The Variable.

Let's talk about LOST!    The Variable.
(Click the pics)





The paramedics wheel Desmond on a stretcher into the hospital. “He’s coding.”
Gunshot wound; he’s crashing.
A doctor instructs them to put him in Bay 7. {ER BAYS}
Penny holds young Charlie. She’s scared for Des, but tells Charlie, “He’s gonna be okay.”
In the waiting room {TV on} Penny rubs sleeping Charlie's head/hair.
Ms. Hawking asks, “How old is your son?”
He’s two.
Ms. Hawking smiles and remarks, “He has his father’s hair.” {Really.} Penny asks if she’s knows her. Eloise Hawking says "No", but Penny’s husband knows her.  She believes it’s her sons fault that Desmond has been shot.
Penny wonders, “Your son is Benjamin Linus?”
Good lord, no! Her son is Daniel Faraday.

THIRTY YEARS EARLIER

Night on the "Island":
Dan arrives via the sub back to the "Island.”
Miles gives him a hand with his suitcase; he is surprised to see him.
Dan-“Hey, Miles. Long time no see.” 
Dan is wearing a black/dark Dharma jumpsuit, no tie.  On the dock, Cheng tells the group they all know why they’re here, “I wish you all could get a good night's sleep but, uh…The shuttle will pick you up at the Motor Pool.”
Miles whispers, asking him what he’s doing back here. He figured once Dan left for Ann Arbor he got rich, invented the DVD or something. Dan shows him a Photostat copy of the Dharma recruit group photo; That’s why he’s back.  Miles says the group came back a few days ago. Miles proceeds with the story of their arrival but Dan cuts him off, “I don’t have time. I need you to take me to Jack’s right now.”

Inside Jack’s dark house, there’s a knock at the door. Jack opens the door to daylight, Dan and Miles.
Dan immediately questions him on how did he get back, how did he do it.
Jack- “Whoa. Where have you been?”
Dan reveals he was just at Dharma headquarters in Ann Arbor doing some research. More important, Dan needs to know how Jack got back “here. To 1977.”
Jack, who still seems disorientated from just waking up, asks Miles what’s going on.
Miles- “Don’t look at me. I just carried his luggage.”
Jack shares with Dan, “Uh…We were on a plane, and then…”
Dan-“Who told you to get on a plane?”
Jack- “As a matter of fact, Dan, it was your mother.”
Dan asks how she convinced him. Dan with distaste asks, “Did she tell you it was your destiny?”
Yep. That’s exactly what she told him.
Dan has some bad news for Jack, “You don’t belong here at all. She was wrong.”

A boy with braces on his teeth plays piano. The metronome clicks, keeping time/tempo.
Mom comes into the room looking troubled.
Dan asks his mom what’s wrong, “Didn’t you like it?”
She loved it; it was beautiful. Mom pulls up a chair to have a chat. The metronome still clicks away. Mom asks if he knows what destiny means. The boy doesn’t know.  She explains destiny means that if one has a special gift that it must be nurtured. She stops the metronome, “How many beats has that metronome counted since you started playing?”
Dan- “864.”
Apparently Dan’s gift is his mind; a mind that is meant for science and mathematics.
Mom- “And it’s my…job, to keep you on your path. So unfortunately, there’s no more time for distractions.” 
Dan wants to keep playing the piano; he can do both.
Dan-“I can make time.”
Mom-“If only you could.”
She closes the lid on the piano keyboard.

Dan needs Miles to bring him to the Orchid. Jack comes out of his house half in/half out of his Dharma jumpsuit, asking Dan what he meant by his mother was wrong. Miles conveniently pulls always as Dan tells Jack he just has an errand to run, he’ll be right back.
Jack knocks on LaFleur’s door and tells him Faraday’s back.
Sawyer/LaFleur with a gun, asks, “What do you mean Faraday’s back. Why?”
Jack doesn’t have any idea, “He came in on the sub, he woke me up… he started talking nonsense and then he took off to the Orchid."
Sawyer would love to trade theories about this, but he’s a little busy right now. Jack wants to know what has him so busy at 6am. Juliet prompts James to tell Jack.
LaFleur reveals to Jack that Phil, one of his security guys, got himself a video tape of him and Kate taking the kid out to the Hostiles. The tape is with Phil and Phil is tied up and gagged on the floor of James’ closet. {Like Hurley was.} James introduces Phil and Jack; all the while Phil is struggling to speak through the gag. Then James closes the door on Phil again.

Sitting in the Jeep at the Orchid work site, Dan looks through his journal of notes. Workers are busy building.
Miles asks Dan, “Are we waiting for something?” {Note construction sounds} A Dharma van pulls up with Cheng.
Dan-“Right on time.” {Did he know that from his notes?} Dan tells Miles he’ll be back in 10
minutes.

Dan reads through notes in the elevator on his way down to the Orchid. At the bottom he puts the journal inside his jumpsuit.  He observes Cheng having a heated discussion with the foreman about not drilling even 1 centimeter further because they risk releasing the energy. If that were to happen, “God help us all.”
A dude tells Faraday he needs a hardhat down here. With that, Cheng takes off his hardhat while Dan puts one on. Dan takes a tank {to use as a prop} carries it on his shoulder. He bumps right into Cheng who yells, “Watch yourself!”
Dan keeps his head down and apologizes; it won’t happen again. {Will it or wont it? Hmmm} Dan strolls over to where the foreman and the medics with the dead guy on the stretcher.
The foreman asks Dan, “Did you hear that? Time travel. How stupid does that guy think we are?”
Dan runs over to talk to Cheng; he removes his hardhat. Dan tells Cheng he just came off the sub with the Swan team, “We actually met three years ago. I’m Daniel Faraday.”
Cheng remembers him arriving with LaFleur. Dan needs him to order the evacuation of every man, woman and child on this island. He goes on to explain, “That man is on a stretcher as a consequence of the electromagnetic activity that your drilling unleashed down here.”
Cheng- “Which is now contained.”    {Desmond is on a stretcher too.}
They both get on the elevator.
Dan tells him it’s contained down here, “But in about six hours the same thing is gonna happen at the site for the Swan Station, only the energy there is about thirty thousand times more powerful, Sir. And the accident it’s gonna be catastrophic.”
Cheng basically laughs it off, “That’s utterly absurd. What can possibly qualify you to make that kind of prediction?”
Dan proclaims, “I’m from the future.”  {Not, "I'm a physicist"!}

Cheng walks ahead of Dan while Dan walks with his nose in his journal. Dan wants him wait and take a look at his notes. Cheng mocks his “being from the future. You heard me talking about time travel, now you’ve had your fun. Good for you.”
Dan begs him to look at his journal. Dan shows him the equations, some that won’t be discovered for another 20 years. Miles sees where Dan is going with the conversation and jumps in to derail it. He tells Dan to leave the man alone and tells Cheng, “I think he had too many drugs on the sub…”
Dan informs Cheng, “Miles is your son.”
{Cheng doesn’t seem all that impressed with that news. Maybe it’s just me}
Dan- “Think about it. A Chinese man named Miles, the same name as your baby, shows up with me from the future. You, you really think this is all coincidence? ”  {It’s a good thing Dan knows baby Miles is born already. After all, he’s been gone for three years. Humpf.}
Cheng calmly asks Miles, “Is this true?”
Agitated Miles says, no. That seems good enough for the good Doctor. Cheng wants Dan to stay away from him. Cheng leaves. Dan still wants Cheng’s attention.
Miles- “Hey. Are you outta your mind? What are you doing?”
Dan is just making sure his father does what he’s supposed to do.
Miles asks,”And what’s that?”
Dan- “You’ll see.” {WTF?!!}

