"It's Destiny."

Hello my dear friends -

I told you I had an extra-special post coming!

But to be honest, even I had no idea when I last wrote that it would be THIS extra-special.

So without further ado, here's a picture that's worth at least TEN thousand words (especially considering the average length of my episode write-ups...):


Now please pause and observe a moment of silence out of respect for the enormity of the moment captured above.

(Pause.)

I must admit that I seriously considered just posting this picture and then nothing else -- ever again -- on this site. I mean, how can I possibly top meeting my main man?

I can't.

But don't worry... though I did come close to hyperventilating and then dying of Extreme Elation after the fact sank in that I was hugged by my favorite actor -- the Emmy Award winner who breathes life into the character after which this site that I've toiled over for years is named -- I love Lost enough and am in way too deep to stop with my obsessive analysis of the show now. If anything, my passion for the series has been reignited after spending a day on the beautiful island of Oahu (where it's filmed).

Oh, and did I mention that I exchanged greetings with the one and only Michael Emerson (an Emmy Award winner himself) -- aka "Ben" -- too?!? Yep, October 29, 2008 was quite a day.

So... I bet you're wondering how I actually got to see Michael and meet Terry, right? The beauty of it all is that it only happened because a series of decisions and events led to me being in exactly the right place at the right time. Mr. Eko once told Locke to not mistake coincidence for fate, but I'd say that you can't mistake fate for coincidence, either!

I think it's only appropriate to tell the story Lost flashback style...


MID-APRIL 2008

Because of our drama-filled journey to Antarctica last fall and several shorter trips my husband and I had planned for 2008, a vacation to Hawaii was not even remotely on our radar earlier this year.

But then, a relative decided that he didn't want to take his annual pilgrimage to the Aloha State and emailed out an offer to use his timeshare on Maui during the last week of October. It was an offer that big travelers like us simply couldn't refuse.

Within seconds of receiving word that a week in Hawaii could be ours for a low, low price, we decided we had to go, so we emailed back and secured our spot.


TEN MINUTES LATER

It hit me that filming for Season Five of Lost might be taking place on Oahu at the same time we'd be close by in Maui.

But then I immediately pushed the thought out of my mind... Season Four still wasn't over at that point, Season Five wasn't going to be back on the air until early 2009, and so I figured that October 2008 would be way too early for new episodes to be in production.


JUNE 6 - 7, 2008

After the Season Four finale aired and I had posted my recap of "There's No Place Like Home, Parts Two & Three" on both this site and DarkUFO, I wrote the following to Andy Page, the man behind the curtain, if you will, at DarkUFO: "I'm going to Maui in October, but I don't think I'll be able to make it over to Oahu to check out any Lost filming locations (do you think they'd be filming in late October anyway? I think it's still too early)."

Andy responded that he did indeed think that Lost filming would be underway at that time, and offered to put me in touch with one of his contacts on Oahu, should I change my mind about island-hopping.

The (frozen donkey) wheels in my head started turning...


SEPTEMBER 3, 2008

Fellow blogger JOpinionated posted that some of her friends had randomly run into Terry O'Quinn while vacationing in Oahu. !?!?!?!?!? Talk about a kick in the pants! I started researching the best way to travel between islands...


SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

I had dinner with a good friend and reader of this blog (shout-out to MG!) and told her of my dilemma. My flight to Maui was almost exactly a month away, and I knew I had to decide sooner rather than later whether or not I would also take a side trip to Oahu. MG brought up a point that I hadn't even considered: "What if you run into Terry O'Quinn and the experience doesn't live up to your expectations?"

Her take was that when it came to meeting one of your heroes, maybe it was better to "keep the dream alive" than deal with the disappointment that might result from actually talking to that person.

While I had read way too much about Mr. O'Quinn to believe that he could be anything other than the nicest man alive, my friend's words weighed on my mind. I put off the decision once more...


SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 2, 2008

... But not for long. I emailed Andy at DarkUFO again and told him that I needed to get my act together and at least try to see if there was any way I could improve my odds of running into Lost filming or cast members, should I choose to fly over to Oahu. He immediately responded with the email address of Ryan Ozawa, who runs The Transmission podcast from Oahu. In addition, he suggested that I check out Kos Hummer Tours, as he had heard good things about them from other Lost fans who had trekked to "the Island."

Next, I emailed Ryan, who also highly recommended Kos Tours, as they have access to the private ranch on which many Lost scenes are shot. In fact, he mentioned that there had been activity at the ranch within the past few weeks. However, he also tried to set my expectations about being able to interact with any cast members. In his experience, direct contact with anyone on the show is extremely rare, even if you happen to run across a set. No one is allowed near the actors during a live shoot, which is of course understandable. He said to let him know if I ended up visiting Oahu.


OCTOBER 9, 2008

My trip to Maui was now only 17 days away. In my head I was wrestling with the knowledge that I would always wonder "What if?" if I didn't go over to Oahu... but I still wasn't sure if that scenario would be worse than making the trip to "the Island" and inevitably being disappointed if I didn't run into any filming. However, when I went on my nerdy Lord of the Rings tours in New Zealand, I had an absolute blast seeing the spots where key scenes in the trilogy were filmed years earlier, so I knew that I would enjoy visiting past locations used in Lost as well, even if nothing else happened while I was on Oahu.

Those of you who read my other site, According to e, understsand that I absolutely HATE wondering "what if?" To avoid wondering "what if?" when I'm eighty years old is actually why I left Corporate America to try my hand at freelance writing. So I guess I should've known all along that I would end up finding my way to Oahu -- my final decision was based on the fact that I knew I would drive myself (and my husband) nuts wondering "what if I had gone to Oahu and ended up meeting someone in the Lost cast?" for the rest of my life. The show's only on for two more years and I am certainly not going to get back to Hawaii before the credits roll on the series' final episode, so I HAD to go! It was now or never!

