Did The Others Use Time Travel To Compile Their Dossiers?


From another listener on Lost Unlocked: The listener theorizes that the Others use time travel to travel to the time and places of the LOSTies pre-flight 815 in order to compile their files on them. This explains how they know that Sawyer killed a man before leaving Australia, something the Australian authorities did not know at the time of the flight. It also explains how they know that Sawyer's "Sawyer" is actually Anthony Cooper. The theory also led to a real chicken and egg conundrum as they further theorized that the Others or perhaps someone else like Widmore manipulated the 815ers onto that plane on that date, an interesting variation on a theory that's been out there from the beginning.

I kind of like the idea of time travel being used to determine who the 815ers really are. There are certainly those who believe that explains Richard Alpert's appearance in young Locke's life. It could also explain the speed with which they compiled the information if you can leave time x on the Island and return to it with no time passing. I like that it restores some of the mystical and mysterious nature of the Others. But I suppose it could equally be a network of PIs Off Island.

Love Lives of The Others



I was thinking about how Juliet was recruited to the Island by Richard and Ethan and I wonder do The Others recruit only single people or do they recruit married couples? In other words

Why Does The Staff Have A Secret Room?













Not only is there a secret room, but it's protected by blast door like we saw in The Swan. Was this a safe room for hiding from Hostiles? Did DI members in fact hide there during the Purge? Is it part of a food drop protocol for The Staff?

And why would the Others use it for dying mothers? So that the other women wouldn't see the horror of it and fail to volunteer?

Why Hadn't The Others Disabled Enter 77?













So you beat a cheating computer and you get "I'm a scientist, not an actor" DI guy giving you a sequence of numbers to enter to get a certain desired effect. Why didn't the Others disable this mechanism? Surely Patchy or Ben or some other Hostile was able to beat the computer because Locke's just not that smart. Did they maintain it for the food drops? Locke doesn't enter that sequence of numbers.

It's interesting that this protocol was put in place after DI determined there were Hostiles on the Island. I wonder when that was. And if they were worried about an incursion why was there no apparent defenses for the station such as it's own sonic fence perimeter or even camouflage?













And what were the papers in Patchy's office? Research from the Internet? A cover story? I'm afraid we may never find out. It seems pretty minor in the scheme of things. Oh well.

Others' Justice?













Stranger in a Strange Land bothers me on so many levels, but the main problem I have with it is how inconsistent The Others' justice system and leadership structure seems to be in this episode. Why would they have a trial without Ben? Why wouldn't The Sheriff have questioned Ben? Why wouldn't Juliet had said to Isabel, "I was following Ben's orders." Why was Juliet present when Isabel questioned Jack?

Was Isabel acting outside her authority? Was she the Vice President stepping in during Ben's incapacitation or was she pulling an Al Haig? I'm still not a 100% convinced that the trial was real and not just a continuation of the Jack con.













And what the heck have they done to Cindy and The Children of the Corn? Room 23? Do they have a Room 23 equivalent back in Othersville?

If I hear "it's complicated" or some similar phrase again from these people, I, like Jack, am liable to lose it.

Did Karl Kill Somebody?














Karl is convinced that next time Ben catches him, he'll kill him. Alex thought before finding Karl in Room 23 that Ben had in fact killed him. So in The Others eye for an eye justice system does this mean Karl killed someone?

Maybe he went off the reservation with Ethan and killed Steve, no Scott. (I know it's Scott; it's alphabetical.) Is this why Karl deserves to die? And what about Sawyer and Kate? The Others know about their crimes, so do they feel entitled to execute judgment on them?

And who is Karl? It seems since he doesn't know about The Brady Bunch that he grew up on the Island. The cheesy constellation naming suggests that as well. Here's my theory -- Karl is Annie's son.

Is This Enough Reason To Take This Job?












Why on earth would Juliet agree to work for a company after her ex-husband was hit by a bus after she told the recruiter that's what it would take to "free" her? What's more they visit her at the morgue. And they know her sister is pregnant. And she can't bring her sister with her because they have what she needs to do her "cutting edge science," but not to treat cancer? It must be the lure of the eyliner.













