LOST

[Guest taste-tea]

im just waiting for the black smoke to be busted out again haha

[Guest HERMIT]

im just waiting for the black smoke to be busted out again haha

Yes, I'm interested as to how the black smoke will ultimately be explained on this show.

Of all the surrounding mysteries, this has got to be the most enduring one of all.

I don't know what to really make of it. In the past, the producers have claimed that all the happenings on the island can be plausibly explained and that such explanations would ultimately be rooted in science or pseudo-science. But thus far, the more the black smoke appears, the more I feel that it's existence is predicated more along the lines of the supernatural rather than science.

[Guest jjowah]

Oh, that dude in the picture?

That's Chuck Noland, an employee of FedEx. In an earlier scene when the woman exited the cockpit, she passed a stack of FedEx boxes.

In case you don't remember, Chuck Noland is the character Tom Hanks played in the movie Cast Away.

Okay, I'm just kidding here. Don't take this seriously.

I don't think that person sitting there is of any particular importance. It's probably just someone that's just part of Oceanic personnel that probably attended to the needs of the O6 if they needed it during the flight back.

But then again, who knows?

dude... that was a good one. i got fooled!

[Guest HERMIT]

^

Haha.

Actually, I was perusing some LOST bulletin boards and according to some people that know a thing about the Coast Guard and general aircraft personnel, they believe the 'mystery person' is nothing more than a Coast Guard loadmaster. Per wikipedia, the loadmaster performs the calculations and plans cargo and passenger placement to keep the aircraft within permissible center of gravity limits throughout the flight. Judging from where the person was sitting, it's reasonable to think that he was just simply aircraft personnel overseeing the cargo - which, in this case, were our Oceanic 6.

[xkrndreamer]

Hurley or Desmond. You think? (I've given my own speculation up above in post #1562, so I won't rehash)

But just in rebuttal to your speculation, I simply offer this:

1. The funeral director asked Jack if he was "friend or family", to which Jack replied "neither".

2. When Jack met Kate outside the airport and showed her the obituary clipping, hoping she would have gone to the funeral, Kate answered, "Why would I?"

Given these two instances, and taking into account the kind of relationships shared between the 4 characters, do you still think Hurley or Desmond would have warranted these kinds of responses from Kate and Jack if either of them were the one in the casket? Despite the seemingly emotional reaction by Jack at the casket, he still elected not to have the casket opened for a viewing - and perhaps even more curious and overlooked, Jack doesn't even stick around for too long to even reflect and further offer his respects. Would he act this way if it were Hurley or Desmond?

In that season 3 finale, the flash forward begins with Jack on an airplane when he discovers the newspaper clipping of the person who died. With hindsight being 20/20, we know that Jack was on that plane because he had been using his Oceanic "golden pass" to fly back and forth across the Pacific multiple times in hopes of crashing and finding the island again. As he would also later disclose to Kate at the airport, Jack's been actively trying to get back and this is further evidenced by all the scattered maps and notes strewn all about his home in another scene. Yet, following the airplane scene, we find Jack parked on the side of a bridge sobbing, with obit in hand, and ready to commit suicide. Furthermore, at the time of his visit to the mortuary, Jack enters an empty viewing room and a closed casket. He converses briefly with the funeral director and is mildly surprised to hear that absolutely nobody showed up for the viewing. And as quickly as he's come in to the mortuary, he's just as quick in exiting.

What I'm basically suggesting here is that the context of how the finale is structured, it could be extrapolated that Jack's need to go back to the island, his frustration in trying to locate it, and ultimately his despair in not being able to find it is related to the death of this 'mystery person'. To be more direct with my assertion, it might be that the dead person was perhaps somebody that held the key to getting back to the island - and now that this person was dead, Jack lost the one link between his current reality and the alternate reality that was the island. And now without this person, Jack would be pushed to point of hopelessness and suicide.

