Did Christian Tell Locke To Keep Jack On The Island?



In There's No Place Like Home (pt. 2) Locke and Jack talk leader stuff at the Orchid. Locke tries to talk Jack out of leaving giving him the whole destiny spiel once again. But he fails to mention that a guy named Christian has told him to move the Island. Which makes me wonder, did Christian instruct Locke to keep Jack on the Island or is Locke freelancing? I still can't decide if Christian wants Jack and Aaron on or off the Island.

Bentham's Mission



Time for back to basics.  I'm looking at some S4 finale things and notice that apparently Locke's mission when he came back to "our world" was to convince Jack and Kate if not the rest of the O6 to come back to the Island.  So here's some questions:





I guess this means that I think Locke did NOT turn the donkey wheel. I'd guess in his attempts to get Jack, Kate and Aaron to return to the Island Locke thought he himself could return to the Island.

I also wonder why someone would kill Locke, but not Jack, Kate and Aaron which doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Jack tells Kate he wants to go back to keep Aaron and Kate safe. Safe from whom? Safe from the people who just killed Locke? Who killed Nadia? More Kate on the run. Gee. Can't wait for that. (Read with great sarcasm.)

Locke, Leader or Ultimate Scapegoat?



Jeremy Bentham shows up in the real world and tells Jack that "after I left the island, some very bad things happened. And he told me that it was my [Jack's] fault for leaving. And he said that I had to come back. But I'm thinking the bad things may come from Locke's presence more than Jack's absence or possibly even from Ben's absence. After all who did Christian Shephard and Claire tell to move the Island -- Locke. But Locke didn't move the Island, Ben did.

It reminds me of how Locke was supposed to take care of Sheriff's Deputy Eddie, but didn't. How little Locke was supposed to pick the things that belonged to him, but didn't. How he was supposed to kill his dad, but didn't. How Locke was supposed to push the button, but didn't. Once again, Locke is given a task, and he can't even find the flowers.

Now arguably, Locke didn't have the know how had he gotten into the Orchid to move the Island, but maybe the Island would have given him further instructions. But if Locke had been able to get into the Orchid in a timely manner and moved the Island (never to return) he would have trapped Jack on it. So whose fault is it John?

Who Shrunk Jack's Tent?













This is a clear case of trying to figure out what's canon and what's not. In the S3 deleted scene where Claire finds Nikki and Paolo in flagrante delicto Jack's tent is at least a 2 person wide tent with sides and a front flap for full privacy. Now that Jack's back on the beach, it seems to be a much, much smaller and less private. I guess it shrank from the rain?

Did Locke Make a Case for Jack? For Sayid?













I don't want to go home, Kate. I want you to know I made a strong case for you. I told them you are a good person. Reliable. Smart. Honest. And then they told me who you were and what you had done. Let's just say forgiveness isn't one of their strong suits. -- John Locke, Episode 3.15, Left Behind

So Locke thought Kate had communion with the Island? Or did he just have needs as Sawyer once suggested? But the real thing I want to know is what they told him about Jack. How is Jack not a good person? I still haven't seen anything other than poor judgment in his pre-Island flashbacks; no murder of fathers for example. And what about Sayid? Well hopefully we'll find out soon about Basra and know along with Juliet the full scope of Sayid's unforgivable crimes.

Sis and Bro -- When Will They Learn?


















Rumor has it that Jack and Claire will learn they are half-siblings. Do you think it will be on Island via Juilet or Ben or off Island say via Aunt Lindsey?

Is It Better To Be A Great Man or a Good One?













This question should resonate for a lot of our LOSTies. Answering it is what has kept Desmond from Penny. When he goes to see her dad Mr. Widmore talks about the great man Admiral MacCutcheon and how Desmond will never be one. But Penny tells Desmond the reason she loves him is he is a good man. Why, oh why can we not be satisfied with being merely good? Instead Desmond chooses to do the only great thing he will ever do according to Mrs. Hawking and leaves Penny to push the button.

Is this in fact what Jacob is looking for? People who can settle for merely being good not great? Is this why Jack isn't on his list because Jack wants to be a great man as he's been marked by Achara? Penny seems to correctly assess in her father that greatness precludes goodness. Is this true for the rest of them as well?

Or is it the case that the Island isn't big enough for more than one great man? Maybe that's why you have to be "good" to be on Jacob (or is it really Ben's?) list.

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.

What Is The Deal With This Intercom?













Juliet tells Jack that the intercom hasn't worked in a very long time, but that's clearly false. Jack hears his father (hallucination? probably), but then he hears Sawyer, shouting Others, and finally Alex. Did Juliet not know that the intercom did indeed work? Was Jack supposed to hear all those things?

What Is It About Jack And Babies?













