Uncharted Island

Okay, so we know that, when Ben turned the frozen donkey wheel that moved the island, he was thrown about 10 months into the future, and he landed in Tunisia.

Did the island move forward into the future, too?

If it did, that would help answer a few questions, even if the science of time travel is hard for people to understand. If the island moved forward into the future, that could help to explain how the Purge happened 12 years ago (island time) but Danielle’s crew got shipwrecked 16 years ago.

Then again, now that I’m trying to write it all out, I don’t think the details would work. But I’ll see what you think, anyways.

This semi-theory requires someone to have moved the island shortly after Danielle got shipwrecked there. Who? I don’t know. Why? I also don’t know. But it could help explain how Danielle and her crew could’ve been left alone in the jungle with DHARMA trekking all over the island in their little DHARMA vans.

Here’s the shaky part. They were left alone because, perhaps, they got shipwrecked just as the island was about to move. Then the island moved, and BAM, it’s four years later… to the rest of the world. Danielle’s crewmates get sick and she shoots them. (Or rather, Danielle goes crazy and thinks they’re sick, then shoots them.) At the same time, the Purge wipes out DHARMA. Ben assumes leadership of the Others. When they find newborn baby Alex, they take her and Ben raises her as his own daughter. They leave Danielle alone in the jungle to fend for herself, the way they mostly left Flight 815’s castaways alone so long as they didn’t cross Tom’s “line in the sand” in the middle of the jungle.

And that explains four years of confusion.

It doesn’t explain why the iterations of Danielle’s distress call would’ve been playing for 16 years, though, if the radio tower had traveled the same four years into the future. And I guess it makes it a bit tricky to explain why Alex appears to be a well-developed 16 year-old girl instead of a girl of 12. Never mind. That doesn’t work.

Unless moving the island pushed the island back in time instead of forward.

This is something that just occured to me. I’m unsure how this would work. In order for the timeline to make sense, I can’t sort out the order in which the events must have occured. (The events being the Purge, Danielle giving birth to Alex, and the island moving.)

“16 years? Has it really been that long?”

Hmm. This is something I need to think more about. If you have any thoughts, please leave me a comment!

Harper got her Bachelor’s degree at Columbia and her Master’s degree at Yale. Impressive.

Only four other episodes in the last two sesasons have been on-island flashbacks. That doesn’t reveal any mysteries, but it is an interesting bit of trivia.

There have been a few pop-up messages about the whispers in the jungle. They pointed out nothing we don’t already know. Just some history lessons.

Harper Stanhope. Goodwin Stanhope. I had always assumed that Goodwin went by his last name. His parents must have hated him.

Right after Harper said, “You look just like her,” the pop-up mentioned that the only significant woman in Ben’s life was his childhood friend Annie. That’s enough for me to stop with the Oedipal theories that the “her” Harper meant was Ben’s mother.

After Claire used the word “hostile” when talking to Locke, we got a pop-up reminding us that the DHARMA folks referred to the Others as Hostiles. I was expecting that pop-up after Jack said the word concerning Harper. Oh, and Hostile did have a capital H. I had someone rip into me over the semantics of the capitalization. I was right. I’m not the person to argue with over semantics. I’m very particular about the English language!

Juliet’s bikini scene. The fan forums were going crazy with hormonal men drooling over her. Honestly, I don’t see the fascination. I mean, I can see that she’s pretty, but I don’t think she’s gorgeous. I asked my husband for his opinion - we’re okay like that - and he said that yes, she is more attractive than Kate, Claire, and Sun. Personally, I would rank her behind them. I will concede that she is far prettier than Charlotte.

36-15-28 is the combination to Ben’s safe. Nothing exciting.

Ooh, confirmation that Dan and Charlotte were doing what they said they were doing. Ben wanted Juliet to kill them so he could carry out another Purge. Although he would’ve died along with them, unless he’s developed immunity against the gas.

Look at that, a flashback! It looked like a building out of New Otherton from the first shot, so I did suspect. I knew not to make any snap judgments, though - this is LOST. Juliet’s seeing an on-island therapist. That’s kinda funny. And Tom had a mustache! Has he lost weight since filming his death scene last season? The actor, of course. In the case of the character, he would’ve gained weight from that time up until the island’s present time.

And Juliet meets up with her old therapist, Harper, in the jungle. Is she really there, perhaps on an excursion from the Temple? She is all wet with rain.

Ah yes, she’s delivering a message from Ben. Her appearance and disappearance was accompanied by the whispers. Could she be like Richard, one of the island’s original inhabitants? Juliet seems confused by them, so it would seem that ordinary Others aren’t responsible for the whispers.

“Ben is exactly where he wants to be.” Isn’t that what Miles said as prisoner in the boathouse? Just a few scenes before he ended up with a live grenade shoved into his mouth?