Finally, I shifted into high gear and put in a call to Ed Kos at Kos Tours. I had a long talk with him and was pleased to find that he and his staff were also huge Lost fans. After much deliberation about the different tours Kos offered (and a panicked call to my brother for advice), I decided to go all-out and spend mucho dinero to not only fly my husband and I over to Oahu for a day (Wednesday, October 29 -- a decision that turned out to be critical (I had also considered the 28th)), but also to buy out all of the seats in one of Ed's Hummers so that we could have a private, customized TEN-HOUR tour. I was finally getting even with my husband for his purchase of crazy-expensive backstage passes to the Van Halen concert almost exactly a year ago (as a side note: if you never read that post, I highly encourage you to... it's one of my favorites).

Ed, like Ryan from The Transmission, tried to keep my expectations in check about actually coming across a set or meeting any cast members. He said that it was hard to know in advance when or where anything for the show would be filmed because they shoot scenes across the entire island in addition to filming in their studio -- which is closed to the public. But just as I was writing off the idea of being able to catch any live action, he mentioned that a writer from About.com, who took the five-hour Kos tour earlier this year, saw Josh Holloway (Sawyer) and Terry O'Quinn in between takes. AAHHHHHH!!!!!!


THE BIG DAY
OCTOBER 29, 2008

3:30 AM

It was Go Time! The airport was an hour away from where we were staying and our flight to Oahu was at 6 AM, so we had to wake up ridiculously early. Amazingly, I had slept well and felt refreshed when the alarm went off.

I had worn my "Team Locke" shirt to bed for good luck, but otherwise kept telling myself that I needed to just relax and enjoy the day and not have any expectations about running into live filming. It was hard to do that, though, because while no Lost activity had been seen in public areas on Oahu in the weeks leading up to my trip, on both October 27 and 28, the production crew was spotted in various locations around the island. In fact, Long Live Locke reader LF from Australia was on the Kos Tour two days before me, and she had narrowly missed seeing a few actors (their trailers were still up!). My hopes were inching higher...

6:50 AM

We landed in Oahu on time and waited outside to be picked up by Jeff, our driver from Kos Tours. A few moments passed and then we saw a yellow Hummer pass by us about six lanes from where we were standing and then exit to return to the highway. Normally, the tour does not pick up from the airport because of the intense traffic surrounding the area, but since my husband and I booked a private tour, they made an exception.

I called Ed and he explained that Jeff had made a wrong turn and was now circling back to the airport, but was caught in the standstill traffic on the expressway. We weren't in any hurry, so we stayed put and waited it out.

7:20 AM

Jeff successfully battled his way back to the airport and apologized profusely for being a half-hour late. We climbed in the Hummer and were on our way. Soon, we saw exactly what several of our friends meant when they forewarned us about the horrific gridlock in Honolulu.

But just as Jeff passed the main exit that led into the heart of the city (we had no plans to check out old filming locations downtown because of the time it would eat up), my husband's Blackberry started buzzing...

7:32 AM

Ryan from The Transmission, who I had informed of my plans to be in Oahu on the 29th, had emailed us with a tip that Lost scenes were going to be filmed at an intersection downtown and that there should be several opportunities to watch the production. I immediately wrote him back and asked when he thought the action would begin, and he responded, "Within the hour."

I know you're not surprised to hear that my heart started pounding so furiously that I feared I might spontaneously combust. I told Jeff what we had just learned, but he worried that it was bogus information and that we would waste at least an hour getting into and then out of the city again if the tip didn't pan out. I assured him that I wouldn't be mad if that ended up being the case, and that I absolutely could not pass up the opportunity to possibly see some filming. I mean, that's why I shelled out the big bucks to go on a private tour -- so that we could change the itinerary on a dime!

Jeff obliged with our request and started circling back toward downtown Honolulu.


8:00 AM

We eventually made it to the intersection that Ryan had mentioned in his email. And lo and behold, what did I spy, but this:


Before I go any further with this post, let me assure you that I am not going to mention or show pictures of anything that would spoil the Season Five scenes that I saw being filmed -- you all know how vehemently anti-spoiler I am. I will probably post a few of my pictures after those scenes air (right now I obviously have no idea what episode they'll be in), but the good news is that I couldn't figure out the significance of what I watched anyway. The Season Five promo is much more telling than anything I came across on the 29th, that's for sure!

Anyway, you might be thinking that once I saw Terry's chair, I leapt out of the moving Hummer and tried to hunt down Mr. O'Quinn. But believe it or not, I honestly didn't think that the presence of his chair meant anything. I figured that they probably carried around the chairs for ALL cast members wherever filming is set up. Plus, I thought that if a scene was being filmed downtown, the least likely person to be in it would be John Locke. Yes, my head just really wasn't on straight that day. More evidence of that comes shortly.

After we confirmed that Lost was obviously going to be filming in the area, Jeff drove us several blocks away and parked the Hummer. He said that since he was wearing a not-so-inconspicuous "Got Lost?" shirt, it was probably best if my husband and I headed back to the Intersection Of The Hour by foot on our own, and we agreed.

8:20 AM

We arrived back at the shoot and found a few other Lost fans standing on a corner taking pictures of some filming that was going on across the street. They worked downtown and had seen production before, so they actually left shortly after we arrived. I searched the area, but couldn't recognize any of the people who were in the scene. And then my eyes refocused and I saw Ben (Mr. Michael Emerson). I'm sure I didn't breathe for like twenty seconds as I realized that this was really happening! I was watching Lost in the making!

It was a completely surreal experience to observe a scene being filmed -- that's the only way I can describe it. Surreal, but thrilling at the same time. I was so caught up in the exhilaration of it all that before I could even fully mentally process what was happening, Mr. Emerson started walking directly toward me.


He crossed the intersection and was literally two feet away. He was passing right in front of me when I made eye contact with him.

"Hi..." I said nervously.

"Hi!" my husband shouted.

"HI!!!" Michael shot back loudly and confidently, and then flashed us a huge grin. I'm sure he got a kick out of whatever look I must have had on my face!

Time seemed to stand still as I watched him walk down the block and out of view. Finally, my husband broke the silence: "WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK HIM FOR A PICTURE?!?!!?"

I had been so shocked by the whole thing that I had just frozen in place. Maybe I was subconsciously worried that he would whip out his black ASP baton and whack me? I don't know what I was thinking. Later, my husband admitted that he, too, assumed that filming was still in process when "Ben" passed us. Of course I deeply regret not being able to think clearly enough to get a snapshot with the Best Villain of All Time, but I will always have the memory our quick exchange, right? Plus, I think my disappointment over missing the chance to get a picture with Mr. Emerson served to prepare me for what was about to happen...


