It had been so long since I'd thought about Hanso that I went to Lostpedia to refresh my memory. Apparently there was a ton of backstory in some of the tangential Lost web videos and games that the producers consider canon. I hadn't seen this until now, but this sentence in his bio really sticks out to me:

Alvar Hanso first made his mark during the Second World War, providing munitions to various resistance movements around Europe. After the War, Hanso became the leading purveyor of high-technology armaments for NATO.

Is Hanso responsible for Jughead?

Wow, how have I not seen this before? Especially since CC and DL consider this canon?

Yeah when I saw that video I was like: "Why the hell have they not worked this into the show?"

Seriously. It explains the numbers fer chrissakes! Or at least a better explanation than I've ever seen.

I'm glad they haven't worked the video into the show. It is ridiculous.

They obviously wouldn't work the whole video into the show, but why not include some of the facts within?

This precise angle hadn't occurred to me, but I am 100% behind it.

edit: as far as literary references go, I imagine that the differences between "alice in wonderland" and "alice through the looking glass" would probably correspond somehow to the differences between the first three seasons and the final three.

Michael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus on ABC’s LOST, says that the season finale for Season Five will make you want to eat your soul.

Yes, the video itself is ridiculous, but tying Hanso to the Dharma initiative while explaining the numbers certainly isn't.

Each season finale has one-upped the previous one, so this is expected.

I hadn't even considered the possibility that they successfully detonate Jughead until I read that quote from Michael Emerson. I just don't understand how they think that detonating a nuclear weapon on an island that small won't obliterate them. Sure, it will prevent the plane crash from happening, but dead is dead, right? I can't get my head around that paradox. After reading Emerson's quote, it now seems possible that the season ends with a nuclear detonation, because I really can't imagine where the show would go in season six if they actually changed the fate of Flight 815.

As for the other shocker, it certainly involves the Ben, Locke and Richard subplot. If I had to guess, I'll stick with what I've been saying all season...that Jack is Jacob. Locke will have to make the decision on whether to kill Jack or not at the end of the episode. Having said that, my batting average on Lost predictions is lower than Jim Abbott's career batting average, so that's definitely not how it will end.

I don't think the season 3 finale has been topped yet. That episode is a masterpiece.

My Order:
Season 3 Finale > Season 1 Finale > Season 4 Finale > Season 2 Finale

The producers have said they are trying to avoid time paradoxes. Based on that alone, I don't think they'll detonate the bomb.
I think they'll be at the Swan for "the incident", but things will go different than they did previously. I think it will change what happens to the Losties in 2007, but in ways they and the audience do not expect.

I'm honestly starting to think the Dharma initiative is just not that important. I don't think they have any huge secrets or role to play above and beyond tampering with the islands energy/causing the plane crash. At this point it seems like they serve as an obstacle for the main characters but that's about it. I think when the series was going to stretch on for however many unknown seasons the DI was going to have more back story filled in but when they set the firm end date for the show they had to cut out a lot of that inessential back story.

There are still unanswered questions about Dharma like why they were making food drops years after seemingly being wiped out and their history with the others (the initial conflict, the truce, the purge).

of those, the only one of those questions I think they need to answer is, why was Dharma still making food drops in 2004?

the rest, fill in the blanks....
Hanso/DeGroots find this island with weird properties. They send people there to do experiments. Conflict with the "hostiles", truce.

That's what I'm saying. Once the cat is out of the bag, we'll really know what's going on. I am guessing Alvar is an island native who is trying to harness the power of the island or something. So, he puts together this whole charade called the Dharma Initiative, where 90% of the experiments are crap, or a front of some kind. Then, he kills off his own "people" and the real experiments begin: by Ben/Richard: who are his real clan.

I think people like Chang have no idea what's going on, and people like that dude who beat the shit out of Sawyer do.

I think most likely dharma knew that despite the purge there was someone still in the hatch pushing the button who needed supplies.

Crap. I totally forgot about that Thomas Mittelwork dude and I never saw that Alvar Hanso confession video (next click on youtube).

