well danielle and her team landed on the island about 16 years ago, so she crashed in 1988 and dharma was founded sometime in the 70's. so let's just say, that young ben is 10 years old. and if 'the incident' that dr. wickman/candle mentions in one of the orientation videos, happened in 1978 or 1979(i'm forgetting the exact year, but the year of the video is shown at the end of one of the films), so that makes ben about 18-19 yrs old when he kills his father. then danielle and co. arrive in 1988 and somehow he takes alex, making him 26-27 yrs old? at then in 2004, when 815 crashes, he'd be 42-43 yrs old. timeline seems ok to me, but then again, this is all assuming that 'the incident' = 'the purge.'

Do you really think that Ben killed his father and the rest of Dharma 20+ years ago and the rest of Dharma off the island has not grown one hair of suspicion until recently? I find this hard to believe. Also, as i mentioned before Dharma has been shoved to the backburner and made an afterthought. Many of us wondered what Dharma was up to, when we thought it was an integral part of the show, and now does it really matter?

Doesn't the timeline with Richard bother anybody more then the timeline with the "incident" at Dharma? I mean, Richard was 20 years older then young Ben and is now seemingly, what? 5, 10 years younger then Ben? I thought for a minute maybe it went back to the old storyline about "rapid aging" on the island for kids, but then how do you explain Alex? That gets me more than anything. And I wonder how Ben became the leader of the Others, especially with Richard there. Maybe Jacob chose him, assuming he really does exist.

I'm mixed on the Jacob reveal. It was interesting, but frustrating, because it's just, you just have no real idea what the hell is going on. But, I guess that's where Damon and Carlton want us for now.

And Locke's "death". Man, I really hope he doesn't die. He is by far my favorite character on the show and the most interesting and the most connected to the mythology of the island. I'm not liking his chances right now and the show, with him gone, is going to have a big hole. Evangeline Lilly was on Jimmy Kimmel tonight and she wasn't committing one way or the other on whether or not Locke is dead, so the braintrust wants to keep us waiting at least another week to find out, which makes me think he may still be alive. I'm not sure. I posted the specific portion of the Kimmel interview where they talk about Locke and the upcoming finale over at my blog.

I don't know what to think about Locke at this point. I hope though, for the sake of keeping the show interesting, that he sticks around.

Alvar Hanso?

Affirmative.

Sooo. what have we learned?

I think the voiceover was done by Carlton Cuse. They teased in their last podcast that we might be hearing Carlton's deep, booming "hanso foundation ad" voice in the episodes leading up to the finale.

I thought it was an amazing episode. The "who is Jacob" (partial) revelation brought back memories of how I reacted to "what's in the hatch?", "what did Kate do?", "what is the monster?", and "how did Locke end up in a wheelchair?" - and that is by being nothing like what you'd ever suspect, but being nonetheless fucking awesome. Those were all moments that could become anticlimactic but yet again, the show didn't disappoint.

I agree that Jacob is looking heaps like Uncle Alvar.

Oh, and no way Locke dies. No way. I don't want to even semi-believe it. He's too important a character to the show, and if Locke ever does die before the series is out, Damon and Carlton would give him a much better send-off than that. He deserves a much better send-off.

Was that an actual screenshot from Lost. I didn't see anyone in the chair.
Great episode.

On another message board, someone mentioned that it seemed as though, rather than simply not aging, Richard may in fact be "un-aging."

My thought, in response, is perhaps this is true. It may explain some of the things which have been cured by the island: Locke being able to walk, Rose being cancer free, and Jin being able to swim once more.

Were the island to be causing a reverse in aging, this would not account for why no one else seems to have been affected, or why those affected have not de-aged even more, or why Claire's baby is still growing.

(Although, it may explain why children conceived on the island are not born, and cause the mother's death. The body is reversing the conception, and it simply becomes too much.)

I have nothing further to back up my theory, or any evidence at all in which to convey my thoughts properly. It is, however, one more theory to add to the ever-growing pile...

Here is a .gif I put together of every frame of Jacob, slowed down:

locke with long hair?

This episode seemed to give some more credence to my own theory:

The island grants immortality. Not an absolute immortality, but a you won't die of natural causes type of immortality. You can still get shot and die, or get your head chopped off, but baring something catastrophic you are immortal.

Richard and his ilk, are the crew, and maybe some of the slaves of the black pearl. Richard was even wearing some of his old pirate clothes.

how about a couple of shots of the close up of jacob'e eye turning to lok at locke.