Mrs. Hawking waits outside for Dan; he has just graduated. Dan introduces Theresa to her. Snooty Hawking couldn’t care less. Mom smiles at her son, “Well done, Daniel.”
Mom thought they could celebrate his accomplishment with lunch. There’s a nice restaurant nearby; she reserved a table. Happy Dan says, “We’d love to.”
But mom was hoping it could just be the two of them. Hawking hopes Theresa understands, as she doesn’t get to see her son very often.
Theresa understands, “It’s OK, Dan. Really.”  {Was that Charlotte’s voice?!!!}





Dan and his nasty hair join mom for lunch at an Indian restaurant. {Note Ganesha statue: remover of obstacles.}  
Dan is bothered by his mother being rude to his girlfriend, Theresa. Eloise didn’t think she was. Mom won’t acknowledge her as his girlfriend, “She is your research assistant. You should be focusing your energies on your work.” That is what’s important. 
Dan feels mom has made it abundantly clear, “Why would I waste my gift on a woman?”
Eloise is sorry to tell him, but he won’t have time for a relationship. The women in his life will only be terribly hurt. {Like mom} 
This shocks Dan, “What does that mean?” 
Evidently his work will always come first. Hurt Dan feels that’s because she’s pushed him to do that. “You pushed and you pushed and you pushed. And when will it be enough, Mother? When?” Obviously feeling that he can’t please his mother, he tells her he’s the youngest Doctorate to ever graduate from Oxford, he just received a 1.5. million pound research grant, “What else do I have to do?” 
She seems pleased with the grant; she asks who the grant is from.   Dan doesn’t know, “Some industrialist. Widmore, I think. Charles Widmore.” 
They’re silent for a few seconds. Eloise doesn’t want to fight with him; that’s not why she came. She came to congratulate him. {See the bunny through the glass!} She gives him a wrapped gift box, “Good luck, Daniel. I do hope you know that I mean that.” 
She leaves.
Dan opens the gift; it is a journal.





 





At LaFleur’s house, they’re holding a meeting. James takes the walkie, pulls up a chair to chat with the group, “Alright people. Party’s over.” 
He knows the rest of them just showed up, but for them it’s been their home for the past three years. He makes loving eye contact with Juliet. That last thing he wants to do is leave; but he feels they “aint got no choice.” 
Hurley asks about the dude in the closet, “I thought he worked for you. Can’t you convince him that it was all-like-a misunderstanding?” 
James punched the guy in the face, he can’t say his fist just slipped. 
Kate asks, “How much time do we have before someone realizes he’s gone?” 
James- “Not enough.” 
So, where do they go? 
James tells him they only have two options, “We can either commandeer the sub, get the hell off this island before anyone knows we’re gone. Or we can head back in the jungle, start from square one.” 
Jin is not getting on that sub if there’s a chance his wife is on this island. 
Hurley-“Yeah, me neither. After all we did to get back here and now we’re just gonna run off again. It seems kinda wishy washy.” 
James counts that as two votes for square one. There’s knock at the door; the guest knocks many times. 
James- “Hold your horses. Be right there.” 
He hides his gun behind his back and answers the door. It’s Dan and Miles. 
Dan- “Hey, James.” 
James welcomes Twitchy to the meeting, “Good to see you again. Pound cake’s in the kitchen, help yourself to the punch.” 
James whispers to Miles, “He still crazy?” 
Miles-“It’s on a whole other level, man.”
Dan apologizes to Jack for being rude before, but explains that what he came to do is of “critical importance to everyone in this room.“ 
Dan asks, “Does anyone know where I can find the Hostiles?” {Aren’t you looking right at them?!} Watch James’ face. Juliet asks why he needs to know that. Dan hesitates for a second,then admits one of them is his mother, “And she is the only person on this island who can get us back to where we belong.”





The haunting footage of the Christian 1 is being watched by crying Dan. The caretaker asks Dan how he wants his eggs. 


The news is reporting the discovery of missing flight Oceanic 815, found by a salvage vehicle in the depths of the Sunda Trench. She asks why he’s so upset.
Dan- “I don’t know.” 
There’s a knock at the door. He has a visitor. Widmore says hello to Daniel. Fragile Dan apologizes, “I’m sorry sir…I don’t….Did Caroline tell you I have a condition affects my memories…Just …” 
Widmore doesn’t want him to feel embarrassed, “We’ve never met.” 
Charles introduces himself. 
Dan starts to remember this is Charles from his research grant. He offers Dan a seat. On the couch Widmore picks up a copy of a WIRED magazine {The Impossible Gets Real. The super power issue, time travel, X-ray vision, Invisibility.} Dan notes the mess. Dan meant to thank Widmore before he left Oxford. 
Widmore corrects him, “You mean before you were dismissed.” 
Dan gets very emotional, “I tested it…I tested it on myself first. I would never hurt Theresa.” Widmore tells him it’s alright, “That’s not why I’m here. I came to offer you a new opportunity.” Dan is sorry but he can’t, “I don’t think I can…” 
The plane on the TV catches his attention and this really chokes him up. Widmore asks if he said something to upset him. Dan whispers, it’s this plane crash, “I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much. It’s just so sad. They’re dead.” 
Widmore sees his pain, “Daniel, what if I told you, they’re not dead. What if I told you, the plane was a fake. An elaborate, expensive fake.” 
Dan is stunned, “How would you know that?”
Widmore admits he put it there. 
Dan- “Why would you tell me that?” 
Widmore knows come tomorrow, Dan won't remember he did. Dan looks confused. Widmore goes on to tell him the real Oceanic flight 815 crashed on a special island with unique scientific properties. “I want to send you to the island. It will further your research. Show you things you’d never dream of. But more importantly, it will heal you, Daniel. Your mind, your memory.” Dan fills with hope, “Heal me?” 
Widmore is doing all this for him because Dan is a man of tremendous gifts and it would be a shame to see them go to waste. 
Dan chuckles, “You sound like my mother.” 
Widmore smiles, “That’s because we’re old friends.”
Dan looks confused.
LaFleur-“Your mother is an Other.” 
Dan comments that he met her when the island was skipping back in 1954; they were calling her Ellie. 
Hurley is baffled, “You guys were in 1954. Like Fonzie times?” 
Juliet wants to know why he still needs to find her. Dan just needs to talk to her. James is getting worked up. He is going by what Dan has always said; Lay low, whatever happened, happened. James isn’t telling Dan where to find her unless he wants to share what it is he’s doing. Jack interjects in Dan’s defense. “He said he can get us back to where we belong. Whether we go on the sub or we head back into the jungle…we don’t belong here.” 
James belonged there just fine “until you came back, Doc” 
Jack turns to Kate for direction to the Hostiles, “Can you get us back out there?” 
James doesn’t want her to say a word. Jack brings up the promise he had to make to Kate about not ever asking about Aaron or why she came back here, but he knows “that reason isn’t here. It’s not now.” 
James feels it doesn’t matter what her reason is. Her helping H.G. Wells find his mommy has nothing to do with it. James compassionately says, “Come with us Freckles.” 
This hits a nerve with Juliet, but she doesn’t miss a beat, she gives the code for the fence to Kate. “1 4 1 7 1 7. You should take Daniel. It’s over here for us anyway.” 
James looks stunned and disappointed. {What’s over here?!} Kate and Jack will go. 
Dan asks Miles to drive them. Miles doesn’t say a word, he just tosses the keys to Dan. 
James tells them, “When you realize you’ve made a huge mistake, we’ll be back at the beach. Right where we started.” 
James instructs the rest to pack anything they can carry; meet back there in 20 minutes. He holds out his hand for Juliet to take, he whispers, “Time to go.”
Juliet is very sad.

