>: 89 QUESTIONS

Been meaning to do this for a while now. This isn't every question ever posed on the series but it's sure most of them, including ones that have been answered. I probably could've fudged another 19 already-answereds but we'll save the space for future episodes. Quite a bit dangling, here:

Why/how did the plane crash? (1.1, partial answer in 2.23: Desmond didn’t push the button)

Is it significant that Jack and Vincent begin the series so much further away in the jungle from everybody else, particularly in light of how Ana later realized that Goodwin was an Other? (he wasn’t wet/came in from the woods) (1.1)

Really, how could everyone have survived? (1.1)

4) What killed the pilot? (1.1, answered, mostly, 2.10 and 3.5: a black-smoke monster)

Who sent the scary French radio transmission? (1.2, answered 1.9: Danielle)

What did Kate do? (1.3, answered 2.9: blew up Wayne)

Sawyer or Jack? (1.3, mostly answered in 3.6, but we’ll see)

8) Did the island heal Locke? How? (1.4, Rose too in 2.19)

How did Locke lose the use of his legs four years before the crash? (1.4)

What happened when Locke saw “the face of the island”? (1.4, partial answers in 2.10 and 3.5: smoke monster and “a bright shining light”)

Who knocked out Sayid when he was working on the radio? (1.4, answered 1.21: Locke)

Who are Adam and Eve? (1.5)

Where did Christian Shephard’s body go? (1.5)

Why is Sayid’s compass screwy? (1.5, answered in season 2: the Swan’s EM anomaly)

15) What’s with the cable into the ocean, first found by Sayid? (1.9)

16) Is there a virus on the island? (1.9, 2.1, 2.15, possibly refuted in 2.23)

What’s with that whispering in the woods? (1.9, etc)

Who are the Others? (1.10, 1.24, 2.5, 2.11, 2.23 etc)

What did Claire’s psychic know?/What’s up with the baby? (1.10)

What happened to Claire when Ethan abducted her? (1.11, answered in flashback 2.15)

What is in the hatch? (1.11, answered, gradually 2.1-2.3: Desmond and the button and many many more questions)

Who was Kate married to? (as revealed to Sawyer during a round of “I Never”, 1.12, answered 3.6: Mac from Serenity)

23) What’s with Kate’s toy plane? (1.12, answered 1.22: it was her dead boyfriend’s)

Is Walt generating the polar bears from the comic? (1.14)

What happened to Sawyer on the Florida job? (1.16)

Why was the radio tower blaring the cursed numbers before Danielle changed it? (1.18)

What is the significance of the Leonard’s cursed numbers? (1.18, somewhat covered in 2, not fully answered for my $)

What’s with that crashed plane with the Nigerian priest? (1.19, answered 2.10: Eko was running drugs)

Who was on the other end of the CB with poor ol Boone? (1.19, answered 2.7: Bernard)

How did the pirate ship The Black Rock get so far inland? (1.24)

Who took Walt? (1.24, answered 2.22)

WHAT caused so much interconnectedness in the survivors’ pre-crash lives? (throughout, epitomized by the Jack/Desmond tour de stade/Swan connection in 2.1)

How did Jack heal Sarah? (2.1)

Did that shark that swam by Sawyer have a logo and why? (2.2, mostly covered in 3)

What was the Incident? (2.3)

What was the final fate of the Degroots and the DHARMA Initiative? (2.3)

How does Alvar Hanso relate to what's happening on the island now? (2.3)

Is that the reason the Swan is armed to the teeth? (2.1)

Is that button for real? (2.3, answered definitively in 2.23: yes)

What’s with the vaccine we see injected into Desmond and Claire? (2.1, 2.15)

Why are the “good” ones being captured by the Others and where are they now? (2.7)

42) How was the monster able to show Eko pivotal scenes from his life? (2.10)

Who is Jack’s wife’s Other Man? (2.11, 3.1)

The Others are wearing disguises, aren’t they? (2.15, answered 2.23: yes)

Who is “him” that Zeke referred to when conferring with Ethan outside Claire’s door? (2.15, most likely answered in 2:23: Ben)

Why are the Others so interested in children? (see: Walt, Alex, Aaron, Emma and Zack from the tail) (2.15)

The hell is going on with the sdarwkcab-talking Walt projection? (2.1, 2.6)