Re-watching Not in Portland I also wondered how the heck can Jack ever trust Juliet when she so easily ordered Sawyer and Kate's deaths just because Ben's been keeping her on the Island? He must somehow know intuitively that she's the type of woman who'll allow her ex-husband to keep her as his emergency contact.













That's something Jack seems to value.

Have a fun New Year's Eve and Day! I'll be back the 2nd.

Why Do The Others Need To Be Good Conmen?













Ben tells Sawyer,

We did all this because the only way to gain a con man's respect is to con him. And you're pretty good...Sawyer. We're a lot better.

What is the Others mission and why does it require seabilly costumes, canvas tents, pacemaker cons, women that look like your ex-wife? This question drives me nuts. If you're engaged in some sort of scientific mission or spiritual mission why all the deception? Deception muddies both of those fields of inquiry. What is up Ben?

Where's The Elizabeth Now?













I guess it could show up in S4, or it may just disappear.

And while we're on the subject of questions from The Glass Ballerina, do you think Jin will ever find out about Sun and Jae. I hope not for his sake.

And were the Others really building a runway? That's what Pickett says in a S3 deleted scene. Why a runway? Aliens? Doubt it. So is there a plane on the Hydra Island or will one land? Or will this go the way of Vincent on the dock in Season 2's DVD extras?

Were The Dossiers on the LOSTies
Compiled by













This Guy?
















Seems to me that the information the Others seem to have about those on Flight 815 is more than you can get just by surfing the internet. Did they hire a private investigator to help them get Christian Shephard's autopsy report, or are they just that good?

Why Haven't The Others Been Able To Turn Walt?













Walt breaks away from Pickett and pleads with Michael Dad, don't leave us. Help me, please! Don't leave me! This stands in stark contrast to the behavior of Cindy and the Tailie kids, Emma and Zack who seem to have no interest in leaving the Others. So what's the difference?

More on Michael's Deal

1. Why Hurley? If you need Jack it makes sense to bring Kate because she would go looking for him in the first place. It makes sense to bring Sawyer because she would talk Sawyer into coming with her or he'd follow her later. But why Hurley? Because he's easily scared? Why not Sayid? Isn't he just as likely as Kate to form a rescue party? I guess Locke and Eko aren't on the list because the Island is distracting them with the issue of the Swan.

2. Who came up with this plan to free Ben? Did one of the remaining Others talk to Jacob? If Ethan could infiltrate the camp, why couldn't they send someone in to get Ben, not that freeing him from the Swan would have been easy?

3. This has nothing to do with the deal, but it's bothering me. If you're Ben and you need Jack to do surgery on you, why do you spend half a week lying to him about your identity and then another three days antagonizing him with your hunger strike and silence not to mention attack on Ana Lucia? I think it would have taken longer than 2 weeks to get Jack to want to operate on Ben.

Ben's Long Con?

















In Three Minutes Tom, Pickett and Alex pick up Michael a few hours from the Swan. They're dressed in their seabilly rags and they take Michael to a place where they can engage in their stage craft--trick shooting and magic torches. The reason for the stagecraft is explained by Alex. He's just delivering a message. He has to scare your friends to do it.

Until this most recent viewing of this episode I thought the point of all this was that the Others needed Michael because something had come up with Walt. In fact I've posted on this blog and other places that leaving Michael for dead with the raft was a mistake by the Others since it turned out they needed him and his blood after all.

But I was wrong. They didn't need Michael to help with Walt. They needed Michael to bring Jack, Kate and Sawyer to Ben. Ben tells us this in Expose.

Juliet: So, what, we just grab all 3 of them...Ford and Austen too.
Ben: No, they need to come to us.
Juliet: And how do we make that happen?
Ben: Michael of course.

All this stagecraft from mysterious instant messaging in the Swan to the seabilly rags to Yurt Village to wearing Michael down for a week in Yurt Village and allowing him to see Walt was all done only to get Jack to Ben. Ben getting caught threw a monkey wrench in the plan, but still, they managed to work around it. Questioning Michael about Walt was a total red herring. They didn't need Michael's blood. They didn't need answers only Walt's father would have. They only needed an out of his mind father freeing the Other to anger Jack enough to come after him.

