SPOILER ALERT. This post references the Lost plot through the season 2 finale.
OK, I’m posting this here first: my theory on what’s happening in Lost.
First we start with Raminski or whatever his name is (if he in fact ever existed). The guy in the hatch when Desmond arrived (I’ll call him X since I don’t recall his name), said that Raminksi (”R” from now on) decided to edit some of the footage from the orientation tape. I’m assuming this is the footage that Ecko found. How did it end up in that other hatch? R must have known about the other hatch and hidden it there. That means R probably knew more about the island than X (though I don’t know why R started that invisible map, but it might have to do with the notion that the observers in the Pearl wouldn’t see it.) That footage merely stated to not use the computer to do anything but input the numbers. Did R make this edit before or after X arrived? And for that matter did X and R start their work in the hatch (Swan) at the same time?
Anyway, I’m thinking that the computer in The Pearl is linked to the one in The Swan. Indeed I’m assuming that this is how the others communicated with Michael. Anyway, for some reason R wanted future recruits to not be afraid to use the computers to interact with people from the Pearl. But clearly it was the Pearl people who were being studied, (or is this too obvious?) since A) the work in the Swan hatch was real, and B) the notes from the Pearl went to a field in the middle of nowhere.
I believe the Others were part of the original Dharma Initiative team, or at least thought they were. They were typical research scientists and were assigned to work in the Pearl and maybe some other fake hatches, but they eventually discovered that they were being manipulated and that they themselves were actually the subjects of the experiments. Indeed, they were familiar with the terrain around the location where the Pearl notes were being dumped. And now the Others don’t know whether or not to trust the people from the plane, probably because of some other insane psychological testing that went on before flight 815 went down.
Of course we still don’t know who to trust and who might be undercover for the real Dharma team. We think we now know how the flight crashed, but we don’t know why all the main characters are linked. We also think we know what the Swan was used for, but it may still be something else entirely and we’re only being led to believe it’s a geo-electromagnetic discharger. We are also led to believe that the Others are acting primitive and that their leader is named Tom–that part seemed so forced. This may in fact be part of the act; the beard, glue and make up might have been planted where they knew Kate would find it, and Walt may have been coerced into saying “Don’t believe them, they’re not what they seem!” or whatever he said. And the fake camp that the Others lived in was meant to be found in the event that Michael was forced to reveal some information about the deal he struck. It also seems that Henry is the leader of the Others but that may also be for manipulative or other reasons.
Many questions remain: where did the polar bears come from/why can Walt summon animals? Why was Libby in the looney bin… was it related to her father’s death? What do the other hatches do? What’s the significance/power of the numbers? Who’s Persephone on the Hanso Foundation website, though I don’t think that identity is central to the Lost island/TV plot. What incident caused the Swan to be constructed? What’s the deal with the whispering associated with the Others? What’s Alex’s story? What happened to Rousseau? Did “Henry” really not enter the numbers? What’s with the vaccines? What’s Scott’s back story? Is anyone living in the caves anymore? Where were the bodies that they found in the cave from? How did Ecko’s brother’s plane crash on the island? How did Ecko know the work in the Swan was legitimate? Where did the pallet of supplies from Dharma come from? What happened to the rest of Rousseau’s group, or is Rousseau even who she says she is? Does she work for Dharma? Or the Others?How did John lose his ability to walk, and how did he regain it?
New questions have arisen: What exactly were X and Desmond triggering when they shorted the wires in the electrical box and the doors came down? Why was Desmond discharged? (I missed the first 10 minutes.) What was the bright light and noise when the timer ran out? Why weren’t the Others concerned about it? What’s at 325 degrees away from the island? Anything? What happened to Sayid? What happened to Jin and Sun? Why did Charlie act surprised that Ecko and John weren’t back yet when he knew that he left before them? Seems fishy. Did Ecko and John and Desmond survive? Was there greater significance to the quote that the woman Desmond loved said “All you need to survive is someone to love you” or whatever, since clearly she was still trying to find him (”you can find anything with enough money”) and somehow knew he would be around electromagnetic stuff? Is her father involved in Hanso? Where the hell were those other guys? What’s the significance of www.hansocareers.com? Of course, why did they want Jack, Sawyer and Kate? Was it Sayid that actually lit the signal fire? What was the deal with the bird that called Hurley’s name? What happened to that cloud monster? What’s the significance of the names of Libby’s husband and the boat? Why didn’t X’s reinforcements ever arrive? And the most interesting one to me: What the hell is up with the four-toed statue?! Maybe a remnant of a psycological test administered by Dharma on the Others? Or maybe a cultural relic from another species of humans that existed long ago on this island?
It’s amazing how this season Lost kind of limped along with a bunch of crap episodes (Rose flashback, and a bunch of other lame flashbacks) and then this episode zooms to 2000MPH and introduces more plot turns and twists than almost in the last two seasons combined. It’s also interesting that production of the show is only about half a season ahead of airing, otherwise Ana Lucia wouldn’t have been killed off so quickly after upsetting the producers. So the plot is still a little flexible. And man, I gotta catch up on the Lost Diary plot on the official Lost website. I heard they are experiencing there own mysterious circumstances.
Anyway, I think most of the weird phenomena (including telepathic powers or visions, except for Walt’s) can be explained as psychological tests or other experiments that the real Dharma conducted on the Others, possibly utilizing natural phenomena pre-existing on the island.
Man I could continue this entry without end, so I’ll force myself to stop here. Feel free to share your thoughts below. Don’t worry, it’s safe. It’s not like I’m collecting your feedback for the Hanso Foundation. Or am I?
Eventually I saw the light and all was well. But let’s make a short story long. As fate would have it’s way with me one groggy-eyed, post-SNL Saturday night in the summer of ‘05, I found myself watching Desperately Seeking Susan, and being simultaneously delighted and horrified. Actually I’m being rhetorical, the experience was strictly delightful, aurally and visually. You see, I grew up in a puritan household, pure of the sin of subjugation and appeasement of corporate marketing. It was a warm, loving place, where zombie-like consumerism was rewarded with ten lashings. Of a two-by-four. I don’t think I’d ever heard a complete Madonna song in my life, until that groggy-eyed, post-SNL Saturday night, and it was like, uh… “when your heart beats, next to mine.”
Real quick one.
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