Aww, and Juliet met Goodwin to bandage up his arm. He was married to Harper? I guess there’s a good reason for Harper to have more than a little animosity toward her, considering Juliet ended up sleeping with him.

The Tempest is the power station. And did I hear Harper say that the gas canisters were also being stored there? The kind of gas used in the Purge?

What doesn’t Dan think he can do? The easy answer would be to speculate that he and Charlotte will orchestrate a second Purge. But that would be too obvious, wouldn’t it?

Kate knows that Charlotte is lying about the satellite phone being out of juice and looking for the packs they threw from the chopper. She saw the phone’s light on. And… she got pistol-whipped. Doh.

Harper seemed “hostile” for a therapist. Would that be hostile or Hostile?

So apparently, during a woman’s second trimester, the woman’s immune system turns on the fetus. And… we don’t know what she was about to say next. I wonder if Goodwin’s visit was really about an egg salad sandwich, or if it was meant to be a booty call.

Yikes. Harper is not a very good therapist. You don’t confront your patient about sleeping with your husband - at least not during her session. Threats are not cool, either. Who does Juliet look like, and why would Ben harm Goodwin for sleeping with Juliet? Does Juliet look like a grown up Annie, maybe? Is she one of the women who died in pregnancy?

Claire makes a good point to Locke. It sounds a lot like what we fans said all along about the Others and how they treated the castaways.

Ben wants to know if the rabbit he’s eating for dinner had a number on it. We know what that means, but apparently the experiments run on the rabbits weren’t too bad. Ben still ate it.

What could Ben do to Goodwin? Now we know. He could send him over to the Tailies, which would lead to his death. Did Ben know how it would turn out when he chose him? And if so, what did Ethan do to get on Ben’s bad side? I mean, Ethan was their surgeon.

36-15-28 opens Ben’s secret safe. With the Red Sox tape in it? “I taped over the game.” LOL. Charles Widmore! Confirmation that he owns the freighter and is looking for the island. We “knew” that, but now we know that. And Widmore does his own dirty work. I would’ve thought he’d hire someone like Jin to beat people up for him.

Oh come on, just tell us who the man on the boat is. Stupid commercial break. Tell us it’s Michael. That’s what most of us fans think, anyway. And if it’s not Michael, we need to know that, too. And then we need to know why Harold Perrineau’s name has been in the opening credits all season!

So Ben sent Goodwin on a death mission, then cooked a romantic candlelit ham dinner for Juliet. Wine. Opera music.

The children from Flight 815 were on Jacob’s list. Hmm. And Ben says that Goodwin is trying to bring Ana-Lucia to New Otherton, trying to make it sound like Goodwin “wants” Ana-Lucia in a sexual way. To make Juliet jealous.

I get a Season Four Mishear Award! I thought that Chemical Suit Daniel just told Juliet, “Don’t shoot me yet!” I was so taken aback by the phrase that I repeated it out loud. My husband turned to me and said, “Juliet. He said, ‘Juliet.’” So it was “Juliet, what are you doing here?” That makes a bit more sense.

That alarm sounds familiar. I’d be having flashbacks if I were so surprised that Charlotte is so… violent. “That was a close one.” They rendered the gas inert so that Ben couldn’t use it again.

Ben’s not more excited about Jack being a spinal surgeon because they just found Goodwin’s dead body. And he took Juliet to it.

“You’re mine.” Ben thinks he owns Juliet. He’s a bit sicker than we thought.

“Okay, what do I react to first?” That’s what I’d be thinking if I were Juliet. The impaled body of her dead lopver, and being told she belongs to a man she hates.

Jack will take their word for it, about Daniel and Charlotte saving their lives. When did he become such a man of faith?

Hurley says he’s lucky, playing horseshoes with Sawyer. Never thought he’d say that.

And is Ben now roomies with Locke? They’re awfully chummy.

Previews: Sun is almost certainly the last of the Oceanic 6. And Michael is almost definitely the man on the boat. “The face we thought we’d never see again.” Yeah, except for his name in the credits every week.

I’ve been brewing this theory since watching “Enter 77″ last week, and it’s just starting to come together now.  Though I’m more used to calling them the Others, this theory will refer to them almost exclusively as the Hostiles.

DHARMA versus the Hostiles: The Showdown

Mikhail Bakunin, while still lying under the cover of being the last living member of DHARMA, told Sayid that every other member of DHARMA was killed in The Purge.  The capital letters were audible.  Kelvin had warned Desmond about the Hostiles as well.  And it seems that Marvin Candle was aware of the presence of Hostiles, having made an allowance in his instructions to enter 77 on the computer keyboard in the Flame if there was an incursion.