Is Henry Gale telling the truth? (2.14, answered 2.17: of course not)

What was Benjamin Linus actually doing on the island when he got trapped? (2.14, not answered if you don’t believe the line he gave Locke about coming for him in 2.17)(and I don’t)

Sun slept with Jae Lee, the English teacher, didn’t she? (2.16, answered 3.2: yep)

Who made the map? (2.17, answered 2.23: Kelvin and Radzinsky)

Who’s making the supply drops and what do they know? (2.17)

Who’s the real Henry Gale? (2.17)

How does Libby’s appearance at the Hanso mental facility with Hurley jibe with what she’s told us? / What’s Libby’s story? (2.18)

Who’s Christian Shephard’s Australian daughter? (2.20, not answered but Claire seems most obvious if it’s someone we already know)

What’s the real story with the Pearl and the other hatches? What’s the real experiment? What happened to the other crews or the DHARMA Initiative in general? (2.21)

And what was with the powdery mineral samples on the table in the Pearl? (2.21)

And the cigarette, still burning as Locke and Eko crept in? (2.21)

What do the Others want with the four people on Michael’s list? (2.22, partial answers in 2.23 and 3.5: Hurley, to tell; Jack, to perform another miracle)

Why couldn’t Desmond escape when he sailed due west for nine days? (2.23)

What is the deal with the 108-minute electromagnetic anomaly? (2.23)

The four-toed statue? (2.23)

Is a compass bearing of 325 all it takes to get off the island? (2.23)

Will we ever see Walt and Michael again? (2.23)

What happened, exactly, when Desmond hit the failsafe? (2.23)

Is something masking the island from observance from the outer world? (2.23)

How did the crash of 815 change the Others' life on the island from book clubs in the village to disguises and psychological games within games? (3.1)

And where ARE those other people from the Book Club now, anyway? (3.1)

What what WHAT is Benjamin Linus’s story? (3.2)

How can Desmond’s boat possibly be news to the Others, since it’s been on the island for three years? (3.2)

Was Eko sending Locke a message via scripture? JOHN 3.05 (3.3)

Is Desmond traveling through nonlinear time after being at the epicenter of the implosion? (3.3, 3.4)

Does Sawyer really have a daughter in Albuquerque? (3.4)

Was Ben lying to Sawyer about the other island? (3.4)

If so, how did the Others transfer Jack, Kate and Sawyer there? (3.4)

Whose x-rays? (3.4, answered 3.5: Ben’s)

Does Juliet being a fertility doctor have anything to do with the children obsession? (3.4)

Why won’t the island heal Ben? (3.5)

Can Jack trust Juliet? (3.5)

Who is the man with the eyepatch? (3.5)

Was the Yemi Eko addressed his last words to really the cloud that killed him? (3.5)

And if so, could it also be Kate’s horse (2.9) and Dave (2.18)?

What IS with all the dead people showing up? (Yemi, Boone, Ana-Lucia, Christian) (3.5, 3.3, 2.21, 1.5, respectively)

Whatever it is, why did the monster kill Eko this time? (3.5)

Why didn’t Ben grab Jack earlier in the series, since he’s known about the tumor all this time? (3.6)

What is Ben and Alex’s interest in each other? (3.6)

What do the Others have Sawyer and Kate working on? (3.6)

Who is Jacob and what’s the significance of HIS list? (3.6)

What will happen in Episode 3.7? RUN!!!! (to be answered 2/7/07)

>: 53 I DO

Great opening, sounds like Patsy Cline, so it’s probably not Juliet walking down the hall but Kate. Huh, guess we’ll see them when it’s time but I really could have used an Others flashback in this block. But at least Mal from Serenity shows up! They always cast such great guest stars. Looks like this is the marriage she confessed to Sawyer during that round of I Never back in Season 1.

And Jack breaks it all down but won’t do the surgery. Hardcore, he’s playing a mean hand with very few cards.

That Pickett does not like Sawyer, you can see them setting it up, guess they really have been all along.

This reversal on Locke is hard to stomach. They can’t just go back to him being a cryptic hunter of faith, that doesn’t work when we’ve seen him crying over his button. At this point, he seems to me like one of the most wasted characters ever, he was so cool in Season 1, everytime he opened his mouth it was like a parable came out almost. Time will tell, but I’m not feeling the Locke.

