LT88: Cabin Fever Redux

WHO’S YOUR DADDY?

Richard Alpert standing at the window of the hospital room before Emily freaked out was odd to say the least. Alpert is obviously not like us since he never ages. And some are suggesting that Alpert, not Cooper, could be the daddy.

I quick look back on this topic reminds us that Emily, mom, told her son, John, that he was “immaculately conceived”. The strong reference was that he had no father. But perhaps she knew more then we have confirmed, but that makes this even stranger, so let’s not go there.

But John was not easily convinced and he hired a private detective would provide information on his father, Cooper, and revealed his mother spent some time in a mental hospital. Side note: Has Hurley mentioned his hospital name to Locke? I’m sure John would recognize that name since that is where Emily spent some time.

The thoughts in my head suggest that Emily is sort of like Charlize Theron in “The Devil’s Advocate”: aware enough to be driven crazy but not crazy enough to be aware. Um, what?

And some medical student would have to tell me if kidney’s demand a high DNA match to help determine if Cooper and John are really father and son.

NOTE: I went and googled it and you need same blood type, but not a DNA match. Looks like the jury is still out on who’s your daddy.

WHO’S YOUR MOMMY?

I’m referring to Claire. Is it safe to say that Claire is dead? Let’s assume the answer is yes and then think this through.

If she is dead, then we have to figure out when she died. It had to be sometime after the three, Miles, Sawyer and Claire, went to sleep at the camp site. I’m requiring that she die in a normal way like all people do. One idea is that after they closed their eyes to sleep, that Claire’s headache she complained about was some sort of concussion or brain hemorrhage. Recall that Miles offered to help her since it seemed she was a bit off her game. And if we recall Miles staring at her and the baby strangely, we might guess that Miles was seeing a dying person.

After the eyes closed for the night, Miles said he knew Claire walked off in the night. He didn’t follow her and I think it was because he knew she was dead. Or maybe on her last breath. Someone had to carry the baby to the base of that tree, so let’s move her natural death to after that point.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Locke stumbled upon her physical body. This means that the Claire that John saw was a spirit/angel/ghost/pick your term.

Throw in the fact that Christian’s casket was empty and it seems Jacob might need a body to manifest him self to others. In that case, Christian and Claire have to be physically dead, but their bodies aren’t lying on a ground (or in a casket) but are sitting in this cabin.

While you are processing this, also realize that Christian seems able to get around the island…but I get a strong feeling if anyone got close enough to touch him his hand would go right through the body!

KEAMY’S ITEM

What is that on Keamy’s arm? From all appearances and chatter the consensus is that it is some kind of bomb and it must pack quite a punch. Is this the method of “torching the island”? Is Keamy on a suicide mission? Sorry, but what amount of money would be any good if it meant killing yourself?



Before you answer, remind yourself that Michael is also on a suicide mission. He just can’t get it right for some island reason. Think people have information on Keamy that prompted him to sign-up for this? I’m getting a little Davy Jones’ Locker thing going on here where the dead have a last opportunity to redeem themselves.

HORACE GODSPEED

Just to kick start the brain we saw him first:

As the man who stopped to help Ben’s mother and father with her pregnancy problems outside of Portland.


As the man who later recruits Ben’s father to join the Dharma Initiative.

And now in Locke’s dream.

SECOND PROTOCOL

A close-up of this logo reveals it is the same one that Ben had on his parka in the Sahara. Most are guessing this is the Orchid hatch mentioned in a summer-time orientation film. We not seen this symbol prior in the actual show. But the summer "release" mentioned that Orchid had to do with time travel study.

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Did you catch the poster in the locker John was occupying? It was of Geronimo Jackson...the same whose album Charlie found in the Swan hatch eons ago...and the same on the TV of the undercover kid who busted John in his pot farm.

For bonus points if you can recognize the picture behind Geronimo...it's British Explorer Sir Richard Burton. Connection unclear.

**

One of the best moments is when this picture came into play:

Do notice the man has but four fingers on his hand!

Let me see if I'm following the information provided in this episode. John was "known" at birth. Maybe Richard Alpert is a time traveller of sorts and knows the future...so he slips back to the past to visit the "chosen one".

