There's No Place Like Home, Part 1/Theories

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Theories about There's No Place Like Home, Part 1

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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.

General

• The episode title, "There's No Place Like Home," is a clear reference to The Wizard of Oz. It is also a clear reference to the Oceanic Six arriving back to civilization, as alluded to by the preview.
  • In the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy clicks her heels and says "there's no place like home," she teleports from Oz back to Kansas. The title may also be a reference to "moving the island."
  • May also be a reference to the fact that some, such as Locke and Sawyer, remain or choose to remain on the island, their current "home".
• This is also somewhat of a pun. They came to accept the island as their home, and we know that some of them wish to return; Jack most noticeably.
  • That's not a pun. A pun is a play on words based on how similar they sound. This is just ironic.

Flash screen time vs. Island screen time

Usually (except in episodes than happen completely in the flash, such as Flashes before your eyes, the Island events get more time than Flash events. On this episode, there is approximately 19:15 minutes in flashes and 20:05 in island events. This may hint that we are now getting to the point when we see off-island events as much as on-island events, as the plot shifts.

• Even better, when will the role switch and the main storyline is off the island and the flashbacks are from the island post crash/pre-leaving?
  • Probably never. The producers have stated that they know people like the show because it centers around an island. I doubt LOST would ever go in a direction where it is chiefly off-island.
  • Lost is full of "watching for every clue", but this one is reading into it a little too far.

The Oceanic Six Rescue (flash forward)

At this point, why do we think the six are keeping the events of the island secret?

• Ben made a deal with them if he agreed to keep their friends safe that were either not able to leave the island, or decided to stay.
  • I don't think that's true because why wouldn't Jin be aloud to go with Sun? And being that Jack has risked his life repeatedly to get "everyone" off the island, I can't see him abandoning everybody else. --Pdiddy26 17:56, 16 May 2008 (PDT)
• They are being forced to keep a secret.
• After the six ride up on Membata Island, Charles Widmore contacts them and blackmails them into telling him everything they know about the island, and also they must not tell anyone what really happened there (or he will kill them, friends, family, etc...)
• There's a lot of money involved-see Sun's purchase of a controlling share of Paik Industry.
  • That doesn't really say much. What does money have to do with the "six"?
• I know time and the rescue are VERY shady areas and many questions can be asked about both! but I haven't seen anybody question this yet and it stuck out like a sore thumb to me! in the press conference they confirmed that Aaron was 5 weeks old (not sure if Kate said it, or a reporter, irrelevant though). I'm very hung up on the time traveling and aging concept of the show and I was wondering if anyone else found it to be very questionable for them to pass a child that was about 3 months old for one that is only 1 month old? Assuming Claire gave birth to Aaron about 2 or 3 weeks after the crash, Aaron should be about 13 or 14 weeks old if they were on the island for about 100 days..
  • There is no set size for babies! How accurate do you think you would be guessing babies ages 1 to 3 months old?--Pdiddy26 17:56, 16 May 2008 (PDT)
• Kate provided the "best acceptable" answer for Aaron's age to explain why she allow questioners to accept the fact that she didn't seem pregnant at the time she was arrested.--Jim 17:30, 16 May 2008 (PDT)
  • But Kate lied about Aaron being "hers". They are all lying about everything about the surviors being alive. Jack lied about when the plane hit the water (he got tossed to the island) and Sun lied about Jin being alive (he is). So what's to say Kate is lying about Aaron's age?? There is more lies than truths here.

Membata

• "Membata" is Indonesian for "doubt" or "uncertainty". In the press conference, this island is described on the map as "uncharted," so the island may not even exist even in the world of Lost (it does not exist in the real world) and is just another part of the elaborate cover story. The odds of an island in that part of the world, so close to other islands which are heavily populated, being uncharted in the 21st century are astronomical.
  • I believe they said "uninhabited", not "uncharted". With Google Earth, everything is charted.
    • They said both. Karen Decker referred to the island as "uninhabited," but "uncharted" was written on the map in parentheses under the island
      • Can uncharted simply mean that no one has mapped the entire Island's geography? As in, we know it's here, we have a top side view via Google Earth, but no one has manually (on foot) mapped out the nooks and crannies?
      • A nautical "map" is called a "chart". Uncharted may mean the island is not represented on a nautical chart because it is not worthy of notation. That does not mean it is unknown or undiscovered. If it is away from shipping lanes, etc then it may not appear on the map. On the other hand, these days with sophisticated level of charts it is very unlikely any navigational hazard would be left off a chart so I'd say it is just a handy plot device that I can live with.
        • I looked at the map, and did not see uncharted written there.
          • (You are correct, the screen cap in the main article does not. Around the moment the spokesperson describes a typhoon, a close-up map of the island is shown over her shoulder with the word "uncharted" under the name of the island. Then another map shows both islands with an arrow showing the path of the raft - it also has the word "uncharted")

Jin's Death

Who was the other person that is responsible for Jin's "death"?