Maybe Mittelwork is the one working with Richard and maybe the Purge is the evil that Alvar is partially talking about.

Methinks Mittlework is going to be the Emperor, if that analogy is indeed true. Maybe he is an island native.

Damn, dudes, lots of great LOST shit on you tube now compared to before. Check out the clues clips.

Crazy: I didn't remember Walt make that bird crash into his window. And, in one of the mobisodes with Juliet and Ben, he makes all kinds of birds crash and die.

I meant in terms of plot events: Island moving > Contact with freighter > hatch blowing up > Walt getting kidnapped.

I forgot about that video, which is indeed nuts. Lots of talk about changing the numbers (constants), changing destiny, etc. Hmmm

If you didn't watch "next week on Lost", at the end of last week's episode, stop reading.

If you did see that it's obvious that Saywer, Juliet & Kate get back to the island. How do they get back?
Is the sub called back? Does Sawyer hijack that tub? Does the island want them back, so they get zapped to wherever they need to be?

Season 3: Losties finally confront the others, Charlie dies after talking with Penny, Jack contacts the freighter, We find out that Jack and Kate make it off the island, plus the coffin and the flash-forward reveal.

Season 4 finale was mostly a continuation of Season 3 finale. We saw HOW they made it off the island, concluded the freighter story, and found out it was Locke in the coffin.

Still great stuff but not nearly as game-changing (except for the island moving, which was still a reaction to the freighter finding the island).



Kate convinces them to go back by telling them Jack is going to nuke the island.

The Season 3 finale is possibly the greatest (or at least the most exciting and satisfying) two hours of television that I have ever watched. I think I spent the rest of that night thinking about how great the show was and comprehending what had just happened.

Bring on the "soul eating".

My guess is:

A: Sawyer was always planning to come back and will stage a mutiny. I am thinking the sub will stop off at that place Charlie pushed the button.
B: Horace frees them.
C: Kate tells Sawyer Jacks plan and he turns the sub around.

Dudes, watch these on youtube:

LOST CLUES, CLUES & MORE CLUES (1 of 7), etc.

It's like a bunch of really neat clips you probably forgot about. Ben talking to Locke in Season 2, Eko talking about the book of law, etc. It looks like there are 7 of them.

Really enjoyable.

I totally forgot about that crazy green bird that says Hurley's name when Michael's gun malfunctions, and I didn't recall the convo between Hurley and the dude who gave him the numbers. When he says that when he played them he "opened the box" and now it "won't stop". Crazy.

I think Doc Jensen's (or the dark UFO dude) theory that Hurley is the variable makes even more sense now. He's always the one who is not supposed to be there, and when you think about it, his playing the numbers might have started this whole stretch of time loop.

THINK: Is there something to be thought about the name "Alvar Hanso" as a variation of "Han Solo"? And does that have anything to do with Hurley?

You know, w/o Hurley, Ethan wouldn't have ever been found out.

Makes one think...

In that article I am referencing (either Dark UFO Vozzek or Doc Jensen, I read both): he makes a compelling case about Hurley. Ben asks him on the plane: "who told you to come". He wasn't supposed to be on the original plane. He's the only one who can see the cabin. The others captured everyone else and let Hurley go. Etc. It was kind of neat, but after reading that, and the long list of shit that distinquishes Hurley, I think in the end he's gonna be more than a laugh reel.



Nah. Han Solo didn't have an accent.

The producers are far too aware of the show's major criticisms (ie. Kate is annoying, Rose and Bernard are pointless, Hurley doesn't fit the mythology) to not directly address these points on the show. Look at "Expose"! The producers know what they're doing.

I love the way the Smoke Monster was addressed this season; it maintained the mystery while also thematically expanding and illuminating its place in the narrative and mythology.

The strength of Lost's storytelling is that big reveals and answers are always delivered through a compelling narrative, not just exposition and "catch-up" scenes. We could have just been read a tablet about the monsters' purpose; instead, we got an entire episode of Ben and Locke greatness, with the Smoke Monster as almost an afterthought. It's brilliant.