Kate tells Jack these people are not gonna be happy to see them, so she suggests bringing guns from the safe at the Motor Pool, but it’s locked. It’s a good thing Jack’s a janitor, he has keys! Something catches Dan’s attention. {His jumpsuit says-Joe Construction} He walks over to a little red haired girl on a swing; eating a candy bar. She tells Dan, “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner.” 
Dan is moved. He reassures Sweetheart its okay, “I won’t tell.” 
She introduces herself. 
Dan gets emotional, “I’m new here. Listen. Do you know Dr. Cheng?...Hopefully really soon Dr. Cheng is gonna ask a bunch of people to get on the submarine and leave the island. When he does, you and your mommy…you’re gonna have to leave. In case what I do doesn’t work, you cannot be here, you have to leave. I tried to avoid telling you this, I didn’t think I could change things, but maybe I can…”
Charlotte is getting teary eyed.






Jack and Kate take guns and a first aid kit from the gun locker. How long it takes them to get there depends on if they take the road with the pylons, but once they’re in their territory they have to go on foot. Kate gives Dan a rifle, but he wants something for a beginner. 
{Check out Kate and Jacks look} 
A Dharma van pulls up. Kate gives Dan a gun that’s “ready to go.” 
Radzinsky wants to know what’s going on here, “Aren’t you one of the physicists off the sub?” Radzinsky says Dan’s supposed to be out at the Swan site. Dan fumbles through a story about there being “an accident at the Orchid Station, Dr. Cheng asked us to help. So…” 
Radzinsky yells out, “Hey. He’s got a gun!” 
They all draw their weapons. Radzinsky just left Cheng; he’s at home with his wife and baby. He knows Dan’s lying so he demands the three drop their guns and get down on the ground. 
Dan- “Hey. Listen. Listen. You really don’t understand what’s happening here. You have no idea. We have no time. We have to leave, alright? So we’re just gonna leave.” 
There’s a shoot out! Dan gets grazed on the neck. Radzinsky’s hit in the left hand. The shoot out goes on, yet Kate feels they can make it to the jeep. {WTF?!} 
Jack will cover Kate and Dan. Jack blows up a fuel barrel and makes it to the jeep. As they drive off, one dude shoots out the windshield. Bloody Radzinsky yells, “SOUND THE ALARM!”

Grown Dan plays the piano. {Metronome not clicking.} He still can’t get through the song. He seems to get stuck and this frustrates and disappoints him. Eloise comes in. 
Dan asks, “When did you get here?” 
Eloise-“Oh, I just arrived. I would have called you but…” 
Apparently Dan would have forgotten anyway. She heard he was offered a job; she knows because it’s her business to know. Eloise came here to tell him it’s very important to say yes to Mr. Widmore; that he accepts this opportunity. Fragile Dan feels he can’t because Widmore needs someone who can do really, really complex space-time calibrations and calculate bearings and Dan doesn’t know how to do that anymore. Eloise wants Dan to know that this place/island Widmore mentioned to Dan can make him better. “What if it's true? Why, then you could go on with your work. Just think of all you could accomplish.” 
Dan-“You really want me to go?” 
YEP! 
Dan asks like a little boy, “Will it make you proud of me?” 
Eloise takes a deep breath, smiles and says, yes, it will. She waits for his answer. Dan emotionally torn, thinks.
Finally he tells her he’ll do it.

Jack asks Kate if she remembers the code. Yep, she got it. Kate disarms the fence. {It makes a winding down sound.} Jack tends to Dan’s neck; tells him he’s gonna be fine. 
Dan- “Guess I’m lucky.” 
Jack asks what luck has to do with it, after all Dan said what ever happened, happened. Dan tells Jack he’s gotta understand, “This is our present. When we met did I have a scar on my neck? No. Cause I hadn’t been shot yet. We can’t be so naive as to think nothing can happen to us. Any one of us can die, Jack.” 
Jack looks at Kate. {Come on, he wasn’t shot, just grazed!! He hadn’t been shot yet, but will be, and not in the neck either!} Kate announces the fence is off. They still have to go a couple of miles in. {HA! A couple of Miles!!} Dan looks at his watch. Kate watches Dan and asks Jack if he thinks Dan knows what he’s doing. 
Jack hopes so, “There’s no turning back now.”

Gagged- tied up Phil is banging on the closet door while Juliet and James pack for the beach. {How much shit are you gonna bring to the beach?! lol} James acknowledges that Juliet “called it the moment those Yahoo’s got here. I shoulda listened to you.”  She doesn’t say anything. 
James- “You can say I told you so.” 
Juliet- “Maybe after we get to the beach.” She’s mad. He asks her if she still got his back. Juliet, “You still got mine?”
A “pulse buzz” alarm is sounding.

Outside Hurley with his guitar case and Jin see Radzinsky and his men armed with guns. 
Hurley- “That’s not good, right?”
Jin says something in Korean. Shot Radzinksy barges into LaFleur’s house asking where he’s been. Whoa, whoa, whoa…He tells Stu to take it easy, “What’s going on?”
Stu shows him his hand, “I just got shot by a physicist! And the new recruits are helping him. We’ve been infiltrated.” {Best line of the episode!!!} James thinks that ridiculous. They hear a thud. James, in an effort to distract where the sound really came from says the sound came from outside. That didn’t work. Stu opens the closet finds Phil. Stu points his gun at James and Juliet and orders him to get down on the ground.

Kate leads the two men to the stream; they rest and grab some water. Jack remarks on Dan having to need a gun to go talk to his mother. 
Dan remarks, “You don’t know my mother, Jack.”
Jack asks if Dan’s ready to tell him why she was wrong, “why they don’t belong here.”
Kate walks away. Dan explains to Jack that in about four hours the Dharma folks at the Swan work site are gonna drill into the ground and accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy. {Kate hands Jack a canteen} The result of the release of this energy will be catastrophic. In order to contain it they’re gonna have to cement the entire area in, like Chernobyl. And this containment, the place they built over it, “I believe you called it the Hatch, the Swan Hatch… because of this one accident, these people are gonna spend the next 20 years keeping that energy at bay… by pressing a button. A button that your friend Desmond will one day fail to push and that will cause your plane, Oceanic 815 to crash on this island. {Was it supposed to LAND on Hydra Island?} And because your plane crashed the freighter will be sent to this island, a freighter I was on and Charlotte was on and so forth. This entire chain of events, it's gonna start happening this afternoon. But... we can change that. I studied relativistic physics my entire life. One thing emerged over and over…can't change the past. Can't do it. Whatever happened, happened. Alright? But then I finally realized... I had been spending so much time focused on the constants, I forgot about the variables. Do you know what the variables in these equations are, Jack?”
Nope, Doctor Jack doesn’t know. 
Dan-”Us. We're the variables. People. We think. We reason. We make choices. We have free will. We can change our destiny. I think I can negate that energy under the Swan. I think I can destroy it. If I can, then that hatch will never be built, and your plane... your plane will land, just like it's supposed to, in Los Angeles.” 
Kate asks how he plans on destroying this energy. 
Dan proclaims he’s gonna detonate a Hydrogen Bomb. {Yeah, cause that’s better.}