Be warned though...someone suggested this week that Ben is still very much in control and simply is letting John hold the reins for the time being. Remember Ben has some dedicated friends at the temple including Richard.

Back to my thought: so at birth the Others know of John and again as a young boy when he selected the knife (any ideas what that was all about?), and again as a teen with Science Camp. Wouldn't the kid sort of get a feeling that he was "special". The flashbacks showed failure and outcast, but didn't he wonder where the images of black smoke in his head and hand came from? As an adult it seems John continues to play the fool and has no inkling of his destiny? Shoved around my foster sisters, his boss at the box company, his phone friend, his father - twice, and dear old mom. Not once he felt the force stir inside? Hmmm...

So finally an orderly visits and puts the walkabout in his head. We know the events from there. It just seems he is a fast learner.

Do notice how Richard rejected John once but then recruited him later. Did Richard recognize his earlier mistake? Did something happen off or on island to alter events? Does the knife really belong to Locke?

**

Speaking of camps, did you catch it was Mittlelos Science Camp? Same company that recruited Juliet and played a major role in the LOST summer game, The Lost Experience.

**

And finally, did you catch what Hurley mumbled when they woke him up? "Mallomars".

HOW CAREFUL DO WRITERS HAVE TO BE?

We know from previous information that John Locke was born in 1956. However, the song Emily was listening to wasn't released until 1957. Mistake or another wacky time loop? It could be a prop error, but when time is so important.

Let's chock it up as one of those Super Bowl mind teasers. You know the one - is the 1972 Dolphin Perfect Season really 1973, or was the Super Bowl played in January 72 and the season was in 71. Yeah, let's say the Buddy Holly thing was just one of those Super Bowl mind teasers and leave it at that.

THE ITEMS THAT ARE ALREADY YOURS

Which item interested you the most?

The one that seemed most out of place was the Book of Law. Yet, if we recall when Ecko was telling the story of the King Josiah to Locke, he mentioned the servant returned with the Book of Law. This is the common name given to the first five books of the Old Testament.

Enjoy,

KC

LT87: In Defense of LOST

CABIN FEVER AND RELIGIOUS FERVOR

A few fans of LOST are having a difficult time lately as the show seems to be getting closer and closer to that line. No, not the line that Mr. Friendly/Tom drew in the dirt that separated the Others from the Survivors. The line I’m referring to is that line between sci-fi and reality.

But before you claim that the show is going X-Files on us, let’s examine some themes. It has been clear from the start that LOST is examining the debate of science versus religion. However, it seems there might be three areas of examination.

Science – the producers promised at least a scientific theory would exist for every behavior. This approach opens the door for the show to push the envelope like Star Trek would do in days past. Let’s call this category “unproven science”.

Proven Science – of course, we have proven science involved like gravity which brought the plane to the ground.

Religion – faith-based beliefs. Believing in something you can’t prove. There is a reason they came up with the term “BLIND faith”.

See, many people are beginning to shake their head in disbelief in regard to time travel, island hopping and Smokey. Yet, those same people have zero evidence in their particular religious doctrines and are willing to embrace those views. How could anyone who calls them self “religious” actually debate the validity of anything then?

This edition of LOST TIDBITS will examine a few of those religious views that are quite mainstream in an effort to point out that if you/we are willing to believe THOSE things, how can sit a criticize the direction the writers of LOST are taking us? The hope is that the next time you are tempted to say, “That’s getting a little crazy and is a bit hard to believe”, that you remind yourself of a few religious matters that we routinely have no problem claiming to be…well…gospel.


PREGNANCY

While LOST has recently been pushing some strange concepts lately, we still need to give the writers a pat on the back for their consistency to themes such as pregnancy.

The past episode, Cabin Fever, tells us that Emily, John’s mother, was pregnant. Well, there is a common them of the show. And it consistent LOST fashion we are left with questions:

Is the father Mr. Cooper, John’s kidney recipient?

Is the father Richard Alpert, the never-aging Other?

Why isn’t she showing at 6-months?

