Lost Blog

Just when you’ve spent the entire break from Season 4 to Season 5 theorizing that the island has gone back in time to the 1970’s and you think you’ve cracked what’s going on, Daniel Faraday says something that debunks all theories and has us starting all over again… but, it’s all becoming a little clearer now, isn’t it?

The Island and/or our Losties are jumping back and forth in time - sound familiar? Just like Desmond, the Island and/or our Losties needs a constant before suffering a nose bleed and dieing a certain death. And who should that constant be? Well, it must be the Oceanic Six of course.

Just one sentance from Daniel Faraday has made sense of the whole scenario… hasn’t it?

Let’s take a look at the time jumps in this episode

First Jump

The first time jump takes place after the island dissapears from view of the helicopter. Sawyer and Juliette are unaware of anything strange until Bernard tells them that their camp is no longer there.

Locke, on the otherhand, finds himself alone - it seems The Others haven’t travelled back in time with him. He goes for a wander and witnesses the Nigerian plane crash that happened at least 3 years earlier. This would place this time jump in around 2001.

Locke heads for the crash site and whilst trying to climb up to the plane, he gets shot at and falls down. He is met by Ethan Rom (the Other Man who Charlie shot and killed all the way back in Season 1!). Ethan seems angry and demands an explaination from Locke, but before Locke could explain anything there is another flash and Ethan is no longer there.

Second Jump

Daniel and co. were making their way to the Swan Station during the first jump, but when they arrived there during the second jump it is in the state it was after it exploded. This means that they’ve jumped “back to the future” to December 2004 (presumably).

Locke is wounded from being shot at and hides from someone coming through the jungle. It is Richard Alpert who seems to know that Locke had been shot. He explains that when the island flashed, Locke had dissapeared whilst him and the others remained. He tells Locke that the next time he sees him he won’t know who he is so Richard gives Locke a compass to give to Past Richard.

3rd Jump

Where Daniel and co. were standing by the exploded Swan Station now appeared the Hatch as Locke and Boone had found it in Season 1. Sawyer heads for the back door claiming he needs supplies. Daniel tries to explain to Sawyer that you can’t change anything that has happened and when Sawyer is pursuaded he heads back to the beach.

Charlotte gets a nose bleed and Daniel seems concerned. After telling her to head back to the beach he consults his notebook and has a look of horror from what he’s just read. He heads back to the Hatch and does exactly what he told Sawyer he couldn’t do - he bangs on the door to have a brief meeting with… Desmond! This would place this jump also around 2001.

Daniel changed the future… or did he?

A little later after Daniel said this he heads for The Swan and speaks with Desmond. As this was in the past Desmond had no idea who Daniel was. Daniel gives a message to Desmond warning him that they are in danger, and that Desmond needs to go back to Oxford to speak with Daniels mother.

We then see Desmond waking up (in the future) next to Penny, after what appeared to be a dream. When Penny tells Desmond that it was only a dream, he disagrees and tells her it was a memory.

So, if it is true that you can’t change the future, had Desmond really met Daniel all those years ago outside The Swan? And if he had, why had he now only just remembered it? We know that Daniel suffers memory problems, possibly due to his proximity of electromagnetism over the years, so could Desmonds proximity to The Swan and its electromagnetism properties be the cause of this memory loss?

Desmond doesn’t appear as “distorted” as Faraday though. Daniel has to refer to his notebook the majority of the time because he can’t remember things, whereas Desmond doesn’t. That being said, maybe you have to have had more exposure to the electromagnetism for it to have such a massive effect on you like it has Daniel.

What about Locke?
We saw Locke have an encounter with Ethan. Again, if it is true that you can’t change the future, does this mean that Locke was always going to encounter Ethan, and when Ethan met Locke when Flight 815 crashed, did he remember him?

This is highly possible. The Others have always thought of Locke as special. We always assumed it was because he was once paralysed but could now walk again. I think it goes deeper than that.

Look at it from Ethans point of view. In 2001 (ish) he witnesses the Nigerian plane crash and goes to check it out. He meets John Locke, a guy he has never met before, but Locke insists that he knows him. He also tells Ethan that Ben has made him the new leader of The Others. Ethan finds this comment unbelievable, and when he goes to shoot Locke the flash appears. Locke disappears.

Ethan must think that this man is magical, someone who can make themselves dissapear like that. He reports it to Ben, and now Ben knows of this magical John Locke and that he will eventually become leader. And because Ben thinks he is supposed to be leader, it is him himself who makes him leader.