8:45 AM

Before she headed back to work, a local Lost fan who had been standing near us learned that Terry O'Quinn was in fact going to be filming a scene in the area at some point (Terry and Michael were not in any scenes together that day, though, so don't get any ideas).

It seemed too good to be true. But I knew that filming was supposedly going to continue for three more hours, and grew nervous that the majority of the day would be eaten up before anything else happened downtown.

OF COURSE I was going to wait it out, though!

I had one false alarm when I spotted a bald-headed man under the "sound tent" and thought it was Terry. Thankfully, I realized it wasn't him before I made a fool of myself. I tried to calm down and just take it all in... I loved the fact that a lot of the security guards, craft tents and random carts wheeled around the street bore the Dharma logo. And it was so cool to see how the production team could transform a city street in downtown Honolulu into... well, whatever they wanted it to be.

About ten more minutes passed. I went up to one of the security guards (not the one pictured above) and told him that I was only on Oahu for the day and was already supposed to be heading out of Honolulu, but that I was a huge fan of Terry O'Quinn's, heard he was going to be shooting a scene soon, and didn't know what to do. The guard wouldn't look directly at me, but he smiled and responded, "Ma'am, I'm not allowed to tell you any details about the production... but if I were you, I'd stick around."

That was all I needed to hear! The guard was right, too. I didn't wait much longer...

8:55 AM

I was scanning the nearby blocks when all of a sudden, I SAW HIM. Terry O'Quinn was across the street and down the block from where I stood. He was completely alone and biting into what looked like an apple.

My dear friends, I would pay good money to see what I must have looked like when I realized that yes, it was ACTUALLY HIM. But I kept my emotions under control and silently caught my husband's attention (he was about fifteen feet away from me) and he followed my gaze. His eyes lit up when he caught on, and we hurried across the intersection as nonchalantly as we could (I wasn't sure if the guards were instructed to keep people away from the cast... that's why we were trying to be discreet). We still had a half-block to go when Terry crossed the street and disappeared from view.

My heart sank; I thought for sure that he had gone into his trailer or was going to be otherwise unapproachable. According to my husband, I stopped dead in my tracks at this point and looked totally defeated (I honestly don't even remember a lot of what happened during these few minutes -- it's all a blur). One thing I've learned from this whole experience is that I could absolutely never make it as a paparazzo. But anyway, my husband still had his wits about him and sped up, crossed the street and found Terry standing under the archway of a corner pub, still by himself.

"My wife is a huge fan, do you mind if she gets a picture with you?" my husband supposedly asked (I seriously don't remember this part). The next thing I knew, I was shaking Terry O'Quinn's hand and posing for this picture:


Finally I came to my senses and hopefully appeared to be semi-normal as I stood face-to-face with Terry and had a quick chat with him. I did get to mention that I ran Long Live Locke and that I wasn't going to change the site's name no matter what happened on the show. He laughed and replied, "That's good!" Since he is originally from Michigan and so am I, we talked a little bit about that, and I mentioned that I had a cousin at his alma mater, Central Michigan University (shout-out to EJ!). I then said that I felt like I needed to get a picture of us doing "something funny," which probably scared him (my plan was to get a shot of me bowing down before him), but before I could mention any of my ideas, he said "Well, how about this?" and gave me a big hug.


Yes, I look like I'm about to implode. No, my smile couldn't have stretched any wider. And yes, meeting Terry O'Quinn was absolutely everything I could've hoped it would be. Believe the hype, my dear friends, he's the real deal! And lest you think I'm (obviously) biased, my husband was also pleasantly surprised at how gracious, personable and truly nice this beloved actor was. And let's face it, my husband has good reason to be really jealous of this man! But Terry won him over, too.

We could see another fan approaching, so my husband and I each shook Terry's hand again, thanked him for his time and set off on our way.

The words of Will Ferrell's "Ricky Bobby" in Talladega Nights whirled through my mind:
That. Just. Happened!


9:05 AM

Once we were at the end of the block, the physical ramifications of the whole ordeal hit me. I realized that my mouth and throat had gone completely dry, my skin felt feverish and I was breaking out in a profuse sweat. But I was indescribably happy.

After I could swallow and had regained my voice, I called my brother, but don't even remember anything about our conversation except him yelling, "CALM DOWN!!!! CALM DOWN!!!!!"
Hee, hee.

On our way back to meet Jeff and continue on our tour in the Hummer, my husband lamented that we should've mentioned something about Terry's performance in Old School, one of our favorite movies. Then I wished that I'd brought up all of the other things he's been in that I've enjoyed, like The X-Files, Primal Fear and Masters of Science Fiction. But even though I didn't get to express the full extent of my fandom verbally, I'm quite positive that Terry understood that I was a big admirer of his. After all, when we first approached him, he looked pretty darn amused (in a kind way) as he took in the state of my starstruck-ness.

If you are shocked that I didn't hang around to actually see the scene that "Locke" was in, then let me repeat what I've said several times before on this site... I HATE BEING SPOILED! Even watching the filming of Ben's short scene took a little bit of magic out of the show for me, so there was no way I was going to expose myself to a Locke scene. I'd met my hero, that's all I wanted. There is no way I could've been happier.


9:31 AM

We successfully reunited with Jeff. As we made our way out of the city, I emailed Ryan and told him about our experience. He ended up checking things out for himself later, and saw two more actors and a pretty cool scene going down. I will let you know what it was after it airs. On that note, did you hear that the Season Five premiere is set for January 21? And that it consists of two new episodes back-to-back? And that January 21 just so happens to be my birthday?

The Lost Gods are with me, I tell you!

Here's the new, very short trailer that's up on ABC.com:

THE AFTERMATH

As if seeing Michael Emerson and meeting Terry O'Quinn weren't enough, I spent the next eight hours visiting tons of other Lost filming locations from the past four seasons (and a few from Season Five - but once again, mum's the word!). Jeff couldn't help but point out that in a Lost-like twist of fate, if he hadn't missed the turn at the airport and subsequently picked us up a half-hour late, we would've been too far away to turn back and head downtown and I definitely wouldn't have run into my main man. Freaky!

