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
Q. When you first auditioned for this role, Charlotte was supposed to be an American. How did that end up changing?
Q. How would you describe your character's relationship with Faraday?
I hope those of you who watched the first hour of "There's No Place Like Home" enjoyed it... I can't wait to see it! Wish me luck on remaining unspoiled until then.