I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop about Jack
and babies. All the way back in Season 1 where Jack
doesn't rat out his dad until he learns the dead patient
was pregnant to his worries pre-marriage about having
kids to his reaction to Sarah's negative pregnancy test
to his "whole truth" discussion with Sun and Kate
where he says:

Sun, my advice and... and it's just that because I'm
the last person to ask about this, but... you should
tell him. And when you do you should tell him everything...
the whole truth.

Why is Jack the last person to ask about telling the
truth when it comes to pregnancy? I was hoping Sarah
was going to be pregnant in Jack's first Season 3
flashback, A Tale of Two Cities, but if she was
she wasn't showing and I guess TPTB decided to use Sun
and Jin instead of Jack and Sarah as the "who's the baby
daddy?" couple.

Although I guess the very pregnant Sarah of the end of
Season 3 could be pregnant with Jack's baby. Is that
why it's a bad idea for Sarah to drive Jack home? It's
always been speculated that Jack's last flash occurred in
2007 because of his cell phone, but what if it's 9 months
after a "false negative" test just before Sarah leaves Jack?

I really hope that's not the case because I don't want to
see the LOST writers get as sloppy as those on a certain
other show that airs on Mondays, but there's always seemed
to be something about babies that strikes a chord with Jack,
and I want to know what it is.

And while we're on the subject of pregnancies, do you think
someone was actually flying with a pregnancy test or was the
Widmore kit in the Swan?

Will We Ever Meet The Bad Twin?













Still waiting for the Bad Twin payoff. I'm glad I got
it from the library instead of buying. Will there ever be an
actual set of twins on LOST (other than the seabilly boat)?
I'm still hoping Libby will turn out to be a twin. Maybe Kate
is pregnant with twins.

Of course, all the twin stuff could be written off as we all
have our own bad twin inside of us. The whole time I read the
book I kept thinking of Jack and Sawyer and Sawyer's statement
way back in Episode 1.7, The Moth that "The difference
between [Sawyer and Jack] ain't that big, sweetheart." And here
at the end of Season 3 we could see some of that with
the BBQ-providing, baby-complimenting Sawyer who went back to
the beach and the so myopic, especially when it comes to Juliet,
he's dangerous to the group, Jack.

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.

Jack is a Sadist















Jack puts the fat guy in charge of inventorying the
food? Man, that's cruel.

Does Desmond Know Something?














Why does Desmond suggest to Jack that he might have
fixed Sarah? Does Desmond remember his encounter
with Jack in the jungle and know that Jack did fix Sarah
the way he remembers Charlie on the London street corner?
Is it merely the endorphins talking? Is it a fallback to
looking for an opportunity to evangelize Jack that he might
have learned from his time with the monks? Is he
prodding for a spiritual opening with the "lift it up" advice?

And when did Desmond have time to almost be a doctor?
Was it in this life? Another? I am ready for time on this
show to start to straighten itself out!

Why Couldn't Locke Have Waited
Three Hours?














Jack gives his stirring stump speech. The sun comes up in
3 hours and we're all going to be here to see that happen.
I promise. It was what they all needed to hear; it was what
we'd just learned from the flashback that Jack had learned
they needed to hear. And then Locke can't wait three more
hours to explore the Hatch? Is it any wonder Jack doesn't
trust anything Locke says or does anymore? Locke can be
more Every Man for Himself than even Sawyer.

In any event I guess it works for Emmy voters.
Congratulations Terry O'Quinn on your win last night!

Did Ana Lucia Know Who Jack Was?


















The interaction between Jack and Ana Lucia at the bar at
the Sydney airport is a strange one. She's just overheard
Jack shouting at the ticket agent because he needs to get
his dad's body on the plane, so she hits on him? I'm just
saying, do you really think this is the best time and
place to pick up a guy?

It would seem from the rest of their interactions on Island
and the fact that they never discuss Christian that Ana Lucia
did NOT know that Jack was the son of her aliased employer.
But her parting line to Jack in the bar, And Jack, the worst
part's over is just weird and seems to imply that she knows
more than it appears.

Justice or The Greater Good?














Episode 1.21, The Greater Good, is full of ethical
dilemmas.

First, we learn Boone wanted Jack to stop trying to save
him in part so that he, Boone, wouldn't use up the group's
antibiotics. Boone refused Jack's efforts for the greater
good of the group.

Jack in contrast is a man out for individual justice.
Locke lied to Jack, and in Jack's mind Locke must pay for
that. Jack's beatdown of Locke at the funeral and his
failure to offer medical care when Locke is shot reflects
his sense of justice and sets the tone for Jack and Locke's
interactions in Season 2.

In the flashback Assam, Sayid's friend, questions whether
the greater good of his cause and his desire for revenge for
his wife outweighs the innocent lives that will be lost in the
pursuit of those ends. Sayid in contrast has determined that
his chance to find Nadia outweighs the greater good of both
Assam's cause and Assam himself.

Locke tells Sayid that it was for the group's greater
good that Locke destroyed the transceiver and implies
that likewise putting hope in the raft is not in the
group's best interest.