In religious terms, 99% of Protestants and Catholics have no problem looking a friend in the eye (did I say eye?) and proclaiming their belief that a woman named Mary got pregnant without any father. I’m not suggesting that Emily experienced an immaculate conception, but I am saying the next time we are tempted to point a finger at LOST writers for the absurd, that we take a step back and remind ourselves of a few of the religious tenets we willing subscribe to!


PLANE CRASHES

Again in the opening scene, it begins with Emily playing a Buddy Holly song. This timestamps the events we are observing, but it should be noted that Buddy met his demise in a plane crash. Even more interesting to me, is that Holly, Valens and the rest died in a corn field in Iowa, my home state. It happens to be the state where Kate is also from.


RAIN

Again, we haven’t left the first scene and Emily runs outside in the rain to be hit by a vehicle (which is another reoccurring theme). We have all noticed how rain seems to be associated with bad things although a study is required to determine the exact connection between rain and events we observe.

In the Bible, the first time it rains is when mankind is wiped off the face of the Earth…except for an ark-builder, his family and a zoo. We’ve seen references to all these aspects in LOST. There are over 87 references to rain in the Bible.


MIRRORS

Again, we can’t get past the first scene without Emily using a mirror to put her lipstick on. In religious circles there is a concept called “The Bible Mirror”. In summary this theory places a mirror at year zero and separates B.C. from A.D. So what happens in 415 B.C. might mirror what happens in 415 A.D. This is interesting for no other reason that if we an determine how many years existed in B.C. (from creation to crucifixion), then we might be able to guess the date of our doomsday. In LOST terms, we would know the date of the Valenzetti Equation.

The entire Bible Mirror study is based on an interesting concept: time. If you are willing to substitute freely the word “days’ with “years”, you discover some interesting and predictable events of past and future. After all, the Bible itself gave us the concept when God tries to explain time in His eyes, “A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.” And it isn’t like LOST doesn’t have multiple timelines as the Freighter doctor ended up dying before he was dead. Huh?

FAITH TO MOVE MOUNTAINS

The Bible says that Christians have the ability through faith to move mountains. Literal or figuratively? I’ll let you decide. But LOST writers appear to be reading The Bible, - which when literally translated means “The Book” and it isn’t like LOST hasn’t included a couple of literary references.

So why does a nation of TV viewers who proclaim an inclination towards The Bible have problems with John being told to move the island? Oh, ye of little faith.

ANGELS

How strange to see our favorite lawyer, Abbadon (a name found in the Bible), meet John in physical therapy and encourage him to take a Walkabout. I suggest another Bible concept is being used on LOST: angels appear. In today’s vernacular we might call them ghosts.


MY THEORY

I suggest that LOST is using the Bible as its guidebook for a storyline. Perhaps during the summer break there will be time to examine one topic listed here at a time. I’d like to get a nice list of all the angel encounters found in the Bible and then compare to the usage of ghosts in LOST. Wouldn’t that be strange if we discovered that Michael might represent, well, Michael.

I’m not suggesting a re-telling of the Bible story, but a source. So if we read about the angel Gabriel, it might no longer surprise us that Nadia is played by Andrea Gabriel.

FYI: We have been told that Nadia has a sister named Melissa. Melissa is the same name of John’s foster sister who knocks over his board game of backgammon. Not sure where it fits in, but it also the name of my co-workers spouse. And his name is Michael. Coincidence or circumstance? Hmmm…


CLOSING ARGUMENT

I hope this edition of Lost Tidbits renews your faith in the show. And if you tend to lean towards science versus religion, even then we can boast that rarely a show comes along that leave my brain like mush quite like LOST can do week after week. That’s worth the price of admission right there.

Ok, my head hurts, so be sure to check back for an EXTRA edition of Lost Tidbits because we really need to examine more than just the opening scene from this episode. So, keep looking this week where we will examine the possibilities to:

* Would John remember Alpert from high school until the time he hands him a folder on his father?
* Is Claire dead?
* Is Abbadon really Walt?
* Are colors in play again with the helicopter?
* And what exactly is that on Keamy’s arm?

Enjoy,

KC