Greatest Hits/Theories

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Theories about Greatest Hits

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Theories may be removed if ...

Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Charlie's swimming abilities

• Charlie appears to be able to swim, and there's no reason to believe he couldn't swim in "White Rabbit". He was lying as not to ruin his stash of heroin in the sea water.
• Charlie's actual words were "I don't swim", not "I can't swim". This implies that he knows how to swim, but doesn't like to for some reason.
• If the Looking glass Station is located 60-70m under water, Charlie wouldn't be able to dive that deep untrained in such conditions.
• Charlie didn't swim out in White Rabbit because at the time he was a selfish git. The same selfish git that agreed to attack Sun. In the past season he has matured and become more selfless, and the character has grown to the point that he can give his life for another. Of course, it has to be Claire and Aaron. Charlie is not mature enough to do it for the good of the group.

Desmond's flash

• Desmond's vision of Charlie drowning in The Looking Glass and of Claire being rescued is an event that takes place much later in the future.

• Charlie didn't die in this episode and Claire and Aaron were not rescued, but Desmond's premonition will still come true (by the next episode or even two seasons from now.)

• Charlie hasn't yet gotten to the switch; since Desmond's flashes show snapshots from a sequence of events in rapid succession (not not flowing in one scene), he did not see the moon pool nor the armed women; he just saw Charlie going down, the switch, and Charlie drowning.
• Desmond's wording when he's telling Charlie about his flashes is kind of strange. For one, why did he mention that the hatch was full of equipment, but not flooded? It would seem like one of the first things when describing a room, since it's so unusual. Therefore in Desmond's flash it was not flooded. Desmond and Charlie arrive to talk to Jack, Juliet and Sayid after they mention it was flooded, so Charlie has no way of knowing that it is, and Desmond sees no contradiction. We just assume he drowns because it's flooded, but it is the flipping of the switch that floods it. Desmond's broken narrative of "...you flip the switch. Then you drown" is a very strange way of putting it, like there's something missing between the two parts. So, even though the station's not flooded, Charlie's flipping the switch either causes the Looking Glass to flood, or maybe even the women there to drown him.
• The switch does not have to necessarily cause the Looking Glass to flood. Charlie could drown trying to swim back up to the surface.

• Charlie drowns as the 2 women of the Looking Glass purposely flood it trying to prevent him from flipping the switch.

• Flipping the switch is what disables the interference, not flooding the Looking Glass.

• Desmond may have been omitting some of the details in his flashes. He may have had a "sequence" of flashes, but decided not to tell Charlie the full picture.

• In his vision, Desmond didn't actually see Charlie drowning, but he does see him dead. He simply saw him floating dead in the water and assumed he had drowned. He will still die but in a different way, ending up floating dead in the water, living up to Desmond's vision.

• Desmond will again attempt to thwart the vision, and Charlie will not die.

• Desmond's vision is of Charlie drowning, but as often happens in this type of TV drama, he will be resuscitated. In the coming next week we see Desmond diving into the water to find Charlie. Desmond will reach Charlie, save him from the Others, after which Charlie flips the switch, they dive into the water, Charlie drowns, only to be dragged out by Desmond and given CPR, saving his life at the last minute.

• Desmond flashes are flawed/incomplete, and is simply mistaken in this instance.

• His flashes are visual- not necessarily containing any intrinsic knowledge of the future. In other words, he saw what looked like Charlie drowning, but his vision was incomplete and he is able to rescue him.
• The scene showing Charlie singing before helping Nadia is very similar to that in "Flashes Before Your Eyes", in which Desmond meets Charlie, however Desmond is not seen in the flashback. His vision of Charlie drowning in the flooded hatch will also prove to be incorrect.

• These events are likely the same: Desmond's vision in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" where he meets Charlie, and Charlie's flashback in "Greatest Hits" where he saves Nadia. However, Desmond did not actually meet Charlie -- he only imagined it. The events in his hatch-implosion-induced flashback did not really occur. This is why we do not see Desmond in Charlie's flashback.
• Desmond's claim that things have to happen exactly as he sees them in his flashes is incorrect. Charlie did not die on the trek through the jungle, even though Desmond saw it in his flash, yet they still found the parachute and Naomi.

