PRETTY BOY TAKES A BEATING; LOST, EP. 3.4: ‘EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF’
I don’t know about you, but last night’s episode was easily my favorite of Season Three thus far. We were fed more information than usual and I loved the intensity. I present to you, in no particular order, my random, long-winded and perhaps outrageously impossible theories and questions of the week:
* I now believe there are two very distinct groups of Others. The first are the Hostiles who live on the island where the plane crashed; the ones who steal children and walk without leaving footsteps. Kelvin referred to them in the Season Two finale. The second group are the ones who claim to be ‘good;’ Others living on a separate island in a Stepford community who seem to have taken control of the abandoned Dharma Initiative experiments…or at least are using the leftover equipment.
* So if the good Others really have contact with the outside world, why do they still use a VCR and outdated computers and television monitors? Why haven’t they received updated technology and medical supplies, such as new defibrillator paddles for resuscitating patients? Were the very modern washer and dryer in Desmond’s hatch meant for the Others and the drop landed on the wrong island? Nothing else in his hatch seemed to be from the last few decades.
* If the Dharma Initiative is indeed defunct or was abandoned, why would Dharma food and supplies continue to be delivered to the island(s)? If the Others are in touch with the real world, couldn’t they request normal, unbranded goods?
* Did Juliet grow up on the island, as Ben claims to have? If so, how did she receive her medical training? Manuals and videos from the outside world?
* Pickett and (the now deceased) Colleen were the only obvious couple among the Others’ village. Were they trying to have children, using Juliet’s fertility services? Are the Others angrier than ever now because Colleen was one of their last hopes for carrying a child? Are all of the Others barren?
* Are the Hostile Others kidnapping children in order to keep them from the good Others? Are the two groups of Others unfriendly adversaries? Why didn’t the Hostiles take Walt when they had the chance? Why would the good Others use costumes and dress like their less stylish Other counterparts when confronting the Losties on their island…to appear more intimidating and less normal than they really are?
* Juliet’s assertion that she makes decisions separately from Ben reminded me of the time last season when Ben (as Henry Gale) was toying with Locke’s emotions, after which Locke revealed that he and Jack made decisions together.
* Juliet said she’s not used to death, and yet Ethan, Goodwin and various other Others have died recently…
* The good Others aren’t killers, as they have stated many times. Almost all deaths have been at the hands of the Losties: Sun shot Collen, Ana Lucia shot Shannon and also killed Goodwin, Kate shot an Other who was following the group in last season’s finale, Michael shot Libby and Ana Lucia, Charlie shot Ethan, and Eko killed a few Others during their first attempt to kidnap the tail section kids. The only Other who has killed anyone so far was Goodwin, who killed Nathan when Ana Lucia suspected he was the Other who wasn’t on their flight.
* If indeed there are two islands, don’t you wonder how is it that the Losties never see or hear boats in the dead silence of night? As I’ve said all along, I believe there is a vast underground transportation system that was built and utilized by the Dharma folks. If it was deep enough beneath the ocean (similar to the BART tunnel under the
* I think that the boat Ben gave Michael to sail away on was the Others’ only one, that Ben really wanted Desmond’s sailboat as a backup to the underground system (it’s also much quieter than the motor boat was).
* If Sawyer and Michael sailed in circles on the broken raft and wound up back on their island, how did Michael and Walt avoid the same situation? Were Ben’s specific directions, the set of coordinates to get them home, the only true way out? Is this the same portal that allows the supply transportation in?
* So if the bear cages are on Other
* In Claire’s flashback last season, the medical hatch where she was taken and returned to is on the main island…not on Other
* Kate repeated the exact phrase that Jack first uttered last season: live together, die alone (which also happened to be the title of the Season Two finale).
* There were some similarities between the interactions of Jack and Juliet & Kate and Sawyer last night, all of whom established feelings in very blunt ways. Kate admitted that she didn’t actually love Sawyer, and Jack told Juliet he didn’t care about her.
* We know that Desmond was able to predict the weather due to his recently acquired psychic powers, but what was the purpose of his homemade antenna? Is he trying to capture electricity for something, or just to prove to himself that the lightning was coming?
* Desmond predicted the rain before it began, much like Locke did in Season One…
* If the island has healing properties (see: Locke’s legs, Rose’s cancer, Jin’s procreative abilities), why wouldn’t it affect/heal the tumor that Jack saw on the x-rays? Everyone is assuming that the x-rays were of Ben’s back, but I think they’re Locke’s!! Think about it…the Others have medical charts and inside knowledge about the Losties, Ben (as Henry Gale) told Locke last season that he was coming for him specifically, and the Others are clearly fascinated with special human circumstances (i.e. Walt). Also, Ben’s behavior has not been demonstrative of an ill man; he was dropped from a net suspended high in a tree, sustained extensive beatings, went on a long hike without so much as a drop of sweat, and threw Sawyer’s tough ass around with great ease.
* How much of what Kate is seeing and doing part of the difficult two weeks that Ben warned her about? Was Sawyer’s pacemaker experiment part of it? What about her lack of escape, regardless of the opportunity?
* If the Others really know so much about the Losties, why would Ben ask how much Sawyer weighs?
* While standing above Sawyer with the needle, the Others referenced ‘the movie.’ Clearly they were talking about the infamous Pulp Fiction scene with Uma Thurman. Was that one of the VHS cassettes included in a supply drop from the outside world?
* It’s not a coincidence that we find out Sawyer has a daughter in the same episode that Juliet reveals her background in fertility. Totally Out There Theories of the Week: Sawyer’s ex, Cassidy, got pregnant using fertility drugs and Juliet was her doctor. At some point in time. AND… we’ll meet young Clementine on the island in the near future.