Of course I am talking about the writing on the wall of the cliff-side cave (I’m sure Harry Potter fans loved the nod to the cave in HP the Half-Blood Prince). Not since Locke saw the map on the back of the Swan Station blast door in Season 2’s “Lockdown”, have fans been freeze-framing their DVRs so carefully to decipher some hidden clues. Let’s start with what was pointed out to us by Fake-Locke (Flocke)....the uncrossed-out names:
23 – Shephard (Jack)
8 – Reyes (Hurley)
16 – Jarrah (Sayid)
42 – Kwon (Sun or Jin)
4 – Locke (John)
15 – Ford (Sawyer)
Can't go anywhere without graffiti!
The numbers have been one of the core mysteries of the show since Season 1. Hurley won the lottery with these numbers and they have been omnipresent throughout the series. Now while this doesn’t tell us specifically why these numbers were chosen or why they were assigned to these individuals (and we may never know the answers to these questions), it does tell us that when the numbers were assigned to these Losties, they became significant. It also means that these 6 people are more important than any others....even if their names had once appeared on the wall (and I’ll talk to some of those other names later)....because these numbers had meaning BEFORE the crash of Oceanic 815.
The next very obvious thing that sticks out is that one major character is NOT among the final 6 names: Kate. This is very important because Kate is the only one of the Losties that was touched by Jacob in last season’s finale who does not appear. Not only that, but so far, she has not been identified at all ANYWHERE on the wall (crossed-out or uncrossed-out). Does this mean that Kate was NEVER a “candidate” (more on what being a candidate means later). Clearly, Jacob touched Kate for a reason...but why? Were people brought to the island for reasons other than candidacy? Maybe in Kate’s case she is a facilitator....helping to get candidates to the island (she is one of the reason’s Jack returned to the island and she was the reason Sawyer jumped from the helicopter). Or maybe we just didn’t see the name (but I doubt they wouldn’t show us the name if it was there).
Now let’s get into the areas that weren’t obvious to the casual viewer....LOST-obsessed fans have been scrutinizing the crossed-out names. They come in various flavors (courtesy of the good people at Lostpedia):
Oceanic 815 survivors:
Littleton (Claire...could also be Aaron)
Pace (Charlie)
Rutherford (Shannon)
Mars (Edward....the marshal)
Fernandez (Nikki)
Troup (the guy who was sucked into the engine in the Pilot)
Sullivan (the guy with the rash in Season 1)
Freighter Team:
Faraday (Daniel)
Lewis (Charlotte)
Straume (Miles)
The Others:
Linus (Ben....could also be Roger)
Burke (Juliet)
Pickett (Danny....the guy that used to like beating on Sawyer)
Martin (Karl....Alex’s boyfriend)
The DHARMA Initiative:
Goodspeed (Horace.....could also be Ethan)
Chang (Pierre....Miles’ Dad)
US Army (known only by the uniforms stolen by the 1950’s Others):
Jones
Mattingly
Cunningham
Rousseau’s Team
Brennan
Lacombe
There are also many other crossed-out names that don’t correspond to any known characters.
These names tell us that Jacob has been looking for candidates for a very long time and keeps bringing people to the island until he finds the right one. But it also begs the question: What disqualifies one from being a candidate? Many of these people are dead....so that seems to be one way. At least one has been “claimed”: Claire. At least 2 are alive and well: Miles and Ben. If I had to guess, I would say that the disqualification is based more on your actions than anything else....but murder doesn’t necessarily knock you out (Sayid, Sawyer). In classic LOST fashion, we are presented with answers, but there are always more questions.
Another thing to note is that there may not be any women on the wall. I noted above that Kate was missing. Let’s look at some of the other potential female names:
Littleton – Could be Aaron instead of Claire
Lewis – Charlotte’s father was a member of the DHARMA Initiative
Burke – Don’t know if this is Juliet.....could have been her ex-husband (the one that got hit by a bus) or maybe her father (who was shown briefly in a flashback in last season’s finale)
Rutherford – Shannon’s father was killed in a car accident (the same one that injured Jack’s ex-wife Sarah)....but we don’t know if he ever had any connection to the island.
I tend to think that gender is not a factor, but it is something to keep an eye on....it would also disqualify Sun, if true. Also, I’ve got a gut feel that Sun is more likely to be a candidate than Jin. She seems smarter....or at least more cunning.
One other thing stuck me as very curious. Two very notable names don’t appear: Widmore and Hawking. These two were incredibly prominent island figures. If you need to be male, that would explain Eloise Hawking’s absence. Charles Widmore’s absence could be much more meaningful. Recall that Widmore told Locke in Season 5’s “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” that “...there's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.” Locke eventually is killed and his body becomes the new vessel for the Man-in-Black/Smoke Monster. It is not too crazy of a stretch to suggest that Widmore is aligned with the MIB and helped facilitate his return (again...another Harry Potter parallel of the servant helping to resurrect the master). If Widmore is on Team Smokey, then he probably can’t be one of Jacob’s candidates.
