The central theme here was the tale of the Kahana freighter, who they were working for, and why they’d come to the island. In true LOST fashion, we know almost all of what we initially wanted to know about the freighter people, but their appearance on the show opens up a new dimension that some of us had only theorized – Widmore is a central player in the show’s mythology, and he’s got some kind of connection to the island that connects with a competition between himself and Ben. While we’ll get little glimmers of this battle in Season Five, I think the larger resolution of this conflict is yet to be seen.
This season also showed us how new characters need to be introduced. None of this Nikki and Paulo stuff; we need characters with mysterious backgrounds that, once revealed, still make them relevant and important elements on the show. Enter Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, and Frank – four extremely interesting and entertaining (Charlotte’s not a comedian, sure, but I can at least appreciate another redhead on television) characters who still haven’t quite met up their full potential, so I’ll be looking for at least Miles and Frank in Season Six (and perhaps Daniel, if the Jughead plan worked, which I think it did).
Season Four is pivotal in my “Locke is going to save everyone” theory since Locke finally stops running away from his destiny and accepts his newfound responsibility as the leader of The Others – “Welcome home,” Richard tells him, suggesting that this is where he’s meant to be. But there’s something extremely sorrowful in this moment, too, both because I have a feeling Locke’s being used by Jacob’s nemesis and because Ben’s farewell to Locke seems so tragically sincere that I truly believe Ben has come to regret the things he’s done to Locke. Oh, wait; Ben (SPOILERS) kills Locke next season. Forget that.
I’m also very curious – even more so after Season Four – about these apparitions on the island. Come to think of it, they almost always appear when a character “has work to do” (Jack, Locke, Michael) or is running headlong toward their destiny (young Ben, Eko, and perhaps Shannon). It seems by this point that the apparitions are manifestations of the black smoke monster, something that’s going to be reinforced when Ben comes to The Temple to be judged. To what end remains to be seen, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it all has to do with the plot to kill Jacob.
Holy guacamole. I think I just figured it out. Locke’s favorite game is Mouse Trap, remember? The object of that game is to get all the pieces in place so that, by the time you spring your trap, your opponent never sees it coming. What if Jacob and his nemesis have been playing a colossal game of Mouse Trap on the island, and everything we’ve seen so far has been the nemesis (sometimes as the smoke monster, which I maintain is his alternate form) getting his pieces into place in order to spring a trap on Jacob? More on that in the next roundup, when we actually meet Jacob and his nemesis.
And now for our Questions roundup: Of our 148 lingering questions, 30 have now been answered, leaving 118 still remaining (these 118 will continue to carry over to subsequent roundups until they are answered). In Season Four, I asked 93 questions, 40 of which were answered within the season; this leaves 53 questions for future seasons to answer. That brings our running total of lingering questions to 171. Unlike with previous seasons, I took my responsibility seriously and didn’t ask a single smartass question.
Asked and Answered – Lingering Questions:
- Michael promises to find Vincent “as soon as it stops raining.” Immediately, it stops raining. Is this situational humor, or is there something special about Walt? – I’m closing the book on this one. Walt’s special.
- Walt keeps rolling what he needs in backgammon and says he’s the luckiest person his step-dad knows – is there something supernatural at play? – Closing the book on this, too.
- Are The Numbers cursed? – By this point, it certainly looks that way.
- How does Walt know about the hatch? – I’m closing most of the books on Walt in this roundup; Walt touched Locke and learned about the hatch. Presto.
- How does Locke know so much about babies? – It’s subtle, but Locke grew up in a foster home with a baby; it’s likely he learned there.
- Was Goodwin going to kill Ana Lucia? – Ben says that Goodwin truly believed Ana Lucia could change and be worthy of being on the list.
- Why did Pickett take Michael’s blood? – Pickett likely wanted to make sure that Michael was Walt’s father.
- Why won’t Michael be able to return to the island? – Ben was yanking his chain; Michael still has work to do.
- Are The Others really “the good guys”? – I think at this stage of the game, they’re the better guys, and Widmore’s really the bad guy.
- Why isn’t Kate Tom Friendly’s “type”? – Tom’s gay.
- Why is Karl being held captive? – Ben doesn’t want him getting Alex pregnant.
- Why stay on this island if The Others can leave all along? – The Others believe they’ve been chosen by Jacob.
- Who is Jacob? – He’s the real leader of The Others.
- Does Widmore have an island connection as the paintings in his office suggest? – He certainly does, since he’s pursuing the island, but we don’t know quite why.
- Why was Locke’s paralysis cured immediately, but Ben has been allowed to suffer? – Locke is chosen to be the new leader of The Others.