Night at the Marina Medical Center Long Beach… {Over the P.A.-Satellite Pharmacy} Penny is surprised Hawking’s son is Daniel Faraday; the man who sent Desmond to Los Angeles to find her. Eloise with tears in her eyes came to apologize to Penelope. “Your husband has become a casualty in a conflict that’s bigger than him, that’s bigger than any of us.” 
She doesn’t know if Desmond will be okay because for the first time in a long time “I don’t know what’s going to happen next.” 
A nurse comes in for Ms. Hume to tell her Desmond is in the recovery room and asking for her. He’s doing fine. “Come with me. This nurse will watch your son.” 
Eloise hurries out.
Penny enters Desmond’s room. Penny shares she thought she lost him.
Desmond-“I promised you, Penny. I promised you. I’d never leave you again.” They kiss.

Eloise is about to get in a cab and hears… Charles asks, “Is he all right?” 
She tells him yes, he’s fine. This pleases Charles. Eloise with an attitude tells him his daughter’s in there, why don’t he go in and say hello. Charles explains unfortunately his relationship with Penelope is one of the things he had to sacrifice. Eloise doesn’t him to talk to her about sacrifice, “I had to send my son back to the island knowing full well that...”  Charles cuts her off, “He’s my son too, Eloise.” 
She slaps his face and gets in a cab.

On their trek Kate feels this is a mistake. Dan’s talking about erasing everything that’s ever happened to us, Jack. It’s insane.” 
Jack-”We disappeared off a plane in mid air and ended up in 1977. I’m getting kinda used to insane.”
We hear a man in the camp say “Well, That should be enough.” 
Dan checks out the Hostiles village and says, “Wish me luck.” 
He heads in with his gun. A Hostile reaches for his gun and Dan fires two shots. Nobody move, he only wants to speak to Eloise. He asks where she is. 
Richard appears and says, “She’s not here right now. Do we know each other?” 
Dan-”It doesn’t matter. I need you to take me to Eloise.” 
Richard insists she’s not there. 
Dan asks where is the Hydrogen bomb that he told them to bury. {Where’s Eloise? Where’s the bomb?} 
Richard tries to calm Dan down, “Don’t do this.” 
Dan- “I’m gonna give you three seconds. One…Two…” 
A shot is fired! {Watch Richard} Dan is hit! 
Richard freaks, “Why did you do that?” 
Eloise- “He had a gun on him.” 
Richard- “He wasn’t gonna shoot me, Eloise.” 
Dan gasping looking at Eloise, “You knew. You always knew. You knew this was gonna happen. You sent me here anyway.”
Eloise -”Who are you?”
Dan- “I’m your son.”






The Variable is a GREAT EPISODE!!! Who is the variable? Dan, Eloise, Juliet, Jack, Desmond? Who?!  The "parental units" of these Losties are totally DISCONNECTED!  They aren't there to nurture.  The parents have a "job" to keep the kids on a certain predetermined path. That's NOT parenting, that’s coaching and guiding.
Are some of these parents biologically related or are they just a proxy, a substitute?

Things to Note...Questions to ask...
* WRONG
* Sleep. Dream.
* Emotional disconnects. Parental Disconnect. Metronome Disconnect.
* Who are biological parents to these kids?
* Are these kids bred/created for a specific purpose? What about the "parents"? Are they a hybrid of some sort? {Yeah, human and alien. Bot. lol}  Perfect people…Super Hero’s… Soldiers….What??? Seems they're just lost people, people who feel like they don’t belong and can’t find their way.
* Mad scientists. Journal of researched notes, script, play book or a strategy guide?
* Doctors, medics, paramedics. Mental health. Mind. Crazy. Drugs. Memory. Amnesia. Forget. Condition.
* Dan-No tie. No mental/memory issues for him on the island in the 1970’s.
* Dan is a "Doctor".   Jack is a "Doctor".
* The age difference of Eloise as a Hostile Other and her Math/Science rearing self, isn’t too far apart. So, when did she leave the “Island” and when was Dan born?
* Watching. Guiding. Rearing. Coaching. Making sure things are put into play and kept on the path.
* Just as Desmond tried to "change" things in his flashes he still ended up on the island. We'll have to see if Dan's sacrifice was able to change anything. Actually up to this point Eloise shooting him was part of the plan.
* WIRED. Are they wired? Are their heads/brains wired to something? Maybe are they "high".
* Code. Crash. Variable. Yahoo. Sounds like computers.
* Linage. Siblings. DNA. Breeding. (With whom/what?)
* Super Powers.
* Music and mathematics are strongly intertwined. Dan could not "connect" with the metronome, but with Sun she was outright out of tempo with it.
* Dan went back to the “outside world” and it was the 70’s?
* Ellie and Libby are names derived from Elizabeth.
* Why doesn't Faraday have a British accent? Why is his last name Faraday
* Everyone is still lying and playing games.
* Hints to Hindu and Buddhism. Enlightenment.
* I heard grown Charlotte's voice.
* We only get the Thirty Years Earlier time cue once in this episode.
* Is Dan's "gift" his brilliant mind or just the journal?


Vocabulary and Research...
* A bay is an area of water bordered by land on three sides. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds.
* Sick bay, nautical term for the location in a ship that is used for medical purposes.
* Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch (which govern melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts temp, meter and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek, "(art) of the Muses.”    12 Notes in the Chromatic Scale, each a half step apart. Timbre/time-beats per measure/bars.
* Ganesha is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles.
* A variable is a symbol that stands for a value that may vary; the term usually occurs in opposition to constant, which is a symbol for a non-varying value, i.e. completely fixed or fixed in the context of use. The concepts of constants and variables are fundamental to all modern mathematics, science, engineering, and computer programming.
- To vary. -to change with time.
- Not to remain constant.
-In statistics, variables refer to measurable attributes, as these typically vary over time or between individuals. Variables can be discrete (taking values from a finite or countable set),continuous (having a continuous distribution function), or neither. Temperature is a continuous variable, while the number of legs of an animal is a discrete variable. This concept of a variable is widely used in the natural, medical and social sciences. There is also a Dummy variable.
-Quasi-independent variables, which are used by researchers to group things without affecting the variable itself. Example- to separate people into groups by their sex does not change whether they are male of female. Or a researcher may separate people, arbitrarily, on the amount of coffee they had drunk before beginning an experiment. The researcher cannot change the past, but can use it to split people into groups.
* Anterograde amnesia- is a loss of memory of what happens after the event that caused the amnesia; it is different from retrograde amnesia, where memories prior to the event are forgotten. The disease is usually acquired in one of two ways: it is either drug-induced (benzodiazepines such as midazolam, flunitrazepam, diazepam, triazolam and nimetazepam are known to have powerful amnesic effects), or it follows a traumatic brain injury in which there is usually damage to the hippocampus or surrounding cortices. Patients who suffer from anterograde amnesic syndromes may present with widely varying degrees of forgetfulness. In the case that the amnesia is drug-induced, it may be short-lived and patients can recover from it.
* Sacrifice is also used metaphorically to describe a number of plays in games. 
* Sacrifice in Baseball- Sacrifice fly.






