Who's Coercing You Now John?













In one of my least favorite LOST episodes ever, young cop Eddie tells Locke that he was targeted to take down the pot farm because Locke would be "amenable for coercion." I'm still wondering if this is why the Island/Jacob has chosen Locke as well. Is Locke going to turn out to be the mere puppet as he feared in "?" or will he ever be the master of his fate, the captain of his soul?

Similarly, is this why Jacob/Ben should not have chosen Walt? Mobisode 6 shows Walt isn't very amenable at least to the Others' methods.

Finally, would a guy who lived on a pot farm be on your "good" list if you were Jacob? I guess the answer is yes if good means amenable for coercion. Was young Ben similarly amenable? How about Rose who was also healed?

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?

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 Shannon?













Why does Walt communicate with Shannon? It wasn't like
they were close before he left on the raft. He was much
closer to Locke and to Hurley than to Shannon. Is it
really Vincent he's trying to communicate with? And why
is it that Walt's communications which seem to be warnings
actually have the opposite effect leading Shannon first
into danger and finally to her death?

Is Vincent Smokey or Does Jacob
Just Use Vincent Because He's A
Dog Person?

In Man of Science, Man of Faith Vincent goes missing
which leads to Shannon and Sayid chasing him into the
jungle which leads to our first Season 2 encounter with
the whispers and a wet Walt saying Don't push the button;
the button is bad backwards. There have been several
instances when Vincent has led the 815 survivors to
places or encounters on the Island. Just a dog running
away or is Jacob using him? And just for the record, a
guy with a painting of a dog in his house, can't be all bad.

What Vibe Was Locke Channeling To
Walt?















In Born to Run Walt seeks out Locke to tell him he
did not poison Michael to prevent them from leaving on the
raft. The conversation is straight forward and normal until
Locke reaches out and grasps Walt's arms in a gesture designed
to demonstrate their friendship and trust.

But that's not how Walt reacts to it. He pulls away and starts
jabbering:

Walt: Don't open it.
Locke: What'd you say?
Walt: Don't open it, Mr. Locke. Don't open that thing.
Locke: What? What thing? What are you...
Walt: Just don't open it.

On whose behalf is Walt delivering this message and
what was it about Locke's touching Walt that triggered
its delivery?

Was Naomi Flying Because of
Michael and Walt?















In Born to Run Michael and Walt have the following
conversation.

Walt: When we get rescued we're going to come back for
everybody else, right?
Michael: Yeah, sure, of course. The thing is... this island...
uh, is uh... finding it again might be hard.
Walt: Can't we fly around and look for it?
Michael: Absolutely, but there's no guarantees.

So my question is, was Naomi flying around looking because
of Michael and Walt? Now I don't mean to suggest that
Michael found Hurley's millions and put this operation into
place, but I won't be surprised to find that Michael and
Walt are sitting on a certain freighter and giving the
people on it information to help pinpoint its location just
like Michael told Waaaaalllllttttt.

Did Locke Add Accelerant To
Walt's Fire?

















In Episode 1.17, In Translation, the raft goes
up in smoke, and we learn at the end that Walt was the
one who set the fire. But after watching Season 3's
Locke Explosion Tour, I wonder if the reason Locke knew
Walt set the fire was that he added a little fuel to
flames as well.

Walt tells Locke the reason he set the fire was that he
didn't want to move again, but he also tells Michael he
wants to help rebuild the raft, and by the end of Season 1
Walt definitely wants to leave the Island. So what
changes for Walt? And why didn't Locke who is now
bound and deteremined to keep anyone from leaving the
Island do something to stop raft #2, guards set by Michael
notwithstanding? For that matter, why didn't the Others?
But then I guess they did when they took Walt and left
the rest of the Rafties for dead.

And finally, who would you bet on in this
backgammon game?

Is This a Case of the Universe
Course Correcting?














