Season 6, Episodes 1-5

I know we are only a few weeks into the final season and clearly there is much more to come. With this being the final season, we are getting answers every single week. Sometimes we get real significance and sometimes we get tiny clues. At first I was a little surprised that there continues to be so much mystery even with some major answers revealed, but I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the brilliance of the Lost writers. Of course they’re going to make you think about it before they wrap it up! That being said, let’s go through some of the things we know for sure (or at least what we’re meant to believe) and see if we can come to any solid conclusions or theories of what is to come.

So we know that numbers have corresponding people attached to them, people who are listed not only on a wall that Jacob wrote on, but also on the lighthouse compass or wheel that Hurley brought Jack to. When your number is being pointed at in the lighthouse, the mirror shows where said person lives so that they can be watched. So now we sort of understand some of the significance of Hurley’s numbers:

4 – Locke

8 – Reyes

15 – Ford

16 – Jarrah 

23 – Shepherd

42 – Kwon

But we still have no idea why they surface in various other places, most prominently on the hatch wall and inside the hatch as the set of numbers that needed to be entered every 108 minutes.

Might these numbers and corresponding names also have something to do with the compass bearing that one must follow for coming and going to the island? Maybe knowing who number 305 is would help shed light on that. Could it be Hume? Jacob indicated that the point of Hurley’s journey to the lighthouse was to force Jack to see the imagery that he ended up seeing, but he also asked Hurley to turn the wheel to 108. We know that 108 is the sum of the infamous ‘numbers’ and was also the amount of minutes that the hatch computer resets to after the button was pushed. Of course 108 was also the amount of days that the 815 survivors were on the island before the Oceanic 6 went home. So clearly this number is important, but the name corresponding with 108 is someone named Wallace. Whoever Wallace is, I am guessing that he is important, but not necessarily the person that Jacob wants to find the island. Also, I am sure I need not even mention to the hard-core losties of the connection between the lighthouse being the place where Hurley was sent to help someone find the island, and the DHARMA lamppost station (which Hawking told us is the only place where the island can be found from the mainland) is a logo of a lighthouse. 

Locke monster told Sawyer that the people written on the wall (and we now know on the lighthouse wheel) were potential candidates to take over Jacob’s role as protector of the island. If this is true, does that mean all names that are crossed out are dead? (like Locke’s name) Or can potential candidates be crossed off for other reasons?

Also, if any of this is true, what will determine the new protector? Is it the last man standing? Which brings me to my next point…what if it’s not a man? The others mentioned in season 3 that Jack was not on Jacob’s list. If this is in fact Jacob’s list, many (including myself) believed that the ‘Shephard’ name refers to Jack’s father, Christian. This theory was basically solidified for me when Jack saw his old house in the mirror in the lighthouse. Jack even said that he ‘hasn’t lived there for many years’ indicating that whoever is watching Shephard probably wasn’t trying to keep an eye on Jack as he has not lived there for a long time. That being said, by the time Jack sees the lighthouse, Christian has been dead (and on the island) for 3 years – leading me to the theory that perhaps the ‘Shephard’ indicated on the cave wall and Lighthouse wheel is actually Jack’s mother. Perhaps this is the mysterious person that Jacob was asking Hurley to help find the island.

Taking all this into account and assuming Locke Monster was telling the truth about the meaning of the names being potential candidates, is he also telling the truth about it not making a difference? And wanting to go home? So far it seems like he was a real man at some point, but then somehow became entrapped on the island bound by the mysterious rules. He may in fact want to go home (whatever that may mean) but it seems like the impending war that we keep hearing about has to happen first, hence why Locke Monster is ‘recruiting’, according to Ilana. Last we saw Locke Monster, Sawyer agreed to go with him because he too wanted to go home or leave the island. We now see that Locke Monster is ‘with’ Claire, and in more ways than one. Not only is he now geographically in the same place, but Claire told Jin that she was ‘not alone’ when Jin asked her about where she had been and what she was doing on the island for the past 3 years. This implies that Locke Monster was protecting her and on her side presumably right after she died and was claimed. She also mentions that both ‘her friend’ (whom we now know is Smoke Locke) and her father (whom we know is Christian) told her that ‘the others’ have her baby. We remember that Claire was seen in the cabin along side Christian, who I assumed to have been Smokey at that time, and Claire said ‘I’m with him.’ That line in conjunction with what Claire said about not being alone in the most recent episode seems like it would solidify the theory that despite Smokey being stuck as Locke now, he was able to change forms at will before Jacob died. Appearing at certain times as Christian, Yemi, Alex, Boone and possibly Walt, all in an effort to manipulate and lead people in a certain direction. The reasons behind this theory seemed simple. I mean, how many entities on this island can just shift shapes? I guess that might remain to be seen, but it all seemed so perfect for it to have all been Smokey every time. One can definitely make the argument that the appearance of dead people were showing up so that they can influence, manipulate and move players into position (and you can even argue that these entities were moving pieces with Smokey’s interests in mind). But since Claire referred to her father and her friend as seemingly different people or entities, it really becomes even more confusing and sort of dispels the theory that it was Smokey each time we’ve seen a ‘ghost’. But on the other hand, Claire may remember seeing and talking to her father before she was completely overtaken by infection, not to mention she probably had never realized that her father was dead, therefore she wouldn’t have found it any weirder than just coincidence that Christian was alive on the island.

