....what I really want to talk about is the episode’s first 30 seconds. For a few short moments, Team Sawyer was propelled into the distant past and we finally saw one of the things I have been dying to know more about: the four toed statue (you could almost hear the collective gasps of Lost geeks around the country). But in true Lost fashion, we were only given a partial reveal.
Back of the statue
We only got to see the back of the statue, but I think there are enough clues to draw some significant conclusions. My immediate reaction when I saw it was that it (well...immediately after jumping up and down and yelling "Four toed statue! Four toed statue! Four toed statue!") was that it was an Egyptian statue . As the episode went on, a couple of things confirmed the Egyptian origin. First and foremost was the appearance of the ankh necklace. The ankh is the Egyptian symbol for eternal life (paging Richard Alpert....Richard Alpert to the four toed statue please). I also believe the prominence of Horace Goodspeed (more on Horace below) was also a clue. Horace is a homophone for Horus....Egyptian god of the sky. Looking back to last week’s episode, Hurley was painting a picture of a Sphinx when he was visited by Locke. Going back even further, Egyptian hieroglyphics have been seen in 4 different locations on the island: the temple (when the smoke monster ripped off Montand’s arm...still super cool), the secret door in Ben’s house, a pillar in the Frozen Donkey Wheel chamber, and the countdown timer in the Swan DHARMA station. So I feel very confident that the statue is Egyptian.
Ankh
Hurley's sphinx drawing
That begs the next question....what exactly is the statue a representation of? As soon as the episode was over, I was off to wikipedia to start investigating Egyptian Gods. I checked with some of the major Gods I know: Ra, Osiris, and Horus. But none of these seemed like the right fit. Then I came across Anubis: protector of the dead and guide to the afterlife. Anubis is a part-man, part-jackal. He is typically portrayed with long hair and in a tidbit I found on the internet is often portrayed as having four toes...ding, ding, ding. It is also common to see artistic representations of Anubis holding an ankh. Each of these appear to be consistent with the statue. However, while the statue appears to have pointy ears, they are not as pronounced as typically seen on Anubis. I believe the body of evidence, though, strongly supports Anubis (if you are totally fascinated by this subject, also look up a couple of other possibilities: Sekhmet and Taweret).
Anubis
So, assuming the statue is a representation of Anubis, what does this mean? I don’t have a fully formed theory, but I think there have been enough clues dropped that are driving in a general direction. And I think that direction is death and the underworld. Anubis’ role in Egyptian mythology varies, but he is generally considered to be the god of “dying” (as opposed to the god of “death”). He protects souls as they pass to the underworld and determines, by weighing the heart of the dead, their worthiness to enter the underworld.
Now let me turn from the statue/Anubis to another aspect of the Lost puzzle: the smoke monster (bet you didn't see that coming....one of my own little Lostian twists). If you remember back to season two, when the blast doors were lowered in the Swan Station (onto Locke's legs...that poor bastard gets a lot of leg injuries), a diagram was shown representing a map of the island (more of a functional map than geographic). The map was drawn by DHARMA members (the unseen) Radzinsky and Kevin Inman (the guy Desmond was with in the Swan). On this map was a reference to a “Cerberus system” and four references to “CV”. The Lost producers have confirmed that “Cerberus” is the name Radzinski/Inman have used to refer to the smoke monster and CV = Cerberus Vents. So what is the relevance of this? In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed watchdog of Hades (the underworld) that permitted spirits to enter the underworld and prevented them from leaving. Hmmmmm......
Blast door map
Death has been central to the series. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to put aside the many deaths that have occurred in the course of the series, as think they are largely plot driven. However, it is impossible to ignore the appearance of dead characters on and off the island: Charlie, Christian, Claire (I’m in the Claire is dead camp), Anna Lucia, Libby and of course Locke. I also think Charlotte’s declaration of “This place is death!” during her dying delirium is particularly telling.