Michael has just told Susan he's coming to Amsterdam
for Walt and what happens? Bam! He's hit by a car
and taken out of comission for over a year. And during
that year Susan is able to get Michael to cede his
parental rights. As a result Walt travels the world and is
raised by his mother and his adoptive father Brian until
he's taken to Australia and eventually boards the doomed
Flight 815.

It's been noted that the car that hits Michael or one that
looks a lot like it has appeared repeatedly on LOST. Is
it being driven by Mrs. Hawking or someone like her to
insure that Walt and Michael end up on Flight 815 in
September of 2004?














And what about the polar bear's appearance? Did Walt
summon it like he appeared to summon the bird back in
Australia? Is this a case of things happening when Walt
is around that Brian hinted at? Did Walt "see" the polar
bear the way he "saw" throwing the knife into the tree
earlier in the episode? Or is this another case of course
correction?

Michael and Walt are very estranged in this episode. Walt
has no interest in Michael's raft project. He has nothing
but disdain for this come lately father of his, at least until
he's rescued from a polar bear. Is the universe insuring that
Walt allows Michael to be his father now and only now that
whatever needs to be in place is in place?

Or as the whispers suggest is the Island trying to grab Walt
now? Is the polar bear another version of Cerberus sent
to collect Walt?














And who has a Dharma logo shaped room in their house?
Susan and Brian and Walt did. Does this mean Susan or Brian
worked for Dharma? Mittelos? Naomi's people? Susan and
Brian did spend years in Europe where they may have
encountered or even worked for the Hanso Foundation.

According to TPTB there's something special about Special.
What do you think?

Are Richard Alpert and Walt Lloyd
Time Travelers?













If fools are enslaved by time and space, get out a jester
hat and a stick with bells on it because when it comes to
trying to figure out what's going on with time on LOST,
I'm lost. But the book The Time Traveler's Wife has
a theory of time travel that I can get my head around, and
I wonder if it can be used to explain how Richard Alpert
looks the same both above and below this text.












The idea in the book is that Henry, the time traveler,
can move from the present day at his present age both
forward and backward in time. So, for example, when
it is 1994 and Henry is 30, he could time travel and his
30 year old self could go back to 1988, but he would still
be 30 or it could go to 1998, but he would still be 30.

So could that explain non-aging Richard Alpert? When
Ben is doing his best young Harry Potter impression at
age 10 or so Alpert is 35. Then when Ben is 40, Alpert's
35 year old self has time traveled to 2004. Could that
also explain why Ben is in charge because the rest of the
Others only think that Alpert is 35 and hasn't been there
as long as Ben? Could it also explain why Alpert is the only
one we've seen off the Island after we saw him on the Island
(in chronological time) because he time traveled to Miami
in order to recruit Juliet?

And is a similar thing going on with












Through the Looking Glass Walt?

But in Walt's case, instead of age 10 Walt in December 2004
and points forward, we've got some form of future Walt,
be it age 13, 15, however old the actor is now.

Let me know what you think. And don't ask me about Desmond.
I've got no way to explain his time traveling or flashes. Though
the hero in the book was naked every time he traveled, other than
that I've got no links to Desmond.

Questions from Tabula Rasa







After rewatching Episode 1.3, Tabula Rasa, I've got some questions.
Answer as many or as few as you'd like.

1. Would you trust Kate?
2. Would you lie so that others would not lose hope?
3. Should Kate have told everyone what she did?
4. Why isn't Kate in jail in the Flash Forward? Has she stopped running?
5. Jack has to finish what Kate and Sawyer started in trying to end the Marshal's suffering. Is it Jack's destiny to clean up the mess Kate and Sawyer leave behind?
6. Is Kate's real issue running or going back?
7. Why didn't the Island heal the Marshal?
8. Did Walt make the rain stop?
9. Jack says they died 3 days ago (Purgartory? JK) and that they should all be able to start over, but do they? Or do they stay who they are for ill as well as good?








10. Why did Charlie change FATE to LATE on his fingers?








11. Did anything ever happen between Michael and Sun?