And Alex attacks with a slingshot! Not sure what she thought she was going to accomplish. How did she get over to Other Alcatraz? What does she want to talk about with Ben?

What you see with Monica is what you get. Yup, that sentence about sums up the marriage ceremony.

The Jack/Kate scene was played with enough heaviness. This is the first time it’s occurred to me to wonder what they've got her and Sawyer building, if it’s anything of significance. My favorite visual of the episode arrives in this scene, the way they overlaid their faces off reflections from the glass barrier. Real pretty. Of course, Jack’s not having it, won’t be played by anybody.

And the Marshall has to show up. At first, the way she talks to him, sounds more like he was a first husband than the dude chasing her, but that doesn’t really fit with what we know (would’ve been a real cool flip on the first three episodes, though).

And Eko’s funeral. I care about this as little as I possibly could with Locke officiating. A shame. As he’s banging the Jesusstick into the ground, Locke notices the LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK NORTH bit. What that means is something I guess we’re going to have to wait to find out. They walked north last week.

And the verdict is in! Sawyer! Ford 2 Shephard 0, looks like. So was the point of this flashback to illustrate that it’s very easy for Kate to become attached to/fall in love with men? Because she’s always seemed like Jack’s girl up until now. Anyway, bully for Sawyer. But it’s not looking good for Kate. She’s committed the terminal on-island foul of copulating during her flashback episode, curtains for Shannon and Ana-Lucia.

Kevin buys his wife tickets on an Oceanic flight. Couldn’t make out the numbers, but don’t guess I really have to at this point. They’re there.

And someone unlocked the door for Jack (after telling him to check it on the intercom, was that Juliet’s voice? I swear we heard Christian on that thing repeating a line from Jack’s flashback in the season premiere). We suspect that this is just more conditioning/a test even before we see the screens. Jack was meant to see Kate and Sawyer. Loved Ben’s line about being a betting man and picking Jack over Sawyer, he had to be the favorite.

Final flashback, Kate taking a pregnancy test. It’s the only overlap this episode into the overall mythology, the brand is Widmore Labs, owned by Penny’s father. Same brand but different version of the test Sun took last season. And Kate runs.

Got to love Jack entering the OR with ‘sterilized’ hands held high for some on-island surgery. And the last thing Ben wants to know is whether Alex asked about him. Juliet lies in response. What’s going on here? Can we assume that he raised her since she was abducted as an infant?

‘Ben just put his life in the hands of one of them. Shephard wasn’t even on Jacob’s list.’

This is the hugest line of the episode. Who the hell is Jacob? Which list? Meaning Jack isn’t a good person and Ben’s just changing the program to suit his own needs. The name Jacob kind of resonates for me in the same way as HAL, like JACOB’s the computer telling them all what to do or something. Just a hunch.

Time to execute Sawyer. Really looks like they’re going to do it. That would be so wrong. But he did finally get Freckles.

Jack is ruthless. Can’t believe he just took control like that, confounded Ben and/or Juliet’s plans. No way to play any complications with Ben off as accidental as per her plan.

One wonders why Pickett was making such a big deal about Sawyer letting go. Why didn’t he just shoot him in the face? You’d think this dude would want to track down Sun, the person WHO ACTUALLY SHOT HIS WIFE instead of taking revenge on a surrogate.

So that’s Jack’s plan? Run? Too bad their level of communication is just as bad as it’s always been and he doesn’t realize they’re on another island. Love any trick that can reverberate back to other crucial episodes; Jack telling Kate to radio him and tell him the story he told her on the day of the crash when she stitched him up is a nice touch. In that story, 16 hours into a surgery, he made an incision in the patient’s dural (or kidney?) sac and the nerves ‘spilled out like angel-hair pasta’. That image has always stuck with me and it’s a nice parallel to his recent play with Ben.

But, that’s it. ‘Kate, dammit, run!’ They certainly upped the ante in the last few minutes there. But it is a long wait until February.