 

I have to say there are way too many instances of us seeing someone having NO I.D./Identity; Blank Slates.  Are these lost, ill, lonely, hurt, scared, abandoned, neglected, needing to be rehabilitated, special people made new on this “Island”?
Are they "time traveling" or are they in a different dimension, another "plane", another world?
They could be in a "Cyber World", whether it's for the purpose of healing someone or a game being played by rich men watching from the “Looking Glass”.   
If the “game” element is part of the story then again I feel that either whomever is getting to close to the truth, finds what they're looking for, getting to close to whomever is in the lead {to unseat} or in charge, or is the games sacrificial move, then are they just removed from the playing field or game board.
If they are in some sort of Cyber environment having these experiences played out in their minds/consciousness, I am brought to Ajira Airways {Which means Island.} Go to ajiraairways.com and tell me what you see.   Maybe Ajira is sending lost people on the ride of their lives. The adventure they need to find themselves. I'm just throwing it out there.

Faraday, his gift and his memory or lack there of... Is his condition due to his experiments or was he born this way? Perhaps he is afflicted with Savant syndrome or is a prodigious savant.
That brings me to the “all knowing”  Richard. How come he never immediately admits to remembering people he's met via "time traveling" back and forth?

So I need to ask, was the "Island" done with Faraday? Or was he a sacrifice in the game?
Is someone the "Bug" in the system?!

And...can you "erase" the past? I think you know the answer to that. But a computer can erase information and data.
Well, if the Island heals what ails ya, put me on a plane and let me experience it too. After all we are part of the experiment. Aren't we all part of the virtual aspect of this experience?

If you'd like to see if there are ties to The Constant,  or go to the drop down menu and check out my posted notes.
Special thanks to The ODI for the Wired image.

Love to all who are “LOST” ™





Disclaimer: I never claim to know everything about the show and my thoughts by no means make me right.The things I share here are my views and/or opinions. I don't claim to catch every single detail either. You all know I hate spoilers and I stand clear of reading certain sites as to not take me off my own course of research. The one thing I don't need to do here is rehash all of the obvious clues from an episode; we all know what they are. Understood? Let the fun begin!I'll only note things that I know come up as clues later, but need to be noted when they first show up and things I find that will be of importance.

Jughead.

Let's talk about LOST!   Jughead.

Desmond runs through a market place looking for Efren Salonga; the doctor. Philippine men are drinking and gambling. Money is changing hands.
The Doctor asks him “What’s the matter with you?"
Sign- MABUHAY.
Desmond and the Doctor run across a red dock back to the boat where Penny is losing a lot of blood; she is in labor.
Desmond tells her, “It’s OK. Just breathe.”
She is told to push. {What, the button?”  lol}
The Doctor uses forceps to deliver the baby boy.{Wrapped in a green towel w/stripes}

Night:
On a sailboat the golden curly haired boy listens to a story told by his father, Desmond.  “Look. Right out there. Beyond where you can see, there’s, there’s an island. And it’s a very special island. I left it a long time ago. I never thought I’d see it again. It’s called Great Britain. And The most beautiful part of the island is Scotland. And that’s where your daddy’s from. There’s mountains and glens and monsters and deep lochs and... It’s where your mommy and daddy fell in love.”
It’s also where he broke her heart.
Desmond wanted to leave out that bit and the bit about the boy’s grandfather who sent a boat to the island to kill all Daddy’s friends.
Desmond tells  Penny they’ll be in and out, “He’ll never know we were here, Penny.”
Penny’s concerned that Des may be underestimating Charles Widmore.
Desmond is on a mission that has nothing to do with Widmore. They are there because of Daniel Faraday. Faraday told Desmond that everyone on that island is in danger, and he’s the only one who can help him. {Watch Penny’s face.}
Desmond- “I have to do this Penny.”

On the jungle trek Miles tells him Sawyer said to meet at the creek. “Unless he got torched by a flaming arrow, that’s where he and everyone else should be.”
Charlotte is still suffering from a headache; she has dizziness and double vision. Dan is worried but tries to reassure her that he won’t let anything happen to her. They arrive at the creek.
Miles- “Some rendezvous, it’s just us.”
They should wait, the rest could be right behind them; or they came and left. 
Miles-“Or their dead.”
Dan tells Miles that kind of attitude is not exactly what they need right now, people are scared enough.   Something gets Miles’ attention. He spots a trip wire.  Two castaways are walking near it. Miles tries to warn them not to move. It's too late. Boom! {Sounds like 6 explosions}

Out of the jungle come arrow wielding “soldiers”; they surround the three.  A small expressionless blond woman with a rifle asks Miles “Who’s in charge here?”   
Miles says Dan is.
She says to Dan, “You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” {I love that we got her POV holding the rifle.}

On the docked boat we see Desmond’s reflection in the mirror. He puts his shoes on.
Penny enters to confirm that “he” finished his breakfast.  Penny says he put up a bit of a fight but listens in the end, “Unlike his father.”
Penny is troubled. Desmond tries to reassure her all he has to do is find "his" mother, tell her he’s still on the island, and then I’m done with this for good.”
Penny-“Why now? I mean, If he told you all this on the island why didn’t you remember it until two days ago.”
Desmond doesn’t understand how any of this works any more than she does.   He knows it happened. Daniel Faraday knocked on the hatch door, told him to go to Oxford, everyone was in danger and he was the only one who can help them. I know how insane it sounds.
He tells Penny he’ll be back by dark, “And then I’m done. Forever. I promise.”
They kiss. Penny asks if he can promise he’ll never go back to that island again.
Desmond- "Why in gods name would I wanna go back there?”
He leaves, leaving the door open. {Yep!}

Dan watches the “soldiers” pull the blown up guys out of the water. Miles and Charlotte are cuffed.
Ellie with the rifle questions them, “There were 20 of you at the beach, but only 5 of you here. Where are the rest of your people?”
Miles remarks that maybe they got blown up by some more of her land mines. She tells him they didn’t put them there, “You did.”
She explains to Dan, “Once they leave there I will be out of control of what happens to you. But if you cooperate now things will go much easier for you. So where are the rest of your people?”
He doesn’t know.
Sawyer, Locke and Juliet have two prisoners kneeling on the ground. {1 lays on the ground.}
Locke asks who these  people are. Sawyer sarcastically says he didn’t have time to ask that with Frogurt on fire and all.
Juliet tells him these people attacked them on the beach.
Locke notes, “This is a 30 caliber M1 Garand rifle. It looks new.”
Sawyer- Who cares about the rifle. Where the hell I've you been?”
Locke shares if he was going through what he’s been going through, the appropriate question would be “When the hell have I been?” {Locke thinks he’s the only one experiencing something?}
Sawyer asks about his leg.
Locke- “I got shot.”
Sawyer wonders “By who?”
Juliet conveniently interrupts Locke answering by saying they can swap stories later; they told the rest of their group they’d meet by the creek. “If there’s any chance of reconnecting with them, we better get moving.”
Sawyer suggests, seeing as they don’t have rope to tie up their prisoners, they’re gonna have to shoot them.
In Latin- Soldier 1-“Quare non sunt vestitus eis?” {Wherefore not are clothing these?}
Jones- “Tace!” {to be silent, say nothing, leave unmentioned, pass over}
John seems surprised.
Juliet says something in Latin back to them. {Wonder what is was…}
She interprets that one asks why they weren’t in uniform and the other told him to shut up. John asks her how they know how to speak Latin.
Juliet reveals it’s the same reason she knows how, “It’s because they’re Others.”