I will be writing up everything (well, almost everything) I saw on the Kos Hummer Tour over the next few weeks, so stay tuned. But for now I will tell you that I was pretty much in a daze for the duration of October 29, 2008. I literally couldn't believe that I had actually met Terry O'Quinn. I kept checking my digital camera like a maniac every five seconds, thinking that the pictures with Terry were going to make like Jacob's Cabin and disappear or something.

On that momentous day I also thought about all of you, my readers -- especially those of you who have followed my posts since the beginning, when they were just email messages that kept getting forwarded on, and forwarded on, and forwarded on. I knew that you all would be very, very excited for me, and I couldn't wait to write about my experience.

Even though I've now been home for a week, that day still seems like a dream. I mean, seriously, what are the odds that in the mere TEN HOURS I was on Oahu, I would not only run into an active Lost set, but would also get to chat with -- of all cast members -- TERRY O'QUINN?!? I know how lucky I am, believe you me.

But obviously I would've never achieved my dream of meeting "Locke" if it weren't for Andy from DarkUFO and Ryan from The Transmission. If I ever meet either of YOU in person, be prepared for me to tackle you and smother you with hugs and kisses! A huge "CHEERS!" to Andy and "MAHALO!" to Ryan.

Looking back on the series of events that ended with me meeting my favorite actor, I now believe more strongly than ever that, as Locke said best in the Season Two promo below, "Everything happens for a reason."



Although I wouldn't trade my time spent talking to Terry for anything, I must admit that I'm a little bit worried about my safety from here on out. After all, as fellow Lost fans on Facebook brought to my attention, what is going to become of me now that I've LEFT THE ISLAND?!?!

You know what this means ... I HAVE TO GO BACK!!!

- e

(Pictures from the rest of my Lost tour of Oahu have now been posted here, and a few shots of the movie locations we saw are here.)

S4Ep11 - This Isn't Just Any Fever, It's Cabin Fever

Hello my dear friends -

So was "Cabin Fever" really bizarre, or was it just the combination of Robitussin, Nasonex, Tylenol Cold & Cough, Hall's throat drops and Vicks VapoRub that affected my perception? Yes, I've been sick for the past week, but luckily my head is clear enough now to attempt to analyze all that happened in the latest Locke-centric Lost episode. Man, his flashbacks are always so depressing, aren't they?

Anyway, I'll take the Island events first, then the freighter action, and then the flashbacks. And I'm just warning you now, this post is extra-long. If you can't hang, don't even start reading!


'CAUSE IT'S ALL IN MY HEAD
I THINK ABOUT IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN
I REPLAY IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN
AND I CAN'T TAKE IT... I CAN'T SHAKE IT

From the previews last week, I thought that in Locke's search for Jacob, he was going to happen upon a village of undead Dharmites. But alas, his meeting with Horace was just a whacked-out dream. And a scary one at that, considering that I think Horace looks a lot like Carrot Top (it's all in the eyes and freaky eyebrows).

We learn that Horace was the one who originally built Jacob's cabin--only it wasn't for Jacob, it was a get-away of sorts for Horace and his wife, Olivia, to escape "the D.I." Locke realizes that he's seeing a moment in time played over and over again, with Horace continually chopping down the same tree. While some say that this was a play on the Greek myth about Sisyphus (who had to keep rolling a boulder up a hill as punishment from the gods), it immediately reminded me of that scene in The Matrix where Neo saw "a glitch in the code," evidenced by a cat repeating its actions.

The replay of Horace's tree-chopping could be a hint that the Lostaways are indeed caught in a time loop... and Lord knows there's already been a ton of evidence for that theory, so I won't go through it all again. Or, it could just mean nothing. Some things actually mean nothing in this show every once in a while!

Two other questions that have been asked about this scene are:

1) Was Horace's nose bleeding because he had experienced the conscience-traveling phenomenon as Desmond and Minkowski did? Or was it because he, too, was gassed in the Purge and was bleeding when he died? I think it's definitely the latter--when we saw Ben gas his own father in "The Man Behind the Curtain," Mr. Linus started bleeding from the nose. We also saw Horace's body on the ground in Othersville in that same episode, and obviously now his corpse was found in the skeleton pit with all the other Purge victims. I think this one is pretty clear cut.

2) Why did we even need this scene? I gotta tell you, it reeked of "filler" to me, and I hope one day I'm proven wrong. But right now it's just not making any sense... Ben, Locke and Hurley have all seen the cabin before and it seems like they could've just had the Three Musketeers walking around in the jungle and eventually running into Jacob's shack again without the dream sequence. Especially if this time Jacob wanted them to find the cabin so that Locke could get instructions for saving the Island. Therefore, I can only assume that it must be important for us to have learned that Horace built the cabin, and that he did so for his wife, Olivia (who was Ben's teacher in Dharma school). We did also learn that the Purge took place twelve years ago--but was knowing its exact date that important?

The ONLY other thing I can think of is that, since this episode was clearly meant to draw comparisons between Ben and Locke's lives, perhaps the dream with Horace (which lead Locke to Jacob's cabin) was meant to parallel Horace bringing Ben and his dad to the Island. I think that's a pretty weak reason for this scene, though. Any other ideas?

Wait! I just thought of one: maybe we needed to hear what Ben had to say at the skeleton pit, so they put in the Horace scene to get Ben, Hurley and Locke back over there. Which leads us to...


YOU MAY BE RIGHT
I MAY BE CRAZY
BUT IT JUST MAY BE A LUNATIC YOU'RE LOOKING FOR


HURLEY: Why am I here, man?
LOCKE: You're here because you can see the cabin, and that makes you special.
HURLEY: Well, I have a theory as to why we're the only ones who can see it.
LOCKE: I'd love to hear it.
HURLEY: I think we can see it 'cause we're the craziest.


LOVE IT! I think Hurley's onto something. It inspired ME to make a theory about everyone who writes and reads Lost sites and blogs: we're the craziest people on earth! How do you like them apples?

