Is This Danielle's Con?
In Exodus Part 1 Danielle arrives in the beach camp,
announces the Others are coming, and tells the story of how
Alex was taken.
The others are coming. Our ship went aground on
this island 16 years ago. There were 6 of us...
my team, 6. At that time I was already 7 months
pregnant. I delivered the infant myself. The baby
and I were together for only 1 week when I saw black
smoke... a pillar of black smoke 5 kilometers inland.
That night they came they came and took her... Alex.
They took my baby. And now, they're coming again.
They're coming for all of you.
And then wouldn't you know it, hours later, but while
Danielle is still in the camp, we see a pillar of black smoke.
When we finally see the source of the smoke,
it's on the beach, not inland and there's no one there
but Danielle. And at this point, Danielle claims: I heard
them whispering. . . . I heard them say they were coming
for the child. The others said they were coming for the boy.
This fire is baffling to me. Why would the Others signal
their intentions with a big pillar of black smoke? They
didn't use one when they removed people from the camp
of the Tailies.
Was this a case of Danielle trying to lure the Others to the
fire to perform her exchange of Alex for Aaron (which
would be reminiscent of Sayid's bang-up plan in The
Glass Ballerina)? In response to the whispers was she
trying to "help" the Others by giving them a way to get
"the boy" without interference from the 815 survivors?
And did she use a slow fuse to start the fire while she was
in the camp as Locke suggested Sawyer had done way
back in The Moth?
Friday, August 31, 2007
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9 comments:
Memphish,
I had always thought that Danielle was responsible for the fire on the beach. She wanted to give them Aaron in exchange for Alex.
She's complicated, and also maybe not quite balanced. The delay had been the one thing that was confusing, but you presented a good theory with the delayed fuse.
Also,
We only have Danielle's word that there was a black smoke as a signal. She may have made that up for her own purposes.
Interesting. I have not given too much thought to this before. Too many other bigger mysteries, I guess. The slow start burn is good. Perhaps Danielle knew how to do that thing where you put a cigarette inside a closed matchbook and when the burn gets to the matches after you are long gone, it fires up? :-)
Also, maybe DR was trying to pull a 2-for-1 deal. That is, helping deliver the baby and the boy, to help get Alex back. And if one didn't work out, there would still be the other kid to fall back on.
Although as you say, DR is a bit nutty, but that never stopped a good conspirator before!
The thing is despite all the other traps Danielle has around the Island, this seems way more devious than usual for her. I guess she heard the whispers that they were coming for the boy and misinterpreted that to mean Aaron. This also must mean that she's been watching the LOSTies without their knowing it, otherwise how would she know there was a baby boy in the camp?
The she has to set up the fire, the lighting mechanism, tell her story about the fire, etc. In other words lots of planning and having to hold it together for a woman who has failed to find the Flame Hatch or Othersville for 16 years. Still, I think she was the one who set up the fire.
She may even be telling the truth about the fire the Others set before they took Alex, but I'm guessing it wasn't some signal, merely brush clearing to make room for football games. :)
The fire itself a little odd on the part of the writers to be sure.
But if we take Danielle at her word that she overheard them say they were coming to take the boy and that they DID light a signal fire before they took Alex, I think her motivations are perfectly explainable: She knew they were coming, she thought she might be able to trade Aaron for Alex, and she acted on impulse.
So why the signal fire then? Well, considering the Others have walkie-talkies, it probably isn't for communication. However, it DID get several of the Losties off the beach to investigate. In other words, it's a decoy: Get as many people off the beach so it's easier to snatch Walt.
Remember, Michael pushed the raft launch date up because of the tides. They probably had the boat out there in case they DID launch the raft, but I imagine they wanted to snatch Walt before they tried to leave.
Well, I probably should have watched Exodus Pt. 2 before posting this question because it provides some answers -- maybe.
First of all, I think it's pretty clear that Danielle from the start of her appearance on the beach intended to try to trade Aaron for Alex after hearing the whispers. After all she tells the LOSTies pre-smoke that they have 3 choices, "run, hide or die." Now why would she say die? She's the one who killed her team. She's never seen the Others kill anyone. I think that was a scare tactic on her part to create an opportunity to take Aaron.
Her rapid departure from the Black Rock and her reappearance on the beach once everyone but Claire and Charlie had gone bolster the idea that she'd clearly planned this.
BUT when Charlie and Sayid show up at the fire, there's no footprints around it, an early trademark of the Others, not so much Danielle, though she doesn't seem to leave tracks either. But Charlie accuses her of setting the fire and she denies it. Of course, this is LOST, so she could be lying.
But finally, I noticed with the boat that Zeke (such a better name than Tom) Zeke's boat when it shows up on the radar moves away from the raft until they shoot off the flare. Could they have been heading to the fire? To the LOSTies beach? (Which raises the next question, why use a noisy boat vs. the sub?)
All of these questions do prove one thing. We need a Danielle flashback.
One way or another, we need to know what her motivation is (besides getting Alex back)
Three cheers for a Danielle flashback! Did TPTB say that they needed to establish "something" more in depth before they could give us more on her due to a connection? Let's hope they can do that!
I think that "impulse" is an important word when figuring out DR too.
She has always seemed to be a character that knows more than she is telling.
It always points me back to the way she acted when she caught Ben in the trap. She said that "For a long time he will lie..."
I never understood why she didn't explain how she knew..
CF
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