This was a person that Jack was shocked to read his death reported in the newpaper. A person that Jack was neither a friend or relative of. A person that Kate didn't care enough to feel compelled to attend the funeral. A person that anonymous that absolutely nobody didn't come to attend the viewing. A person that despite a brief showing of respect by Jack, he still sees fit to pop a pill at the foot of the casket and then make a hasty exit out of the mortuary - because hey, nobody showed up to the viewing ... and maybe Jack hoped he would come across a mourner that might have helped in finding the island by virtue of their connection to the deceased in the casket.

If I've been able to convince you enough to think that it can't be Hurley or Desmond fitting this bill ....

...then who do you think I could be alluding to here?

are you referring to the almighty ben linus?

please be clear on this. haha

http://i29.tinypic.com/2n8tr2a.jpg

http://i31.tinypic.com/2n1desw.png

DID U GUYS CATCH THIS?!!? WHO IS THAT?! AHH IM SO EXCITED!!

i don't see anything.

can you describe the picture please?

-----------

1. did they find out who shot the french lady and the guy?

[Guest HERMIT]

are you referring to the almighty ben linus?

please be clear on this. haha

Yeah, that was who I was alluding to. BUT

I've come across unconfirmed spoiler information that it isn't Ben. I know who, but I won't even reveal it here since it is THAT big of a spoiler to the finale.

i don't see anything.

can you describe the picture please?

Somewhat hidden towards the front of the cargo hold, there is another person sitting in the shadows, distinctly separate from the other survivors. But this person could simply be part of the Coast Guard flight personnel, like the loadmaster - who's usually in charge of overseeing cargo and the cargo hold in general.

-------

1. did they find out who shot the french lady and the guy?

It was Keamy and his mercenary group that was responsible for their deaths. They were the ones that had Danielle hostage and later shot her execution style when Ben would not give himself up at the barracks.

[Guest Jah nee nee x]

^ me too (whose in the coffin) lol, I was excited to find out and wanted to let you know - but of course you found out too :haha:

Can't wait till the finale!! kind of wished they hadn't skipped this week

[Guest j1youngxj3]

It was Keamy and his mercenary group that was responsible for their deaths. They were the ones that had Danielle hostage and later shot her execution style when Ben would not give himself up at the barracks.

^you mean when they had his daughter alex hostage? and ben didn't come out so they killed her..danielle and carl both died when they were going to that "safe" place with alex...and then that's when they took her hostage i'm guessing cause she surrendered and said "I'm ben's daughter"

yea...anyway..gosh..this season by far is my favorite season..i absolutely love all the bits and pieces that are coming together slowly...but in the last episode they showed...why are they all lying about everything?? ben probably made them do it..but...can't wait for the finale next week...oh gosh..i hope claire and jin..i hope they're not dead.. =[

[Guest HERMIT]

^you mean when they had his daughter alex hostage? and ben didn't come out so they killed her..danielle and carl both died when they were going to that "safe" place with alex...and then that's when they took her hostage i'm guessing cause she surrendered and said "I'm ben's daughter"

Whoops.

You're right, I meant to write Alex, not Danielle.

yea...anyway..gosh..this season by far is my favorite season..i absolutely love all the bits and pieces that are coming together slowly...but in the last episode they showed...why are they all lying about everything?? ben probably made them do it..but...can't wait for the finale next week...oh gosh..i hope claire and jin..i hope they're not dead.. =[

Yeah, the whole lying bit is a bit of a curiosity going into next season. I'm not so sure if it's Ben that's making them do it insomuch as they could have logically figured it out for themselves:

1. As escape off the island becomes imminent, it's evident to the Oceanic 6 that the people from the freighter were not who they expected them to be and that they are a whole sinister faction altogether with motives and priorities focused more on the island rather than on the survivors' rescue.

2. Something happens during the escape off the island in which the Oceanic 6 become separated and forced to have to leave their friends and fellow passengers behind - and most probably still alive.

