Another French woman question : What was the secret of the map? Why did she write the franc-o-fied lyrics to Beyond The Sea in the margins? I mean sure it's a catchy song and appropriate for a tropical island, but still there's got to be more than that, right?

Oh and I asked this in another thread, but can someone explaine to me who "Alex" is. I don't remember that.

He hasn't made an appearance yet, but Alex is the son of the mad frenchwoman. He's only been referred to, and speculation is that Alex is one of the other characters pretending to be from the plane crash. Maybe Ethan?

Alex might not be human. All she said was Alex was her baby or child. Some people call their dogs, cars, or monsters their baby.

Added a few more from your suggestions to the list.

Did others survive the crash?
Is Rose's husband alive?
Are they still being searched for?
Where is Jack's father's body?
Was Jack's father's body ever put on the plane?
Do the maps actually reflect the ground they are on?
What is Jins real business?
Why is no one looking for Claire?
Where is Claire?
Was the tiny plane the same thing that was in the lockbox?
Why would Kate go to all the trouble to setup the holdup for that tiny plane?
What is the actual power source of the signal?
What's up with the magnetic field?
Is this actually someplace warm, near the poles?
Was Claire setup by the psychic?
What is the future for Claire's child?
Is Boone going to forget about Shannon?
Is Shannon going to fall for Saide?
Did Locke have legs below his knees, when talking to Helen on the phone?
What role will Locke have in the future of the island?
Are they going to break up into two groups, beyond the beach and inland?
What about the murder that Kate mentioned? Is it the crime for which the reward was being given or was it the bank robbery?

There are about 1,000,000 more questions that I will let someone else post.

That was at the end of one episode. (pilot part 1, maybe?) I know they showed what he said in the next episode. I'll have to watch it again to see.

Yes. It is a place many fans will recognize as the Savage Land.

IIRC, they don't reveal what the actual conversation was, but Walt informs his dad that "Locke says a miracle happened here." At the time we believe he is referring to the survival of a plane crash, but in hindsight he is probably referring to the ability to walk again.

This thread might as well be the place to put my speculation on the overarching mystery of the island.

There's no way I will track the "personal history" aspects of the show, but I think there's some indications of the "island mystery" and where it is headed.

The Monster -- there is something taller than a man that is able to traverse the island and makes a organic/mechanical sound.

The French Crew -- an expedition allegedly landed on the island 15 years ago and sent out a distress signal.

The Inhabitants -- could be remnants/offshoots of the French Crew or a tribe unto themselves. Adam and Eve had black/white pebbles in their pockets. There was a polar bear on the island. Ethan's name does not exist on the manifest.

The Survivors -- a plane crashed and the survivors are living on the beach and in the caves on a limited section of the island.

It feels like there's an undercurrent of "The Thing" going on. Everyone starts out normal, and then something begins to turn people to a darker side. This turns into a battle of two rival factions. Anecdotally, the French Crew sees the people turning and attempts to execute them. Eventually, sheers numbers force the "sane" into hiding from the "others."

If this is the same process that is occurring to The Survivors, we can characterize it as Locke has become a "believer" and he is now recruiting/evangelizing others into believing. This will probably come to a head by the season's end, so that we will at least know what Locke believes.

Light/Dark is one of a few themes that has already appeared superficially in the show thematically but which will eventually play a larger role in the plot. We can write it off now as an extended metaphor for human interaction: backgammon players, cave versus beach, Korean versus black, sane versus evil. However, light/dark will solidify from a leitmotif to the basis for the Inhabitants belief system.

This belief system somehow incorporates light and dark principles. Personal psychology is characterized by clarity of mind versus clouded judgement. Black and white stones become a method of organizing tribes, casting votes, and making decisions -- "It" is the magic 8-ball and by asking "It" a question and reaching into your pouch, you will pull out a "yes" stone or a "no" stone.

This philosophy divides the tribe between those who feel unencumbered and those who believe "It" robs you of your own free will.

Another thematic device that will coalesce into tangible events is the use of vision. The show has opened on a character's eye as a method of engaging the viewer, bringing attention to that which people see, but we will soon learn that not everything is as it seems. We already know what Boone saw is unreliable, and future "visions" will also play a role in the island mystery. In the near future, the Survivors will begin to recognize that visions can be false.

This, however, is not what drives the schism; everyoine will recognize that the visions are false. Eventually, it will be those who "believe" something godlike drives the vision who are at odds with those who do not belive there is anything unscientific about the hallucinations. Locke knows that the visions aren't real, but he believes that It is willfully giving you clarity, selecting your visions to help you realize the mistakes in your life. At first, this is very empowering, but as the believers go further down this path, some will shy away while the others pursue it to fanatical lengths, taking it to the Nth degree. We can already see the characters established along these lines: given the criteria, we can confidently say Locke will be a firm believer, Jack will be a non-believer; Boone will follow all the way to the end, Charlie will follow for a while and then repent to the other side when things get out of hand.

Finally, the concept of original Inhabitants and the French Crew will resolve into a circular pattern. Ethan turns out to be a Survivor, nothing more; there are no preexisting Inhabitants, just the story of a shipwrecked French Crew who underwent the same tribulations as history repeats itself. Why? I suspect the Monster has something to do with it, although I don't know if the Monster and It intersect anywhere. I somehow think it would be neater that the Monster turned out to be merely a plot point that, once revealed, shows us that the fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves.

I think it would be better if Jack, the ultimate non-believer, went over to Locke's side, leaving the unlikely hero, Sawyer, to defend the rest.

Wow, that's a lot of derivation from only a handful of plotpoints.

Has anyone else noticed that the 3 best shows on right now all have a main character named Jack?

I have had a question about an Alias plot thread for a while... Towards the end of season two, a Rambaldi prophecy revealed that an apocalyptic event was to occur on that very same day. However, nothing noticible happened. Did we ever learn what this event was?

THERE ISNT ANY CONNECTION!!!!

Boy I REALLY don't want to hijack this thread (notice I'm going to anyways... ), but, yeah, we did: that same day, somewhere in the mountains, Sloane went to see some shaman-type guy, played by that dude that's been in a bunch of martial-arts movies, and he gave Sloane a box. They showed the timer on the "apocalyptic event" ticking down, and as it ended, it was Sloane opening the box to see a scroll inside, reading the scroll, etc.

Gotcha. And it was reading this scroll that revealed to Sloane that he had a daughter, which will eventually lead to some kind of apocalyptic result. Thanks...