Lost: Season Six - Page 20

Casting easter egg = He played a character named Dr. Linus Mills in Nash Bridges which was produced and written by Carlton Cuse.

 "There's much back-and-forth about whether or not Ben should/could have used the '30 emails over 3 months' evidence toadditionally persuade the Principal to write a letter of recommendation for Alex."

Maybe not, but he could have tried and resumed the blackmail AFTER the letter of recommendation was written. ;-) But that requires more cunning than this version of Linus was capable of, so I am OK with how things went.

I wrote the following yesterday before this episode, and then remembering the previews for the ep, decided to wait and see before posting. But the episode changed little, so here goes:

I'm not sure why you think that's "solidified".  Unless I missed something, Ben's father said he took him to the Island, and that they left.  And he wonders what their life would have been like if they didn't leave. That's it. Or am I forgetting something?

And that still fits with the split/alternate reality possibility.  Ben and his father left on the sub before jughead detonated, and that's all they know.  Their knowledge of the Island would have ended from when they got on the sub.  They wouldn't know what actually happened to the Island (that it was destroyed/sank). So it makes sense that he would wonder what it would have been like if they stayed (not knowing the Island was gone).

And if his father's personality seems different..... well, it's 30 years later and he's an old man at the end of his life being cared for by his son.  Not sure why you'd expect the same temperament he exhibited all those years ago on the Island when we are seeing him in a completely different situation separated by three decades of life.

I think an alternate reality created at the time if "the incident" is still very much on the table.

Travis,

Thank you!  No, I had no idea.  And yes, I own season three (I own the first five seasons of Lost on DVD).  My family and I are currently working our way through season three for the second time.  I've never played Disc 7.  But I will for sure now.  I do love Easter eggs. :)

BTW, are there Easter eggs on the final discs to seasons one and two?  If there are, I don't believe I've ever seen them.

The Dharma Iniatitive/Widmore & Co had enormous power by having the power to "use" time.  An early example ("Not in Portland") was they were able to identify and locate Juliet, a doctor who just invented a new fertility cure and was recruited to work on dying mothers on the island? How else could Ben obtain a spinal surgeon at just the moment when he needed one? If someone on the planet did possess supernatural/psychic powers, it fits the plot that the people involved would have the resources to find him.

The connection to his father and his birth on the island may also be the reason. They made a point to include jokes in the show about the similarity to Hurley's powers, which suggests to me the island has something to do with those powers. That's pretty much all I can make of it.

Dr. Ben Linus backing down from blackmailing the principal does not hold up, but you either accept it or you don't. I do not believe Yale would disqualify a student based on a nastygram from a disgraced principal. However, if the principal is Alex's only way of getting a substantial recommendation, the lack of recommendation would be damaging.
 

I'd say Miles confirming that Ben killed Jacob was a pretty pivotal use of his ability.

I like the description of the time line being like a rope. If I have this correct, Ben's father was killed before the bomb went off, so if the bomb going off is ground 0 for the timeline split, Ben's father was already dead. In order to appear in the nocrash timeline, the split has to go back further. This can be used as "proof" that the bomb didn't cause the split (though the rope model is one explanation which would invalidate said "proof").
 

Ben's father was still alive when the bomb went off. Roger shot Sayid as he and Jack were moving jughead from the Dharma village. 

I don't. If the Miles character did not exist, the writers could have easily one the same in a more conventional fashion. I can easily see a freaked out Ben confessing under pressure. Miles just hasn't done anything important with his ability that couldn't have been accomplished with more conventional means.

You don't just casually drop a character that can communicate with the dead in a series like LOST without a specific plan in mind, and outing Ben is not it.

I don't imagine the creative process going like this: "Hey, wouldn't it be be cool to have a character that can hear the dead?" -- "Ya let's do it!". I mean, LOST is not Heroes or X-Men. Rather, I think it's more like: "Crap. This particular plot development isn't gonna work unless we can somehow figure out how to talk to dead people. We may have to create a character who can do that." The problem is, I've yet to see that plot development play out.

Take Hurley. I am certain he was endowed with that ability for one main reason: The writers knew that they would kill off Jacob, yet still need him to direct stuff. So they made Hurley see dead people. I have a hard time believe thing that Miles was created just so he screw Ben, or say things like "it worked."

I hope to see more, is all.

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H

Travis,

Much appreciated.  (BTW, my children didn't recognize 'Alex' in the R. L. Stine story I mentioned above -- but my wife did.)