Given these two conditions, it's a plausibility that the Oceanic 6 agreed to be deceptively mum about the island and their whole ordeal on it. To blab about it might stir up interest in those outside forces seeking the island and they would renew their efforts in searching for the island once more. (Remember Abaddon visiting Hurley in the mental hospital in that flash forward earlier in the season? He was probing Hurley for information on any other survivors. If Abaddon is affiliated with the same group as Keamy and the freighter group, then there's an implied sense that they "lost" the island again) Anyhow, if they were to find it another time, this would only put the lives of the other survivors left behind on the island back into peril yet again. Hence, by lying about the existence of the island and what truly became of the rest of the passengers, maybe the Oceanic 6 feel that they are protecting them from the Widmore group.

[xkrndreamer]

^ i love you hermit.

do you guys think desmond got his memory back?

they didn't clarify it in the last episode

all he said was "all you ok?" to sun.

hermit, why doesn't the widmore assemble a team to take jack, kate, or any of the oceanic 6 hostage so he can get more leaks about the location of the island? surely, he must know the truth that they lied about how the plane crashed in the ocean.

[Guest HERMIT]

do you guys think desmond got his memory back?

they didn't clarify it in the last episode

all he said was "all you ok?" to sun.

Desmond getting his memory back was already established within his episode "The Constant". Once Daniel Faraday was able to communicate to Desmond that he needed a 'constant' between his past consciousness and his present consciousness, he would be more stabilized from moving back and forth in time so randomly. For Desmond, his constant was determined to be his girlfriend Penny. And once he was able to contact her from the freighter, he was able to establish that constant as his present self and he went back to normal and was more cognizant of what truly was going on in the present time. The phenomena has been referred to on LOST fan boards as being "unstuck in time". By being unstuck, the person is subject to wild oscillations between the past and present consciousness that eventually translates into damaging physical effects, such as the bleeding from the nose and seizures exhibited by Minkowski. If a constant cannot be set, the damaging physical effects (perhaps this is "the illness" that Danielle alludes to?) will continually escalate until the person dies. In any event, by successfully establishing Penny as his constant, Desmond was able to get himself 'stuck' back in the present time and back to normal.

why doesn't the widmore assemble a team to take jack, kate, or any of the oceanic 6 hostage so he can get more leaks about the location of the island? surely, he must know the truth that they lied about how the plane crashed in the ocean.

That's an interesting perspective - certainly a question that I haven't really considered.

But to deduce why Widmore hasn't tried this method of attack, we'd have to trace back to what we know:

1. We know that the communications on the freighter have been sabotaged and are out of commission. From what I recall the only real forms of communication have only been short range (ie. the satellite phones)

2. With no real communications, the freighter people would logically have no means to be able to transmit information back out to the outside world (ie. Widmore).

Given this set of criteria, then it might be plausible to hypothesize that Widmore really doesn't have any idea what the status is with the crew of the freighter. Have they found the island or have they not? I'm thinking not because Michael's whole plan all along was to help Ben in sabotaging their efforts at finding the island - and I'd bet that Michael took out the radio room well before the crew could communicate out any report that they've found it.

Hence, with no communications and what would now appear to be a "missing" freighter Widmore would be in the dark about what we all already know as the audience. Now, all of a sudden, along comes this group of Oceanic 6 survivors with their story of survival: they escape the plane, survive on life jackets and seat cushions until the tide washes them ashore on an uncharted, uninhabited island; then, they survive on the island for over 100 days until the remains of an Indonesian fishing boat washes ashore from a typhoon; and then they're able to get off that island using the supplies off that fishing boat, including an operational life raft. They are then able to get to another inhabited island using that raft and finding rescue. On the surface of it all, this could just be another amazing story of survival and Widmore probably wouldn't suspect that these Oceanic 6 would be related to his freighter and the quest to find the island. As a result, Widmore might not have any reason to approach the Oceanic 6 because they tell a different story to the public - a story that he might be fooled into thinking was unworthy to follow up.

