I don't recall how much gunfire came from that outrigger but remember Caesar found a gun under the table at the Hydra station and he most definitely would be following Locke.

I'm of the mindset now that it is the fertility god after having seen this picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/7816708@N06/2222651660

Ears work, hat works, so on and so forth. But... what does it mean?

The ancient god protected mothers in childbirth. It seems there is a force on the island that does NOT want children to be born, but it's appearing to be that wasn't always the case (as we saw in Wednesday's episode) so the question is why did it stop?

Taweret was paired in Egyptian mythology with Apep, the god of evil. Apep is always below the horizon...could the smoke monster who lives under ground-or below the horizion- be the Apep of the island?

But if there wasn't the issue with mothers having children on the island during the time of this last episode, why did they mention women usually leave the island to give birth?

I guess it could be because they just don't have the proper facilities on the island, but they seemed to hint that they left the island because they needed to.

I don't know why, I don't know how...but I think Ben screwed everything up for the island. I think Ben might be a force of evil on the island and he doesn't see himself that way, he has good intentions. But the island stopped working for him long ago. Jacob stopped talking to him, the island stopped healing him, and he was just winging it for many years, relying on things he could learn from the physical world and lost the faith, as it were.

I think Ben's rise to power was a mistake and not what Richard, or the island, wanted.

Now, why Richard is the one who chooses the leaders of the island remains to be seen as well. But I can't recall...did he have any involvement in Ben's life as a child on the island? If so, how was it perceived by the viewer? Did it seem that Richard was looking at young Ben as the leader of the island for the future? Because we do know Richard picks the leaders when they are young.

Which makes me wonder if Richard didn't want somebody else to be the leader of the island. Going back to the Jack was born on the island theory...maybe Richard was trying to decide between Locke and Jack? Maybe Ben became leader because Jack was taken off the island for whatever reason and Locke wouldn't come until later on.

And I wonder if Locke is really the main choice for the new leader of the island...I am thinking it's somebody else. Right now I am leaning towards Jack...the man of science becomes the man of faith type thing and fulfills the destiny he fought so much against.

IIRC...young Ben saw his mom out by the "fence", and eventually went out looking for her. There he was surrounded by whispers, and out walks Richard with long hair and old rags on. That was the first time we saw Richard in the past. Richard proceeds to tell Ben something like, "If this is what you really want, you have to be patient, you can't join us yet." Then I'm not sure if we saw Richard before Ben set up the purge or not.

But I don't remember Richard telling Ben he was going to be the leader, or it being indicated that way to the viewer. Memory's fuzzy there.

He is also called the Consigliere on one of the dvds.

If he is the number two guy then that means someone else had to be leading the Others for a long time period, before Ben came to the island up to the purge.

Obviously Widmore is the likely suspect.

So this was asked in the beginning of the thread, but I didn't see anybody comment... anyone have a theory on how Richard got through the fence? Maybe because it wasn't cranked up to maximum? Because it seems like it was good for keeping them out in Ben's time.

My favorite part was Sawyer's talk with Richard. Finally, finally someone uses the cryptic information they've already learned to help them.

Also, I skipped right by it, but of course my wife was surprised when Sawyer told Juliette that he loved her too... not that them being together was any surprise, but the fact that he said it and has obviously changed over time. And of course the triangle/square/whatever is going to rear it's ugly head again, with all that talk about getting over someone in three years. Juliette's gonna hate Kate, she's always second to her...

What ever happened to the structure of the Others that we had a glimpse into during the Jack/Kate/Sawyer capture? When Ben was under for surgery they were holding a meeting that was banishing/punishing Juliette. I had the impression that she was above Ben.

What I don't get is why Juliet willingly went through the fence when she had to have heard the humming like we did plus we've already seen her disable it before so she knows the code (something like 2342). Maybe she knew it was low dose and wouldn't kill them and didn't want to blow their cover. Did I just answer my own question?

The Others are probably just really good tree climbers.

Stuck his fingers in his ears?

I thought the earplug trick was rather lame. Even if it was set on a low setting, it seems like that is a really easy way to get past a fence.

Maybe she didn't see the code as it was entered.

Maybe she didn't know there was a "low" setting. She did just see the Dharma chick walk through it unscathed.

Maybe the code had been changed in the 30 years prior to her arrival.

Even the Losties circumvented it with a tree. Something tells me the Others aren't so stupid they can't build ladders.

If you can change the code to a Cypher lock, something tells me you can change a code to a fence at least once in 20+ years.

Aren't they constantly monitoring the gates, though?

I may be misremembering, but I thought they needed young Ben to turn off the barrier?

I know this thread is well beyond praise and is 12 pages of dissection, but I have to comment ...

This was one of the best episodes of the series. I was blown away and misty eyed on more than one scene.

Are you speaking about Isabel? She was confirmed dead during the season three finale beach raid scene.

The Other's society certainly was structured but it centered around what Ben told them to do. I get the sense that Isabel knew Ben was manipulating things to his own benefit, such as the Juliet situation, which is why Alpert eventually told Locke that some of them wanted a change.

I want to know what happened to Harper, Goodwin's wife. Here is a list of the Other's who are still alive.

But what reason would they have had to change the code? Widmore was in charge for 30 years then he was exiled and Ben was in charge. Alpert and his people just come through but they had a truce as well. I'm guessing the code is the code.

Honestly, I'm not sure. It's been so long since I've seen those episodes the specifics have escaped me. Maybe she was #2 and in charge while Ben was in surgery?

Story-wise, it makes much, much more sense for that statue to be the god of fertility than the god of the underworld. Although the latter would be cooler.

Is it possible that the island imbues some sort of power on anyone born there? If so, Aaron's story might be very interesting.

I get the feeling that statue is the show's own creation and not a particular statue from Egyptian history. It seems to be a combination of a few different styles. Most of them held an Ankh in their right hand (symbol of life) like Paul had around his neck. None of them seemed to have only four toes though...

Isn't there a picture posted multiple times in this thread alone, of an Egyptian statue of the god of fertility with four toes that looks almost exactly like the statue in the episode???

No. The physique is completely different. That's my point. It seems like a composite.

The statue?
I was thinking this, looks like several have been pieced together.

That's understating it a bit. In the 10th century BCE, Shoshenq I (the biblical Shishak; see 1 Kings) became the first Berber (that is, Tunisian) pharaoh of Egypt. He established the 22nd Dynasty which lasted for over 200 years. Tunisia was heavily influenced by the Greeks and the Romans, but before that Egypt was the preeminent power in northern Africa.

Not that that necessarily establishes a timeframe for the statue, of course.