• He may really be dead.
  • This should be the going assumption at this point. Sun and Hurley were alone yet still went to his grave site and acted as if he were really dead. Since there was no one present who did not know the truth, it doesn't make sense that they would have been pretending the death was real.
    • If he weren't dead and were just on the island (which they can't go back to), or his life/death status was unclear, his grave site would probably be the only place to go. They WEREN'T pretending the death was real.
  • Jin died on the Kahana, trying to disarm the explosives. Michael escaped (because he still has work to do). The explosion was contained within the hull of the ship.
    • Jin dies on the Kahana when the C4 goes off, engulfing Desmond and Michael along with him, which is why none of the three have been seen in flashforwards. The C4 is triggered by Keamy's device.
      • The reason they didn't have flash-forwards is because they didn't get off the island. The Oceanic Six were the only ones to have flash-forwards. Those without are: Bernard, Rose, Locke, Jin, Claire, Desmond & Sawyer. Your point would mean they were all dead too.
    • That much explosive is enough to turn the whole to dust 5 times or so. And it's impossible for him to just disarm some of it as one explosion is enough to trigger a chain reaction. So, should it trigger, it will kill everyone on board.
• Sun is probably referring to Widmore. She bought her father's company not only to get her revenge on him, but also to use the resources now at her disposal to go after Widmore.
  • This is true. When buying stock in her father's company, she could have easily found out it was owned by Widmore, then googled the crap out of his name to find out what he's been up to blah blah. She could then have that much more a reason to buy up stock and try to do what she wants for the company.
    • I highly doubt that the Widmore Corp. owns Paik Heavy Industries. They, according to the Lost Experience, work together though. This is where the Widmore connection comes in. Regardless, she'd still have to find out about Widmore's investment in the island, as well as spying, rather than sabotaging the plan. Why would you sabotage the one person who could help you find your husband? (I'm obviously assuming that she doesn't know the whereabouts of Ben. I think that's an exclusively Sayid thing.)
    • Yes. She probably Googled "the crap" out of his name.
    • If she finds out that Widmore knows about the island, then her buying the company makes sense. She could use her influence to try and gain access to the knowledge of the island that Widmore has. This could mean that Jin is still alive on the island, with her trying to get back there as much as Jack does.
  • She is referring to herself, and perhaps feels leaving Jin behind was her fault.
    • Yes! Good point - Jin wouldn't have been on that plane if it weren't for her, no?
    • Right. It's obvious he's killed on the freighter by Widmore's people, which is why Widmore is also responsible.
      • Wasn't it Jin's idea to honeymoon in America?
        • Jin was delivering watches for old man Paik.
    • Assuming Jin is actually dead, the other person she's referring to is Keamy or whoever actually kills him in the Season Finale.
• Jin's not dead. You can see it in her eyes when they were interviewing the Oceanic 6. Something happened before they came back and they all looked exhausted and spent to say the least on the plane. Sun's response to questioning gave it all away that he's alive back on the island.
  • Doubtful. It's more likely he died saving her life. Saying that he died in the plane crash is dishonoring the death of her husband, probably less than a week after he died.
    • Wouldn't Sun have shown emotion? She spoke like she was trapped by someone (those who paid them dearly) and maybe Keamy has people hostage that they had to leave him behind. She also has to keep the lie alive by visiting his grave so her father or Widmore has no way of using Jin as a way to get inside of her head when she starts using her power. If they knew Jin was alive they and everyone else would try and find the island. They have to be dead through the lies. They saw what happened before they left.
    • There is no way she would have been so completely stone faced when facing that kind of a question. It seems fairly obvious that they have all been told exactly what to say (after Kate's court case Jack makes the point that he has said the story so many times) and that Jin dying is part of the story, even though he is not dead.
      • sure she could have. It's called acting. After all, Sun is really a character played by an actress to begin with =)
        • Going back to the grave site and the "pretending" his death was real - The Island presumably has been moved since they left (even Ben, who can come and go from the island, does not know where it is), so Sun may have no clue as to where Jin is or when she will ever see him again. So, essentially, she's lost all hope of that, making him for all intents and purposes, dead to her. Or he may really be dead... who knows.
• It's possible he's responsible for his own. Also, we've got Michael, Desmond, and Jin in a nice little room full of C4, all of which we have not seen in the future, nor have evidence of being in the future. And Michael's "destiny" is to sink this ship, and can't die until he does.
  • Although it is very much possible than Sun blames herself, I see it very simple to for her to blame Michael. Sun and the losties know that Michael murdered two of their own to free Ben, only to selfishly save himself and his son. Further, they belief their savior is the freighter in the ocean, only to arrive and finding it to be a place they don't want to be. There could be a situation in which Jun stays back because he still feels like a friend to Michael and try to help with the C4, ending up with Desmond, Michael, Jin, other losties getting blown to smithereens.
    • I can't see them killing Desmond, Michael and Jin in the same scene. They are all massively important, two being original survivors, so to kill them all in one go would be ridiculous
  • There is no way that Sun would tell her father whom she obviously hates that if he died trying to save them that he was responsible for his own death.
  • We haven't seen ANY main characters in the future other than the Oceanic Six and Ben. We can't presume they're all dead.
• The 2nd person responsible for Jin's "death" is his prostitute mother. She bribed Sun threatening to expose who he really was, the son of a prostitute. That led to the serious of events that turned Jin into in Sun's father's hit man, which ultimately led to their boarding Oceanic Flight 815.
• The second person is Jack.
  • Jack for putting the beach folks at risk by trusting the boat people were there to save them - or some other action yet to be revealed. Or something Locke does with moving the island.
  • Possibly Jack kills Keamy thus setting off the dead man switch blowing up the boat while Jin is on it.
    • This can't happen (the blowing up of the boat), because the plane would have to make a landing on the boat at some point in order to refuel. During the promos, Lapidus announces that the plane is low on fuel and cannot return to the island. In order to conserve the little fuel that is left, someone would have to jump off the plane to lower the weight of the plane itself (more weight, more usage of fuel). Sun is ensured her spot on the plane due to Charlotte's promise to Jin (and her pregnancy). Jin simply cannot go on the plane because now there isn't enough room for one more person. The way Jack is responsible for Jin's "death" is if he was the one who fabricated the story of the Oceanic 6, meaning he was responsible for the story and making up the death of Jin. Also, it would be hard to contain an explosion in some part of the ship based on the amount of explosives Keamy has left in the ship... meaning Jin, Michael, and Desmond safely disarm the explosives.
      • The Oceanic 6 - Sun, Hurley, Aaron, Jack, Kate, Sayid. Currently Hurley, Locke, Jack, and Sawyer are at the Orchid, right next to Lapidus' helicopter. That's three survivors. Sayid and Kate are at the Temple (I think... maybe the Orchid and Temple are one in the same). Regardless, they're still on the island. So that's 4 out of the 6 that are on the helicopter BEFORE they leave the island at all. Then you have Lapidus, (and unless someone else knows how to fly a helicopter, he's a fifth person in there). This, presumably leaves room for one more person, that is obviously the pregnant woman with the other baby (I know that's two people, but Aaron is really really small). THAT'S why Jin doesn't go. There's simply not enough room.
• There is more to be said as to why Sun holds her father responsible for the death of Jin. It cannot be simply because Mr Paik put him on the plane, because as far as we know he didn't know that the plane was going to crash. Also, because in principle Sun was going on the plane too, and he wouldn't have put Sun under the same risk as Jin, right? But we do know that Sun was supposed to leave her husband at the airport, and it might have been the case that Mr Paik knew this, and so maybe he knew that the plane was going to crash, and so he put Jin on that plane on purpose.
  • I don't really think it could be more complicated. Look at the ridiculous and immoral way Jin had to act so Paik could say he was pleased with him. Paik put Jin through hell.