Though, while that theory may still somewhat be a possibility, I am definitely beginning to think that there is another explanation for the appearance of Christian, Yemi, Alex, etc. after they’re dead. Why? Because there’s a small blonde kid that seems to appear and disappear to Smoke Locke in a similar fashion to these other ‘ghost’ people and Smoke Locke seems surprised that Sawyer can see him, but I’ll touch on that in just a minute.

So knowing what we know, it certainly seems like Locke Monster’s army is shaping up to be Claire, (which now allows us to assume that eventually Sayid will be a part of the Smoke team as well) and Sawyer (if he continues to go along with it) Now, Claire being with Smoke Locke also begs some other interesting questions. We know from Dogen that Claire was ‘infected’ and overtaken by darkness. He is claiming that the same thing is happening to Sayid. Sayid, we know was pronounced dead and then came back to life as this supposed ‘infected’ being. Which safely leads me to believe that my assumptions from the last 2 seasons are correct in that Claire is in fact dead. As mentioned in my last post, I think she may have died when the freighter people blew up her house in season 4, and was then quickly ‘claimed’ by this ‘infection’ which we now know has much (if not everything) to do with the Smoke Monster. So the question is: Is the Smoke Monster building an army of only dead people? If so, does Sawyer have to die? Is Sawyer already dead and claimed? After all, Sawyer saw the young blonde child in the jungle much to Smoke Locke’s surprise. Or maybe Sawyer is alive and he is the one that the young blonde child is referring to when he tells Smoke Locke that he ‘can’t kill him’ – Maybe Smokey can’t kill with the intent to recruit? Or maybe Sawyer is just much more important than any of us imagined. After all, Dogen really wanted him to stay at the temple. 

Other thoughts: I don’t think Jack’s son’s mother is Sarah. I believe the mother may be Libby as there is a connection there with the son being named David, and Libby’s dead husband being named David as well. Seeing as how this is an alternate universe, one never knows if Libby and David even met and were married in the first place. I am not ruling out the chance that it is someone other than Libby, but right now I am assuming we have met them before. But even if the marriage went bad, its curious as to why Jack has had no involvement in his son’s life until recently. And why wasn’t David’s mother at his recital? Is she still alive? Either way it sounds sort of similar to Michael’s situation with Walt before getting on Oceanic 815.

One thing that seems to be certain about the alternate timeline is that everything that happens is somehow similar to the events that took place in the original timeline and on the island. Island people are ‘randomly’ meeting each other left and right in the alternate timeline and there will definitely be more to come. Of course, not everything has or will happen in exactly the same way. It’s like the game is panning out slightly different, but the players are the same and most likely, the game will end the same as well. So having had this realization, it got me thinking about what may be to come. Here are a few potential storylines that may unfold in the alternate timeline:

