I've long been a supporter of "Team Darlton" and the notion that they will make it all good once the finale ends. But reading that HitFix interview was kind of maddening.

If they consider the skeletons an obscure reference, then I think we've all been wasting a lot of time over-analyzing stuff that isn't even on their explanation radar.

And don't get me started on that whole unexplained "who shot at the outrigger" situation. OK, maybe there isn't time to properly show that scene from another perspective, but certainly a character could mumble a line or two to clear that up...

Hey, I suggested Jim first, a few posts back. That's not good enough?

It wouldn't be his name
only his mother could give him, his name
If claire had given the baby up for adoption in the alternate timeline, we would all be calling him aaron instead of whatever name the new fake parents gave him

It's just sloppy and it makes for awkward dialog and storytelling, especially since one of them has a name.

I think the reason they didn't give him a name was they still haven't worked out whether they should be calling present day MiB Locke or Cosmo.

With that kind of logic, you must write for the show.

However, Aaron, like Walt, has become very insignificant in the big picture unlike how he was portrayed earlier in season 2 with that weird heavenly scene, babynapping and talks of his importance. Now he is just piss in the wind. MIB on the otherhand is now the big baddie that C&L are waving in our face and I think the writers believe he is scarier and more mysterious without a name. On the other hand the whole calling him "you" is ridiculous and uncreative. I know they likely don't want to admit that they sucked a good portion of this story from Jacob and Esau and that is why the outright refuse to name him.

Are you arguing that of all the thousands of babies born to a mother who dies in childbirth, none of them have names?

And to be honest with you I would have preferred the smoke monster to have been some trapped jinn rather than a mysterious smoke presence left after the death of an angry guy. Imagine if Gacy and Bundy's bodies were somehow able to make it "into the light".

Well, I'm on board Groucho! I think we should start a Facebook page to officially name MiB Cosmo and fuck what Darlton intended. If it worked for Bette White, it'll work for Cosmo.

I hear Cosmo doesn't like black smoke monsters.

That's not right.

That was one of the reasons Bill Waterson didn't have many adults in Calvin & Hobbes. He didn't want to give Calvin's parents names, and brief attempts to introduce characters like Calvin's uncle lead to him awkwardly calling them "bro" and "sis" all the time.

Point taken.

Maybe they didn't name him yet because they're waiting to reveal it in the finale where it will be this humongous shock!

ign really gave this episode a beating. It was one of their lowest rated episodes of recent memory. There was another post that I read elsewhere that was on point about why this episode wasn't very good. He basically stated that leaving it to the viewer to draw their own conclusions on what things are or mean is not providing answers. This episode was good about guiding you towards a possible answer without really enlightening anything at all.

I think that the smoke monster takes on characteristics of the person he is imitating. That would explain why he as screaming "Don't tell me what to do!" as Locke.

I want Mr. Plinkett to review this episode.

Does anyone have a quick link to that episode ratings list that was posted a handful of episodes back? It will be interesting to see how this episode fared.

This! I would much rather this be true than believe that the MIB suddenly became the smoke monster out of rage.

I made this comment to a friend yesterday. I swear if they do this, I'll cut a bitch.

I can't remember the exact rating, but it was around a 9 (out of 10).

crazy

They said it was NOT an obscure reference. They included the flashback for other reasons. Look:

My impression of the Fmother is that she had dual roles (both was the previous smokie and the light's protector simultaneously). She ended up killing the real mother in the beginning after the 2nd child was born because she realized she'd finally be able to die once she could split her responsibilities between the two, picking one as the protector and knowing that her death would eventually lead to the other becoming the smokie given the vengeance the other son would have at her death and the knowledge there was another role that had to be filled by MIB. She originally thought MIB would become the protector until he chose to live with the humans and knew that his exposure to the humans would lead to him not having hope in mankind but knew he couldn't become the protector due to his mistrust of her due to her lying to him. She stated that neither could "hurt" each other but I think that only meant they couldn't kill each other, they could still beat each up other up short of the point of death but this may not have been actually true until they became their destined roles (she may have just wanted them both to believe they couldn't "hurt" each other, and they never really tested out trying to kill each other beforehand).


So, after MIB joined the humans, she had no choice except to make Jacob the protector, and when she had Jacob drink the mystical water, he gained the knowledge or instinct that he had to get MIB to become smokie for balance on the island vs. the Fmother knew Jacob would end up doing that as revenge since she said it was a fate worse than death. Jacob knocked MIB unconscious but did not kill him in any direct manner as he'd already become the protector, just let his body float into the cave where his physical body was separated from his soul and the soul manifested as smokie. Sayid didn't kill Flocke a few eps back since Flocke talked to him before he stabbed him, but MIB stabbed Fmother before she knew he was present and since she had gotten rid of the protector role, maybe she finally achieved the susceptibility to be killed (since smokies can only be killed by humans before a smokie knows they're there and MIB hadn't become smokie yet).


Maybe Fmother knew that smokie couldn't/shouldn't leave the island for the purpose to be a counterweight to Jacob because she knew Jacob would eventually develop hope for mankind and eventually bring more humans to the island to try and prove fMother wrong. Possibly, smokie couldn't leave the island until *after* the protector was killed and all the current candidates are too and now has a deal with Widmore to let him have the island in exchange for his help to get off the island. I'm sure there are plenty of holes and such but this is my working theory

I think it was last season there was an episode where Ben confronted Widmore in his office and accused him of breaking the rule (I think in reference to having Ben's daughter killed). Is that rule the one that Jacob and MIB have about not killing each other? And if so, does that mean Ben & Widmore are incarnations of Jacob & MIB?