The Numbers

• The odometer on Hurley's new Camaro shows the Numbers in sequence
• No one "set" the odometer on the Camaro, they just happened to be the exact reading at the time Hurley saw them.
  • Very unlikely given what we already know about Hurley and the Numbers!
    • It's been shown throughout the past 4 seasons that the numbers randomly appear everywhere. Nothing that you know about Hurley and the numbers alludes to someone purposely changing them that way.
• Hurley seeing the numbers again might be the island trying to tell him that he needs to go back.
• We know that Hurley drives the Camaro at some point ("The Beginning of the End"). Why does his attitude about the car change?
  • His father is good at fixing cars, maybe he swaps the odometer?
  • When we saw him driving the Camaro, he was leading the police on a very reckless high-speed chase. Could he have been trying to destroy the Camaro, the numbers and himself?
    • He started driving recklessly because he thought he saw Charlie, he had been acting normally all day until that point
• The Numbers may not have actually on the odometer. If Hurley does have mental health issues, or even due to the sever stress they were under, the Numbers could have been a hallucination. His father just blames it on coincidence. His father didn't really lean over and verify that they were in-fact there. The shots of the numbers were clearly from Hurley's driver's seat perspective. Fortunately, the episode synopsis is written ambiguously enough so any interpretation will fit.
  • They were. Hugo's father confirmed they were the winning numbers.
    • Hugo's father did not confirm they were the actual numbers. He simply said "wow, what a coincidence" when Hugo told him, which does not confirm anything.

Mr Paik's Business

• This business Mr. Paik is discussing with his underlings when Sun arrives is actually Sun's purchase of the company.
  • Mr. Paik probably had some sort of corrupt scheme in place to prevent him from losing his controlling stake in the company, but Sun was able to get around it because she had knowledge of it, being his daughter.
  • She bought a controlling interest for $5MM? Either Paik Heavy Industries is a very tiny company, or she already had a significant stake.
    • She may have received a double payment since she lost her husband.
  • I'm not sure where the $5MM comes from, but here are some thoughts. A controlling interest doesn't have to mean 51% or more. She could be the "majority" stakeholder with a very small percentage of shares, as long as no one else owns more than her. With a controlling interest, she can control the board of directors and operate without opposition. (see [1]).
    • Being the largest shareholder doesn't give you a controlling interest. Even a veto-based controlling interest requires 33.4%.
• Could the other Oceanic four (Aaron not included obviously) have helped in purchasing a large stake in Mr Paik's company? They are discussing that the money came from FIVE different bank accounts.
  • She didn't do it alone. They wouldn't have dropped in the FIVE bank accounts line without it meaning something. It didn't add to the dialogue. Plus, she likely wouldn't have enough money just from the settlement to get controlling interest, she would need help or would have access to personal money (possible, but doubtful her father gave her money he didn't somehow control). I was expect that Hugo's millions played a part, he didn't want the money anyway.
  • Makes sense. 6 survivors and 6 accounts...but Aaron can't buy anything, he's just a baby! Plus, I imagine they'd want to shelter him so he can live a normal life.
    • Aaron can't buy anything, but Kate is his legal guardian (and believed to be his true mother). Until Aaron legally can control his own assets, Kate controls his money. This means she and Aaron could have helped Sun. (Of course, this is a stupid theory. I was just pointing out that it COULD be true. I don't actually believe it... I'm more a proponent of the Hurley theory.)
    • This would mean they would all have had to pool their money together for this specific cause, or pooled it for a rainy day and Sun took the initiative without their knowledge.
      • Two words: Hugo Reyes.
      • "Two words: Hugo Reyes." Very nice! Hugo said he didn't want his money back, but Sun may have convinced him of how well it could be used. Five banks doesn't necessarily mean five people. The banks could have been functioning as proxies for Sun and Hugo.
      • This is very believable. For instance, Hurley is the only one to visit Sun after Ji Yeon is born. When Hurley asks if anyone else shows, Sun says no and Hurley responds "...good..." (and pretty creepily at that). Hurley and Sun could've pooled their money together for a common goal of saving some people back on the island (Sawyer, Claire, Jin, etc.)
        • Yes, the conversation could indicate that other members of the six were invited, although Sun and Hurley only extended the information from politeness, and passed. Raises another question of what, if any, grudge Hurley has with Paik.
        • Could the O6 be using Paik's company to take on Charles Widmore in some way? Maybe the scenario for the next or final series...
        • The O5 (minus Aaron) have realized that Widmore is the reason why their fellow survivors and loved ones are killed in the finale. They are looking for revenge and find an outlet for their anger by taking over Paik. They mean to use the company to control/get back at Widmore for sending Keamy.
          • Using his lottery winnings to help Sun buy a controlling stake in Paik Industry's was Hurley's "work to do." This is why the money caused him so much bad luck, because he wasn't using it for its intended purpose.
          • The timing of this flashforward means everything. We know at a certain point that Jack desperately wants to get back to the island. We know Hurley is being traumatized with visits from Charlie. However, we know that Sayid is working with Ben and assumingly not talking to the other Oceanic 6. Also, at the time of Jack doping up and bearding up, we know that Kate/Jack aren't on good terms and Kate has no interest in going back.
    • The info about the five bank accounts doesn't have to be connected. There have been theories that Paik and Widmore work together, or in opposition. Perhaps the info about the banks is connected to Widmore's "coverup" efforts or something else.
• This could be where Ben/Sayid get their money/resources....although Ben has never shown that he needs anything really. I have a feeling though that controlling the island affords him resources. Once he bamfs into Tunisia, he can't renew his resources. His bank accounts might be large, but they are finite....

