L O S T WITH AS I LAY DYING’S NICK HIPA: FINALLY, SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

Fellow followers of L O S T,

So how was everyone feeling about last week’s episode, “Dr. Linus?” I was certain the writer’s blew a good portion of their load on the previous week’s action-packed “Sundown,” and that with a Ben-centric story, we were just going to get little tidbits of clues regarding the Island and the Nemsis vs. Jacob conflict…  But I was wrong!  Lindelof and company have temporarily abandoned their prime time penchant for mid-season filler to deliver what I view as my favorite episode of the season so far! Aside from an Emmy award worthy performance from Michael Emerson, a surprise cameo from Dude from Real Genius, and a crucial beach side reunion montage back on The Island, we were given nugget after nugget of valuable information throughout the entire episode that either completely answered or brought us closer to answering many questions, such as:

Why Did Ilana grab Jacob’s ashes? My first assumption was that it might have had the same protective qualities as the ash the Others were using to keep Nemesis Dude from getting all up in the temple, but now we know her motives were to get them for Miles’ interpretation.  Unfortunately for Ben, however, that led to him with a shovel in his hand digging his own grave.

Where did Richard Alpert come from? This wasn’t as random because a lot of the speculation already floating around the world wide web was that he was a slave on the Black Rock before coming into his position on the island.  Still, it’s good to have this one absolutely confirmed!

What is the meaning of Jacob’s touch? Richard confirmed that it is, in fact, a gift.  We know now everyone who has received Jacob’s magical touch cannot self-destruct, although they can be killed by other people (or maybe just other Candidates).  It is also implied that agelessness is a part of it too, as that is now the explanation for how Richard has not aged at all over the course of several decades.  The counter-argument to that, though, is that both Kate and Sawyer encountered Jacob as children, and have both obviously aged since then (the counter argument to my counter argument is that maybe the agelessness is activated by The Island).  I’m thinking perhaps the non-suicide-committing factor is standard issue with his touch, but that from their each gift becomes something more unique and specific to whomever the candidate is.

Who is coming to the Island? The answer appears to be Charles Widmore, and that we were all wrong (because I went back and checked and none us actually said Widmore, haha).  I’m going to say it’s not as clear cut as that, and Widmore’s impending arrival to The Island is a result of Jacob’s death as oppose to his “summoning.”  Given that Jacob was the protector who had the ability to bring people to The Island, it’s fair to assume that was also the one keeping it hidden and virtually impossible to find (thus protecting it).  With him being killed, Widmore’s odds of finding it were infinitely better as he was already aware of it’s general vicinity.  My stance is to agree with all of you who felt Jacob’s intentions in getting Jack to the lighthouse was to realize something within himself; or, put another way, to TRULY bring him to The Island.  Since his roid ragin’ at the temple, Jack has become almost O.G. Locke-ish in his zealousness for everything happening for a reason and serving his yet-to-be-determined fate.  We see a very bold example of his faith-in-purpose in his willingness to engage in a form of dynamite roullete with Richard in the Black Rock.

Another old question reintroduced and spotlighted is that of Widmore’s allegiance:  Whose side is he on?  If you look at his arrival on the sub as a result of Jacob’s summoning by the Lighthouse, it’s easy to assume he’s backing the whites.  I’m going to maintain my position that his approach is a result of Jacobs’ Island veiling being lifted by his death, and that he is on Nemesis’ side.  Here are a few examples of Widmore’s past actions that I am using to support my inclination that he is not good people:

• He sent a freighter to The Island equipped with mercenaries (led by d-bag Keamy) to capture Ben and kill everyone else.  There’s some one else we’ve talked about on the show that has like-minded-life-form-eradicating goals for the Island:  Nemesis Dude.
• Widmore was banished from the Island by Jacob (via Ben).  Duality has been a pretty consistent theme here in the show – for every Jack we have a Sawyer, for every Jacob a Nemesis, and for every Ben a Widmore.  Based on those first two, the sides have already been defined (or so it appears at least), so it seems reasonable that it will continue to be in the Linus vs. Widmore conflict as well.
• Widmore has been behind a lot of the events that Nemesis used in creating his loop-hole.  Specifically, the murdering of Alex (by Keamy, who was sent there by Widmore) and persuading Locke to return to The Island.  Widmore told Locke that if he didn’t return to the Island “the wrong side would win.”  This prompted Locked to get super fired-up and hound all the other Oceanic Sixers into returning.
• We’ve seen Nemesis make very persuasive offers to get people to join his side.  The temptation of getting whatever you want most is what sealed the deal for Sawyer, Claire, and Sayid.  Widmore has always wanted to be leader of the Island, after all, that was his former position.  His lust for power can only be paralleled with that of Ben’s, so if Nemesis propositioned him with reinstatement of command on the Island, I think its very reasonable to assume Widmore would accept.  Even if I’m completely wrong here, I think this is at least a logical explanation for all of his heinous shenanigans thus far.

Since we got into the alternate timeline pretty heavily last week, I’ll eschew an in depth analysis on that for awhile to let things develop a little more (like we did with The Island last week).  I was really stoked on seeing Ben’s alt story-line though, and especially learning that The Island WAS in the mix through the 70’s.  It was also nice to see the same factual similarities to the OT remain with a more optimistic twist (as seems to be the trend now with the ALT).  The clearest examples being that Ben chooses to be a good instead of opt for power, and that his relationship with Roger isn’t even close to resembling the cold/abusive one we saw in his childhood on The Island. Reconciliation of the two is still the huge issue here, and I don’t think we’re any closer to finding that out yet.

On a quick side note, this video recap of “Dr. Linus” briefly gets into the relevance of Frank Lupidus.  I’d never given him a lot of thought, but after watching this I’m only now starting to realize he may serve more of a purpose other than being the rad old dude with clutch one liners.  Actually, while I’m at bringing up random stuff, does anyone have ANY ideas on what Rose and Bernard are up to?  I’ve got nothing!

Have an excellent day and get stoked for “Recon!”

-NH

As I Lay Dying’s new album, The Powerless Rise, will be out May 11 on Metal Blade. While you’re awaiting its release, why not get L O S T on AILD’s MySpace page?