The caveat to this theory, however, lies on one loophole - and that's whether you believe the staged plane crash was perpetrated by Ben or by Widmore himself. If it was truly Ben responsible for the fake crash site, then the Oceanic 6's story holds water and Widmore would be fooled into buying the whole story like the rest of the public. But if Widmore indeed was responsible for the crash site, then he too would be suspicious of the whole cover-up story. I think the latter is the case and that Widmore is actively trying to gather intel to see if the six survivors indeed know something that he doesn't. That's why Abaddon is going around trying to pry Hurley's brain for some information in the the mental hospital.

As for why Widmore doesn't flat out go after and try taking the Oceanic 6 hostage, it's probably simply because of the high media profile surrounding them. Any 'disappearance' of one or all of them would only attract attention to himself and perhaps expose his own secretive quest for the Island to the open public. But he's like Ben in that he equally doesn't want the existence of the island known to anyone else and wants it for his own personal gain. In that regard, this "taking hostage" method of attack is too risky and probably exactly why he's using the low-key approach and enlisting Abaddon to work undercover. For the most part, the Oceanic 6 are able to play this game to the hilt - until Sayid messes up in his assassination attempt of the Economist: "now they know I'm coming after them".

[Guest HERMIT]

Ever wanted to get straightened out the chronology of the fast forwards?

Here's a useful near 9 minute long YouTube clip recapping parts of all the flash-forwards presented in season 4, only now they are in chronological order. I found out about this clip from the DarkUFO site and the clip was created by the author based on the usually-reliable timeline as compiled by the Lostpedia site.

Enjoy: LOST Flash Forwards

[xkrndreamer]

hermit, you are amazing.

i would go lost without you.

thank you from the bottom of my heart.

two hour season finale this thursday!?!!?

i hope it's really two WHOLE hours and no recap.

[Guest res0nate]

It's three hours.

And I might just see it a day early.

[Guest HERMIT]

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

Yes, there will be three hours of LOST programming this Thursday night, beginning at 8pm.

The first hour is just the replay of Part 1 of the finale and the final two hours is indeed two whole hours of NEW material to conclude the season.

[Guest 1S0ULL]

Hermit, you rock.

Seriously. You answer so many of my questions LOL.

I am so excited for tomorrow

Season finale !!!

[xkrndreamer]

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

Yes, there will be three hours of LOST programming this Thursday night, beginning at 8pm.

The first hour is just the replay of Part 1 of the finale and the final two hours is indeed two whole hours of NEW material to conclude the season.

reliable as always.

can't wait

should i wait till it comes out on abc.com or watch it on tv?

the downside with tv is that the commercials are way too long

hope they answer most of the lingering questions from the previous seasons!

and of course, i'll have questions as always after the season finale.

[Guest graceyoon]

oooooooooooooooooh can't wait either, i can't believe it'll be two hours i am soooooo thrilled lol

my paper said that a regular member won't be returning... hmm wonder who

[Guest HERMIT]

Here's 6 spoiler/teaser clips for you guys to chew on with the finale just mere hours away.

http://www.docarzt.com/lost-spoilers/lost-...-clips-from.php

Nothing is really majorly spoiled, but if you absolutely like to NOT have a thing revealed, click at your own risk.

The clips to me are more like teasers - they do reveal certain plot sequences, but true to the nature of the show, the clip ends and you're still left with the questions of 'what exactly did that mean?' or 'wow, now what's going to happen next?'

Happy finale everyone!

[Guest j1youngxj3]

season finale tonight...but i have a feeling my pops is going to hog the tv all night tonight...our korean tv thing FINALLY came today..and my pops will most definitely watch it all night long...=[

guess i'll have to wait to watch it online...but..ooh...so excited! the previews on abc.com look pretty good..kate and sawyer...<33