I enjoyed this run but it seemed incomplete. Maybe it’s just because it never felt more awesome than the first four minutes. The Jack, Locke, and Kate flashbacks again felt superfluous and like they didn’t add anything, though they might very well bear fruit when we revisit these characters toward the end of the season. We finally got to hang out with the Others, but that was about it. I’m really surprised they didn’t throw the audience more of a bone in terms of answers, we got little ones like What happened to Sun’s English teacher? and Did they have relations? and Who was Kate married to? but got nothing in terms of what the Others are up to. What is the point of their endeavor? What is the reason for which everything keeps happening? I understand that last is probably a long time coming, but little hints, little hints would go a long way. I mean if I’M feeling this frustrated, I can’t imagine where less forgiving souls are at. Probably out in the backyard Wednesdays at 8 Central.

I still think this is one of the finest shows in the history of television but I hope they plan to get it in gear when we get back and the new episodes make the majority of these look like they were just spinning their wheels, setting all this up before letting the madness fly. I have faith.

>: 52 THE COST OF LIVING

“I did not ask for the life I was given, but it was given nonetheless, and with it, I did it my best.”

I applauded when the flashback started, never dreamed they’d give us an Eko episode. Of course, that lasted maybe a minute before I realized that was probably a bad bad sign. As usual, Hurley speaks for us: “Stay alive.”

Yemi of the Island comes back and sets the tent on fire on his way out.

Jack plays Ben pretty well with regard to the x-ray, Ben goes ahead and confirms it to Juliet(te?) before the credits are over. Some mysteries last fifty episodes long, some about half an hour of episode-time.

And cue Patsy for Colleen’s funeral, nice image there, all the Others in white lowering her into the water scored by Miz Cline. Colleen and Kate and Ana-Lucia have her in common, at least.

John lifts up his eyes and looks north, confirming the Jesusstick easter egg of two weeks ago. (JOHN 3.05 appearing right under that paraphrase from GEN 13:14)

The flashback picks up immediately after THE 23RD PSALM, another bad sign. We’ve seen him get from England to the Oceanic terminal, if he heads there this episode, bad news. And the nurse mentions London right off the bat. We saw her as one of the nine images the monster flashed at Eko when he looked into it. These guys do some casting in advance, tell you what.

The smoke-monster that I think is called Cerberus drifts by early on. Those two guys attacking him in the jungle makes more sense on the rewatch, we haven’t even met them yet. Sounds like the altar boy says ‘Go fish’ but I’m betting it’s backwards or African.

Locke runs the group with an open hand as opposed to Jack’s closed fist. Of course Hurley’s got to talk about it. Locke gets to quote Eko’s line to him at Desmond.

Couldn’t believe that African warlord just shot that lady, hardcore.

Eko is not looking that healthy, the way he’s drinking water, like he might just keel over by the end of the episode. He stands up to the monster but it runs.

Juliet brings Jack a burger. Was it really that hard to make? Did she render animal fat? ‘No ketchup?’ was great.

Love how Ben can come in and take Jack for a walk or tell him what a wonderful plan they had to break him. Yes, Juliet does look like Sarah the ex. Also like Pen Widmore, I still maintain. What does it all mean? Ben’s game is not having a game, just asking Jack to think about it. Wow, Ben found out about the tumor two days before the crash. I guess everything happens for a reason. WHAT is the reason?!? The Big Answer hinges upon it.

And it’s an Eko episode, so we’ve got to come back to the Nigerian plane/Pearl again. Don’t know why he was looking so hard for his brother’s body, I swear they burned it at the end of THE 23RD PSALM. (all right, Locke mentions that later on)

All right, this is something. I always assumed when we got the big smoke reveal with Eko that that’s what John saw way back when we descended on him from the monster’s POV back in the 4th episode but now John says it was a white light. Gah! What’s going on?

The throwdown in the church is a thing of beauty, those guys never had a chance. Was already getting a Friday the 13th vibe when Eko walked out of the church before the camera cut to the machete.

Nikki has the obvious turn-on-the-TVs idea. Instead of feeling stupid, Locke should remember that he saw the Swan in screen#3 when last he was here. I love how out of nowhere we get a shot of a new hatch and a Mysterious Eyepatch (!) fella looking into the DI camera, wherever he is, sitting right by it. He's wearing a Dharma Initiative uniform. Great moment, more what I was expecting when we came down here last time with Locke and Eko in the classic ?. I swear, by the fifth season we’re going to find out there were people watching people watching Ben watch Sawyer getting tortured and Boone and Shannon fighting. Locke can’t resist the one-liner, the man’s compulsive about those things. I think we found a face to put to that glass eye Eko and Ana found back at the Arrow.