Shannon like Jack is only concerned with revenge
against Locke in the form of eye for an eye justice.
(Maybe the Others should have taken her. :D)

And in the end, Sayid disagrees judging that Locke
and his skills are necessary for the greater good of the
group despite the possible injustice of Locke escaping the
consequences of Boone's death and even at the personal
cost to Sayid of Shannon's trust.

I kept expecting this notion of the greater good to
come up with respect to the Others in Season 3. But
we still haven't learned what possible greater good
Ben's Others represent in light of the actions they've
taken with respect to the survivors of Flight 815.

Their own system that we glimpsed with Juliet's trial
seemed to place higher value on justice than their own
greater good given that Juliet seems to be their last
doctor.

I know, I know, it's complicated. Still, will the Others
or the Island represent a greater good than living in
the real world? I can't wait to see.

A Wedding and














A Booneral?














When people think of Episode 1.20, Do No Harm, they
often think of the juxtaposition of Aaron's birth with
Boone's death. I think the more interesting parallel
though lies with Jack's story. Boone is dying; Jack is
determined to save him, and what flashback do we get?
A time when Jack miraculously saved (or even didn't
save) a patient? No. We get the story of his wedding.

Jack's vain attempts to save Boone lead him to remember
people in his life, his dad, his wife, who've called him the
most committed man they've ever known. The problem
we learn in the flashback, both from his dad and from Jack
himself, is that he can't let go. He doesn't want to
let go of Boone, and he doesn't let go of Sarah.

Without the rest of Jack and Sarah's flashbacks, it's
easy to get what's probably the wrong idea about Jack.
Jack's the hero in this flashback. Sarah describes how
he saved her after a car crash and how because of him
she'll dance at their wedding. Despite the fact that Jack's
unable to write wedding vows and seems to have cold
feet, he doesn't leave his bride at the altar. Instead he
commits to his new wife.

It's only after the next several Jack flashbacks that we can
more clearly see that while Jack can commit like no one
else, it seems that only applies to one thing at a time. With
the commitment to Sarah as evidenced by a ring checked off,
Jack moves on to the next commitment, saving the Italian
guy with the hot daughter. The exposition in Do No Harm
indicates it's less than a year after this wedding
that Sarah leaves Jack because his commitment to her has
been replaced with a commitment to something else.

One definition of the verb "commit" is "to do; perform."
This is the type of commitment that really drives Jack
Shephard. Jack accuses Kate of being unable to stand still,
but I think the accusation fits him as well. Jack needs
something to do and more specifically something to fix.

A dying patient and your wedding. Facially not a lot in common,
but for Jack, Boone's death is another instance where despite
his determination to commit, Jack has failed.

Where Did Jack Learn to Shoot?














In Episode 1.15, Homecoming Ethan threatens
to kill our LOSTies one by one unless Charlie brings
him Claire. Kate of course wants to get out the guns
and go after him, but the ever cautious Dr. Shephard
replies:

I am not putting guns in untrained hands.

But after Scott's death everything changes. Jack shows
Locke he has the guns and says: I'm guessing you know
how to handle one of these?. Locke takes out the clip
and puts it back which signals to the TV viewers that yes,
yes he does know how to handle one of these, and we know
his dad taught him how to shoot as well. Later Charlie
wants to come with them, but Jack refuses on the grounds
Charlie does not know how to use a gun. Instead Jack
chooses to take Sayid, a soldier and Sawyer, who took
6 or 8 shots to take down the polar bear and was unable
to successfully kill the Marshal.

But here's the thing -- who taught Jack how to handle
weapons? Now if he was like my doctor husband, born and
raised in Tennessee, I would know the answer to that
question. After all, my 8-year-old just got a BB gun for
his birthday. But Jack's from Los Angeles, and his dad
was a workaholic, so where did Jack learn to shoot and not
just handguns, but hunting guns as well?

Should Locke "Wacky Paste" Jack
To End His Savior Complex?














In Hearts and Minds, Locke leads Boone on a vision quest
so that Boone can let go of Shannon and his need to rescue
her. Maybe Locke should have wacky pasted Jack whose
Savior Complex puts Boone's in the shade.

Hearts and Minds is an underappreciated episode I think.
Since both it's main characters are dead, it's easy to forget
this episode that came midway through Season 1. It's a
very enjoyable episode, though it certainly lacks the dramatic
tension that existed on its first viewing, but still a number
of things happen.

It's Jatey, if you're in to that. Hurley and his scenes with Jack,
Michael, and especially Jin are fabulous. "Pee on it man!" Sun's
garden is introduced. Kate learns Sun speaks Korean. Sawyer
crosses with Boone in Australia. And we learn that the Island
has something strange going on that affects compasses.

There was only one outstanding question I had following this
episode. Boone says that Shannon was married, but isn't now.
Who was Shannon married to and what happened and most of
all, does it matter?