OK, knowing that we're all insane, let's get to the part of the Cabin Expedition that is more important:

HURLEY: Is that why you killed all these people, too?
BEN: I didn't kill them.
HURLEY: Well, if the Others didn't wipe out the DHARMA Initiative--
BEN: They did wipe them out, Hugo, but it wasn't my decision.
HURLEY: Then whose was it?
BEN: Their leader's.
HURLEY:But I thought you were their leader.
BEN: Not always.

So I re-read the transcript for "The Man Behind the Curtain," and recalled that Ben was only shown gassing his father in the Dharma van. When he returned to Othersville, everyone else from Dharma was dead--scattered across the lawn--including Horace. Ageless Richard and a few other people then emerged with gas masks. So Ben was obviously in on the attack, but didn't carry it out completely. And as he said to Hurley in this latest episode, it wasn't his decision to kill everyone... someone else made the call.

With the reappearance of Ageless Richard in "Cabin Fever," I can only assume that Richard was the leader of the Others... something that most of us had already figured, since clearly Ben grew up on the Island and wasn't leading "the hostiles" as a young boy. Richard wouldn't have liked the Dharma peeps invading his turf, so he wanted to get rid of them--all of that makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is why Richard would not only spare Ben, but also eventually turn over leadership of the group to him. Is it because he thought Ben was the next "chosen one" because he had observed Ben's special connection to the Island?

But then again, if Richard was the original leader of the Others and he doesn't age, why would they ever need a new leader? And let's not forget the even bigger question of "Who in the heck ARE Richard and his group and where did they come from? And why doesn't he age?" But more on Richard when we get to the flashbacks.


I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT

The weary trio finally makes it to Jacob's cabin, but Locke is the only one who dares to enter. While Hurley and Benry share an Apollo bar in silence (classic scene), Locke finds not only Zombie Dad Christian Shephard (looking kind of schleppy instead of sharp in his usual suit), but also Claire (?!?) inside the creepy hut. Alas, Jacob is nowhere to be found, although Zombie Dad claims that he can speak on his behalf.

You gotta at least give Locke credit for trying to figure out what in the hell was going on. He was alarmed to see Claire and even more concerned about the whereabouts of Aaron (who is, apparently, "where he's supposed to be"). He tried to ask questions, but Zombie Dad cut him off and told him that the freighter baddies were already on their way back, so he better listen up. And then, apparently, he ordered Locke to move the Island. After warning him to not tell anyone that he saw Claire.

Since we didn't see all that transpired in the cabin, I can only assume that Locke was told HOW to move the Island. We'll find that out soon enough... but I would guess that if Locke doesn't know how to do it, Ben will.

My take is that Locke does not have to physically move the Island (although that would be kind of hilarious... could you see all the Lostaways with oars, rowing like crazy on the outer edges of the beach?), but rather move it somewhere else along the space-time continuum. Let's face it, folks, we've arrived at the Season Four finale and there are only 34 episodes left in the series. We've gotten way too many hints about time manipulation--most recently illustrated by Doc Ray's dueling alive/dead existences--to have them not lead to some major revelation. I think the revelation is right around the corner, and it has to do with one of the Island's many "powers": it can be moved to different points in time, thus making it nearly impossible to find, and very difficult to leave.

I've read one theory that states that the bodies of the inhabitants on the Island revert to whatever year the Island is currently in. So assuming that the Island is in the past, that's why Locke can walk again and Rose doesn't have cancer... because those things haven't happened by that particular year in their life yet. It would also partially explain why Doc Ray washes up with fresh stitching on his cheek when we already saw it healing on the freighter (but wouldn't explain why his throat was still cut). I personally think that this concept (while admittedly fascinating) would be way too hard to carry out across the rest of the characters and the series.

If people on the Island went back to the state they were in at an earlier point in time, why would Claire still be pregnant after the crash? Why wouldn't the Lostaways look significantly younger? And how could the constantly changing pace of time on the Island (remember that sometimes it moves slower than the freighter and other times moves faster (Daniel's experiment vs. the helicopter trip) work into this theory?

I think that when they end up explaining the time-warp that's clearly going on, it will be at a very high level... they'll find a way of making sense out of all of the obvious hints they've dropped, but they won't go much further than that. Because if they do, they're going to have millions of viewers simultaneously yelling, "Say WHAT?" at the screen. (OK, people will probably be doing that regardless, but what I'm saying is that they're not going to go down a path that is really, really, REALLY confusing. Only semi-confusing.)

Back to Zombie Dad and Claire... some people think that it's obvious Claire is dead. I'm not sure I would say that it's obvious--but something weird is definitely going on... especially because she was totally calm about being away from her bay-bee, and also seemed kind of evil.

And why oh why haven't we seen Jacob yet? IS there a Jacob? Let's not forget Locke's fight with Ben last season:

LOCKE: Hell Ben, if you don't wanna take me maybe someone else will. I'll just go and ask Richard...
BEN: Why would Richard take you? He doesn't know where Jacob is, he doesn't talk to Jacob...
LOCKE: Well who talks to him?
BEN: I do.
LOCKE: So you're the only one who talks to him!
BEN: That's right.
LOCKE: And no-one else knows where he is?
BEN: I was born here on this Island, I'm one of the last that was. Most of these people you see, I brought them here, so Jacob talks to me, John. He tells me what to do, trusts me.
LOCKE: And, no-one else has ever seen him?
BEN: That's right.
LOCKE: How convenient. You know what I think, Ben? I think there is no Jacob. I think your people are idiots if they believe you take orders from someone else. You are the man behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz. And you're a liar.

Clearly there is some freaky spirit in that cabin because we saw it have a tantrum before. Does it just inhabit other bodies, like Christian's? Has Ageless Richard really never seen Jacob, as Ben claims? It's more than just a little strange.

Enough of this crazy Island! Let's review what happened on the even crazier freighter....


IF I STAY THERE WILL BE TROUBLE
AND IF I GO IT WILL BE DOUBLE

Keamy and crew arrive back from the Island (did anyone catch the split-second shot of that one guy's guts hanging out? It was disgusting!), mad as hell. Keamy done lost his mind, seriously. Captain Gault suggests that Keamy may even be suffering from the "heightened case of cabin fever" that he told Sayid and Desmond about back in "Ji Yeon."