The Orchid

• Ben was communicating with Richard Alpert and his gang of armed Others.
• Ben was communicating with someone INSIDE the Orchid. Ben told Locke he would have to take an elevator down to the real station. It is possible that there is a window cut into the hill-side where Others manning the station can communicate. They may not have known that Keamy and his team were there. Furthermore, was Keamy aware that Ben was coming right then; wouldn't they have tried to ambush him before he reached the Orchid?
• It was Keamy's team communicating with Ben, masquerading as the Others to capture Ben. Ben probably knew this.
  • The mirror communication was between Ben and Alpert or another one of the group of Others. He told them the orchid plan, and they are going to ambush the station and kill all of the Keamy people, or at least disarm them. Ben knew the helicopter people would be at the orchid already.
    • Although this makes sense, Ben was only using the mirror for at most ten seconds. With any kind of code (Morse, Semaphore etc.) you can't get a complicated plan across in that short amount of time!
      • That's probably just a production consideration. I wouldn't want to actually watch someone spell out a message in morse code in real time. We got the gist, and that's good enough for me.
        • They may have had a pre-arranged signal to relay this information (i.e., "One if by land, two if by sea")
• How does Faraday have that page in his book? Was he the original creator of the Orchid's mysterious powers? Was he a member of the original Dharma Initiative?
  • That is the same notebook in which he wrote "Desmond is my constant." That indicates there is some kind of time travel in involved. Taking that into consideration, along with his extremely displeased reaction when he looked at the Orchid page, tells me he has some knowledge about it all from the future. He already knows bad things are going to happen.

• I don't get this train of thought. Daniel wrote that in his book in the event of him ending up like Desmond. We don't know that he is traveling in time, just that he is concerned about the possibility.
  • It would help to explain his memory problems

• • • The scientists also knew about the Tempest and Daniel referred to the 'secondary protocol' in this scene. They may have been briefed on these stations by someone like Abaddon.
• The Orchid is stated to be a greenhouse and that the top level has plants growing
• The question is not just how does Faraday know about the Orchid station, but how, and why, did he know about the secondary protocol?
  • He is likely living life like Desmond, but since he is a super genius, he can keep better track of it. He has also likely learned that he has to be careful in how he changes time. Changing something now makes the far future way too different from what he 'remembers'. He's likely riding it out until the end when he can save the day.
  • i would think it more likely that, at some pint in the future, daniel went back to the past (now the present of LOST) and wrote that down as he was able to recall his future. Therefore, his page about the orchid was written in the past yet with knowledge of the future thanks to time-travelling and this would follow the rules set about it in the Lost world.
  • This bugged me too. When Keamy opened the safe with the 2nd protocol the captain has no idea whats inside, only they are supposed to open it together. So if the captain dosnt even know about a plan-b, how does Daniel? The only thing I can think is that because of his skills, hes the one who wrote it.
    • Daniel obviously knows a great deal about the island. He even knew about the time discrepancy, (hence the reason he set up the payload test). He seemed to expect the result, but simply be disappointed. He also knew about the whole "you need a constant" thing, as well as a plethora of other tidbits such as the Tempest before he got on the island. Why is it so odd that he knows about the Orchid? He seems to know more about the landmarks and geography of the island than most of the survivors do.
• Does this level have a use or is it a front for the underground levels?
  • Obviously just a front, especially given how hard it is to find the underground level.
• The Orchid Orientation Film confirms that it is a fake botanical station.
• I think it's most likely that Ben was communicating with Jacob...Tehre are reasons for and against this arguement though. The only reason I think he was communicating with Jacob is because of his response to Locke's questioning of who he was communicating with. When Locke asks, Ben simply replies "Who do you think?". This response means that it should be obvious to Locke who he is communicating with. It doesn't make sense to me that Ben would reply like this if it was Daniel, and especially if it was Keamy (how does that even make sense?). At the same time, it is very arguable that the 'obvious' person would be Richard, or more generally, the Others. Especially considering Locke knows the others have been hiding out in a place where Ben has sent them (or atleast knows where they are). I prefer the Jacob option because the responding light was coming from the (nearly) upmost point of the island (atleast from this vantage point). It looked to be the highest point in sight and it would be quite logical that Jacob - and the Orchid station - would be located furthest away from everything else on the island!