• Kate winds up with or taking care of Aaron again – maybe Kate is hiding from the law with Claire – maybe Claire gets wrongfully accused for Kate’s crime and goes to jail, once again losing her baby and perhaps meeting up with Charlie in jail since her relationship with Charlie was so prevalent when they were on the island.
• Locke’s spine and paralysis is fixed by Jack. This allows him to once again walk and he will regain faith, as he currently seems as though he is not a man of faith in the alternate timeline. Perhaps that faith will be short-lived though because if Helen died in the original timeline, I think there’s a good chance she’ll die in the alternate one.
• That being said about Helen’s possible fate, I think there is also a decent chance that other Lostees that died on the island will also die in the alternate timeline, just in different ways. i.e. Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Charlie, Arzt, etc.
• Seems like Locke is close with his father, yet he’s still paralyzed. Safe to assume his father didn’t do it to him, so then how did it happen? Well, I have a sneaky suspicion that it might have been the Man in Black that crippled Locke in the alternate timeline. We are seeing all kinds of island inhabitants appearing in the alternate timeline, so why not the Man in Black? (a.k.a. the Smoke Monster before he became the Smoke)
• Perhaps we’ll see Michael Dawson involved with Sun and Jin’s story. Will Sun develop a relationship with Michael when Jin is detained or in jail? Maybe Michael will be a security guard or police officer that will assist in the Kwon investigation at the airport.
• Even though we haven’t seen Charles Widmore this season, it feels to me like he is on the side of Smokey – based on the fact that he was willing to do anything he could to get Locke back to the island, and told Locke that if he didn’t go back, the wrong side was going to win the upcoming war.
• Just for the heck of it, I forgot to mention this in my last post so I figure I’ll add it here since I think it’s at the very least, worth mentioning. Desmond told Charlie that he had to die in order to secure rescue for everyone else, but especially Claire and her baby. Desmonds flashes of the future have thus far been proven to pan out accurately except for the vision that convinced Charlie to allow himself to die. Desmond said that he saw Claire and Aaron getting on a chopper and leaving the island. I know Aaron left in a chopper, but Claire obviously did not. Is this a case of Desmond’s visions being foggy? Did Desmond lie to Charlie about his vision because he knew he had to die anyway, but perhaps for some other reason? Or what I consider one of the more exciting possibilities is that Claire and Aaron are yet to get on a helicopter together. Maybe they will need to for some reason and when they do, Desmond will be there to see it happen.

I guess I have to call spoiler alert for CSI.  That being said, you've all been forewarned.

March 4th can't come soon enough for me. It's a Thursday and for once, I'm excited about something other than Bones. CSI Las Vegas (aka the original CSI) will be featuring a few very special guest stars. Country music fans, get ready: Rascal Flatts is hitting CSI! The band will be playing themselves and in an interesting plot twist, it'll be more than just a simple music performance. The entire plot will revolve around the group and one band member will be killed! The guys and CBS have collaborated to promote the episode by filming an exclusive music video fro their song Unstoppable. It's being called the CSI mix and you can get a sneak peek at the episode by checking out the video. Obviously, a fan will be a suspect and it's interesting to see how they use promotional products to depict her being truly obsessed. What, just cause the girl's got some promotional apparel that makes her crazy enough to kill? I wear my Rascal Flatts t-shirt from time to time. Granted if I opened the door for the cops, I'd probably be wearing a little more than she was but hey, she is supposed to be crazy, right? It'll be interesting to see who the killer is on March 4th and like I said, I definitely can't wait. So check out the video and see if you can spot the promotional items!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSMNbnC9Kp8

Good news American Idol fans, between tonight and tomorrow your top 24 will be chosen. And why am I, a perpetual non-idol fan so excited about this? Well, it's because we're just a few short weeks away from the return of what we all really want: THE RETURN OF GLEE! And from the looks of Entertainment Tonight's exclusive video, it seems that we might just hear an utterance of that classic Sue Slyvester line: First I was aroused, then infuriated! Perhaps said by everyone's favorite Josh Groban fan, Sandy? I would love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlDv56N6F9A

But seriously, I couldn't give a rats patoot about Idol, I just want my little glee club back. I want to embrace all their slushiness and love them for saying lines like "That sweater makes her look home schooled." True story, I would use that line on someone at the office today but the only person who's wearing a sweater is me. :( As if the heavy snow outside wasn't enough of a sign of the never ending winter, so is the lack of Glee. But this little video just gives us all some hope.

Ok Gleeks, moving on. Back to your regularly scheduled Tuesday. Nothing to see here, except the usual awesome promotional items that you can always see here. :)

Frequent readers of this blog know of the Triforce Battle of TV Shows, Sarah with NCIS, myself with Heroes and Anthony with Lost. We have all used numbers and theories and strongly worded blogs to defend our shows. I will be honest with everyone here though, the biggest reason I disliked Lost was due to....jealousy. That's right, I admit it, after not getting into Lost at the beginning I wanted Heroes to be "the next Lost" desperately, I clung to that and parts of me still do. I knew I had missed out on something good in Lost and I hated it. Well my friends, while I still have not watched NCIS (though I do now watch Bones) last night I took a nice little island vacation to a tv show called Lost. Thanks to the help of Anthony Zuaro's complete collection of Lost DVDs myself and my girlfriend Sara began Season 1 last night, and well, we loved it. I had heard that episodes of Lost on DVD is like a can of Pringles, once you pop you can't stop. We couldn't, we said we would watch one episode, one turned into two turned into four. We have made our Friday night plans Friday night Lost. It's bad people, its addictive. Now I won't lie, I've read some of Anthony's blogs about the show on this very blog, I have heard some bits and pieces about the story line, but to me its like reading a book before the movie and still enjoying it. So wish me luck on my journey, if I happen to hear how the show ends this season so be it, I will continue to truck on.I will continue to watch Heroes though (Season Finale this Monday) and for those yet to be Losties, spoiler alert, it's okay to watch Heroes and Lost because the man who flew the plane was none other than Greg Grunberg/Matt Parkman. I will refrain from making jokes about the parallels between him crashing a plane and the fate that Heroes has endured.