• Charlie was clearly there in Desmond's flash of bringing the parachutist down from the tree.

• But Naomi may not have been the person in the parachute in Desmond's original flash.

• It's still doubtful that the parachutist would have turned out to be Penny had Charlie been killed; when Desmond in the past has stepped in to alter the flash in order to save Charlie, it keeps something natural from happening (i.e. a drowing, electrocution that would have occured where Charlie in the wrong place)--not something supernatural to occur (which would be the case if the identity of a body were to change mid-air).

• Desmond could be lying.

• The viewers didn't get to see Desmond's vision. It took him a considerable amount of time to tell Charlie. He was creating the story about Claire and Aaron on a helicopter because it was plausible and presuasive. He needed Charlie to go to the Looking Glass for reasons as yet to be revealed.

• This holds true to the principle that we can only accept something as fact if we witness it ourselves (as opposed to just taking a character's word for it). We were not shown Desmond's flashback. There is a reason for this.

• It's unlikely that he's lying as we have actually witnessed the flashes he's had in the past and been honest about.

• They have not always shown the visions so that alone is no evidence that Desmond is lying. To show the viewers the vision in this case would likely have revealed too much about the plot.

• Suggesting that Desmond is lying based on the fact that the viewers did not see his flash is misleading. The viewer has yet to see a Desmond flash firsthand outside of a Desmond-centric episode.
• That's why this is the 'theories' page, not the 'facts' page.

• Desmond knew that the swim to the Looking Glass wouldn't be fatal, otherwise Desmond would have read "Our Mutual Friend" before volunteering to take his place.

• Unless he knew Charlie wouldn't let Desmond take his place.

• Now that Charlie hit Desmond with the oar (mirroring him getting hit with the cricket bat in Flashes Before Your Eyes), he will no longer have visions of the future.

• Both Naomi and Desmond, who Naomi says she was sent to rescue, can't be trusted with what they tell Charlie. Both are inflating his ego - Naomi tell Charlie that he was "a big deal" after the crash, and Desmond implies Charlie will be a hero, martyring himself for Claire.