So, what is a “candidate”? Flocke tells Sawyer that names on the wall are potential candidates to take over Jacob’s position as protector of the island. When Sawyer asks to protect it from what, Flocke replies: “From nothing, James. That's the joke, there is nothing to protect it from, its just a damn island. And it will be perfectly fine without Jacob or you, or any of the other people; whose lives he wasted.” Two things to think about relative to this: First, recall this conversation the Season 4 finale:
LOCKE: If you have to go, then you have to lie about everything...everything that happened since we got to the island it's the only way to protect it.
JACK: It's an island, John. No one needs to protect it.
LOCKE: It's not an island. It's a place where miracles happen. And--and--if you--if you don't believe that, Jack, if you can't believe that, just wait till you see what I'm about to do.
Second, Flocke is clearly lying.....he will do and say ANYTHING to get Sawyer to agree with him. Remember too that Team Ilana have discussed “candidates” (wondering if Frank Lapidus is one). This indicates that they have some awareness of how things work. I kind of look at Team Ilana as the Knights Templar of the island......they are not members of the clergy, but are dedicated to protecting the church.
So what are the options for candidates. According to Flocke, they are as follows:
1) Do nothing and see how this all plays out....and possibly get your name crossed off the list. (Seems like a path to getting Sawyer killed)
2) Accept the job of Jacob’s replacement. (Not Sawyer’s style)
3) Get the hell off this island. (Sawyer has gone to a very dark place after Juliet’s death and this seems like an appealing option).
Sawyer of course chooses option 3. He makes his deal with the devil and has chosen his side in the war: Team Smokey
Just another member of the team.
Earlier in the episode when Sun asked why Flocke took Richard into the jungle, Ilana responded that he was “recruiting”. I really like this choice of a term. Last year, I wrote a blog entry comparing LOST to three other epic mythologies: Stephen King’s “The Stand” (which the show’s creators claim to be a blueprint for LOST), the Star Wars saga, and the Harry Potter novels. In each of these there is a light side (the Boulder Free Zone survivors, the Jedi, and the Order of the Phoenix) and a dark side (the Las Vegas group of survivors, the Empire/Sith, and the Death Eaters). And the leader of the dark side (Randall Flagg, the Emperor, and Voldemort) preys upon the weaknesses of the men and women as a recruiting tool....gathering followers. So too in LOST, the MIB tries to recruit Richard (unsuccessfully) by playing up Jacob withholding information from him. But he does nab Sawyer by appealing to his pain over the loss of a loved one (Juliet). However, before we crucify the MIB as the antichrist....let’s think about Jacob’s recruiting: Jack (touched when in a conflict with his father), Kate (touched after caught stealing), Hurley (touched when he must make a decision on whether or not to return to the island), Sawyer (touched when plotting his revenge for the death of his parents), Sun/Jin (touched after entering into a troubled marriage) and Sayid (touched after his wife is run over by a van). Each side is now gathering their soldiers for the coming war. Face the hard truth now.....some of our heroes are going to line up against each other. The battle lines are being drawn and war is approaching.
Before I completely leave the subject of candidates, one other thing crossed my mind. Locke was an interesting choice for the MIB to utilize for his plot to kill Jacob. Now on the surface, I believe what Flocke says, that this was his way to get access to Jacob. However, I also believed he was eliminating the TOP candidate for Jacob’s position. Clearly, Locke would not hesitate to accept this position. So, the MIB has managed to kill two birds with one stone (pun intended), killing Jacob and eliminating the top seeded candidate to replace him. Now the MIB’s main mission is to eliminate the other 5 remaining candidates.....and remember death is not necessarily a requirement for eliminating a candidate. The scales have been tipped in the MIB’s favor....as exemplified by the Flocke’s “inside joke” removing the white stone from the balance scale. However, the MIB had better not get too cocky.....while Jacob may be gone, it will only take one candidate to accept the position to rebalance the scales. And I think the smart money is on a certain spinal surgeon.
Tipping the scales.
So, one may ask (well, I guess I am still talking about candidates), why doesn’t Flocke just kill the candidates. Well a mysterious blond boy (I’ll get to him in a minute) showed up in the jungle and said, “You know the rules. You can't kill him.” Hmmmm.....we’ve often heard reference to “the rules”. I’m wondering if one of the rules is that you can’t kill a candidate (with maybe a caveat). This could mean that Ben’s adopted (or kidnapped if you prefer) daughter Alex was a candidate....since Ben accused Widmore of breaking the rules. It also means that some people who were attacked by the Smoke Monster were not candidates: Mr. Eko, Montand (French team member whose arm was ripped off), the Oceanic 815 pilot, and Bram. However, I think there may be a caveat to this rule: if the Smoke Monster is attacked by a candidate.....it may kill to defend itself....like it did to Bram. This could also explain why Flocke seemed perfectly content to be shot by Sawyer. One, he knows he can’t be harmed by bullets and, two, it may allow him retaliate and eliminate a candidate (although I think Sawyer may be more useful to the MIB as an ally than a corpse).