One of the better scenes of the episode is To Kill A Mockingbird w/ Jack and Juliet. How well-played on her part and chilling in general. Ben is a liar and he is very dangerous. Boy, that’s the first thing Danielle said the second we met the dude. I had a bad bad feeling about all of that right away but it’s really come a ways since then. It has to look like we tried to save him and that’s up to YOU, Jack. Something about the way she underlined ‘you’, real nice touch there. No one would ever know and I would protect you: just crazy.

So, do we trust her? I want to, I sure want to believe it. This is what’s been going on with the Others this whole time? Some extended elaborate power struggle between Ben and Juliet? It rings true. But those sure were some big cue cards. Do we believe that she has the ability to prepare and film that tape under Ben’s radar? That’s the question. We are undoubtedly going to have a very tense episode next week as I’m pretty sure all of this will come to bear and cliffhang us into writhing. If it’s a Ben-centric episode, it will be huge. And of course not a good sign for him. If Jack goes through with it, the notion of the Others folding in around he and Juliet is just crazed, never would’ve imagined that. Of course, it would be just like Jack to save Ben and give Juliet up, the hardhead dick thing to do. We will see.

Eko’s answer to the altar boy ‘Only God knows’ should’ve been the episode title, would’ve tied in nicely with him and Ben’s view on God and a nice little wink that only the Almighty has a freaking clue what’s happening on the island (and even He’s not positive). And Eko owes Yemi one church. Heartbreaking. They really wrapped that flashback in at the end and made it mean something, better than they have yet this season. But of course they’ve got to, not like we’re coming back this way again:

Eko.

Most of it isn’t even the acting. I feel the same affection for Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje that I do for Eko. Lindelof scored with that casting. No one else can touch the duality just dripping off the guy when you look at him, the face atop that warrior’s body radiating serenity and calm but with such massive capacity for violence. Eko’s easily killed more people that we know of than anyone else on 815, pre- and post-crash. His search for redemption after turning to evil ways to save his brother is my favorite backstory. And the way he delivered his lines or didn’t even say anything, just conveyed it all with a look…..I’m really too numb to put it into words. I’m sorry they killed him but not surprised.

So, Eko’s confession was defiance. Is that why he died? “You speak to me as if I were your brother.” Don’t run after that!!!!! Eko missed growing up on scary movies in Nigeria, you do not follow the thing speaking those words, no. The monster’s immediately on hand. Go with me on this:

According to Danielle, what we think of as the monster, the thing that killed the pilot and makes those industrial noises, is not a monster but the island’s SECURITY system (1.9). We know it has all the pertinent moments of Eko’s life recorded because it flashed them at him when he looked into it (2.10). It stands to reason that it has recording capability, was designed to be the eyes and ears for a stationary monitoring station, so that someone (with an eyepatch?) can see what’s going on anywhere in the island at a given time. The only person we’ve seen watching screens with both of his eyes is one Benjamin Linus, who is very dangerous.

I think it’s possible that the smoke monster is assuming these people’s forms, that’s who Yemi was. That’s how Eko was able to fight those African guys from the church in the jungle at the first of the episode. It’s how Jack saw his dad and it explains Kate’s horse. It’s not a coincidence, the person controlling the monster is screwing with the heads of all involved, has files on them. Who would spend his time in such a way? I think Brother Ben has the right disposition for it. If that seems like a stretch, recall Locke’s vision in the Sweat Lodge a couple of weeks ago in 3.3: who did Ben appear as? A SECURITY GUARD checking Jack in. That immediately set off a bell in my head, been trying to link him to the smoke monster ever since. It explains why the monster killed Eko this time and not last. One thing that’s changed since their first face-to-face is Ben’s capture and release and if he just watched Juliet’s Oscar-bid with Jack, he’s probably not too happy (if we believe Juliet).

It might be a stretch, but you have to reach pretty far to pull things together on this show.

Possibly the best episode yet, between the eyepatch and To Kill Ben and the end of one of my favorite television characters ever, we got quite a ride in 42 minutes. Oh, almost forgot Eko's last words. Did the monster tell him they're all next? Just his opinion? Was Locke telling the truth? I feel sick.

Only one more to go. Keep saying it to yourself: Namaste. Namaste.