But Keamy could care less... he's a man on a mission, and he's going to capture Ben at all costs. So he busts into the safe and takes a look at the "secondary protocol," which apparently details out where Ben will head in an emergency.

Most people noticed right away that this binder had a Dharma logo on it--thus definitively linking Widmore (the backer of the freighter mission) to Dharma for the first time. The logo also was the same one that was on the parka Ben wore in "The Shape of Things to Come" (click here to see for yourself). Some people don't think that the Dharma logo is proof that Widmore is involved in Dharma, but once again I point to the fact that they're trying to provide more answers now... I just don't think we need to be suspicious of every single clue any longer.

My guess is that Widmore thinks that Ben will run to the Orchid Station in order to teleport away from the Island as a means of escape. (As I've mentioned before, we only know about the Orchid Station from the film shown last year at Comic-Con.) However, Ben told Alex that "the Temple" was the only safe place. So where will Ben go, if he does indeed run off and leave everyone else to die?

Because of Ben's still-beat-up appearance in the present time on the Island, and the fact that we know he visits Sayid in Iraq about ten months into the future (and looks much healthier at that point), I don't think he's going to the Orchid any time soon. I still don't think that the Orchid enables people to time travel, either. We'll see if I'm wrong. But when war comes to the Island in the finale, I'm guessing that Ben will seek refuge among the rest of his people at the Temple. The question is, will they even try to protect him anymore?

In other freighter news... once Keamy took a read through Plan B, he got fitted with some strange device that one can only assume will trigger an explosion if his heart stops beating. The question is, will it trigger an on-Island explosion, or will it perhaps cause the freighter to go up in flames so no one can ever leave?

Now that Desmond stayed behind, we've got to keep worrying about the freighter, too (at least Michael can't be killed, so he'll be fine). Sayid, however, busted out on a zodiac, convinced that he needed to bring all of the other Lostaways back to the freighter. At least we know that he gets reunited with the rest of the O6... but what does that mean for Desmond's fate? And how did Doc Ray's dead body wash up on the shore before Sayid arrived? D'AH!!! My brain hurts.

In the final freighter scene, we witnessed the receiving end of the Morse code transmission, and then watch how Doc Ray meets his untimely end. Poor Frank thinks he has no choice but to head back to the Island once again, but this time, he has a plan to help out the 815ers. He frees Michael (will Michael and Des now work together?), and then grabs another phone to... drop down to the beach camp.

I didn't say it was a very good plan, I just said he had a plan.

Oh, that's right, I almost forgot that we did see The Mad Doctor oh-so-briefly this episode. How many of you think that he is going to burst open his stitches and that's why he'll be one of the O6? I do... they totally foreshadowed it when Juliet warned Jack about not walking around so soon after his surgery. Now he plans to go chase down the helicopter peeps? Not wise.

I seriously cannot wait to see how the O6 come to be the ones that leave. It is driving me nuts!

And now, on to the meat of the episode--Locke's flashbacks.


WENT THE DISTANCE, NOW I'M BACK ON MY FEET
JUST A MAN AND HIS WILL TO SURVIVE

Locke would totally win Survivor (even against Ozzy). The man cannot be killed! OK, so the Island's most likely been protecting him his whole life, so I guess that would be an unfair advantage.

As if what we already knew about Locke's pre-crash existence wasn't sad enough, we learn in "Cabin Fever" that he was born three months premature and was deemed a "miracle baby" after fighting off pneumonia and various infections--in the 1950s, no less!

That was apparently enough to arouse the interest of Ageless Richard, who was on the scene at the hospital, peering in at little incubated Locke. Didn't expect that one! But how could he have possibly heard about Locke? I'm beginning to think there was some sort of Island Prophecy that deemed the next leader to be born prematurely of a woman named Emily. So Richard went around seeking out anyone who fit the bill, and came across both Locke and Ben (remember, Ben's mother, also named Emily, went into labor unexpectedly in the Oregon forest).

Or was Richard behind Lil' Locke arriving early? After all, his mother was suspiciously hit by a car... and A LOT of people have been hit by moving vehicles on this show!?! Michael, Locke, Kate (while driving), Juliet's ex-husband, and now Locke's birth mother. Look both ways, people!

I've seen much speculation on the boards about Ben and Locke being brothers. I don't think that's the case. We saw Ben's mother, Emily, die... and we saw Locke's birth mother in "Deus Ex Machina" (they casted well--compare young and old Emily Locke here)... years after Emily Linus' death. Locke tracked down his birth father, Anthony Cooper, after meeting with his mother in DEM. And we know Cooper was Locke's father because that's why he sought Locke out for his kidney. (I mention all of this because there's another theory that Richard is Locke's dad). Therefore, I think the fact that both Ben and Locke's mothers were named Emily was just to get our minds cranking on the similarities between the two... as was Locke's line to Ben: "I'm not you."


EVERYTHING ZEN
EVERYTHING ZEN...
I DON'T THINK SO.

The next time we see Lil' Locke, he's about five or six years old and in foster care. Ageless Richard stops by, under the guise of testing Locke for a "special school." He takes note of Locke's Smokey drawing on the wall (which was awesome) and then begins the test. By the way, a lot of people wonder if Locke is time-traveling in his mind (he was, after all, in the Hatch when the key was turned, so he definitely was radiated) and drew the picture of Smokey because he knows he gets wrangled by the monster in the future. They point to his bloody nose in his high school locker as proof (although upon close inspection of that screencap you can see that his lip was bruised and bleeding, too).

I don't think Locke is time-traveling--who would his constant be? Although I will admit to this theory being plausible... Locke has said several suspicious things like "You're not supposed to do this" (to Jack) and always knew when it was going to rain on the Island and whatnot. But that could also be because of a time loop OR just his "oneness" with the Island.

Back to Richard visiting him in foster care... Locke was instructed to pick what object belongs to him "already" out of a baseball mitt, The Book of Laws, a vial of a sand-like substance, a comic book, a compass and a knife. I totally knew that he was going to pick the knife--duh, it's Locke! What I was surprised at, however, was that Richard got all mad about Locke's selection and stormed off, deeming the youngster "not ready."