- Why can’t women give birth after conceiving on the island? – Their immune system turns on the fetus.
- How did the parachutist get the photograph of Desmond and Penny? – Widmore.
- Who is the parachutist working for? – Charles Widmore.
- How does the parachutist know Desmond’s name? – She’s working for Widmore.
- Is Sun going to be okay? – She gives birth off-island just fine.
- What’s the deal with the Flight 815 discovered by those not on the island? How can that be? – Charles Widmore faked the crash of Flight 815 because he knows they’re really on the island, which he wants for himself.
- Why is Ben so afraid of Jacob? – Jacob is apparently a very powerful man.
- How did a group of low-tech Hostiles purge the island? – Ben used The Tempest, a gassing Dharma station on the island.
- What is The Temple? – It’s a secure place used by The Others.
- Is Kate pregnant? – No.
- What forces are attacking the island? – Widmore.
- Who’s in the coffin? – John Locke.
- If it’s not Penny’s boat, whose is it? – Widmore.
- Who else makes it off the island? – The Oceanic 6 (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron), Desmond, Frank, Ben, and Locke.
- In the flashforward, who’s going to wonder where Kate is? – Aaron.
Asked and Answered – Season Four:
- Who else is in the Oceanic 6? – Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron.
- Why did only six return? – That’s all the helicopter could accommodate.
- What makes Ben think the freighter people are trouble? – Ben knows what Charles Widmore is up to.
- Who does Matthew Abaddon really work for? – Widmore.
- Matthew Abaddon asks, “Are they still alive?” Who’s he looking for, and *are* they still alive? – It’s open to interpretation. He could be asking about his science team, or he could be looking for the rest of Flight 815.
- What’s Christian doing in Jacob’s cabin? – Christian speaks on Jacob’s behalf.
- Why do the freighter people have gas masks and guns if they’re on a rescue mission? – They’re actually not. They’re supposed to find Ben and kill everyone else.
- What is the primary objective of the freighter crew? – Find Benjamin Linus.
- Is Miles’s ability for real? – Certainly seems that way by season’s end.
- How did the Dharma bear make it to Tunisia? – One can infer that the bear turned the frozen wheel at one point, since it’s in the same place that Ben lands after doing so.
- Why was Charlotte so happy to see the Hydra logo? – Charlotte implies she was born on the island and has been trying to find her place of birth.
- Who planted all the bodies underwater in Oceanic wreckage? – Charles Widmore.
- Why would someone fake Oceanic wreckage? – Widmore wants to prevent anyone else from finding the island.
- Why can’t Minkowski come to the phone? – He’s having flashes just like Desmond.
- Does Ben really know about the monster or not? – He can summon the monster; he’s a liar.
- Who is Ben’s spy on the freighter? – Michael.
- What’s Locke’s interest in Miles? – Locke wants to know who the freighter people are working for.
- What’s the significance of the bracelet that Naomi and Elsa both have? – Damon & Carlton say none, so okay.
- Why would Sayid work for Ben? – Sayid is trying to avenge Nadia.
- Assuming he's not posing as one of the Oceanic 6, how did Ben get off the island? – By turning the frozen wheel, Ben was transported off-island into the future.
- Why is Locke holding Miles prisoner? – Locke’s motives are unclear, but he wants information out of Miles and is using him as a hostage of sorts.
- Who were the two that allegedly survived the crash but aren’t considered part of the Oceanic 6? – According to the extended version of “There’s No Place Like Home,” Charlie, Boone, and Libby all survived. Continuity error, I guess.
- What happened to the helicopter? – It got caught in space/time and didn’t quite land “on time.”
- How did Kate get a hold of Aaron, and why would Claire let him leave the island without her? – Claire left Aaron in the jungle to be with Christian, where Aaron was retrieved by Sawyer and brought to Kate.
- Why can’t the freighter communicate with Penelope? Who told them not to? – Widmore.
- Who sabotaged the radio equipment on the freighter? – Michael.
- Why does Widmore want to find the island? – Ben suggests there’s a profit motive in it for Widmore.
- What’s the source of the banging pipes noise? – It’s never revealed, and with the freighter blown up it’s unlikely we’ll ever find out. I’ll surmise that it was Michael destroying the radio room, though.
- Is Jin really dead? – Certainly looks that way.
- What the deuce is Michael doing on the freighter? – He’s Ben’s spy.
- Who shot Karl and Rousseau? – Keamy and his men.
- Why doesn’t Captain Gault seem upset that Michael sabotaged his equipment? – Oh, he’s peeved, all right. He locks Michael up when he finds out.
- How did Ben get all the way to the Sahara? – Turning the frozen wheel seems to transport one in space and time.