The Looking Glass

• The Looking Glass Station is the location of the underwater beacon (designed to guide submarines to the Island) that Mikhail refers to in "Enter 77". The station's name is a reference to Lewis Carroll's book, so named because following the beacon is the only safe way onto the Island. When, in "The Man from Tallahassee", Ben tells Locke the underwater beacon was destroyed and submarines can leave but will never be able to return without the beacon, he is referring to Looking Glass Station and does not attempt to have the beacon repaired because he believes the station is flooded.
  • The station is so-named because of how it camouflages the island from view. Outsiders see a reflection of the surrounding ocean. The beacon is necessary to find the island, but the station may also be the source of the cloaking technology.
• One of the women in Looking Glass Station is Annie. Annie still has a strong relationship with Ben and Ben lied about the station being flooded in order to protect her, a Dharma worker, from being killed by the Hostiles during the purge. Greta and Bonnie are pseudonyms.
  • They look too young to be Ben's age.
• The Looking Glass is a doorway between times, dimensions, or universes. The sub brings people from the Looking Glass to the Island. That is why we've never actually seen the trip a person has to make, we've only seen them getting off the submarine. This is also why Juliet was asked to drink a strong sedative for the ride to the island, why the DHARMAs and Hostiles are always shown arriving via submarine, and why, as Ethan put it, "the last leg is always a little bumpy".
• The two women at the station (Bonnie and Greta) are remnants from the original DHARMA project. The hostiles were not able to kill all the DHARMA workers, only the ones at specific stations (like the barracks). DHARMA workers at the Looking Glass survived the purge and are continuing their mission.
  • Kelvin and Radzinsky were also both left alone in The Swan.
  • Except Ben knows about the Looking Glass. According to Juliet, he is using the station to jam all transmission except those made by the Others.
    • Ben and Juliet know about the Pearl, therefore know about Swan (as did Mikhail), so, the women can be from DHARMA.
• The Looking Glass has a submarine entrance; the Others made use of that entrance to get their people on board to jam transmissions.
  • However, now that the sub is destroyed, the folks on the Looking Glass have no idea what's going on, depending on the last time the sub visited the station.
• There was what looked like a bunch of scuba tanks right behind one of the two women. They use scuba gear to reach the surface.
• Bonnie and Greta are part of the rescue team sent in with Naomi.
  • They are very well dressed in uniform, and quite unlike DHARMA.
• Mikhail, shown inside The Looking Glass, took the sub there, the sub that Locke did not explode due to a deal they made in "Enter 77", which we'll find out about in "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1".
  • This theory seems unlikely for a number of reasons:
    • Mikhail was not, in fact, "shown inside The Looking Glass."
    • We saw no sub at the Looking Glass.
    • Mikhail was left for dead when Locke last saw him.
    • The next time Locke sees Mikhail, he beats the crap out of him in front of the Others.
  • On the other hand, there are a couple reasons to think this theory may be credible:
    • We know Locke is not a killer, yet he pushed Mikhail into the sonic fence without hesitation.
    • Mikhail wasn't, in fact, killed by the fence.
    • Mikhail was next seen (by viewers) in the vicinity of the wire that leads to the Looking Glass.
    • When they fought in "Enter 77," Mikhail seemed at least as tough as Locke.
    • There's something conspicuous about the way that Locke declared to Sawyer that he's his own man now. This could be an indication that he is self-conscious about his new alliance with Mikhail.
• Greta and Bonnie are the two girls in Charlie's bed in Helsinki.
  • The girls in Charlie's bed were both blonde; Greta is brunette, although hair color is easily changed. Still, it's unlikely as they don't look anything like the groupies, and that event in the flashback only occurred a few years prior
• Since the station must be pressurized in order to keep the water out of the hatch, it's not possible for the inhabitants to leave the station without using decompression stops when ascending.
  • This only applies if the station is more that 13m underwater
  • As long as Charlie will spend a significant period of time in the hatch, he will also need to follow decompression procedures; therefore he might not be able to leave the hatch anymore
  • This could be easily worked around by use of pressurized oxygen bottles (used i.e. for sport open water diving), and doing decompressing stops on ascending from the station.
    • This of course presumes that the person ascending from that depth knows at which levels to stop for decompression and for how long.
    • However, if the station is really 60m underwater as stated on the plan possessed by Sayid, then this is on the border of diving with an ordinary oxygen. Some more sophisticated gas mixture to breath would probably be needed.
  • If the Looking Glass Station is really 60m below the surface of the water then the station MUST have a pressurized, partial oxygen system. A person leaving this station would be having to follow Boyle's law of partial pressure. To reach the surface on one breath the person leaving would need to exhale the whole way and even then could get into serious trouble with no decompression tables. The only way to get to the surface would be a 25 minute decompression stop @ 15 feet or a vessel capable of maintaining a 1 atmosphere environment.