So, lets return to the enigmatic blond boy. He showed up suddenly in the jungle and could not be seen by Richard (not a candidate), but could be seen by Sawyer (candidate). When he first appeared, his arms were covered in blood (I haven’t got a clue...but it must be important). Two big questions come to mind regarding this kid: 1) Who is he?; and 2) Why does Flocke appear to be afraid of him? As to his identity, two possibilities come to mind (based solely on physical appearance): Aaron and Jacob. And my theory is that Aaron and Jacob are one-in-the-same person. The appearance of a young Jacob could explain what is freaking Flocke out....when Jacob was killed last season, I was reminded of the Obi-Wan Kenobi line: “You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Maybe that is what we are beginning to see....or more importantly, this is what the MIB is beginning to see. After Flocke chases the boy into the jungle and he is reminded of the “rules”, Locke screams back, “Don't tell me what I can't do.....don't tell me what I can't do!” I took this to mean that the essence of Locke still remains somewhere underneath the Flocke exterior....and maybe this means he can someday return.
Aaron? Jacob? Both?
Back on the other side of the island, a distraught Ilana was sitting in the statue foot trying to make sense of what happened. Of course, Ben is of little help....sprinkling in lies in his retelling of Jacob’s demise. After Ilana learned that Jacob’s body was burned in the fire, she collected some of the ash. It makes sense that Jacob’s ashes can protect one from the Smoke Monster, but clearly the ash being used by the Others for protection can’t have come from Jacob. I had read one theory that the ash may be from Jacob’s predecessors. I’m not sure that I buy this as Jacob has been in charge of the island for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. However, it could be possible that the ash comes from the cremated bodies of the Others (or maybe previous candidates). Something to keep an eye on the rest of this season.
Ashes to Ashes
The off-island storyline was pretty interesting too. In this timeline, while Locke is flawed, he is not the beaten, broken man we’ve met in his flashbacks. Note that he still has Helen in his life....who in the flashbacks had left him because of his unhealthy relationship with his father. And speaking of the anti-Ward-Cleaver, Anthony Cooper, maybe in this universe he isn’t so bad....notice that Helen suggests that Locke’s dad be one of the attendees at their quickie wedding in Vegas. It would not surprise me at all to learn that this Locke is a wheelchair for some reason other than being thrown out of a window by his own father.
There were many intriguing occurrences in this stroyline, such as Locke’s interactions with Hugo (offering a second chance) and Rose (talking about acceptance, his paralysis and her cancer....a nice callback to their island discussion about being the two people who understood that the island healed them). These two meetings led to Locke’s ultimate decision to stop trying to do things that he can’t do and start doing things he can. This is a conclusion the old Locke could have never reached....and maybe because he has the love of Helen and his father he can reach it and have his second chance at life. When Locke says there is “no such thing” as miracles, is this a loss of faith or his coming into true understanding that life is what you make it?
Locke end’s up as a substitute teacher. Nice how the titles of these episodes often have duel meanings. Flocke is “The Substitute” on the island. Locke is “The Substitute” off the island. When Locke entered the teacher’s lounge, who did he meet? None other than European History teacher, Benjamin Linus. My initial reaction when seeing this was that this was proof that the Island didn’t sink immediately after the nuke was detonated. After further consideration, “proof” may be too strong of a word. The last we saw Ben in 1977, he was recovering from being healed by the Others and was told that he must return to the DHARMA Initiative. However, it isn’t clear if he was returned to the DI and evacuated on the submarine, before the bomb went off. My intuition says that he remained on the island. In the weeks to come, I think we will learn the how Ben ended up as a history teacher and perhaps the occurrences following the detonation. At the very minimum, Ben is the one character we have seen so far in the universe that will have memory of life on the island.
Lunch buddies?
That is the major analysis for this week. Here are a few miscellaneous notes:
- My favorite line of the week came from Frank: “This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to.”
- Very cool to get a Smoke Monster Point-of-View tracking shot....and this should put to an end any doubt (from the few holdouts left) that Flocke and the Smoke Monster are one and the same.
- You have to love that it took Sawyer all of 10 seconds to recognize Flocke as a phoney....while everyone else on the island was completely fooled. It takes a conman to spot a conman.
- Sawyer refers to “Of Mice and Men”, which he also did in the Season 3 episode “Every Man for Himself”.
- Ilana says that Flocke/MIB is stuck this way. So, apparently the only two forms he now can take are Flocke and Smoke Monster.
- You have to love Ben’s speech at Locke’s burial: “John Locke was a...a believer, he was a man of faith, he was.. a much better man than I will ever be. And I'm very sorry I murdered him.”
- Substitute teacher Locke, instructs his class on the human reproductive system. Interesting considering the themes regarding fertility on the island....I take this as a sign that this aspect of the story is yet to come.
So am I ready to end this marathon write-up? Hell Yes!
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