- What happened to Ben between December 2004 and October 2005? – This is curious. Apparently no time passed for Ben after turning the frozen wheel, but he was thrown forward in time.
- How can the doctor be fine if his body just washed up? – Because the island and the freighter aren’t on the same “time,” the doctor’s death happened at two different places in two different timelines.
- As of this flashforward, has Jack found out that he’s Aaron’s uncle? – Yes, he finds out at his father’s funeral.
- What is the secondary protocol? – Head to The Orchid, since that’s where Ben’s going.
- What’s the nature of the device strapped to Keamy? – It’s a dead man’s trigger.
- How can one move the island? – By turning the frozen wheel.
- Who’s Jeremy Bentham? – We can infer that Jeremy Bentham is an alias Locke adopted after somehow and for some reason leaving the island.
Still Unanswered:
- Why doesn’t technology work on the island?
- “Where are we?”
- Why did the thing in the jungle let Locke live, and why does he lie about it?
- Where’s Christian’s body?
- Is the Christian on-island a ghost, a resurrected Christian, or something else entirely?
- What does Locke mean when he says that he’s “looked into the eye of this island, and it’s beautiful”?
- What is the source of the mysterious whispers?
- What does Claire’s dream/nightmare mean?
- Why can’t anyone else raise Claire’s baby?
- Did the psychic know that Flight 815 was going to crash?
- Why are the tides rising so quickly?
- Why has the monster been quiet the last few weeks?
- Why is Michael “holding on” – for Walt or for himself?
- Did Walt somehow cause the Bronze Kahuku to crash into the window?
- Is Claire’s black rock the same as Rousseau’s black rock?
- What was the Tampa Job that Sawyer and Hibbs worked?
- Did Sawyer ever get revenge on Hibbs for using him?
- What’s the significance of The Numbers?
- Why does “using” The Numbers lead to problems?
- Who’s been broadcasting The Numbers from the island?
- Why did the island take away Locke’s ability to walk?
- I think this one is between the lines, especially in light of the fifth season’s events: Did Shannon miss, or did the island save Locke?
- Was it Walt’s thoughts on the hatch that spurred his change of heart vis-à-vis leaving the island?
- Why did Montand lose his arm?
- What infected Rousseau’s team?
- What makes Rousseau claim the monster is a security system?
- How did The Black Rock get all the way inland?
- Michael said it best: “How the hell does a place this big never get discovered?”
- Why isn’t Locke afraid of the smoke monster?
- Where did the smoke monster try to take Locke?
- What did Shannon see in the jungle – Walt or something else?
- What’s the significance of the mural in the hatch?
- Why would Desmond think that the world doesn’t exist anymore?
- What will the other five DHARMA orientation videos show? – One (The Pearl) shows that the stations are under surveillance. The Orchid demonstrates the time travel potential at that station.
- What happened in the “incident”?
- Why the numbers – why do those get entered into the computer?
- How did Rose know that Bernard is fine?
- Who is Jae Lee’s American woman?
- Why is Shannon seeing visions of Walt?
- What is the function of The Arrow station?
- Who claimed that the island was under quarantine, and why?
- Who does the glass eye belong to?
- Where did the U.S. Army knife come from?
- Where did the mysterious black horse come from?
- Are the ghosts that Kate is seeing connected to the “ghost” of Walt that Sayid saw?
- Are the odd things around Kate – Sawyer as Wayne, the black horse – ghosts, guilt, the smoke monster, or something else?
- How could communication with the outside world lead to another incident?
- Does Eko have a soul?
- Why didn’t the smoke monster attack Eko?
- What does Sawyer owe Gordy?
- Why are transmissions coming in from 1944?
- Why is Rousseau so convinced that Henry Gale is one of The Others?
- What’s the significance of the hieroglyphics?
- What was The Staff’s original function?
- Why do The Others pretend to be all grizzly?
- I think it’s also fair to ask whether Dave was Hurley’s imagination or “the island” just messing with him.
- Did “Henry” press the button?
- How does the island heal people?
- Is Richard Malkin genuinely a psychic or not?
- Who salted the question mark?
- Why did the orientation film presenter use a different name – Mark Wickmund instead of Marvin Candle? (Add Edgar Halliwax to this list.)
- Why did Locke have to come to the Pearl?
- Why did Ms. Klugh choose the four survivors that she did?
- Why was Desmond dishonorably discharged from the army?
- Why couldn’t Desmond leave the island?
- Why is Libby’s hair different in each flashback?
- Who was Libby married to? David, but David who?
- What’s the story behind the Hurley bird?
- What’s the deal with the four-toed statue?
- How did Inman get from Iraq to the island?