Firstly, before I get to NCIS, I have to give some love to last nights repeat of Bones. In the episode, a promotional pen, imprinted with the words motokneescrapers.com leads Booth and Brennan in the direction of the killer of their victim. See, promotional pens aren't just for writing. They're for solving murders!

But onto my favorite show...as Jenn pointed out last night the majority of the world would be watching Lost last night and I would be watching NCIS. Well, yes I was. And what was I greeted with but the wonderful view of one Tony DiNozzo talking about how he would be attending National Tap Dance Day. Before Ziva gets distracted by McGee sitting at his desk in a full tuxedo, she questions Tony who responds that he followed a tweet to a blog that led to a website listing all kinds of crazy holidays. Hmm, something like this?

That's Motivators list of Promotional Awareness Events and before you ask, no, it doesn't include National Tap Dance Day (not gonna lie, kinda thinking about adding it) but it does include several of the most important (and some not so important) awareness events listed by month. We've done this so that you, our valued customers can get ideas about what types of events are going out there that you can sponsor and get behind. I however am telling myself that we've done this so that I can sit here in a happy little delusional bubble in which I can tell myself that Tony followed one of Motivators tweets to one of Motivators blogs to the Motivators Awareness page.

Crazy, party of 1 your table is ready.

Wow, it’s finally here and I almost can’t believe it. For a while there it seemed like this day would never come, but it finally has and I couldn’t be more excited! This one is for all the marbles and the hype surrounding this season of Lost has to be the biggest ever. The reason: We expect to get plenty of answers in this season because we know that it is the last one. That being said, the show is so dense and filled with detail and mystery that there is no way that all of our questions can be answered. So in preparation for season 6, I have re-watched the entire series rapid-fire style. Many thought it couldn’t be done, but a few episodes each night was hardly a chore and I finished re-watching the season 5 finale last night, just in time.

So, like an observant Lostee I took down a few notes, observations, questions and predictions. I am sure there are plenty of areas I am forgetting to cover as well but the following is my random list for your enjoyment, for your recollection and for my sanity because if I didn’t write these things down, they’d be floating around in my head trying to distract me from real life. ** By the way here is your SPOILER ALERT! If you are not caught up to season 6 of Lost yet, you may not want to read on. **

*QUESTIONS THAT MAY NEVER BE ANSWERED (in no particular order) – with some predictions attached

-Who are the corpses known as ‘Adam and Eve’? maybe Rose and Bernard?

- What or Who is Vincent? I know it’s the dog, but I am not convinced that he is just a dog.

- What is Walt’s connection to the island? How is he special?

- Will Aaron grow to be evil without Claire raising him? Does he have a special connection with the island?

- Is Claire actually dead? If so, could she have died when the freighter people blew up her house?

- Was it really Walt typing to Michael via the Swan Station computer?

- What is the Hurley bird?

- What knocked down the huge statue?

- How did the Black Rock get into the center of the island? Who was on it? – maybe Richard was on it, but perhaps Smokey dragged or threw the ship into the center of the island. Could that even be how the statue came down?

- Does the statue have anything to do with the island’s fertility problems? If not, what does?

- Aside from sponsoring the race, did Widmore have something to do with Desmond’s arrival on the island? – Perhaps a long con intended to result in the exiling of Desmond to keep him away from Penny

- Is Malkin (the psychic) a fraud as he claims he is to Mr. Eko? Or is he legit as per his visions / instructions for Claire and her baby?

- The Smoke monster is a judge of some kind, but what is the criteria for letting someone live or die? Is the criteria whether or not said someone has or will have the island’s best interests in mind? Was Smokey taking pictures of Juliet when she was hiding from it with Kate in season 3? Does Ben know how to control it or can he just summon it? How come Smokey cannot rise above the Sonic fence surrounding the barracks?

- Was the DHARMA food drop from another time or does DHARMA continue to get food drops in present day?

- Did Radsinsky really kill himself in the Swan Station or was he murdered?

-What were ‘the others’ watching, when Cindy told Jack that everyone had gathered outside of his cage to watch?

-Will we ever find out who programmed the jamming device in the Looking Glass station? (supposedly a musician)

-Who asks Locke for help from within Jacob’s cabin when he first visits it with Ben?