This episode is a mess and def a weird WTF episode. The Jacob thing was weird and poorly executed, and just plain dumb. The "is Juliet a mole or isn't she" is boring. And as the above poster mentioned, the "people with Daddy issues" stories is annoying as fuck, move on please.
At least I got to see Tania Raymonde

It's funny how things that bug other people (invisible Jacob), work the opposite on me. I love the weird WTF moments. I've loved them from the beginning. It's what drew me into the show. If anything, it was the lack of a lot of these moments this season that has made the show less interesting. I'm glad the weird, WTF stuff is back in Lost.

I know my boss always said she thought stuff like the polar bear and other stuff seemed "stupid." My response was: It's the whole point of the show. To make you ask.. Why is there a polar bear on this island.

Now.. it's... Why the hell is there an invisible man on the island? I dunno. I like it. It's what made the show great to me and it's what makes this one of the better episodes of this season.

wow, ok, tough to look at.

Perhaps aging is seen as a disease? I mean old age, when the body starts deteriorating and things start failing. Maybe then the power of the island reverses the aging process until it finds a your last good healthy point to keep you at. Like a save point in a video game. As far as anyone else not being affected, we don't know how long the rest of the "Others" have been on the island. Tom may have been there longer than Richard. He might be 100 years old for all we know.

As far as the timeline thing -I'd like to know when Richard set up shop in that company (Mittelos?). Was it before or after he 1st arrived on the island. If it was after, was he born there? Where did he get the money to start a corporation? Or was he just commissioned by a corp. to do research on his "magic island"? If so who commissioned it and why? If it was before, then a corporation was running shit on the island long before Dharma got there. Did Dharma know about it or were they trying to beat someone else to the punch?

Also, Alex never looked like a 16 year old to me.

I don't think they're gonna stop with the daddy issue thing because you have to feel like now that it is a major point of the story here. EVERYONE we've seen anything involving family about had a fucked up relationship with a father, whether it be their own or someone else's. This is an essential theme of the show and may be why the "Others" were so quick to follow Ben's lead. Or why the survivors were so quick to follow Jack's lead. Or why anyone might have been looking for some higher call on the island. I don't think we should be moaning about it, but rather trying to see where it's all leading to.

If Whistler is Jacob then maybe Richard doesn't age because he's a vampire and Locke is a Daywalker.

Jack still sucks. Locke and Sayid are still The Man(s).

I like cake.

Great. You shot the invisible swordsman!

why is no one talking about the voices that surround you that we havent heard in awhile that young Ben heard in the jungle?
what else can they be but ghosts?
Ben seeing his dead mother.
Jack seeing his dead father.
ghosts are on the island, or spirits, whatever. Thats what I think Jacob is.

Help me out: Who is the dude on the left?

I feel like a frightened child when I attempt to look at the .gif of the eye...

The entire scene with Jacob was well executed. It, I felt, managed to convey the proper sense of foreboding and tension whilst still retaining a sense of the wonderment which has naturally accompanied "Lost" over the years.

If the next 51 (?) episodes manage to continue the pace they've set recently, I'm going to feel a bit elated. Even when the inevitable Zombie Bikini Beach Party happens...

EDIT: I've always rationalized the voices as merely being an extension of Smokey. It swirls the area (or divides itself), and creates a surrounding effect.

Ok. So Jacob looks like Alvar Honso. He also looks like Locke with hair. But doesn't Jacob also look like a long haired and most likely an inebriated Dr. Christian Shepard (John Terry)? That's just me...

Another possibility:

The island itself is purgatory. Black Smoke is your escort to Hell and the "Others" are hiding the entrance to Heaven. The "Others" and Losties are still alive (not in spiritual purgatory themselves) but living in the place where all the souls go before moving on.

Wow my theories are getting wilder and wilder. That's why I love this show.


ETA: Of course, I always thought the voices were those of the "Others" who can move around the jungle without being seen. Ben heard them right before he met Richard so it's plausable that there were more people hidden in the bushes when they first met, and that theirs were the voices Ben was hearing. The Tailies heard them right before the stewardess chick disappeared and so on.

Ummm.. no. It makes no sense. Unless of course you can parachute into the purgatory while looking for your boss's missing boyfriend.

It is what it is. An island in the middle of nowhere somehow cloaked.