Ellie marches her troop and prisoners through the jungle.
Dan notices radiation burns on one of the men. {Left hand}
Something is grabbing Miles’ attention. Miles tells Dan they just walked over a fresh grave; Four U.S. Soldiers, dead just over a month. Three of them were shot; one died of radiation poisoning.
Dan looks confused. He asks Miles if any of them “happened to mention what year it is.” {Happen too?}
Ellie announces “We’re here.”
Tent City. 
She calls out for Richard, “We’re back.”
Out of a tent emerges ageless Richard.
Ellie informs Richard she caught these three by the creek. This one’s their leader. {Dan }
Richard asks Dan his name, but Dan snaps back with, “What’s your name?”
Richard-“My name is Richard Alpert.”
Richard assumes Dan came back for his bomb.
The bells toll at Oxford. {3} {Lots of file boxes in this library!}

Desmond speaks to a woman with a British accent behind a desk. She does not find any record of any Faraday.
Desmond-“That’s impossible, ‘cause I know her son was a professor here.  His name’s Daniel Faraday. I’m sure his name’s in your database.”
The woman tells him there’s no record of any Faraday ever being employed here at Oxford.
Desmond, in his incognito sunglasses insists he visited him at his lab, “it was in an attic, it was above the physics department.”
The archives go back quite far, perhaps it was a clerical error. You don’t happen to recall what year it was in which you last visited?”
Desmond can’t recall.   She asks why he’s seeking this information.   He apologizes for wasting her time.

Desmond walks down the corridor and sees a sign, heads in.   He sees the “Danger tape” that is sealing off the room being fumigated and he breaks in. The room has indeed been locked down. Newspapers on the windows. He uncovers the chalk board and other items belonging to Dan.  He picks up a photograph of Dan and a blond woman; the glass is cracked. He uncovers the light contraption used to make Eloise’s conscious mind “travel in time.”
He uncovers the maze.
A janitor/custodian comes in; he wondered when someone would figure out we weren’t just fumigating. Then he asks Des if he’s a professor.
Desmond-“No. Not exactly.”
The janitor/custodian sees this as honesty. He doesn’t want Desmond to touch anything because he was the one who had to take the bloody maze running rats down to the incinerator, so that no one would find out what he was up to.
Desmond isn’t the first one to poke around for Daniel Faraday and his work. Rumor had it that he was trying to send rats brains back in time.
The janitor/custodian will forget Desmond broke his lock, if you tell your mates all you found was rubbish left behind by a madman.
Desmond questions why the University has no record of Faraday.
The custodian-“Can you blame them? I mean after what he done to that poor girl.”  {Oooooh.... What girl?!}

Back at tent city Miles, Dan and Charlotte are thrown into a tent.
Miles states “We are so dead.”
Dan says they “are not SO dead. We are gonna be fine. We just need to keep it together until there’s another flash. Alright. And all this disappears.”
The next flash could be 5 minutes or 5,000 years. {Awesome!}
Charlotte wants to know what’s going on, “Why are they doing this to us?”
Dan-“They must think that we’re with the American military.”
If so, their best chance of staying alive is to let them keep thinking it.
Richard comes in speaks to Dan, “Ellie tells me you’re not willing to reveal where the rest of your squad is?”
Dan-“Why would I do that? So you can kill them too?”
Richard-“We didn’t start this, Friend. Your people attacked us. You come to our island to run your tests. You fire at us and what? You expect us to not defend ourselves?”
Dan doesn’t know anything about that; he insists, “We are scientists.”
Richard asks if they send him there to recover it.
Dan-“You mean our hydrogen bomb. Then yes. And I’m guessing from this man’s radiation burns that the housing has been compromised. Is that right?”
Dan tries to tell Richard that he has an unstable device, it’s capable of destroying the entire island and it’s broken. If you don’t allow me to render it inert all of us are gonna die. All of us.”
Richards' concerned that Dan could have been sent there on a suicide mission. He could take Dan out to the bomb and Dan would detonate it.
Dan wouldn't, “Because I’m in love with the woman sitting next to me.”
Dan would never do anything to hurt her.
This touches Richard and he gives permission to Dan to take care of his bomb, “If you try anything else, then you will hurt her.”
Locke looks at his compass as they march their prisoners through the jungle. Sawyer asks Juliet who taught her Latin.
Juliet smugly tells him “Others 101. Gotta learn Latin. Language of the enlightened.”
Sawyer- “Enlightened my ass.”
Locke suggests that the prisoners talk. “Once we meet up at the creek, and meet up with the rest of our people, there’s gonna be a lot of anger directed at you for attacking them."
The soldier Cunningham {American accent} tells Locke, the rest of your people are either captured or dead. Hmmm...What makes him say that, you ask. It’s because that idiot/Sawyer shouted out “Meet at the Creek. We knew exactly where they were headed. Sent a group after them.”
Sawyer-“Well maybe I should have said it in my secret language.”
Juliet hurries up to Cunningham and in Latin tells him “We’re not your enemy.”
He replies in Latin, “Then let us go.”
Sawyer wants to know what he’s saying. Juliet asks to be taken to their camp; she even asks if Richard Alpert is there.
Jones is concerned. And yes Locke, she asked for Richard Alpert.
Juliet again asks to be brought to their camp; and no one else has to die. Cunningham looks over at pissed off Jones.
Cunningham agrees to take them, “We need to head east another couple kilometers till we hit the ridge…”
Jones snaps Cunningham’s neck and makes a run for it! Sawyer tells Locke to shoot him!  
Locke aims but can’t do it. Sawyer grabs the rifle and fires!
Missed!
Sawyer asks Locke if he’s crazy! Why didn’t he shoot him?
Locke couldn’t do it because, “He’s one of my people.”

Desmond in his incognito baseball cap and sunglasses, is looking for an address. He knocks on the door 3 times. {Properly using the door knocker, of course. Lol}
A British woman with blond short hair answers. {Abigail Spencer}
Desmond tells her he’s looking for Theresa Spencer; he’d like to have a word with her. He got her name from a gentleman he met at Oxford University; Daniel Faraday.
This intrigues Abigail, “ Daniel Faraday? Why didn’t you say so?” {He just fucking did!}
Abigail leads him through a sliding door into Theresa’s room. 

Theresa is laid up in a hospital bed; monitor beeps. She’s is being spoon fed by an orderly. This takes Desmond by surprise.