Is this even why they took Walt in the first place? That doesn't seem quite right because how was Jack supposed to know he should trek across the Island to rescue Walt? It still seems to me they left Michael, Sawyer and Jin for dead. But maybe it was part of the con. Maybe that's why what Walt evidenced in his testing was more than they had bargained for since they were only bargaining for surgery? Bilocation and Island communion -- they were just a bonus.

Why Would You Put Your Medical
Facility Underground?













And why for that matter would you put it so far from
your housing complex? I'm betting the Staff had a
purpose far different from the one the Others are using
it for now. In fact I'm certain Dharma didn't use The
Staff for costume storage.

Does anyone remember anything from the old DI websites
or TLE that would fit with an underground medical
facility? I think its pretty clear that The Staff is
not a mere DI infirmary. In fact does anyone have any
theories about why the DI facilities in the LOSTies
sector of the Island--The Swan, The Staff, The Pearl--are
underground when DI Village, The Flame and The Hydra
are not?

Were Claire's Memories Real?













Throughout Episode 2.15, Maternity Leave, Claire has
flashes of memory about her time with Ethan and the Others
at the Medical Station. One of the most coincidental of the
memories is that in the nursery there is a mobile of Oceanic
airplanes just like the ones in Claire's dream before she was
taken by Ethan. Moreover the mobile plays "Catch a Falling
Star," the song she associates with her long-gone father and
which she asks the prospecitve adoptive parents to sing to her
bay-bee.

Now ever since the episode aired I've wondered, how could the
Others know about that mobile and that song? Did Smokey scan
Claire and inform them? Were they the ones trying to adopt
Aaron in Australia? Were they working with Malkin?

Well I think the answer may be much simpler than that, and it's
given to us in the episode. Libby tells Claire:

Claire, what you saw could be combining experiences of what
happened before the crash to the night you were having dreams
here on the island.

So while Claire was remembering things that did happen to her
in The Staff, I think she was also adding in pre-crash memories
and post-crash dreams.

Claire's time with the Others raises other questions as well
which I hope won't just be written off as faulty Claire memories.

First, what were they injecting in Claire? It was a liquid, not
an "implant" unless it's nanobots. :D

Next, why not keep Claire? Both Ethan and Alex state that they
were planning to keep the baby but not Claire. Does Claire's
willingness to give up the baby both pre- and post-crash make
her a "bad" person?

Finally, Alex's rescue of Claire -- Girl Scout goodness or
Ben's manipulation? I guess at a minimum it was Ben anticipated
therefore the implant.

Maternity Leave is one of my favorite episodes for its
on-Island flash and its paying off of things started many, many
episodes before. But there are still things I want to know.

What Is It About The Island That
Makes Language Skills A Must?













Kelvin is a perfect member of the post-Purge Dharma or the
post-Purge recruited Hostiles whichever it actually is
because of his language skills. He has at least English and
Arabic and I'd suspect more languages in his bag of tricks.
Mikhail clearly spoke multiple languages. Bea Klugh spoke
multiple languages. Why would language skills be important
on an isolated Island inhabited by less than 100 people?

Post-Game Analysis of Tom's Speech













Oooo, 50 days. That's what, almost 2 whole months, huh?
Tell me, you go over a man's house for the first time, do
you take off your shoes? Do you put your feet up on his
coffee table? Do you walk in the kitchen, eat food that
doesn't belong to you? Open the door to rooms you got no
business opening? You know, somebody a whole lot smarter than
anybody here once said Since the dawn of our species man's been
blessed with curiosity. You know the other one about curiosity
don't you, Jack? This is not your island. This is our island.
And the only reason you're living on it is because we let you
live on it.

This little speech of Tom's raises so many questions for me.
First, why does Tom quote Alvar Hanso if he was involved in
the Purge or came to the Island post-Purge? Why do the Others
care that the LOSTies are in The Swan? Why do the Others let
them live on their Island if they aren't going to live peacably
with them?

Also, why did they want Walt? What makes Walt a very special
boy?