So I am drawn to the conclusion that the island is linked to the entrance to the underworld or afterlife. However, I think anything beyond that, goes from supported by evidence to speculation. A popular theory is that the Oceanic 815 survivors are dead. I’m not sure I buy this, but it plays well with the death/underworld theme. It could explain why the Oceanic 6 were not supposed to leave the island. However, I think there is something much larger going on that we don’t have enough information to conclude. More to come on my theories related to this as this season progresses.
At this point you are in one of three categories: 1) completely fascinated by the above analysis, 2) bored to tears for turning your favorite show into a PhD thesis, 3) pissed off that I’m not talking about the rest of the episode. So if you are still with me, let’s move on to the rest of the episode.
Personally, I enjoyed jumping back and forth between Team Sawyer’s introduction to DHARMA and showing them fully integrated in the Initiative. I was not overly surprised to see Sawyer (or LaFluer if you prefer) hook up with Juliet. However, as a character LaFluer (Head of DHARMA Security, respected member of the community, and loving significant other) is a bore compared to Sawyer (wise-cracking, self-centered, redneck, con man). We can only hope that the return of Kate will bring back the Sawyer we all know and love. More nicknames please!
Now let’s talk a little about DHARMA. Here is what I learned:
1) From at least 1974-1977 Horace Goodspeed is the on-island leader of the DHARMA Initiative. So who is Horace? Horace arrived on the scene shortly after Ben’s birth and tried to help get baby-Ben and his folks to a hospital. Horace also brought Ben and his father, Roger Linus, to the island to work for the DHARMA Initiative. According to his DHARMA jumpsuit, he is a mathematician. We’ve also seen him in Locke’s dream that helped him find Jacob’s cabin. Now, in this week’s episode, his role was revealed to be very significant. We’ve also learned he was married to Amy (this was her first appearance) and fathered a boy (more on this in a moment).
2) While the Hostiles (aka others) and DHARMA, have been in conflict, it appears they have had periods of peaceful coexistence. I loved Richard Alpert’s arrival at the DHARMA barracks and his interactions with both Horace and Sawyer. I found it telling that Richard was puzzled by Sawyer’s comments about the 1954 encounters. This, coupled with his compass discussion with Locke, tells me that Richard is not orchestrating the big picture. In my mind, this puts him in the same league as Ben, Widmore, and maybe Ms. Hawking....an important player, but not the big kahuna.
3) A small red-haired girl was wondering around the DHARMA barracks and Daniel thinks it is Charlotte. And it probably is.....but that child was seen in 1974 and according to Ben Linus (from last season) Charlotte Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis by the way) was born July 2, 1979. May mean nothing because she may have left the island in a way that shifted her into the real world at a later time.
On a more character driven vein (for all you shippers out there) we are about to move from a love triangle (Jack-Kate-Sawyer) to a love square (Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet). Here's how I think it will play out: Sawyer and Kate will ultimately end up together; Juliet will end up dead; and Jack has bigger things in his future (cough....Jacob....cough).
And now to the baby boy. There was a big deal about the birth of Horace’s and Amy’s baby. So, is this just a plot device to get Juliet to be a hero or is the occurrence of an island birth significant? And more importantly who is the kid? The child was born in 1977, so that is a clue. Well, scanning the message boards, I’ve seen suggestions of Ben (no way, too old), Ethan (maybe, but I doubt it), and Jacob (give me a friggin break). I’ve got my own theory: Hurley. Hurley was born in 1977. He has reddish-brown curly hair, like Horace and Amy. He doesn’t resemble the parents who raised him. And he seems to have a deep connection to the island (the numbers, seeing dead people). So, I am on the record: baby = Hurley.
The bad news is that we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode. However, I am going to take next week to write a couple of “extra” blog entries. Right now I am thinking one will be a discussion of the overarching theme of “Good and Evil” and the other will be a set of predictions for some of the big mysteries of the show. I know it isn’t the same a new episode, but hopefully it will fill the void. If you've made it to the end of this seemingly endless blog entry you are either a super Lost fan or have no life (not mutually exclusive categories).
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