locke-ben-lost

I’m changing up the format this week. I still have a few questions but mostly just aimless observations…


The 2 biggest questions I had from last night were #1) How did Locke end up in the wheelchair in the “flash side-ways universe” (FSU), and #2) How did Ben end up as a history teacher?

First, we’ll focus on FSU Locke. I knew his life was different than we remembered it when he cracked an ironic smile while lying helplessly on his front lawn amidst the sprinklers. I was about to yell “Cue Peg Bundy!” when she appeared to help him. In the original time line of the show they broke up when John couldn’t stop obsessing over his father (Season 2, Episode 17), which was obviously before Locke was thrown out the window and before he got on Oceanic 815. This adds to the evidence of the castaway’s having slightly different pre-Oceanic 815 lives in the FSU than they did in the original time line; like Shannon staying in Australia, Hurley being lucky, etc.

But back to the question…how did he end up paralyzed? Locke’s fiance clearly states that they should have his father at the wedding, meaning he couldn’t have pushed him out the window. So what DID happen???

The other question I have goes a lot deeper, because it deals with what exactly happened to the Island from FSU 1977-2004. Did “The Incident” (Juliet setting off the nuke) create the FSU? We know that the Island is currently at the bottom of the ocean but we don’t have proof that the nuke caused that. And bringing it back to Ben as the history teacher, what happened to the non-flashers that were on the island in 1977?

The flashers (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Sayid) obviously re-joined the original time line’s present day, but we don’t know the fate of the Others and Dharma peeps in the FSU. We can assume that Ethan, who we know was a baby when Dr. Pierre Chang listened to Daniel Farraday and evacuated the women and children from the Island pre-Incident, was one of the people that got off safely, explaining how he could be Claire’s doctor in the FSU.

But what about Ben? The last we left him in 1977 he had been taken to the Temple by Richard and then Widmore told him that he was one of them now. Could he have been returned to Dharmaville in time to board a submarine with the rest of the children, allowing him to lead a normal life as a history teach 27 years later? According to Lostpedia’s July 1977 Post-return time line, Ben was saved by the Others on Day 3 and it wasn’t until late on Day 4 that The Incident occurred, making it possible that Ben got on that sub. We won’t know the fate of non-flashers who stayed on the Island until we have a run-in with FSU Widmore or Eloise, or perhaps evidence that they were never heard from after 1977.

Now that I got all that out here are some rapid-fire observations…

* Sawyer was the man, again. I love how he can kill a bottle of whiskey and still be the only guy smart enough to figure out that old Locke was scared and confused and new Locke grew a pair and was a confident guy.

* Who was the kid in the jungle? Jacob as a boy, perhaps? When he said “You know the rules, you can’t kill him” maybe he was referring to Sawyer. Perhaps it was Jacob reminding MonsterLocke that he can’t kill candidates?? I’m reaching here.

* Back to the whole MonsterLocke needing to find the loophole to kill Jacob…I really hope we get more explanations there and that it ties in directly with why Widmore and Ben can’t kill each other.

* When Jacob said “They’re coming” before his death he most likely meant The Candidates (Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, and Jin or Sun) and not Ilana and her crew.

* Why wasn’t Kate’s name in the cave? She was special enough to flash out of the Ajira plane and special enough for Jacob to have visited her and manipulated her to get on Oceanic 815, but apparently no longer a candidate.

* I’m guessing Jin is the candidate and not Sun because she didn’t flash out of Ajira, but who knows…

* I guess that explains The Numbers…a little bit.

* Richard made it clear to Sawyer that MonsterLocke “wants all of them dead.” We have to assume that by killing (or having someone else kill) all of the candidates that it could somehow free MonsterLocke to go home. It is becoming more and more likely that THIS is the “war” that Widmore was talking about with Locke (Season 5, Episode 7). Does that mean Widmore is on the Monster’s side?

* It is becoming increasingly clear that Richard isn’t all that powerful and doesn’t know all that much. He certainly has more answers than the Others like to give the Survivors (or us viewers, for that matter) but he is certainly not a strong force, especially with Jacob dead.

* Frank Lapidis has been KILLING his 1 line per episode, a la Creed from The Office.

* Was that Walt who directed Locke to the teacher’s lounge? Kind of looked like him…racism not intended. Even if it wasn’t him it was definitely a sly jab from the creators to make sure nobody fell asleep.

* I love how EVERY person they reveal in the FSU is somebody we know. Ethan is the doctor, Rose at the temp agency…I was half expecting to see Sayid driving Kate’s cab (racism intended). Seriously, they basically had to blur out the face of the guy who delivered Locke’s luggage because they didn’t want viewers to get excited and start theorizing, like “Wait, pause it! Was that one of Widmore’s men!?!”

* MonsterLocke told Sawyer that “People seldom get a 2nd chance.” I think that’s important. What is also important is the way he described Sawyer’s 3 options when it comes to his candidacy. While he is likely deceiving him and simply recruiting a soldier, it is very possible that he was honest when he said that the Island was just an island and didn’t need to be protected from anything. This could go back to the timeless struggle between Jacob and his nemesis, exemplified by the white and black rocks. If you read anything in this post read this: I think the series will come down to the key disagreement between Jacob and his nemesis:

“They come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.”

“It only ends once. Everything that happens before that is just progress.”


I’ll leave you with a scene between Jack and Locke that looks eerily similar to the exchange between Jacob and his nemesis…




And with a prediction…Jack will be the winning Candidate. Sheppard in ‘07!!!