EDIT:

I was reading about how Eko was originally supposed to become unstuck in time, not Desmond, and it really made me wish that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje could have just gotten the fuck along with everyone else.

How awesome would it be to have Eko's journey through time parallel to Locke's journey toward the truth of the island?

I then rewatched "The 23rd Psalm", and I noticed a shit load of clues as to Mr. Eko's time travel. at one point, Claire asks him about his scripture stick, and he tells her that the words are "things I need to remember." So the scripture stick would have played a huge role in the time traveling adventures of Mr. Eko.

Fucking shame dude.

Interesting how my favorite character on the show went from being Mr. Eko to Desmond then. I guess it made more sense for Desmond in the long run, given his connection with the key player that is Charles Widmore. But I caught a glimpse of an old episode of Lost with Eko in it recently (the one where his brother died, whatever that one was called) and his character was awesome. I still hope that maybe the actor can make nice and do a cameo or something if one is called for next year.

Just throwing it out there, and maybe it's been mentioned somewhere, but does anyone think that there might be a reason we've had two (three, really) characters named Charles in this show? It seems like the writers pay too close of attention to just brush something like that off as coincidence, and with the theory of Jack = Jacob picking up steam lately (I hope it's true, it probably won't be), I'm wondering if there are going to be some other connections. I don't think Charles = Charlie at all, but what if... Charles is Charlie II, and he gets sent back and then spawns his own mother? That would be too weird for me, but I'm wondering if there is something there or if they just did it for no good reason.

I've not seen a single episode of this show. Is it worth watching at this point? Worth catching up?

Only if you like to eat your own soul, apparently.

Don't watch the season finale. Use the hiatus to catch up via DVD or whatever, then watch the final season week-by-week. Being able to catch up at your own pace makes the show a little easier to manage, I think.



Yeah, that's "The 23rd Psalm". That was when they were still planning on Eko being the time-traveler. There are a lot of clues in the episode that point in that direction.

Hate to post twice in a row, but I think I might've just figured something really fucking crazy out.

Crazy theory for the day:

In "316", Jack visits his granddad Ray at the nursing home. The producers obviously didn't throw this in there for no reason. In fact, the less important any scene seems, the more important it'll turn out to be down the line.

Well, Ray is kind of a cowboyish, and talks about how he wants to pack up and go, no matter where. Many people are speculating about Ray possibly being a familiar character, who has aged due to time travel. I don't really buy the "Ray is Jacob" or "Ray is Jack" theories, because nothing in the scene supports that. But Ray's familiarity is undeniable. Then, once he asked if Jack was still seeing "the real pretty" girl "with all the freckles," it became clear.

Jack notices that Ray packed a bag to run away from the nursing home. Ray says that he packs Christian's shoes for his "quick getaways." The way he says it seems awfully specific...like we're supposed to infer something from it. The nursing home manager even says "he's gotta start following the rules." Jack isn't much of a rule-breaking runaway, and I'm pretty sure Ray isn't Kate...

Then, it occurred to me just how sarcastic Ray is about everything. He says he would really miss his magic shows if they kicked him out, phrasing the line in a style we've heard before. [edited to add: the magic show involves a "fraidy cat rabbit"...a white rabbit] He has no respect for authority or rules, plus he's got a familiar sense of humor...

Ray and Jack have a very strange interaction in general. Ray seems to know more than he's letting on, and his banter with his grandson doesn't feel...familial. Like, at all. He kind of regards Jack like...an old friend...

Then, I looked real close at him.

...and I realized that Sawyer is Jack's fucking granddad.

Holy shit. I mean, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure all the clues are there. Watch the scene again and think of Sawyer's mannerisms and delivery, then just imagine him as an old man, with a little less southern twang.

edit:

This also would add a lot of incredible pathos to the first season bar scene between Christian and Sawyer and the resulting conversation between Sawyer and Jack.