The Kahana

• Keamy put the explosives on the boat, predicting that some survivors would try to board the boat and having the explosives in case something went wrong (or horribly right) with the Second Protocol.
  • The device that was strapped onto Keamy's chest in the last episode could be a heart monitor so that in case he is killed, the explosives would detonate.
    • Makes sense. If he dies, everyone else is screwed as well, unless Widmore wants NO witnesses to ANYTHING.
    • Would explain why Keamy said Captain Gault "doesn't wanna do that" when he points the gun at him.
    • Certainly, when the captain threatened Keamy, the explosives were already in place and Keamy looked at the transmitter on his arm almost absent-mindedly, knowing the consequences if he was shot and killed would be the destruction of the Kahana. MORE IMPORTANTLY, without even the considering the possibility that more survivors may wind up on the Kahana, Keamy can state loudly and clearly to anyone on the Island "If you kill me, your only way off the island will be destroyed instantly." Gives him quite a lot of power.
    • The radio transmitter/receiver connected to the detonator would be the source of the RF interference that the ship's crewman complains about to Desmond.
  • Charles Widmore provided the explosives put on the Kahana. Keamy ordered his mercenaries to wire them.**Didn't Keamy and his men unload the C4 as the captain was pulling his gun on them (or a few scenes earlier)?
• Somebody set them up the bomb!
  • We get signal. What!
• The explosives are part of Michael's mission to destroy the freighter.
  • He looked pretty surprised/concerned. Also, if Michael put the C4 there, it seems obvious that he would be able to deactivate/neutralize/defuse it.
    • How could Michael get off the boat to get all of that C4? Or was it already on the boat perhaps?
      • It could have, although it probably isn't, the C4 from the bomb that Ben gave Michael to detonate originally. While the bomb may have lacked a real detonator it still was a box full of C4 explosives.
        • True! What if Ben created or was well aware of what the 'Secondary Protocol' was (like Dan) and planted the explosives or knew they would be there. Micheal is on the ship to make sure he blows it up. This is all part of good old Ben's master plan!
    • Michael may not have been aware of it yet. Ben doesn't exactly lay out his plans for people in detail beforehand.
      • But assuming that Michael is the only mole Ben has, who else could plant them?
• The interference is being caused by the time dilation.
  • The C-4 which is attached to a transmitter is the cause of the interference.
    • The C-4 is attached to the transmitter that Keamy has strapped to his chest/arm and its set to blow.
      • Yes, but C-4 is EXTREMELY stable. They can literally just rip the detonator wires out of the explosive, and never have to worry about an explosion.
        • Too bad Sayid isn't around to tell them this, as he's probably the only one who realizes that fact.
• The Black Rock was packed with explosives. The Kahana is now packed with explosives. These situations mirror each other. The Black Rock was actually looking for the island long ago and a saboteur planted explosives. This little Spy vs. Spy "game" between Ben and Charles Widmore is being played out over centuries.
  • If you are correct, my friend, then my hat is off to you!! WOW, if this is true, and it could be, this is HUGE. Would this mean that Widmore IS Alvar Hanso? Not a descendant, but the same man with a new name? Reincarnated, perhaps? Still, whenever you factor in time travel, time itself is no longer an obstacle, just a location to head to and arrive at. BRAVO!
  • Kahana is loaded with armed C4. The Black Rock simply had dynamite in crates - not that unusual for a ship of that time.
    • Dynamite's not a big deal? Tell that to Arzt.
  • I really do believe this is the correct train of thought the writers want us on. Great job.

Aaron & The Funeral Conversation

• Kate overheard the conversation Jack had with Claire's mother.
  • She gave no indication of it.
    • No verbal indication. Look at her expression again, especially when Claire's mother comes over and speaks to her. Then again, this may be just more "pained, vaguely whiney Kate face" that she seems to break out three times an episode.
• This conversation is the beginning of the end for Jack. He was the ring leader on the cargo plane, making sure everyone stuck the story. However, when he realizes that he will be defrauding people (realizing, for example, that Aaron has a real family, who have more claim to him than Kate does). Jack's conscience starts to get the better of him, he thinks of those left behind, and his desire to continue telling the story wanes.
  • According to the flashforwards we have seen thus far, Jack maintains the story for a long time after the funeral. I don't think he is any less resolved after this encounter.
    • What I meant was that this is the first crack. So the theory is that soon after this, Jack confronts Kate and says he cannot be around Aaron (as referenced at the courthouse). Now they are hanging out with Aaron and he has no problem with it. This is not the case when Kate is on trial. He later recants, deciding that hanging out with his love Kate would be worth it. However, again, he starts to feel guilty and begins in downward slide. However, it all starts with getting the news about Aaron and Claire's true identity.
• The casket could not be Aaron's because Jack responds to the question "Family or Friend?" with "Neither" knowing that he is indeed Aaron's uncle.
  • Possible. The casket is also not a child casket.
    • Also, with Aaron's fame, it is not likely that nobody would show up for his funeral, nor would Kate have chosen not to attend.
  • It's ridiculous to think Aaron is the one in the casket. Kate says "he'll be wondering where I am" in the end of Through the Looking Glass (referring to Aaron), and "why would I go to the funeral?" when told about it (via a _newspaper_clipping_).
• Although he was trying to remain reserved, Jack didn't seem particularly shocked to discover that Claire was his sister. It's possible that the true revelation, to Jack, will happen before the Oceanic Six are rescued, and that Carole was unaware she was giving Jack old information.
  • Jack was extremely distressed by that information. He was visibly shocked and disturbed by it.
  • Jack was obviously shocked to find out this information. Furthermore, if you examine his statements at his Father's memorial, it still shows that he has not learned the lessons the island was trying to teach him. These lessons obviously involved his father, because the island (or Jacob?) is using Christian to speak to him. He still looks down on Christian and the choices he made in life, and when he finds out about his father having an illegitimate daughter, this fuels those feelings. From this moment out, every time he even looks at Aaron he is reminded of his father's infidelity. Naturally, this places a separation between him and Kate, one that is later rectified after the trial when Jack decides to step into that role. Once in the role, he is starting to sort of gain his ground and feel what he is doing is right, only to have Hurley smash that by relaying the message from Ghost Charlie that Jack "is not supposed to raise him." This shakes up Jack's whole foundation for leaving the island in the first place, and, coupled with a visit by Ghost Christian, he starts to ride Oceanic all around the world in an attempt to get back to the island. I'm sure there is a lot more motivation from events we haven't seen yet, but I think it's safe to speculate this emotional influence on Jack.--Warplayer 15:57, 16 May 2008 (PDT)