So at some point in the island’s recent history, The Purge was a reality.  Who really started it?  Mikhail’s version of the story cannot be trusted, as he was lying about his identity in the first place.  The Hostiles could have gone after the DHARMA crew, finding them an unwelcome presence to their previously peaceful (?) existence.  Or the DHARMA crew may have had experiences similar to those of the Flight 815 survivors, where individuals were summarily abducted, and decided to strike back before they could experience more losses.

Either way, we know the result.  The Hostiles won. DHARMA was completely (?) annihilated, and the Hostiles now control the former DHARMA stations.

But the Hostiles didn’t control the Swan, right?

The Swan poses a small problem here.  If the Hostiles won, why didn’t they control the Swan station?  When Ben was captured and masquerading as Henry Gale, he appeared to have no knowledge of the Swan station.  But that means little, as he lied about quite a bit.  I would like to suggest that the Hostiles did indeed control the Swan station… until the day Flight 815 crashed.

There is a debate as to whether or not Kelvin’s former hatch buddy Radzinsky could be Mikhail.  The Hostiles have no problem using assumed names or creating elaborate backstories for themselves.  Ben created quite a history as Henry Gale, and Mikhail seemed ot have taken notes to memorize his own backstory as the last living member of DHARMA.  Was Mikhail his real name?  Was Radzinsky?  For this theory, his identity does not actually matter.  Whether or not Mikhail was Radzinsky, I think both Radzinsky and Kelvin were Hostiles.

It’s just as likely that everything Kelvin told Desmond about Radzinsky was an elaborate backstory as well.  Some of it could’ve been true; the Hostiles’ modus operandi seems to consist of intertwining truth with falsehoods so it’s impossible to determine which is which.  Radzinsky, if he is not Mikhail, could’ve certainly killed himself the way Kelvin described.  Bea Klugh begged for Mikhail to kill her.  Mikhail repeatedly asked to be killed by his captors, finally thanking Locke when he threw him into the sonic fence.

Why would two of the Hostiles control the Swan station?  After The Purge, the Hostiles may not have completely understood what was going on at the Swan - or maybe they did - but they at least knew enough to keep two men pushing the button the way the DHARMA orientation films instructed.  Perhaps they were aware of the consequences of the Incident that made the button-pushing necessary and realized they needed to continue for the safety of themselves and the rest of the world.  Whatever the case, I think that Kelvin and Radzinsky may have drawn the short straw and were sent away from their home village either as penance or honor-bound duty.  I don’t think either of them were content with their new assignments as button-pushers, whatever the reason they were chosen.  Perhaps returning to the village meant the penalty of death; Radzinsky chose death on his own terms, and Kelvin found his own escape by repairing Desmond’s  sailboat.

We know that Kelvin had been a U.S. military man before finding his way to the island.  He may have been recruited the same was Juliet was, with very few specifics provided up front.  Like Juliet, he wanted out.  He couldn’t tell Desmond the truth about the Hostiles; he may not have liked his duties for them, but he maintained the code of secrecy.  Plus, fear of the Hostiles would help indoctrinate Desmond to the solitude of button-pushing.  How could he convince Desmond to follow the DHARMA button-pushing protocol if he admitted to not being from DHARMA?  This was not what he had in mind when he was recruited, so he opted out by duping Desmond.  The Hostiles must have thought Desmond capable, since they must’ve known he was alone now - considering their video network and their omniscience - and they didn’t send backup.

Was Desmond recruited without his knowledge?

We don’t know what the Hostiles want yet.  But whatever their goal, it didn’t matter if Kelvin or Desmond or an endless parade of plane crash survivors pushed the button, so long as it was pushed.  Until Ben decided otherwise.

Back to Mikhail and the Flame

Mikhail was likely exiled to the Flame station the same way Radzinsky (if not the same person) and Kelvin were exiled to the Swan.  If Mikhail is Radzinsky, perhaps it was a self-sentenced exile.  Radzinsky had made his way around the island to plot the blast door map and deposit both his glass eye and the Swan film splices in a hollowed out Bible in the Arrow.  He could’ve just as easily taken up residence in the Flame, knowing he could never go back to the village. If Mikhail is not Radzinsky, his residence at the Flame was probably a recent thing.  Whatever communication system they had previously used to maintain contact with the mainland was disabled with the EMP when Desmond turned the failsafe key.  Mikhail’s job was to attempt to restore communications capabilities from the old DHARMA station - or die trying.

Final thoughts and loose ends

Was poor Roger, the work man, ambushed by Hostiles on his beer run, and that’s why his van was overturned in the jungle?  A casualty of The Purge?

The Purge has nothing to do with the sickness.  I’ve seen this thrown around on the theory boards.  The sickness was a hoax, another layer of mind control.  Not a theory, just another piece of the puzzle.

There is no good way to wrap up this theory of mine. So I won’t.