'S the secret that Hanso/Widmore/Dharma are all seeking. Charles Widmore is trying to learn the secrets of the island so he can harness its power for his own ends. He knows, or suspects, enough to spend 350,000 pounds on a diary thats over 150 years old. A businessman doesn't spend that kind of money without expecting some kind of return.