Maybe Ray escaped from the home that day to find Hurley and convince him to get on the plane. When Jack greets Hurley at the airport, Hurley has this really strange reaction to seeing him, then secretively tells him that "all that matters is that I'm here, right?" That sounds like a line old-ass Sawyer fed him when Hurley asked what to tell Jack about how he was convinced to go. This totally lines up with Hurley's speech in "Some Like it Hoth", as well as the general father/son craziness of the show. Plus, if Sawyer stays in 1977, he'd be around Ray's age, I think.

I definitly think Jacks grandfather is important and/or a former resident of the island. As to it being Sawyer i'll have to watch the scene again to see if i can pick up any of Sawyers mannerisms but i'd really think Jack would recognize him? We've seen no evidence (i don't think) that excessive time travel can change your appearance to such a degree. Although I guess Sawyer being a con man if he didn't want Jack to ever recognize him he prolly could have pulled something off.

I was kinda thinking he escaped the home because somehow he knew there was a plane headed back to the island and as a former resident he wanted to go back.

Jack's grandpa looks just enough like Sawyer to be completely plausible without being obvious.

edit: yeah, Sawyer being a con man is one of the main pieces of circumstantial evidence in my theory. He would have to have done it with some serious skill.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Sawyer is Jack's biological grandpa, just that Sawyer is Ray Shepard, whatever that actually entails.

ogawa, you should definitely do it. lost is a little sloppy on the whole, not nearly as tight as some of the other all-time tv series like the wire, but it's also mind-bogglingly intricate, unusually intelligent (shades of primer), full of interesting, well-developed characters and more thematic layering than seems obvious at first. the first two seasons (three, really) have a good deal of slack, but by the end of the third it's clear that some of the foot-dragging episodes were worth watching, just to get to that point.

you've got 9 months til the show comes back. borrow the dvds from the library (or netflix if library isn't an option), take your time with the first few seasons, stream the fifth off abc.com, and you'll still probably find yourself with an interminable wait until the season premiere.

Crazy theory. I love it. There is obviously more to Ray than meets the eye.
I still think Charlie is going to be the one who tells Hugo to get on the plane and to grab a guitar case

The Ray theory is pretty out-there but it might actually be possible. If Sawyer is left behind in the 70's while the rest of the Losties go back to the future that would put him at about that age.

Why'd he leave?

because he is a little bitch

Ha, pretty much. He wanted to work on making a biopic about himself or some BS. I really liked his character too.

Like the Ray=Sawyer theory. You gotta figure at least one of the Losties gets stuck in 1977 to become an old person in 2004/2007.

I was reading a few episode recaps. One thing that's still hanging out there is why Ben killed Locke when he mentioned Eloise. The motivations of all the different characters in regards to wanting or not wanting the O6 to return is clear as mud.

also, it seems he didn't play well with other cast members as he would spend all his time on set "in character"

I just watched some scenes with him also. Huge loss. If he was going to be a major player: the show lost a lot there. No pun intended.

In the long run it's his loss though. LOST is going to be run as re-runs when we are 80.

I think Jack would recognize his grandpa, right?

I really like that Sawyer as Jack's granddad scenario, it's just insane enough to be a possibility. Several things bothered me about that scene, and I knew there was a reason they showed us parts of that scene twice. Most of all, it was odd that a guy in his mid to late 30s like Jack would have a grandpa that was so young. That guy didn't look much older than 70, which is about the age Sawyer would be in 2008 if he ended up getting stuck in 1977. Plus, I could see Sawyer having to make a decision to stay behind in 1977 so that everyone else could go home. He's become one of the heroes of the show. His character's arc doesn't get as much attention as Jack and Locke's, but it's every bit as drastic. He was one of the show's villains a couple seasons ago.

If Sawyer is Jack's grandfather, why hasn't Christian shown any interest in Sawyer?

That reminds me that Sawyer and Christian actually had a few drinks together in an Australian bar back in a season 1 flashback.