Is that right? Was Ben's father killed at the end at season 5? I don't remember that, but I only saw the episode once. Anyone know for sure?  If he was just shown being shot (and I can't even remember that) it doesn't mean he was killed.

But if so, then things were already different from the original timeline before jughead detonated, since in the original timeline Ben murders his father years later along with the rest of the Dharma folks.

When jughead detonated, it did so while in contact with the "energy source" so isn't it possible no one on the island died? I mean, maybe they were "moved" just like everyone was when the island was skipping. The big difference would be that this time, it was the last skip. Maybe that is why we have the island underwater scene shown at the beginning of the season, yet "it worked" and no one seems to have died.

i wonder if Jacob kind of planned for Sayid to do what he did.  i mean he seems to be able to see things happen before they do.  he knew MiB would go to the Temple and kill everyone.  how did he get in?  by using Sayid.  how did Sayid get there?  Jacob told Hurley to bring him. 

also this episode was the first time that Jacob (to me) was talked about in a God-like way so obviously, in that his followers were questioning their faith and wondering why it seemed like he was abandoning them. 

as to whether or not Widmore was the one that Jacob was referring to when he wanted to help someone find the Island with the lighthouse, i find it interesting that Widmore is the one that was setting up Naomi's team, yet Ilana's group in the van tried to stop Miles from going. 

This is giving me a headache.

Great episode. I hope things start to get resolved soon.

I have no problem admitting I can't keep it all straight, but headache (pain) isn't what I'd use to describe the state -- just occasional confusion.
 
As for hoping things start to get resolved soon... that's what has been happening the whole season. My goodness, the temple has been this unseen place for 5 seasons, and now not only have we seen it, seen the people in it, and seen someone resurrected in it, but we've seen all parties (losties, ajira's, others, jacob, smokey) in it -- culminating with smokey killing just about everyone in the temple who wouldn't join him.

We've learned why our losties were brought to the island. I suppose I could go on, but I feel like they're answering the questions. Obviously viewpoints vary, but I'd appreciate anyone who can say something concrete about what is expected contrasted against what is being delivered.

Personally, I've been programmed  over many years not to pay too close attention to TV, because it usually fails, and then I'm left frustrated. And on top of that, the people involved will say "it's just TV (or a movie)". So for my own sanity, I watch, but I don't study (with the exception of The Matrix:Revolutions). The last one I did was Babylon 5 (which I've now finished) but only because I read here it held up pretty well. I can't go back and remember everything with Lost that I didn't commit to memory during first viewings (and I've only watched everything once), but I feel confident that I'll go back and watch the whole series again after it finishes and pay closer attention. I'm also confident I'll find it a rewarding experience.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

I HATE that the thread look ahead sees right through spoiler blocks (and posted your spoiler in it) so here's an empty message to stop that

Thanks Matt.  I didn't see whatever is in that spoiler, but I appreciate you blocking it--that "feature" is easily the worst thing about this forum software.

Sadly, with the finale being shot soon (or has it been shot already?), we might be approaching the point at which I stop even checking this thread.  I am *not* risking having this show spoiled for me.

After getting parts of the S6 premiere spoiled to me by... text message while I was watching it with about an hour delay, I ignore my phone after 9pm on Tuesday, until I've seen the episode.

The good thing is that it wasn't much of a spoiler for a participant of this thread ("LOCKE IS THE SMOKE MONSTER?! OMG!!!"). Still, I'd have liked to have seen that one theory confirmed on the screen rather than by text... Also, I am grateful they got it out of the way early in the episode.

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H

Well, we know they are there as "candidates" to replace Jacob, but we don't know who Jacob is or what his role is, or how these people were chosen or manipulated into getting to the island. The central question is who is Jacob (and the MIB) and what is their conflict.

I really hope the show doesn't go down the route of good versus evil. That's too simplistic a premise for a show that has showcased such good writing over the years.

Sorry about that I didn't know the spoiler showed in the preview.

I'm hoping for some kind of far-out science-fiction-y, Twilight-Zone -type twisty ending that's gonna blow my mind. I'll be disappointed beyond words if it turns out to be a God versus the Devil Sunday School thing

I would agree.  However, we *did* just recently see Locke (yes, I know it's the smoke monster, but whatever) use the force to unlock Ben's leg shackle.  That was pretty awesome.

Yeah it was. It may also suggest that he was the one who made stuff fly around the cabin when Ben took the real Locke there a couple of seasons ago.

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H

I am beginning to believe that MIB and Jacob are rivals instead of captor and captee. Instead of opposites,  why can't they both be trying for the same thing? Just in different ways.