Abby asks, “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

Des asks Abigail if Theresa can hear them.
Abigail- “No. Theresa’s away right now.”   Sometimes she wakes up, thinks she’s three, wants to know where her dolly is. Yesterday she was talking to our dad. He died five years ago.”
Desmond feels this was a mistake.
Abby gets an attitude "Of course. Why would you want to stay? Daniel certainly didn’t.”
She continues… He left her like this. Went running off to the states, never to be heard from again. He abandoned her. What kind of a man does that? She seriously wouldn’t know what to do if it wasn’t for Mr. Widmore, Daniel’s benefactor; he funded his research and he took responsibility for the result of it. He’s been taking care of Theresa ever since. Everything here is due to Mr. Widmore. God bless him.
Miles-“A hydrogen bomb. Seriously?”
Dan explains that back in the 50’s the U.S. Government tested H bombs in the South Pacific. Lucky us.
Charlotte tells Dan he didn’t have to profess his love for her, “There were plenty of other ways you could have convinced them you weren’t gonna blow up the entire island.”
Dan meant what he said.
Expressionless gun toting Ellie enters to retrieve Dan. She takes his pack; Dan promises to be back soon. Charlotte gets teary.
Richard unwraps Dan's “cuffed” hands, “Whatever your uh superiors told you, I want you to know the truth. A month ago we found 18 members of an army battalion right here, in our jungle here, setting up this camp. We gave them the opportunity to leave the island peacefully. They weren’t willing to do that so, I was forced to kill um. All of them.”
Dan wants to know who he was forced by.
Richard-“You answer to someone don’t you? You follow a chain of command. Right?”
Yep!
So does Richard.
Jones calls out to Richard and tells him, “ A group of them surprised us.”
They were outnumbered but he escaped.
Ellie-“Outnumbered, eh?”
Jones tells her to shut up. Richard shares with Jones that Dan is going to help them with their problem. 
Jones feels he’s “one of them. You can’t trust him.”
But Richard sends Dan and Ellie on their way. Richard asks Jones how he escaped.
Jones-"I ran.". {And I Ran so far away. I just ran. Ran both night and day….Oh! Sorry. Now that damn Flock of Seagulls song is in my head!!}
Richard wonders if it ever occurred to Jones that they might follow him.
Jones doesn’t seem to think they would, “Their leader is some sodding old man. What? You think he can track me? You think he knows this island better than I do?”

Locke and Juliet look down at tent city. Locke asks her how she knew Richard would be there. Juliet mentions Richard has “always been here.”
Locke asks “How old is he?”
Juliet-“Old.”
She asks why he’s so interested in Richard.   It’s because Richard was about to tell John how he can save “us.”
Juliet-“Save us?”   {WTF? Doesn’t she want to be saved?}
Locke goes on to say that before Richard could finish they were interrupted by that flash of light; and he’s hoping they can pick up where they left off. {Watch Juliet}
Sawyer busts up a “I’m an Other, You’re an Other reunion” to tell them Faraday, the guy that’s actually gonna save us, is being death marched into the jungle right now.”
Locke-“Good luck with that.”
John isn’t going to help Sawyer save Dan, he’s going to finish his conversation with Richard.
Sawyer-“That’s gonna get us all killed. You go rolling in there, they’re gonna know we’re here.”
Fair enough; John will give him 10 minutes head start.
Sawyer asks Juliet if she wants to stay there in Crazy Town or help him rescue the geek.
Ellie asks Dan why he keeps looking at her. Apparently he feels she “looks so much like someone I used to know.”
Ellie-“Some one other than the girl you just professed your love for? Well aren’t you the Romeo?”
Dan-“Far from it. Believe me.”
By the way, she doesn’t believe him. He may have Richard fooled but he can’t expect her to believe he, a British woman and a Chinese man are all members of the Unites States Military.
Ellie-“Who are you? And what are you doing on our island?”
Dan tells Ellie that he’s her best chance at disarming that bomb. 
So, disarm it.
Dan sees the bomb hanging like a pendulum. He examines the hanging bomb, named Jughead. {Complete with it’s Trigger control panel.} He discovers its seeping some substance.  He hurries away from it. He warns Ellie to get back, it’s unsafe; they need to move. Ellie warns him if he tries anything…like shoot him.
Dan explains that would be perfect because rifle fire right next to “what would you call this, hydrogen bomb”, fantastic idea, “Really inspired.”
He asks if her people have access to lead or concrete.
Dan explains, “There’s a crack in the casing, it needs to be filled with lead, taken off the platform carefully and bury it. If they do what he says and bury it, it won’t go off.
Dan needs her to trust him. He insists they must bury it and everything will be fine, “Remember your superior ordered me to take care of this.” 

Apparently the way to take care of this bomb is you bury it. Dan knows so much about this because “50 years from now this island is still here.”

Ellie cocks the rifle and aims it at him. His remark shocks her. Dan can explain himself better. “50 years from now, me and my, me and my friends, that’s where we’re from, OK? And here’s the key, every thing’s fine. I’m not saying it’s perfectly fine, but there hasn’t been any atomic blasts. Alright.”

Sawyer sneaks up behind Ellie and demands she drop the gun. Neither Sawyer nor Ellie will drop their guns. 

Juliet, with a knife says, “Why don’t we all put our guns down?” 

Sawyer makes Ellie “drop it!” And he sees the hanging bomb, “Son of a bitch.”

Ellie-“Are they from the future too?”  

Sawyer asks Dan, “You told her?”

Desmond steps off an elevator and charges right into Widmore’s office. {Namaste painting and the sail boat is on Widmore’s right side} Widmore tells Melanie it’s OK as Mr. Hume is a colleague of his. He also holds off a bodyguard. 
Alone with Widmore, Desmond says he won’t answer the questions that Widmore has for him. Desmond is there to ask him a question and once he has the answer Widmore will never see him again. Understand. Desmond needs to know where he can find Daniel Faraday’s motha. {LOL!} 
Widmore asks what makes Desmond think he knows where she is. Desmond calls him out on knowing he funded Faraday’s research, “So I figured you must know something regarding his next of kin.” 
Widmore says he hasn’t seen or heard from his daughter for three years, “just answer me this…Is she safe?” 
Desmond just replies with “Where’s Faraday’s motha?” 

 

Widmore takes an address book out of a box. He tells Desmond she’s in L.A., and writes down her address and hands it to him. He also suspects she won’t be pleased to see him, as she is a very private person.
Before Desmond can leave Widmore stops him, “Deliver your message, but then get out of this mess. Don’t put Penny’s life in danger….You getting yourself involved in something that goes back many, many years it has nothing to do with you or my daughter. Where ever you were hiding, go back there.”
Desmond thanks him for the advice. 

Locke marches right into tent city and calls out for Richard Alpert. He tells Jones he’s looking for Richard. Locke continues calling out for Richard. Jones pulls the rifle on Locke to stop him. 
Richard asks Locke “Who are you?” 
Locke-“My name is John Locke.” 
Richard-“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
Locke-“Jacob sent me.” 
With that Richard tells Widmore to put the gun down. Locke turns to the kid, “Your name is Widmore? Charles Widmore?” 
This pleases Locke.

Penny is in the boat cabin telling her son a story about a bear. Desmond returns. Penny shares she and Charlie had a good day; he wanted to go fishing in the Themes, they were unsuccessful. 
Desmond lies to Penny about finding Faraday’s mum, “There was no one to find. She died a few years ago.” 
Penny asks why he’s lying to her, “Where is she?” 
Des confesses she’s in L.A.. 
This worries Penny. 
Desmond reassures her this was a mistake. He promised her it would be done in a day, and now it’s done. It’s not our problem anymore.” 
Penny wonders ” And what happens if you wake up tomorrow and remember something else? And the next day?” 
Desmond-“I’ll forget it! It doesn’t matter Pen. You’re my life now. You and Charlie…I won’t leave you again. Not for this. Not for anything.” 
Penny tells him he’ll never forget it, “So I guess we’re going with you.” {Permission granted!} 
They hug.