Buried Box

• Ben said that the biscuits Hurley was eating were more than 15 years old. The Purge happened 12 years before. Ben used to use this box in the past, when he allied with the Others, and went to see them, before the purge happened.
  • Makes no sense. Ben allied himself with the Others long before the Purge (back when he was a kid) and probably hasn't heard from them 3 years prior to that.
  • The only significance of the conversation is the number fifteen.
    • The only significance of Flight 815 is the numbers 8 and 15. Nothing else that happens with that airplane is important to the storyline.

One interpretation of this scene could be a homage to the "breaking of the bread" passages during the last supper in the Bible. Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples before being betrayed, captured and then executed, only to be resurrected by God and ascends to heaven. Ben sees himself as a messiah like Jesus, Locke was a follower/disciple of Ben (at least for a very short time) Ben was betrayed by Juliet (Judas) captured by Keamy (Pontious Pilate) who presumably will try to kill him, yet later Ben is seen alive in the desert. (Interesting to note that the Arabs who find him comment on his falling from the sky, the pathway to heaven) If we assume that Ben will in fact use the Orchid, a Dharma Station to transport himself away from the Island, then we might take this interpretation a step further...Horace Goodspeed was a Dharma leader, and it's not a stretch to note the similarity between Goodspeed and God Speed, so Dharma/God will save Ben/Jesus from death and send him to earth to be "reborn", but instead of eternal life in heaven, LOST cleverly has placed Ben, the self styled false prophet Jesus in "hell", the Island is heaven and Ben is now "Lost". The writers included the comic aspect to misdirect the audience and play down it's significance.

Ben's Surrender

• Somehow, Ben is going to use the Orchid station to leave the island, hence him appearing in the desert with an Orchid parka on.
  • He likely ports himself out...if moving the island is dangerous, he likely wants to be nowhere near the area....maybe it will fry/kill team Keamy?
• Ben will find a way to talk himself into gaining the trust of his newest captors as well, just as he did with the survivors.
  • There's not enough time for him to do that. His plan will involve a lot of violence, a la "The Shape of Things To Come."
    • Ben is known to be completely awesome.
      • Keamy is not the trusting type.
      • Was Ben's plan to be captured and let Locke get inside, or is his plan to be executed afterwards?
        • Perhaps his plan is to clone himself at the Orchid (assuming the orientation vid actually is clones) so that he can freely surrender to Keamy, and then kill himself, knowing that his clone will continue his work...
          • Clones have been debunked.
          • Watch the Orchid vid again. Why would they need to "keep them away from each other" if they were clones?
• Ben's other group are going to split in two, one to circle the helicopter, and one to circle the orchid, since they outnumber team Keamy, and Keamy can't use Ben as a pawn (since he must be kept alive) the fight will be over very quickly.
  • Ben could've told the others to simply "Orchid Station SOS" or something like that. We know that Kate/Sayid are behind Jack/Sawyer when picked up by Father-time Richard and the Others. The others might try to recruit the four in order to save the island, or at least Hurley, who is innocent. (Ben has stated before he doesn't hurt/kill innocent people on the freighter to Michael).
• Ben knows that he can't die, just like Michael can't die. Because of this, he knows he can surrender without being killed.
  • He used the same tactic when he allowed himself to be captured by Rousseau, knowing that she would turn him over to the survivors. He knew what Sayid was, he knew he would be tortured, but also knew he couldn't die no matter what Sayid or any of the other survivors did.
    • Also note that he went to stop Naomi from phoning the freighter himself (but Alex tagged along).
  • Related theory: not only Ben cannot die, Keamy also knows this. In support: Ben says he is Benjamin Linus and Keamy puts the gun on his forehead. Ben rises his eyes to look at the gun and looks indifferent to it. Keamy notices his indifference and instead hits him with the gun. In turn, Keamy knew that Ben cannot die, and put the gun on Ben's forehead as a test to see if that was truly Ben. Ben's indifference was the outcome and this was for Keamy confirmation that that was Benjamin Linus. Probably Keamy has been briefed by Widmore on this.
    • Keamy almost certainly had extremely strict "don't kill Ben" orders given by Widmore and Ben simply figured it out.
      • Or he was simply told "you won't be able to kill Ben if you try" and he now believes this after he sees that he can't kill Ben's spy, Michael.
• Ben will meet back up with Locke. He gave him the club before surrendering and he ended up having it again when he woke up in the Desert.
• He knows that Keamy won't kill him because Widmore wants him. He also knows that Alpert & co. are on their way to rescue him.
• I've looked EVERYWHERE and so far I think I'm the only one that has noticed (or has commented on) this! After a bit of Tivo mastery, I paused the screen a few times during this scene and found something that was EXTREMELY interesting to me! When we get a close up on Keamy's face, if you hold the screen, you can see that he has grey hair. Even more prominently though, when it cuts to Omar (i may have used the wrong name but you should know who I'm talking about) he has not one colored hair on his head! After staring at this frame for quite some time, and going back to some previously recorded episodes to compare, I've come to a very confident conclusion that Keamy's group must have aged at some point. I automatically assumed this happened when they entered the island's atmosphere, but when we consider Lapidus (looking normal as always) I realized that Keamy's group MUST have aged AT the orchid station! Look into it! I'm going to try and find stills for the site.
  • Cool let's see them!
    • I'm at work, or else I would check myself, but if you could find some screen caps this would be the find of the day!
    • This might actually turn out to be right, check the following. Although it might just be lighting, notice the white-ish beard.