And why the old gun? All the guns in the Swan are modern as
we can see from what Locke, Jack and Sawyer lay down. Where
did this old one come from and why use it now?

And one question about Jack -- why don't you ask relevant and
meaningful questions or let Beard-o answer Locke's about knowing
their names? This scene always frustrates the stew out of me
when I watch how Jack acts.

Was Goodwin A Better Other Than Ethan?















Prior to rewatching The Other 48 Days I thought
that Goodwin was an exemplary infiltrator Other and Ethan
was a screw up. Now I think that was an overly rosy view
of what Goodwin accomplished.

Ben tasked both Goodwin and Ethan with these instructions:

You're a passenger. You're in shock. Come up with an
adequate story if they ask. Stay quiet if they don't.
Listen, learn, and don't get involved. I want lists in 3 days.

Neither Goodwin nor Ethan were good at the "don't get involved"
part. In fact Goodwin's ultimate undoing was in large part
the way he called attention to himself due to Bernard's plight.
Goodwin was the only one who could make fire. He quickly became
a sort of second in command behind Ana, not exactly
an uninvolved role.

But Goodwin did seem to accomplish his mission. The Others
took 12 of the 23 Tailies, 13 if you count Cindy. The people
on the list had been identified (by Jacob?) as "good" and
removed. Goodwin stated pretty clearly if you weren't on the
list, you weren't good. So then why did he stick around?

I think the Others ultimate undoing is their hubris. Hubris,
per Wikipedia, is an exaggerated self pride or self-confidence
(overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution.

The Tailies killed 4 Others with rocks and sticks. How did
they accomplish this? The Others failed to take precautions
because they viewed themselves as superior. The Others have
guns and tasers, but did they use them to subdue Eko, Ana or
the rest of the Tailies in order to take the "good" ones? No
they did not. They thought their stealth and speed would be
enough and it cost them 3 lives.

Goodwin's mission was accomplished, but did he leave the field?
No, he thought he was smart enough that he could change
Ana or at least the list maker's mind, and in the end he paid
with his life.

The Others' hubris, their repeated assertions that they are the
good guys, that they get it and no one else does, that the taken
people are better off with them coupled with their unwillingness
to explain arises over and over. And now there are very few of
them left. Will they finally be humbled, or will their pride
destroy all of them?

Cindy Theories













Following up yesterday's post, it's time for your theories
about Cindy. I think its very clear from Abandoned
that Cindy is fearful of the people who've taken the rest
of the Tailies. Here's her dialogue:

Cindy: Ana, it's got to be over an hour. Shouldn't we
start moving again?
Cindy: Yeah, but what if they come?
Cindy: What?
Cindy: How many were there?
Cindy: Shhhh.
Cindy: Ana's right, maybe we should just push on.

Other than "What?" all of those lines indicate she
doesn't want the Others to find them and she's willing
to sacrifice Sawyer for herself.

But by the time we see her in Season 3 (I will avoid the
name of that dread episode) Cindy is "one of them."
I know, I know it's complicated. So what happened
with Cindy?

I'm assuming her name wasn't on the list that Ana
will recover in the next episode or they would have
mentioned it. So why take her a mile from the Fusies
beach when the only other people they've taken from
that camp were Claire and Charlie?

My guess is that once they got Zach and Emma they
figured out they needed Cindy much like they figured
out they needed Michael after leaving him to be
eaten by sharks. Oh how my ideas about the mighty
Others have changed from the silent, all-powerful people
to those who have to keep changing the plan because
they hadn't given it enough forethought.

Who Are These People And Why Are
They Walking Barefoot and
Barelegged Through the Jungle?















Is this part of Ben's group engaged in their stagecraft?
Surely the kids that Eko knows are not part of this group
in spite of the teddy bear. Wouldn't he try to retake
them? Clearly Walt isn't with them or Jin would have
done something. Are these people on their way to the
fake Yurt Village? The Pala Ferry dock? Why leave
Othersville at all?

I hope these are in fact Other Others, but I fear they
are not. This behavior seems out of character from the
Others we meet in Season 3. Chalk this up as another
question for Capcom's Encyclopedia Lostica.