Richard holds the compass that Locke tells him he gave to him after Locke got shot in the leg and Richard wandered out of the jungle to patch him up. 
Richard wonders why he doesn’t remember any of it.
John tells because it hasn’t happened yet. Richard chuckles. Locke expects Richard to tell him how to get off the island. 
Richard-“That’s very privileged information. Why would I share that with you?” 
Locke-“Because you told me I had something very important to do once I get there. And because I’m your leader.” 
Richard questions that, “Well I certainly don’t want to contradict myself but, we have a very specific process for selecting our leadership. And it starts at a very, very young age.” 
Locke asks him “What year is right now?” 
It’s 1954.
Locke tells him May 30^th 1956, two years from now, that’s the day I’m born. Tustin, California. If Richard doesn’t believe him he suggests he go and visit him. 
Locke starts to realize the light is changing, triggering a flash, “Oh no. It’s happening again.”   {He grabs his head}

 
Locke needs Richard to tell him how to get off the island now! “Please tell me!

"FLASH!!!"
John is alone in empty Richard-less tent city.
Sawyer, Juliet, Dan, Charlotte and Dan apparently experienced the flash. Dan and Charlotte are very happy to see each other. Dan unbinds her hands. Charlotte gets dizzy and starts bleeding from her nose; she faints. 
Dan is upset.

 


Jughead is a great episode!
Since the very beginning events seem scripted, written out.  Similar dialog is repeated by various "characters" over and over and over again. Point blank, I sometimes feel like there is a basic outlined "script" involved.   Is it possible Other's are really supplementary beings, there to fill in the gaps or fill certain roles. Don't you ever feel like it's a living breathing game?

Things to note…Questions to ask 
* Ellie seems almost robotic. Does she have a heart?  
* Ellie is a form of the name Elizabeth
* Richard is wearing street clothes similar to what he’s worn before.  
* Fumigating...For BUGS…Rats…Aliens????? Computer 
* Testing bombs…I wonder if it creates mutant people/creatures. “Muahahaha”  
* Dan professes his love for Charlotte. In what capacity does he love her? Lover, Husband, Brother, Father?  
* Desmond is the only one who can help Faraday’s people. John bringing Jack and the rest of the Oceanic 6 back will save the island. Are these "missions" one in the same?  
* Charlie Pace’s dad chopped heads off dollies.  Jack found dollies in the fresh water in the cave.

* Latin is the language of the enlightened and the ancients (Rome) and Doctors take Latin courses. Here they speak Vulgar Latin. Also, Tagalog language.  
* Where/how did Richard’s people live before tent city.  
* Widmore pays for Theresa's care. Christian pays for Mrs. Littleton’s care.  
* The Bomb.  
* Widmore is an Other living in the outside world.  
* Theresa falls up the stairs….Boone. And Teresa Cortez, Anna Lucia’s mother.  
* The name Jacob got Richards' attention.  
* Richard knew in 'Because you left', that it would be the “next time” he saw John he wouldn’t remember him. Richard implied that he's not "going anywhere", John is. {in the Flashes}  
* Juliet steers conversations. She knows too much.  
* Flashes occur when “triggers” happen.  
* Flashes are random in time. What determines where time ends up or how it’s supposed to get back to proper time?  
* Charlotte has the same symptoms that Claire had on the beach when Ben activated an implant.  
* Was Charles Widmore banished from the island or left on his own?  
* Richard admits there’s a way to get to and from the island and it's privileged info. If its so secret, how come so many people end up there?  
* Is the Flashing tied to the dream Locke had about Horace chopping down the tree on a loop? "Time skipping", doing things over and over, or just a hint to a bug in the system? Glitch.  
* US Military knife- Goodwin had one.  
* If the "Island" heals why are there dead people?  Does it only heal certain people or no one at all?  
* Paradox  
* The Oxford Physics Department is housed in Clarendon laboratory, not "Claredon" as shown.  
* Dan needs to render the bomb inert. Same thing with the gas over at the Tempest with the gas.  
* Arrows….Darts  
* Dates regarding John Locke birth: John Locke in Further instructions…Papers-Johnathan Locke, San Francisco Ca, DOB 11/15/1946.   His driver's license DOB 3/30/56  
* In Jughead John Locke's DOB 5/30/56 
* Duex Ex Machina Emily’s DOB 10/15/40  
* The song “everyday” was recorded on May 29, 1957 and released on September 29, 1957.  

Vocabulary and Research... 
* Mabuhay- Tagalog language of the Philippines.  
* Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III of the Archie comics. {lineage}  
* The Creek mythology is related to an American Indian Creek people who are originally from the southeastern United States, also known by their original name Muscogee. The Creek believe that the world was originally entirely underwater. The first people were the offspring of Sister Sun and the Horned Serpent. These first two Creeks were Lucky Hunter and Corn Woman, denoting their respective roles in Creek Society.  
* Recollection is the retrieval, or recall, of memory, may be employed to make the best use of memory. Various means, including met cognitive strategies, priming and measures of retention.  
* Priming in psychology refers to a finding in which exposure to a stimulus at time 1 influences responding to a related stimulus at time 2. One theory of priming is that exposure at time 1 activates parts of particular representation or associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task. The representation is already activated at time 2, reducing the time required to execute the response. It is considered to be one of the manifestations of implicit memory. A property of priming is that the remembered item is remembered best in the form in which it was originally encountered, a feature of context-dependent memory or more precisely, transfer appropriate processing.

I loved this episode. It answered a few things for me, but still kept me cautious on a couple of other implications.  I've been asked over the past week if I though Desmond and Penny's baby “Charlie” is Charlie Pace…This one of the issues I have with "time travel" ...If baby "Charlie" is the son of Desmond, remember, Desmond used Charlie and put him in danger, ultimately he died!  And if they're in a loop Desmond would have done that particular action more than once. So, no, I don't think it's Charlie Pace.
The issues with blood relations being involved in a time traveling loop can become very tricky.  The whole "Grandfather paradox" type issues would come into play.   Maybe baby "Charlie" is just named after Charles Dickens who happens to be Desmond's favorite author.
If we're talking about the "conscious mind traveling" is it really traveling, transcending the vastness of time and space.   If it's the conscious mind, how is everyone having physical contact with each other?   Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't said "traveler" only be able to be an observer in the Flashes?  The conscious mind deals with memory, recall, thoughts, perception, etc..

Could we be seeing the manifestation of the traditional "time travel" problems, as with the "grandfather paradox"?   What about the randomness of the "times" landed in?   I'm not sure.
I know I am trying very hard to connect the "time traveling" dots at this point and to find a link to connect the rest of the clues that are indeed there.  Honestly I feel like there's a major connection to a computer, altered states of consciousness and of course, a game.
But I am more confidant with the "lineage" thread of our story.   A species of beings working on keeping the family line alive.   Is the "lineage" thread literal or symbolic/metaphoric?   Or are these namesakes just proxies, stand-ins or something more like body doubles?  Maybe they're just friggin bots!  Whether it's an ancient family line, a new family line, or a special bred/created line, it needs to keep a presence on the "Island".

Love to all who are "LOST" ™

Disclaimer: I never claim to know everything about the show and my thoughts by no means make me right! The things I share here are my views and/or opinions. I don't claim to catch every single detail either! You all know I hate spoilers! And I stand clear of reading certain sites as to not take me off my own course of research. The one thing I don't need to do here is rehash all of the obvious clues from an episode, we all know what they are. Understood? Let the fun begin! I'll only note things that I know come up as clues later, but need to be noted when they first show up and things I find that will be of importance.