• • THANKS for finding the image, since I posted I've been searching far and wide (via the internet) with no results! These images capture a slight difference, and an image of Keamy might help too! I toggled over whether or not it was a lighting effect that I've mistaken before I posted, and I'm still not very sure! I went back to find scenes in previous episodes with Keamy and Omar that were shot in daylight (there are very few) and it's still fairly inconclusive...Since we get about 10 seconds or less in the scene of the capture and the lighting is patchy (because of the overhanging trees) I don't want to jump to any conclusions! But I think there is a definately a visible difference!
  • another after thought. if there is, in fact, any validity to this claim, it would add a lot more weight to the idea that Keamy is much more than just a mercinary (although that this been heavily suggested via the second protocal). He obviously knows WHERE the Orchid is...I'm inclined to believe he knows WHAT the Orchid is, he may, in turn, know the secrets that we don't even know about the Orchid like: how it works; what it does; the secret entrance that Ben explained to Locke! I consider Keamy to be the Ben Linus of this season, in that he was clearly introduced as a minor, one dimensional character (a big scary military that liked to shoot things off the boat) and is slowly turning into one of the most important adversaries in the entire show!

I'm really not sure about Keamy's appearance but there seems to be a difference, like with Omar.

Moving the Island

• Ben had to move the island 15 years ago. He was eating crackers at the time.
  • Ben maybe moved a DHARMA polar bear to the Tunisian desert 15 years ago. AND was eating crackers at that time...
  • The producers do like to leave clues to future plot developments. Nicely done sir.
  • But the purge was 12 years ago.....why was Workman Ben operating Orchid tech? even if we remove time duration when dealing with time travel, the crackers are on the island and would age/time travel with it.
    • • The crackers HAVE to be far more significant than any of us know. My first reaction while watching was "hey! Ben just pulled a Bill&Ted!" Basically thinking "hey, I need to leave a package here for myself later," and *poof* it appears. Now, I don't think this actually happened, it was just my first reaction, BUT, I do believe that the crackers being 15 years old is EXTREMELY significant.
      • I thought the same thing. Ben's reaction to that spot where the box was located was an, "Oh yeah, that's where I left that stuff." or an, "I could really use some binoculars, a signaling mirror and some crackers." In either case, the fact that he knew how old the box was means that he either WAS there 15 years ago or he PUT it there 15 years ago. Either we were told that the crackers were 15 years old in order to reference a specific event on the island, or the writers were just for a cheap laugh at Hurley's expense (and ours).
• Moving the island actually refers to moving it in time, not space. A polar bear in Tunisia is the side effect of a previous move of the island, something Ben probably had in mind when he said moving the island is unpredictable. The time dilations between the island and the freighter are residual effects of the island having been moved before.
  • Maybe the Oceanic 6 getting off the island will have to do with side effects of moving the island. This could explain how 6 people who are in different places on and off the island right now all end up in the same place, off the island, rescued, and all seem to be in shock.
  • As you can see in Daniel's book, there are references to the Orchid Station following the Second Protocol to "Timeline Factor" as Incorrect and "Space Like Factor" as Possible! so it is Likely they are moving the Island in Space Factor. Oh, and there's an Ant drawn there.
    • This can potentially explain how the Black Rock is located well inland on the island -- the island popped into existence under it.
      • The only problem I have with that theory is that the Black Rock is nearly a century or so old. The Orchid however was only around as long as Dharma was there to build and execute it. Therefore the Black Rock could not have been sailing during an Island Time Jump, and so it could not have had the Island land on it. Even if we stretch our disbelief and say the Island jumped so far back in time that it encountered the still existent Black Rock, it wouldn't explain how only about 25 (assuming 12 years ago was the purge, but Ben had time to grow up on the Island before the purge) years later we have a ship full of skeletons and not a single Black Rock survivor (or at least not one we know about).
        • That and assuming what we know about the Island and how different parts of the Island experience time lapses with "constant" time off the Island, wouldn't that mean that the area around the Black Rock would have to be roughly 100 some years behind the rest of the world? So far we've only seen about a 30-so minute delay by the chopper and maybe an hour or so at the beach when the Doc washes up on the shore.
      • Before the D.I. came and used technology to control the space/time shifting properties of this Extraordinary Island, these "movements" occurred spontaneously. The Black Rock was in the wrong place at the wrong time when, due to the Island's electromagnetic anomaly, the Island popped up beneath it.
      • Alternatively, the process for moving the Island in space/time may predate the D.I. It could be that we will see ancient carved stones and hieroglyphics down in the Orchid, ala the four toed "original" inhabitants.
    • Space-like and time-like are technical terms used in Einstein's Special Relativity. Actually they don't mean "moving in space" or "moving in time". They indicate causation relationships between events.
• The Island is going to be moved in time, like Hurley suggests "moving it back before the freighties came". Somehow the island's future is related to Tunisia as this theory reveals the landscapes to be identical: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2445577988_e5a3483b80.jpg?v=0. The telescopic baton Ben uses in Tunisia in 2005 is the same baton he gave to Locke while they are near The Orchid in this episode. Ben is going to leave the island and get sent back (forward ?) in 2005.
  • Hurley's a nice guy, but he'd only be guessing at what "moving the Island" meant. He wouldn't be any more comfortable with one than the other.
    • Plus, Hurley actually says something along the lines of moving the Island before the freighties came BACK, not before they came altogether. He wanted to know if they could move the Island quick enough that team Keamy wouldn't be able to come back again.
• That photo hardly proves the landscapes are 'identical'. More like they both have mountains.
  • Yes, he will somehow get injured during his fight with Keamy's gang, get the baton back from Locke and then time travel to 2005. That would explain the wound on his arm and the fact that he is wearing Halliwax's Orchid jacket.
    • Except that doesn't explain how Ben knows about Nadia's death in 2005.
      • Ben learned of Nadia's death on the television, after he arrived at the hotel.
        • Except that Ben seemed to know a lot more than just what he saw on the news. Granted, in between him showing up in Tunisia and going to Iraq he could have found out more, but he seemed to be on the mission already to track down the guy who killed Nadia.
  • This will also lead to us seeing how the Adam and Eve skeletons came about. It was from a previous time and they got stuck on the island.
    • I still think Adam & Eve are Jack & Kate. I said this early on, and now that everything is about time-travel is appears to be moving in that direction.
• Moving the island is not a physical thing, but an emotional thing. Locke is clearly going to read sweet poetry to the island and the island will be moved.
  • Best theory so far, considering the symbolism.
• Moving the Island explains the Four-toed statue. At first I thought the Atlantis theories were bull. The Lost Island is a tropical Island in the Pacific or Indian ocean, Atlantis was told to be somewhere in the Atlantic. If the Island was capable of all of the sudden moving, this could explain both the disappearance of Atlantis, and the fact that they are in completely different locations.
  • I can not find a relationship between the number of toes and the rest of the paragraph.
    • I think he was implying that the inhabitants of Atlantis were said to have 4 toes. I haven't heard of this myself, though.--Warplayer 15:29, 16 May 2008 (PDT)

