And what's fun, is that is yet another example of the writers foreshadowing a critical plot point (Locke employing Sawyer to kill his dad, Smokey employing Ben to kill Jacob) What's also interesting is that we still haven't gotten a full explanation as to why "Have you killed your pops" is such a critical question in the Others Leader Application Form. It likely tells us something about Widmore that they haven't explicitly revealed, and could point to something else in Jacob's past. Hanso - I do find it conspicuous that we weren't allowed to see him, especially given the intentionally-fuzzy photos of Alvar Hanso. I continue to believe that we would recognize the face and it'll be a BIG!REVEAL! Eko - he asked to be written off the show, I've heard several stories about what was going on, who knows. Sadly, I'm not holding out a lot of hope for his return. Also: Eko was "banned" from Yemi's church after he killed the 3 gang guys there, he served in London, then he was serving/located in Australia. Cannonball's right - they never told us why he had some arrange a passport for him to go to LA. Could be like Libby - left/was removed from the show and they won't finish the story. I still think a lot of Sayid's storyline right now was intended for Eko. I think he tried to kill Jack - nearly got him to fall over the cliffs - and similarly (as Dave) nearly got Hurley to jump. 1 - We'll see? Need official word on Widmore/Penny before we can no for sure - he certainly manipulated Desmond to go to the Island originally. I like the idea that Desmond passes between the timelines like he did time. The Constant. 2 - Because he did? Question is what exactly took place. My guess is that MIB lost his physical body in exchange for becoming Smokey. I think he made a deal he later regretted (like Richard looks on his immortality now as a curse). Smokey could assume the appearance of other folks, probably his original form, but his actual body was lost to him. 3 - Power play, Ben using an off-island affair (against the rules) as his leverage. 4 - It's doubtful (pregnant mom on the island when Jughead went off), but not ruled out (Miles claiming his dad was working at a museum, when Chang was on the Island for Jughead as well). The Jughead theory seems to be losing steam as we go along, and it could possibly be Timeline X isn't "What if Jughead happened" but rather "What if Smokey won and Jacob didn't influence everyone" 5 - I'll be furious if Walt, Aaron, et al don't come into play. It's still concievable that they step in and take over in the aftermath of the war. Too many nods toward "the kids" earlier this season (Ben, Jack episodes most noticeably). 6 - The next generation? Walt & Co? Or the pregnancy issues? 7 - I think it plays into the psychic's warning that only Claire should raise Aaron. I don't care that he told Eko he was a fraud - I think it was for real. The Aaron - Smokey theory fits well into that. 8 - The Egyptians, I would think. But I don't think that's going to be critical. 9 - Protectors or Candidates? 10 - Obvious guess - Jughead negating the Island's energy pocket. The less obvious guess - Smokey won. We've already seen that the Island sits outside of time, at least to an extent. If he wins in Timeline A, what prevents him for changing the timeline altogether?
emjohn, thanks for your answers. The people who are supposed to protect the candidates. Basically the hispanic chick that was in the hospital all bandaged up. All her friends who I assume were protectors too are dead right?
I was watching a panel that the entire cast plus Darlton, JJ, and Jack Bender did during the writers strike. They said that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje only wanted to do the show for a season. The producers actually convinced him to extend that because they didn't want to kill him at the end of season 2. So he stayed until part way through season 3. The same thing with Michelle Rodriguez. They always knew she was going to die and Michael was likely going to be the one to kill her. It's just a happy coincidence that both of those actors had run ins with the cops around the time their characters got killed, at least that's what Darlton claimed.
Yeah, the Bram squad. They got Smoked. And yes, they seem to have been recruited by Jacob to help counter MIB's plan (killing the Others, taking the form of a dead candidate to turn other candidates, kill the remaining candidates). Yeah, that was the official stance they had with the press, which I don't buy for one second, especially in regards to Libby and Eko.
Good episode. I laughed when Mikhail got shot in the eye. :grin: When Widmore said the package was a person, I knew it was Desmond. It kind of reminded me what Faraday said about Desmond, that he was special and the rules didn't apply to him.
The Timeline X isn't about Jughead but about Smokey theory gained massive steam. I gotta say, Smokey's chat with Claire made it seem even more likely that he is Aaron. Big shoes dropping. I think the deaths are going to come fast and furious in a couple episodes.
Highly highly doubt smokey is Aaron. He's evil and after he will have used Kate for what he needs (ummmmm) he doesn't care what happens to her.
Anyone else get the feeling that Kate was initially meant to die somewhere along the way, and she's only still around because she became a popular primary character? Her role this season seems to be totally superfluous - she wanders around aimlessly, pretty much doing nothing. For someone that seemed to be such a central piece of the show for much of the last several seasons, she seems totally irrelevant now.
Morning after always helps the thoughts settle in - I'm suspecting that Widmore brought Desmond with the hopes of somehow releasing all the EM pockets, since Desmond released the Swan pocket with the S2 finale fail safe. My guess as to why ties into Smokey's hydrophobia. Maybe they're aiming to sink the Island and trap him underwater. Wicked Witch him maybe. Question is, is that a good move or will that backfire? I'm more and more thinking that Timeline X is the consequence of losing in Timeline A. Widmore sinks the Island, but since the Island is a space/time nexus, it kicks off an "overwrite" of reality (Timeline X). No Jacob, no Smokey. She's certainly become annoying as the get around girl. For craps sake, Kate, go track and stalk peeps - go special ops on someone. Nooooo....more fun flipping back and forth between Sawyer and Jack. I think Claire axes her soon. And good riddance. Well, hopefully we get a couple more tight wet t-shirt shots first. Why do you feel that negates the theory? Malkin (pyschic) - reads Claire, gets FREAKED and kicks her out. Sound like he saw sunshine and lollipops to you? Or maybe evil incarnate? On a second visit, Psychic to Claire: Claire gets separated from kid (and goes nutty)....bad things, man, bad things. I personally still feel the Psychic was dead on - absolutely zero in this episode made sense if he were a con man. Why refuse the money? Why send her off to LA? Not a dime in it for him anywhere. He saw the Antichrist and freaked out. He sent her to the Island hoping it would keep them connected. More and more, I think it's because the kid is on a path to Smokeyville (in Timeline A)
Jack was originally supposed to die and Kate was supposed to take Jack's place as the sort of main character. Then Jack became really popular so they changed it up. I'm thinking that's why Kate's storyline is so crap. She is hot though.
It certainly does not negate the theory. I just think that is what is actually going on. Simply put Smokey will no longer need Kate's services if she was to bring the other candidates to him so at that point he won't care what happens to her. I don't think the Malkin psychic story line will have much relevance to the rest of the season. Just my opinion which very well could be wrong. I just see the Malkin psychic part as one of the many pieces of the story line that will end up going unexplained once the series is over.
Yes, Jack was supposed to die but some of the higher ups didn't like it because they thought if you killed the main character early on, the audience would never trust you again. But they changed that way before the pilot episode was filmed and before they even cast Matthew Fox as Jack. Greg Grundberg, the pilot, took Jack's place as Smokey's sacrificial lamb in the "Pilot". They could've written Kate out of the entire series if they had wanted to.