-Who is in Jacob’s cabin when Hurley finds it? There are two people. One appears likely to be Christian, the other comes to the window and shows only his eye.

-What will come of Desmond being Farraday’s constant?

-Why is Richard mad at young Locke for choosing the knife as one of his possessions when he visits him as a child?

- Richard said to Sun that he remembered meeting the DHARMA crew from the 70’s because he watched them all die. Not simply that he watched them, but met them. I wonder what/if there is any significance to that statement?

-According to ‘the others’, Jack and Kate were not on Jacob’s list. Who is on Jacob’s list? Are the lists lies to help Jacob manipulate the islands leader? If the lists are real, why did he interact with those people off the island if they were not on his list? Are the people he touched off the island the people he wants on his side for the war or was he just setting everyone’s course in motion?

-Who was the ‘smart man’ that Hawking refers to that figured out that the island was always moving?

-Will the war involve living vs. the dead?

-Why were all the DHARMA notebooks from the Pearl Station unclaimed?

-Why can dead people appear as living people? -  Is this the ‘Man in Black’ posing as other dead people? for example the version of Yemi that speaks to Eko on the island says ‘you talk to me as if I am your brother!’ (indicating that he is in fact not) – How does the new inhabitant of the dead have knowledge of all of their memories and personality?

- What is Lapidus a candidate for?

-Why is the 815 survivors’ former camp wrecked when it is found during the time jumping?

-Why do the barracks in ‘present day’ (after Ajira 316 crashed) look like the DHARMA Initiative was just recently eliminated?

*SOME SMALL PREDICTIONS and a few BOLD FACED BIG PREDICTIONS

-Hurley is the origin of the first transmission to be heard with the numbers in it.

-Libby is in the psych ward because she was dealing with her husband’s death.

-We will find out who was in the car(s) that crashed on the bridge when Jack was about to commit suicide in season 3. Perhaps Ilana and Bram from Ajira 316.

- The series will end with Jack’s eye.

-Kate is pregnant – There had to be a pregnant woman on flight 316 as a proxy for Claire

-Oceanic Characters involved in the incident will get to see/live their lives over again in an alternate or parallel universe, ala Desmond after he turned the failsafe key on the hatch.(Much like the episode ‘Flashes Before Your Eyes’) – this alternate or parallel universe may be the new narrative device instead of flash forwards and flashbacks.

-Somehow Penny or young Charlie dies (perhaps because of Ben) and Desmond will be able to travel back in time and change the past.

*Jacob is the villain, MIB is the hero. Jacob enjoys the fighting, the killing, the chaos, corruption, etc. – He brings people to the island to manipulate them into these bad situations.*

*REPEATED THEMES:

Lists

Board Games – Backgammon, RISK, Chess, Mouse Trap, Operation

Octagons (DHARMA shape)

Songs repeated

Car crashes

Death

Losing something or someone

Lying / Conning / Manipulation

Redemption

*Quotes repeated (from different characters): “Don’t tell me what I cant do” – “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate” – “We have to go back” – “This is our destiny”

*Names repeated: Mary, Emily, Annie, Tom, Sarah, Daniel, Richard, Dave (David), Charlie (Charles), Charlotte, Nadia, Amy

*Lost is about: redemption, inner demons, overcoming old bad habits, making the same mistakes over again, lying, manipulation, conning, trust, interconnectivity, a small world, fate, destiny, decision-making, blind faith, realization, hope

I've been challenged and I'm definitely accepting it. This little beauty popped up in my Twitter stream just a few minutes ago from a good friend of the Motivators family and it immediately grabbed my attention:

Firstly, Karen is shouting out my two favorite shows in the world and she's challenging me to figure out how promotional products could have helped in their episodes. As much as this seems like a school project, I'm 100% down. She wins for the best suggestion of a promo travel pillow for last week's NCIS. The witness Ziva and Tony were protecting was poisoned by the flight attendent when she was given a pillow covered in peanut dust, which she was allergic to.

As far as Bones is concerned, at the very beginning a ton of spiders emerge from the clay that is surrounding the body and Cam proceeds to freak out. Karen suggested promotional bug repellant, which in essence seems like a great idea except that Hodgins, the bug expert would probably blow a gasket if someone endangered his spiders.

 My suggestion? Upon realizing that resident intern Vincent Nigel Murray is desperately seeking some sort of approval from Brennan (Bones) I'm thinking that she could have just solved the problem by handing him the promotional talking appreciation pen. Just let the pen tell him that all his efforts and dedication are greatly appreciated and the problem would be solved.