- Who is Radzinsky?
- Why would Radzinsky edit the video?
- Why did Radzinsky kill himself?
- Why did Kelvin leave the army?
- Why does Ben treat Kate so differently?
- Were Sarah and Christian having an affair?
- What’s The Others’ endgame?
- What’s the point of having Sawyer and Kate break rocks?
- Who are the Dharma skeletons in the bear cave?
- Why was the smoke monster following Eko?
- If that wasn’t Yemi, who was it?
- Why did the smoke monster kill Eko?
- Who’s on Jacob’s list, and how does it differ from Ms. Klugh’s list?
- Why isn’t Jack on Jacob’s list?
- Why is Ben claiming to be Alex’s father?
- Was there something supernatural at play when Juliet’s husband was hit by a bus?
- How does Mrs. Hawking know everything?
- Is Mrs. Hawking real?
- Is Achara’s gift metaphorical or supernatural?
- Why has Cindy joined The Others?
- How does Karl not know about The Brady Bunch?
- What’s the significance of Juliet’s mark?
- What do Jack’s tattoos “mean”?
- Where’d the dart in the jungle come from?
- What is the nature of the truce that Mikhail mentions?
- What did Ms. Klugh know that she didn’t want the survivors to know?
- Will the homing pigeon plan work?
- What is Richard Alpert’s role with The Others?
- Why did the smoke monster shoot Juliet with white light?
- What happened the other three times Juliet’s shoulder was dislocated?
- Why doesn’t Ben want anyone leaving the island?
- How can Jacob cure cancer?
- Why is Ben so hooked on Juliet?
- What happened with Sayid in Basra?
- Why is the room in The Staff hidden?
- What about the island increases sperm count?
- How did The Others know to be waiting for Locke?
- Why did The Black Rock come to the island?
- How did Ben see his mother in the jungle?
- What’s the significance of the white ash around Jacob’s cabin?
- Why is Richard so interested in Ben’s vision of a dead person?
- Was Jacob really in the cabin?
- What happened to Annie?
- What was The Looking Glass’s original function?
- What happened to Mikhail’s eye?
- What’s with the vision of Walt?
- Why weren’t Jack and Kate supposed to leave? That is, why do they have to go back?
- What happened to the island after they left?
- How can Jacob’s cabin move?
- What’s up with the visions of Charlie?
- Who is the woman with Daniel?
- Why was Daniel so upset about 815?
- If the freighter mission is to apprehend Ben, why do they need scientists and ghost whisperers?
- Who is R.G.?
- Why did the beacon have a lag time before landing on the island?
- Who is the economist?
- Why is it important that Frank stay on the exact same bearing to leave the island?
- Who is on Ben’s list?
- Why is Miles willing to lie about Ben?
- Why does Miles want $3.2 million on the nose?
- Why does the island only displace some people and not others?
- Who’s Eloise?
- How did Harper appear seemingly at will?
- Who does Juliet “look just like”?
- How does Widmore know about the island?
- How does Charlotte know about The Purge?
- Was it just a guilty dream, or did the island really manifest Libby to Michael?
- How did Nadia die?
- What’s this business about rules?
- Just how far back do Ben and Widmore go?
- Why was Jack allowed to fall ill?
- Why is Miles so interested in Claire?
- What actually powers the locations on the island?
- Who was Kate on the phone with?
- What promise did Kate make to Sawyer?
- Why would Claire so willingly abandon Aaron?
- How did Richard Alpert know when Locke was going to be born?
- What was Richard’s test supposed to prove about Locke?
- Which items “already” belonged to Locke?
- Who led The Others before Ben?
- What was Matthew Abaddon’s miracle?
- Will Locke and Abaddon ever meet up again?
- Was that really Claire in the cabin?
- Sun blames her father for Jin’s death, but she blames one other, unnamed person – who?
- How does Widmore know about The Orchid?
- When was Charlotte on the island before that she’d want to come back?
- Can The Orchid really time-travel bunnies, or was Ben just yanking our chain?
- What did Sawyer whisper to Kate?
- Where is Sayid taking Hurley?
- Is Jin really dead?
- What “common interests” do Widmore and Sun have?
- How does Ben know about the frozen wheel?
- Why can someone who moves the island not return?
- Where did the island go?
- Why the sudden reversal of position on Aaron being raised by someone other than Claire?
- Why didn’t Claire have her normal accent in Kate’s dream?
- We can assume that Desmond stays with Penny, but how does Frank fit into the story the Oceanic 6 sell?
- Will Jack and Frank ever see each other again?
- What bad things happened after the Oceanic 6 left the island?
- How did Locke get off the island?
- How did Locke die?
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