We also know that Locke will encounter a “Past Richard” because “Future Richards” tells him so. What if the meeting with Past Richard takes place before Lockes meeting with Ethan? What if The Others are already aware of John Locke before Ethan meets him but is considered a myth? When Ethan meets him what if he tries to shoot Locke once he knows who he is because he’s scared? Scared that this so-called magical John Locke is real?

Pierre Chang and Daniel
At the beginning of this episode we see Dr Chang waking up next to his wife, to the sound of their baby crying. The baby’s name wasn’t mentioned and I feel this was intentional to leave us in suspense as to who this baby is - I feel it is someone we all know.

Later, Dr Chang begins recording an orientation video for the Arrow Station when he is interupted by someone who needs him urgently. He is taken down to The Orchid Station that looks to be in the construction stages, and is told of one of the drills melting, and one of the construction workers started freaking out and died (we see him and he has a bloody nose). The construction worker tells Dr Chang that there’s something inside the wall, and shows him a sonar image of what looks like the donkey wheel.

Dr Chang informs him that the donkey wheel should not be tampered with, and that it has a limitless energy that if harnessed correctly can manipulate time.

The construction worker thinks Dr Chang is crazy and laughs at the possibilty of time travel to another construction worker, who is Daniel!

This scene appears to be a little Easter Egg of things to come. The Island and/or our Losties do eventually end up in the 1970s. But for how long? In the Comic Con ‘08 video there is an urgency in Daniels voice to record the video - was this because the jumps are still happening and Daniel has no idea when the next one will be and if he will ever arrive back at the time of the DI?

Could our favourite Losties eventually end up back when the Black Rock first “landed” on the island?

So, who’s moving?

This to me is a tricky one to decipher. Obviously, we see the island move so that must be moving in time, but we see Locke go back in time without The Others who manage to stay put in the current time. So, with this, I’m inclined to think that the island is moving location, but the “Losties” are moving in time. The island couldn’t possibly be moving in time as well if Richard and The Others stayed put in the current time. That being said, why didn’t they move in time also?

The Nigerian Plane

Ok, when Locke had that dream in Season One where he saw the Nigerian plane crash and new exactly where to look for it, what if that wasn’t him seeing the past? What if it was a premonition of something that will happen in his future in the past?

Jacob?

Now we know that the island is “dislodged” in time, could this phenomenon be happening to Jacob and his cabin? One minute his cabin is there, the next it’s not, and it seems it appears in different places on the island. If the island is now dislodged, could this mean that Jacob’s cabin is now in a stable place? Could Jacob really be someone we already know?

What’s happening to Charlotte?

Charlotte had a nose bleed and Daniel is concerned for her well being. We all know that when Minkowski was jumping through time he suffered a nose bleed and died shortly afterwards. With the island jumping in time (or the people) why is this happening to Charlotte? Will the nose bleeds happen to everyone and then they all die? When Locke visits Jack and tells him everyone died, is this how it happened?

The Oceanic Six

Jack and Ben work up a plan to get Hurley out of Santa Rosa, unbeknown to them Sayid has beaten them to it. At the “safe” house that Sayid has taken Hurley to, there are men waiting for them to kill them. Sayid kicks serious ass and kills them all, unfortunately getting shot by a tranquilizer dart (or something more sinister) in the process.

Who has been watching Hurley and is trying to kill both him and Sayid? Is it Charles Widmore? Does he know that the Oceanic Six have to return to the island? Why is he trying to stop them? Is he aware of the time-jumping that has occured since Ben turned the donkey wheel? If it isn’t Charles Widmore, who else could be trying to kill the O6? Could it be Abaddon? Or is Abaddon associated with Widmore?

Kate is visited by two lawyers who want blood samples from her and Aaron. Kate manages to get them to leave and packs some bags for a “vacation”.

Who is behind the sudden request for blood tests to be made on Kate and Aaron? Is that Charles Widmore also? Or could it simply be Aaron’s grandmother (Claire’s mum?).

Sun arrives at the airport for a flight to LA when security bring her to a room and lock her inside. She is met by Charles Widmore who is unhappy with Sun for meeting him in public and wants to know what exactly their “common interests” are. She explains that she, too, would like Benjamin Linus to die.

Is Sun really wanting Ben to die? Or is she trying to con Widmore for a purpose only she knows? Could it be that she’s already in cahoots with Ben? Does she think that Jin could still be alive on the island?

Conclusion
I was not dissapointed with this episode at all - I loved it! I feel the answers are finally starting to come our way but with an air of mystery and suspense behind it. I love the twist on the time travel aspect and I can’t wait to see how this plays out.