Ben

• Ben decides to abduct the pregnant women from the beach a day early because he has deduced that they are aware of the abduction plans.
  • Juliet is still a spy. She told Ben about Jack's plan by radio, and that's why he changed the plan
  • Ben knows the minicassette recorder, which he had shown to Locke, has gone missing.
  • He also knows that Locke was out of sight for a day or two.
  • He suspects that Locke was unable or unwilling to kill his own father, and that he would have enlisted the aid of one of the Others from the beach. Thus, Ben can speculate that the tape recorder (and the messages on it) have been made available to the targets of the abduction plan.
  • With all of this in mind, Ben thinks he may have a chance to surprise the people on the beach if he moves up the timing of the attack.
  • Ben is visibly bothered by Jacob’s communication with Locke. He is not acting rationally by dramatically altering the plan, but acting out of fear or anger or both.
  • The arrival of Naomi, and her radio phone, has Ben worried that people from the outside world will reach the Island. This would have all sorts of bad implications for him.
    • He also lied to all his people when he said that Jacob told him to go a day early.
      • This could suggest that Ben has often lied about what Jacob has said, including taking care of Rachael's cancer. Can we even trust that Ben takes any ordered from Jacob?
      • Although we do not know his return path from Locke's shooting to the camp - he went back to consult with Jacob further about the plan.
    • Ben moved up the day as part of a plan either to further Jacob's wish to be "helped" or to foil it.
  • The reason the Others delayed attacking the camp was that Ben wanted to take Locke to seeJacob. Ben did this because he actually thought Locke was special, would see Jacob, which would put Locke in his debt, and would help Ben understand the mystery of the island. When Locke refused to believe in Jacob's existence and rejected his leadership, and Ben shot him. Now there was no reason to delay the attack on the camp.
• Assuming that Locke did not die from the gunshot wound inflicted by Ben. Ben realizes that (although Locke is injured) he will rapidly heal - as has happened a number of times with Locke already. Therefore he brings the operation forward to get away from Locke in advance of his return to the Others encampment or in case Locke makes it back to the Losties beach settlement before the Others can attack.
  • If Ben thought Locke was still alive, he probably would have shot him again, maybe in the head.
• Ben's strategic grip on island events is slipping.
• Ben now knows there are potential mutineers in the Others. He ups the abduction schedule to forestall an open rebellion. This will keep the group focused on Ben's priorities and delay their discovering that he has shot Locke.
• The introduction of time travel being plausible through the Looking Glass Station gives weight to the theory that Ben is trying to find a cure for what is killing the pregnant women late in their second trimester in order to travel back through time and cure his mother. This is supported by seeing his mother on the Island in "The Man Behind the Curtain" and his insistence that Juliet continue her work till her job is done in "One of Us".
• Naomi told Ben. Naomi is increasingly not making sense. She was briefed with the same files that the Others have. Perhaps she is connected to Penelope, but perhaps Penelope is connected through her dad to the Others. Her sat phone can signal The Looking Glass.
  • Time passes differently on the Island than off it, and more than 90 days has passed.
  • Charlie's purpose in going to Sydney was to try and put the band back together. His 'death' combined with that desire and the free publicity from the crash provided a spark to get such an album made. It was a 'Best of' so no new material or recording was strictly necessary.

Juliet and Jack

• One or both are double crossing the Losties. The original plan was to mark the tents the following night, when the Others were supposed to come. However, once they find out that the Others are coming a day early, they still mark the tents. Doing this is a clear signal to the Others that the "Losties" know that they are coming. There is no reason for Jack and Juliet to do this unless one or both of them is working with the Others.
  • It was a writing gaffe. It didn't register at the time, but this does seem to be an inconsistency.
  • It wasn't made clear that Juliet was to wait until the Others were coming to mark the tents. The Others often mark tents this way several days before a raid. Otherwise, someone who noticed the spy marking tents right before a raid would notice those were the same tents raided.
  • The real plan is to get the pregnant women away from the more powerful Lostaways, who would be most likely to impede their abduction attempt. The marks actually tell the Others who will take them which tents to avoid.
    • This implies that Ben gave Juliet incorrect instructions on the tape, which is unlikely.
• Jack is in league with the Others and is leading all of them (except the three shooters and Charlie and Desmond) straight into a trap willingly, which is why he's appeared so (strangely) emotionally overwrought.
  • However, it does not seem to have been manipulation on Jack's part when Sayid convinces him to take the other losties to the tower; it's a quick exchange, and Jack doesn't seem to be playing Sayid, who is levelheaded in his decision.
  • The area that Ben "confronts" Jack in the preview for the finale looks awfully like the area in this episode where Jack leads them to demonstrate the dynamite. Juliet believes that she is double-crossing Ben, but Jack is actually double-crossing Juliet FOR Ben.
  • The dynamite will fail and Jack knows it. Normally, explosives are not set off by gunfire although people who watch Hollywood movies think otherwise. However, this dynamite is very unstable so maybe that's the writers' excuse for why it will work.
    • Unlikely. This implies that there is a second source of dynamite (which is faulty) somewhere on the Island.
    • The dynamite is actually not that which Danielle got from the Black Rock. Jack told her about witnessing Arzt blow himself up, and convinced her to use newer dynamite (taken from the Barracks or elsewhere and possibly provided by Ben), such as what was at The Flame with Mikhail, which Locke used to blow up the submarine. If you look at the dynamite Juliet and Jack are handling, it doesn't look as crusty and corroded as tthe unstable dynamite Arzt handled at the Black Rock months ago.