What was he supposed to have picked? I mean, we all know that Locke does come to be a Knife-Wielder Extraordinaire. So it's not like he guessed incorrectly. Unless, that is, Richard was hoping for another outcome... an outcome where Lil' Locke picked another item--say, the vial of sand--that would signal that he was the true leader of the Island and would end up fighting on its behalf until the bitter end. By choosing the knife, Locke showed that he wanted to be something no one ever thought he could be--a warrior--and that he might end up acting selfishly when the chips were down.

If that's the case, though, then why did Richard try to get a hold of Locke once again about ten years later? I'll get to that in a second, but I did want to mention that the process Richard went through with Locke is not unlike what happens when a new Dalai Lama is chosen. The current Dalai Lama was three years old when he claimed a rosary and a bell that belonged to the previous Dalai as his own.

Can we infer from this that Richard was looking for a successor? Or perhaps a reincarnation of... Jacob (assuming Jacob even exists)?

Since this post is already mega-long, I'm not going to go through all of the other six items one by one, but some good information on the comic book is here, and a very interesting discussion thread on The Book of Laws (which is NOT the same thing as The Book of Law, which Eko referenced in Season Two), can be found here.


TELL EVERYBODY
WAITIN' FOR SUPERMAN
THAT THEY SHOULD TRY TO
HOLD ON BEST THEY CAN

Next we see Teenage Locke, who had transformed into quite a nerd (you know he and Daniel would've been friends had they been the same age), even getting stuffed in his locker (a locker, by the way, that had a Geronimo Jackson poster and a picture of Sir Richard Burton in it).

One of his teachers tries to convince him to go to the Mittelos Science Camp that "Dr. Alpert" invited him to:

JOHN: I'm not a scientist! I like boxing and fishing and cars. I like sports!
TEACHER: I'm gonna tell you something--something I wish someone had told me at your age. You might not want to be that guy in the labs surrounded by test tubes and beakers, but that's who you are, John. You can't be the prom king. You can't be the quarterback. You can't be a superhero.
JOHN: Don't tell me what I can't do.

And to think we thought he got that line from the sympathetic orderly in "The Man from Tallahassee." Wrong! He's probably been saying it ever since he could speak! And with good reason, I guess.

While I was definitely intrigued by the fact that Ageless Richard had been tracking Locke since birth, I have to admit that I was even more interested to learn that Locke was once--gasp!--a Man of Science. And though, as I said earlier, I certainly don't deny that this episode was meant to make us consider the very similar paths that Locke and Ben's lives have taken, I also drew the conclusion that, at their core, Locke and Jack aren't that dissimilar, either. Let's not forget what Zombie Dad told his son when he was just a young boy: "You don't want to be a hero, you don't try and save everyone because when you fail. . . you just don't have what it takes." Although they're going about it in drastically different ways, it seems that Jack and Locke are still desperate to prove that they are indeed heroes. Jack wants to save the other Lostaways, while Locke wants to save the Island. Is it possible that at some point they'll learn to work together and get both things accomplished? Play nice, boys!


NO FIGHT LEFT
OR SO IT SEEMS
I AM A MAN WHOSE DREAMS
HAVE ALL DESERTED

In the final flashback of the night, we see Locke in physical therapy, post-eight-story-fall-out-of-a-window. I can't describe how sad those scenes make me, when Locke is all hopeless and helpless--they kill me.

This time, there's a new orderly with "Mr. Locke," and it's none other than Abaddon--the guy who sent Naomi and crew on their mission (and who visited Hurley in the institution post-crash to ask if "they" were still alive). Some people think that because Abaddon called Locke "Mr. Locke" (which is what Walt used to say), that Abaddon is actually Future Walt. Umm... but that would have to mean that Future Walt traveled WAY back in time to be an orderly after Locke's fall. And that Future Walt, as Abaddon, recruited Naomi and the other Freighter Four, at the same time that Taller Ghost Walt was motivating Locke to get out of the skeleton pit, and Current Day Walt was shunning his father back in the real world. Sorry, I know I'm on a lot of meds right now and all, but it's still too complicated--I don't buy it.

I think Abaddon is... Abaddon. We don't know much else about him just yet, but unlike other people who think Abaddon is a "bad guy"... I'm starting to think that he's a good guy. Maybe I just want him to be a good guy because his deep voice rocks and he has a cool way about him. But think about it... let's just assume for a moment that Widmore is "bad." And that the Island, Jacob and Richard are "good" (notice that I didn't mention Ben). We know that Abaddon was in charge of getting Naomi, Charlotte, Faraday, Miles and Frank on the freighter. But everything we've seen of those guys so far points to the fact that they're at least neutral, if not completely innocent in the whole Lostaways vs. Freighties battle. They're just pawns. And just because Daniel admitted that they were never going to rescue the 815ers doesn't mean they're bad. In light of everything else we know that happens in the future, it kind of seems like the 815ers should've stayed put, right?

Further, we have no proof that Abaddon has any connection to the people we know are evil: Keamy and his lot. Abaddon may have been trying to help the Lostaways in the sense of getting the poisonous gas disarmed (and we still don't know all that Miles may have been sent to do). Abaddon may be making Widmore think he works for him, when in reality he doesn't. Abaddon may instead be working on behalf of the Island. He tells Locke about his own walkabout (I demand to see that flashback!), and encourages Locke to go on one, too... and we all know how that turned out.

I think that Abaddon took over from Richard in trying to get Locke to the Island. They gave up on the more straight-forward attempts and are now trying to influence Locke in more subtle ways. All I know is this: even moreso than learning how the O6 got off the Island, I WANT TO SEE THE NEXT LOCKE/ABADDON MEETING!

One last comment about all of this... it's bugging me that Richard left in a huff when Lil' Locke picked the knife, but then tried to get him to science camp later... and then helped him out when on the Island. (Remember that it was Richard who gave Locke Sawyer's file to help him out with the "Kill Your Dad" mission from Ben.) Why the change of heart?

When Locke and Richard spoke on the Island, Richard came off as being frustrated with Ben. I can't help but wonder if Ben was once "the chosen one," but was rejected after becoming obsessed with the pregnancy issue. Now Locke is being put in the driver's seat, but as we all know, Ben's still around in the future and it definitely looks like he's still got a lot of power.