Daniel's rescue trips

• Daniel said he could get most/all the people to the freighter before Jack and co. get back. This could refer to the time differences between the Island and the outer world - Daniel could make many trips in a short island-time-span.
  • That only happens if you don't follow the correct bearing. And even then the time difference is un-predictable.

Clothing

Alpert and the people with him are wearing rustic clothing because they're in a rustic environment. They dress for their environment, either the barracks or the interior of the Island. Because they have the rustic clothing, they wore it at the decoy village("Three Minutes").

• Ben wears the same clothes coming out in Tunisia as Richard wears on the Island: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:AlpertRich.jpg but not here: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Bensurrenders.jpg but here: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Ben_clothes_tunisia.jpg
  • i think they wear "rustic" clothing because it helps them blend in to the jungle. i mean think about it. nothing says look at me like a pair of dockers and a polo shirt.
  • Nice catch. I wonder if the dark outfits are protective for jumps to other locations. I forgot to add in the original post to think military garrison uniform versus field uniform.
    • Also, if you look at Ben when he's walking up the hill before doing the mirror communication, you can see him wearing tan pants unlike the gray pants in Tunisia. He changed clothes in the Orchid for some reason.
• Possibly wearing their old clothing to fool the freighters that they are savages like they did to the 815ers
• The others are dressed in their garb because it is time for them to get hostile. They assimilated into a more civilized culture after inhabiting the Dharma barracks and other outposts. Now, threatened by a new group encroaching on the island, they have been kicked out of their civilized lifestyle and are now reverting to the more savage group that staged the Purge.
• A savage group would not be carrying modern infantry weapons.
  • There's nothing savage about advanced weaponry? Let's not get political here.
  • I'm not getting political at all. The mission of the infantry is "to close with and destroy the enemy through fire and meaneuver." Warfare is brutal and violent. The original use in these posts was that the Others dressed in their rustic garb to portray themselves as savages, i.e. primitives.--Jim 17:26, 16 May 2008 (PDT)
• They might just be wearing old clothes because they're out trouncing through the jungle. That's probably not the best occasion for their Sunday finest.

Mercenary Count

• There are at least five mercenaries, as pictured ("Something Nice Back Home") in the jungle with Lapidus. One is down and may be dead. Keamy and two others face off against Ben before Keamy knocks him out. The last mercenary is unaccounted for and may be a threat to Locke and Hurley when they try to enter the glasshouse at the Orchid.
  • There are five mercenaries (including Keamy) when Ben surrenders himself. Two are to Keamy's right and two are behind Keamy. Remember Mayhew didn't survive the monster attack.

Karen Decker

• Karen Decker must be helping the Oceanic Six with their cover-up because the six could not have created that phony photograph with the fishermen themselves.
  • There is no cover-up between Oceanic Air and the Oceanic 6. During the press conference she said, “This photo was taken by the local fisherman who found them.” It makes sense that they did reach the small island ala Michael and Walt. The story was the fabrication of the Oceanic 6 alone, we just don't know why they fabricated it yet.
    • Who would believe the truth?
• Probably not an important character (though everytime I think/say that it ends up being..Ben Linus, or Martin Keamy). I think it is safe to believe that Oceanic has little to do with the scandal or cover up story. It seems to me that the Oceanic 6's story was only known to be a false story by themselves (seeing as Karen Decker did not at all prompt them to lie or keep to any sort of story and seemed genuinely concerned with how combfortable they would be talking to the press). I think the survivors were purposely sent to the island (wit hthe picture of them coming to shore) with a back story already confirmed between them. On the flipside, the graph about the uncharted island is extremely questionable and the photograph coming to shore could easily be a staged one.

Sawyer, Jack, Kate meeting in the jugle

• Just before Sawyer walks into Kate and Jack in the Jungle he says something to Aaron. Is someone able to understand what he said? To me it sounds like: "Who you talking to there Genghis?" Can someone please confirm this. If I heard correctly calling Aaron 'Genghis' would clearly be a reference to Genghis Khan and thus alluding to the portents Claire received about having to raise her baby herself, or else...
  • Sawyer was asking Miles who he was talking to.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 17:54, 16 May 2008 (PDT)