Yeah..that's what we mean by a grace period.. an amount of time to key in the numbers after the time expires.

I heard the noises as well.. sounded like doors locking and an engine powering up. Will watch it again with GF this weekend.

And it's not a big deal. It's a TV show, and it's exciting. Doesn't have ta be precise for me...just entertaining. (and that it is...IMHO)

So the machine(magnet?) was warming up. It takes your computer a minute to power up, you could still pull the plug before it comes on. Whose to say the numbers don't do the same thing? i.e. act as a kill switch until the unit is fully powered up and ready to go.

I don't care what the reason was, it was still an annoying "clocktease." Whatever the reason, it's just the writers stalling more to have more time to make up this shit as they go along.

But it's still a great show, I just wish they'd move this one storyline along as the punching the numbers bit, and the bunker in general, is getting old and has went nowhere thus far.

Remember why they enter the numbers in the first place...an 'incident' happened, now if this incident was that the large magnet activated every 108 minutes, and some sort of override had to be entered, well, the time that the magnet was warming up could still be within the timeframe where you could stop it, but to an engineers eyes, the magned DID activate after 108 minutes.

And since the magnet might serve an ACTUAL prurpose, there might be a situation where you WANT the magnet on.

So lets say that the magnet has legitimatly run for 4 hours, during a planned activation...once shut down, 108 minutes might not be long enough for the magnet to return to its FULL incative, or cold, state...in that situation, EXACTLY at 108 minutes, the magnet would fully activate, and it would be too late to enter the numbers

When designing the dump system, you want to build in the worst case scenario, which would be full activation as soon as the 108 clock hits zero BUT in the situation Wednesday night, the magnets lack of recent activity could have bought them an extra few seconds.

Everyone here is looking at the magnet/computer combo as one that was specifically designed to work together, but as the dharma film showed, the computer for entering the numbers was engineered into the machine AFTER THE FACT, therefore making 100% seemless integration more difficult.

Since this procedure is of grave importance as the film showed, the engineers creating and instructing the employees on the procedure wouldnt actually train anyone to let the magnet get as close to critical operation as possible, but would build a system that ensured that the magnet never even BEGAN the activation process.

Also remember that we do not know what those actual seconds of 'activation' did...did they slightly screw with the ectronics inside the bunker? Did they kill a large bird population on the other side of the island? Did they give everyone on the island a slight exposure to radiation? Give everyone smallpox? Release another 5 nanoclouds?

You could argue that one x-ray isnt harmful to a person, but if you allow the x-ray (here the magnet) to activate every so often, your gonna kill someone. So one 5 second activation of the magnet isnt too bad, but a bunch of 5 second activations, or one full scale activation is VERY bad.

That, coupled with wear-and-tear, and irregualr servicing could lead to the magnet activating anywhere from exactly the second the counter hits 0, to the magnet NEVER activating when the counter hits zero, to the magnet being incapable of activating AT ALL.

****NOTE - I have no idea if the numbers stop the magnet or not, its just easier to post the above if I assume its the magnet, but it works for ANY machine

What if the symbols and startup noises are just a red herring and part of the "experiment"? I'm sure Dharma figured the button-pushers might get bored/crazy enough to see what would happen if they didn't enter the numbers. So they programmed in some crazy symbols and loud machinery sounds if the numbers weren't entered. The button-pusher would then freak out, enter the numbers, see everything calm down, and never try such a crazy stunt again

Just a theory of course

When Sayid was interrogating Henry Gale, I thought it was interesting when Henry said, "did you ki..." then he stopped himself and said, "did you lose someone too?" This is what gave him away for me as an Other.

You are starting to push my buttons. Please stop it at once or I'm going to open up a big can of wump-magnet on you.

Decent idea, cerebral.

Exactly. Hence a small grace period.

But yes it is still a tease, but who cares? I still enjoyed it.

I'm wondering if we have it all backward. Maybe the importance of the numbers is to keep something happening, not to keep something from happening, and by entering the numbers currently they are actually doing the opposite of what the person in the film wanted them to do. Maybe the magnet, or whatever, it was, is actually supposed to run and by constantly entering the numbers, they are keeping it from turning on.

So the "incident" would be something NOT happening rather than happening. Hmm...

Unless of course, Jack is right and nothing actually happens...

The numbers change to red pictures, the blast doors (remember them - Michael noticed them) drop from the ceing and the bunker closes off making the people inside THINK something happened... Keep in mind, there are only supposed to be 2 people in there and both exits (hatch and door) were marked Quarentine on the INSIDE. They were not meant to go outside...

Desmond asking if the world still exists and never leaving the bunker would indicate that at some point he possibly let the counter reach zero.

It does seem odd that someone would build something with only a safety of 108 minutes. This is not match any numbering sequence (10s, :15s, etc) and it almost screams head trip.

Exactly. Something started and it was stopped (we assume). There was no grace period, it just wasn't a nuclear explosion at 0:00, which meant that it wasn't yet irreversible. Obviously it was a tease, but I don't get all the anger.

I agree. I've always thought that was a possibility.

I would think so, or had been taking 108 minute cat naps...

It would also help explain why he was in such a hurry to get out of the place that's been messing with his head.

Perhaps that's what caused the plane to crash in the first place.

A popular theory, and one that I think is a very plausible one.

Good point...I remember during the S2 premiere or 2nd ep, when Desmond asked how long they'd been on the island and they said 48 days or whatever - Desmond got a "WTF?!" look on his face.

The producers did say that we will, at some point this season, find out what happens when the timer hits 0. They also said that they would explain what caused the plane to crash (and hopefully why it crashed). I also read that somethin will happen at the end of this season that is supposed to put all of the survivors lives in danger leading in to the 3rd season. Now lets see if they can live up to this and make good tv.

Jack really Pissed me off this episode ! and as if a trained soldier like Sayid would get stopped doing what he wanted to do by a pissy doctor like Jack !

I knew I recognized that voice from somewhere...double doh!!

Cool. I'd love for Desmond to return sometime this season. A Desmond flashback would be really cool.

Interesting news....
Buffy" Scribe Gets "Lost"
After working on cult shows like "Alias" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," moving over to "Lost" shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Variety is reporting that writer Drew Goddard is doing just that, after signing a deal with Touchstone Television.

Goddard has already made his mark on the ABC hit, writing the episode "Outlaws," which delved into Sawyer's background.

Supposedly, he's getting seven figures, so he must have written the really good stuff. Executive producer J.J. Abrams seems to think Goddard is well worth it. The writer will officially make the move once "Alias" wraps up. As of now, there's no word on when that will actually be.

Also some theories of what is going on on the Island at Entertainment weekly...
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/comment...4_3_0_,00.html