Karl and Alex

• Karl knows something about Ben that Alex doesn't; she asks him if Ben is really is her father.
  • It's possible that they both know something, but Alex seems to ask Karl as if he knows something that she does not.
  • Question likely was rhetorical, based on Sayid's comment to Alex that she looked like her mother in "The Man from Tallahassee". Alex is now calling into question her own parentage.
  • Karl could be slightly older than Alex; he says he was born on the island, and perhaps Alex has been told that she was born elsewhere and brought to the island as a baby. Thus, she thinks that Karl would have heard from the adults more than she about that time in their history.
  • If the Others have in fact been on the island for centuries (aging very slowly), and Karl was an island "native" or a young crew member of the Black Rock, then he was about the same age then as now, and would certainly know whether Ben was actually Alex's father.
    • Karl would know a lot more than we would think he does
    • The slow aging is evidenced by Richard Alpert's seeming non-aging, as well as the Island's healing properties.

Bernard and Rose

• Bernard is staying behind as one of the shooters to foil Jack's plan. Rose and Bernard have agreed that they don't want to leave the Island for fear her cancer will return, so Bernard is going to make sure to ruin any rescue attempts.
  • Jacks plan is one of survival, it's Sayids plan to get off the island.
  • They'd rather live off the Island than be killed by the Others. Also, no one can force them to leave the Island if the Losties are rescued.
• Bernard is the 'redshirt' of the three shooters. He is the most expendable of the three left behind on the shooting mission.
  • However, an entire episode focused on the couple's story, and more from Bernard's perspective. This episode featured all the "main" characters left; this seems to exempt him from redshirt status (there are plenty of those already), although that doesn't mean that he'll survive the clash (considering Eko, Ana-Lucia, etc.)

Nadia

• Nadia's mugger was Charlie's brother Liam trying to get money for a fix. This is why the mugger didn't attack.
  • This episode must have taken place before the band hit big, and thus before Liam began using.
    • The impression is that Charlie was working as a street musician after the band fell apart, not before.
      • No, In Flashes Before Your Eyes, he says "This is why we don't do drugs", which means he had not been a member of the band or done drugs yet.
  • Could also be Roderick who is another band member.
    • Not bloody likely: Charlie would have recognized either of them, of course.
      • It is possible since the mugger was wearing a cap, it was raining, Charlie was nervous/scared and everything happened so fast.

Naomi

• Naomi lied to Charlie as part of a plan to get in good relations with the Losties. While it is possible that his record company quickly put together a big "Greatest Hits" album after Charlie's death was confirmed, it seems unlikely since it was less than 90 days. The red tape alone (licensing, band member contracts, etc.) to do this would seem to take much longer than that. Plus, it would be strange to come out with such an album since Driveshaft only released 2 albums to begin with. (And thanks to those who pointed out the Naomi vs. Nadia typo!)
  • Possible, but I think record companies are definately able to throw out a Greatest Hits compilation as soon as they want, with regard to events such as the death of a member, or say, if a song is used on the World Cup for example. A silly example of something that happened recently was that a band called Right Said Fred had a song on a advert for washing powder, and almost immediately, they re-released the single and had a greatest hits album out. This is likely due to the fact that the record company owns all copyright to the songs, and only has to pay royalties to the artist(s). Failing that, it could just be a plot hole!--[Lewis] 10:23, 19 May 2007 (PDT)
  • Naomi hasn't yet acknowledged how much time has passed on island/outside world. While the Losties believe they've been on island for 90 days, it could have been months or years. This is consistent with some of the time theories and also why Naomi spoke of the album as if it has been released quite some time ago.