LT206: Words are the Source of Misunderstandings

DOUBTING THOMAS

In the church where Ms. Eloise Hawking is spending her time we can see this painting hanging on the wall:

This painting is entitled, “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas”, and depicts the events of a Bible story. The story is that Thomas missed an appearance of Christ after his resurrection. He told his fellow disciples that didn’t and wouldn’t believe their claims until he could actually touch the wounds Christ later appears and tells Thomas to reach out his hand and touch Him.

One wonders if the painting was selected to emphasis resurrection of John Locke/Jeremy Bentham. Ben’s van contains an anagram of “reincarnation”. Perhaps the suggestion is that Locke is the savior? The Bible story of Doubting Thomas can be found in the Book of John.

This painting was done by Caravaggio and is on display in Germany. Yes, a lot of countries have been mentioned in LOST, but not all. So when we get a repeat hit, it catches my eye.

This painting is part of a three-panel project. The other painting is called, “The Inspiration of Matthew”. We have two Matthews on LOST. One of the minor Other characters and mysterious Matthew Abaddon.

The third panel from the Baroque master is called, “The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Desmond actually mentions this Biblical story when he was preparing to be a monk. The healer near Ayers Rock is named Isaac. And last week Christian defines the word, sacrifice, for Locke.

The writers may be trying to focus us on the name Thomas. You might recall that LOST has a few characters with variations of this name. Tom is the Other who doesn’t enjoy watching Kate shower. Tom is Kate’s childhood friend. But the only formal use of the name Thomas is Claire’s boyfriend and father of Aaron.

Granted this Thomas seems to be a minor character, but let’s not forget his role with Aaron who many still believe will be a major influence. His status in the mythology of the island is elevated when you consider that TWO of his paintings are owned by Charles Widmore. Were you aware of that? Below is a comparison of Thomas’ work in the apartment he once shared with Claire and as seen in Widmore’s office.

The second painting done by Thomas is seen in Widmore’s home. Call me over-analytical, but this elevates Thomas from being a deadbeat dad who doubted his ability and his girlfriend (who happens to be Christian’s daughter) to be an artist whose work is admired by Mr. Meanie himself.

Or maybe the intention was to just introduce the doubting concept. Things are usually quite different then they first appear on LOST. The two people who spend the most time at the church are Ms. Hawking and Ben. So maybe they doubt their plan will work, or doubt each other, or we should have doubts regarding their intentions. Could Ben really be planning to regain the leadership position of the island? Is Eloise consumed with saving her son that she would do anything?


MIRROR IMAGES

This should have been mentioned earlier this week, but better late than never. The Dharma Wheel that Locked turned was accomplished while wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt.

This is a mirror image of Ben’s parka wearing room last season.

What could this imply? Christian scolds John for not being the one to turn the wheel in the first place as he was instructed. This means that Christian wanted John to go down into the cold room. With Ben as the substitute did Christian’s plan get thrown off its axis and now to correct it John has to go into the hot room?

And let’s not overlook the fact that John went down the well mostly because Charlotte mentioned it. Yet, Charlotte is warning everyone to get away from this place of death.

Now you see why this wasn’t mentioned earlier…we’ve got enough questions to deal with!

One last thought…Ben mentions that he can’t return to the island after he turns the wheel. Yet it seems he is preparing to do so. One could argue that he is preparing the Oceanic 6 for return and he might not be joining him, but that just doesn’t seem likely. We also get a sneak peek into the future that John leaves the island and ends up dead. So, if cold is to hot, then dead is to undead. To put it another way, if John leaves and dies from the hot room, then Ben returns and dies to the cold room. Or something like that. And this would ensure Ben is not a liar which seems important to him because what he meant to say is that if he turns the wheel he can’t return to the island ALIVE.


EAT, DRINK AND BE VERY…

Someone wrote a post that I stumbled upon that claims that every single episode of LOST contains a scene which contains a water bottle. Let me restate that, every single episode places FOCUS on a water bottle.

I don’t have the time to re-watch every episode today, but I did do a little digging on the suggestion. The place to start was the episode, The Little Prince, and of course it did include a water bottle. But it was impressive to see how they camera did focus the attention. What I’m trying to describe is how a camera shot will linger or zoom in or some other technique to focus our attention. Here is the shot from The Little Prince:

If you are a long time fan of LOST TIDBITS then you know we have discussed the various types of beverages and how the drinks does appear to be the main focus in the scene. The whole story begins with the stewardess asking if Jack if his drink is alright. Kate is offered seconds on board the flight as well. She actually refused the offer and later mentions that she didn’t pass out like everyone else did.

We have noticed how several beverages are yellowish in color (think Mikhail’s tea and Hurley’s father’s drinks and scotch from Widmore). Water is not yellow, so maybe the combination of color and drink is the clue.

If water bottles are the hint we have had plenty of clues. Boone started the importance when he stole the bottles from the airplane. This led Christian to lead Jack to an alternate water source. I can’t tell if water is the Klugh, er, sorry, clue…or if the bottles are the clue. Any ideas?

Speaking of Boone, this leads me to what people eat. Mostly because The Little Prince brought it back to the forefront, but chocolate is the food group that has my attention now. It links us back to Boone offering Shannon a chocolate bar the day of the crash.

Here are some related and perhaps random things to chew on:

Alice in Wonderland uses food and drink as a literary device in heavy doses.

The food drop and why only once?

Ethan offering Claire a drink from his canteen and she commented it was bitter. Kate mentioned the shower smelled like sulfur. Could the water supply be tainted…like with radioactive waste from a Jughead bomb?

Do drink and food cause people to behave differently or is the sharing of food and drink important? Desmond and Jack share a water bottle at the stadium. Actually, they had their own but it was observed that it appears the bottles got switched!

Hurley and Ben share a chocolate bar.

Kate and Sawyer share an Apollo bar and then see a black horse.

The Blast Door Map mentions heavy water.

Water bottles and generic produced goods like chocolate bars are a mainstay of the military during war and domestic emergencies.

Claire’s baby isn’t moving until she eats the food offered by Jin. Hurley refused the offer.

A common theme of the Underworld is that if you eat or drink there, you stay there. Making a commitment to drink something is very common in a lot of stories where commitment is required like drinking blood in Lost Boys or Legend (by the way if you know those two movies weren’t they great?!).

I entitled this section Eat, Drink and Be Very…because I have no clue as to what the food and beverages leads to. One thing for sure, Merry does not seem to be the appropriate word.

Do you have some theories on the food and drink? Post a comment or send an email if you do.


NEXT ON LOST

We don’t do spoilers here at TIDBITS, but next week’s episode is entitled “316”. I’ve been waiting for this one ever since the Dharma Special Access videos mentioned it. The off-screen marketing of Ajira Airlines includes that embedded frame of a man holding a sign that reads, “John 316”. I just get the feeling that this episode is going to connect some more important dots for us.

For fans within my viewing area, next week’s show is bumped an hour to make room for a basketball game. For TIDBITS readers this means a delayed post of my Initial Thoughts.


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Enjoy,
KC