So is Locke being set up? Or is there room for both Ben and Locke in the Island's good graces? Or, has the experience of being rejected by the Others and the Island turned Ben to the dark side, and Sayid is unknowingly working for the bad guys? Meaning that BOTH Widmore and Ben are up to no good? I'm starting to lean this way. I just hope Locke really IS different from Benry... I think if they make Locke responsible for some Purge-like mass murder, even Locke-haters are going to be up in arms.



REVISITING "SOMETHING NICE BACK HOME"


For those of you who don't keep up with the comments for each post, I wanted to draw your attention to an especially interesting idea that came out of last week's write-up. I had pasted in the dialogue between the psychic and Claire, and after Claire questioned his insistence that she now give her baby to a "couple of strangers in L.A." instead of raise it herself, the psychic replied, "They're not strangers, Claire. They're good people."

What if the psychic not only foresaw the crash (he did insist she go on Flight 815 specifically, remember), but also knew that Aaron would/should end up living with Kate and Jack (or someone else) afterward? The whole "they're not strangers" thing is kind of suspicious in hindsight... because the people who have Aaron in the future ARE in L.A. and are NOT strangers to Claire.

I swear to you, I know that they've had the series planned out for a long time and all, but if they planted that line back in Season One for all of us to freak out over once everything is said and done, well... that is just incredible. I don't know what else to say.

One last thing on the topic of that poor little boy, Aaron... when Christian and Claire told Locke that he's "where he's supposed to be"... he was with Sawyer in the jungle. Their words could be interpreted many ways:
1) He's supposed to remain with Sawyer on the Island.
2) He's supposed to remain with Sawyer OFF of the Island, and Sawyer was supposed to leave and end up raising him with Kate, but for some reason didn't.
3) He's supposed to be with Sawyer in order for Sawyer to go back to the beach and hand him over to Kate.

Since we know that Future Hurley and Dead Charlie told Jack that he was "not supposed to raise him," and since we know that Future Hurley and Future Jack will both try to get back to the Island, what are we to make of Aaron remaining with Kate? From what we've seen, Kate isn't feeling any guilt whatsoever for having Aaron, nor is she being haunted by visions urging her to return. I guess that's why "What's Up With Aaron?" is one of the biggest mysteries on the show.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


HURLEY: We've been walking all day. Are we gonna get there soon?
LOCKE: How long?
BEN: I don't know. I've been following him.
LOCKE: What? What do you mean, you've been following him?
HURLEY: I'm not even in front.
BEN: I have no idea where the cabin is. Hugo's the last one who saw it.
HURLEY: Oh, this is just awesome.



LOCKE: And what are you doing out here?
HORACE: Oh, building a place--a little getaway for me and the missus. No, I mean, sometimes you need a break from the D.I.




LOCKE (trying to wake Hurley): Hugo.
HURLEY: (Still asleep...muttering) Mallomars...




HURLEY (handing Locke a water bottle): Here you go. Drink up, dude. Digging through dead bodies takes it out of you.




LOCKE: I'm sorry those things happened to you, Ben.
BEN: Those things had to happen to me. That was my destiny. But you'll understand soon enough that there are consequences to being chosen... because, destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.




OFFICIAL AUDIO PODCAST DEBRIEF

There will be only more audio podcast with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof before the season is over, and it will air some time this week. I will do a separate post on it, so check back here in a few days if you're interested in learning what they covered.

The one I am summarizing below is from May 7th, and there were also two new video podcasts uploaded on ABC.com from that week--one with a set designer/sculptor and one with Benry and Widmore (or rather, the actors who play them) behind the scenes of their pivotal London exchange.

In the latest audio podcast, the producers had their mothers on in honor of Mother's Day. The moms talked about the fact that Jack no longer had chest hair in the future (Darlton themselves didn't comment on that topic)... but the vast majority of the podcast was utterly ridiculous--kind of funny, but ridiculous. Remember, stop reading now if you don't want to know what will be covered in the next few episodes. They don't dole out spoilers per se, but they do broadly address a few things that will will not happen in the finale.

After nearly thirteen minutes of goofing around--each mom got to ask one question to the producer who wasn't her own son.

Q. Who is in the casket?
A. We will answer that question in the season finale.


Q. Is Locke the next chosen disciple for the Island?
A. That question will be strongly addressed in "Cabin Fever." [e: I think we can now say that their answer means "Yes."] In that episode, we delve into Buddhism, and researched how the next Dalai Lama is found.

Then the moms left and they answered a few fan-submitted questions.

Q. Now that Cane has been canceled, will we see Richard (actor Nestor Carbonell) again?
A. Yes, you will see him.

Q. In "The Shape of Things to Come," Widmore claims that the Island was once his and that Ben stole it from him. Does that mean that Widmore has been on the Island before?
A. If he says "it's my Island," that's a pretty bold claim to make if he's never been there before...


Q. Does Aaron only have four toes?
A. No.


Q. Will we ever learn who was behind the air-drops and why they had Dharma logos on them?
A. Next year we will be dealing more significantly with Dharma-related things. But not over the rest of Season Four.


Q. Is there still hope for "Jacket" (Jack + Juliet)?
A. There is a romantic quadrangle of which Juliet is a member, and we like to mix and match on the show. I would like to see Juliet and Miles together just so we have a "Jiles."


Q. Was the first person who got shot when Keamy's group attacked the barracks Steve?
A. No, it wasn't Steve. The first guy was Doug. The guy who ran out behind him with firewood was Steve.

Q. Claire better not ever die.
A. This seems more like a threat, than a question. Claire is a wonderful character, and I don't think you should worry too much about her. [e: Hmmm, does that mean she's not Zombie Claire?]

Good God, I think I recovered from "the sickness" and then got ill again, all in the span of writing this post.

I WILL BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY for this week's episode, the first hour of the finale entitled "There's No Place Like Home," so my next post will be a few days later than it usually is. But it shouldn't matter since the rest of the finale is not airing until May 29th.

Until next time (and remember to check back in a few days for the next podcast debrief--if they post it before Wednesday night, I will cover it in a quick post and upload it before I leave),
- e