Get Ready: Every Man for Himself

We got yet another great episode of LOST tonight with the airing of season 3, episode 4 of LOST, Every Man for Himself. Got any thoughts about the episode? Sawyer's past? Jack's interactions with Ben and the others? The big "reveal" at the end? Polar bears are good swimmers, you know...

We'll be podcasting this weekend, so tell us what you think by posting a comment here, sending us an email or leaving an audio comment on our automated audio comment voicemail at 206-666-2278.

Comments

[Errockk]

first! that episode was not good.... coming from a guy that absolutely loved last week's Locke flashback. Nothing great happened, and the big reveal? Th Others live on an island different than the ones that the survivors are on, whoo pee. I'm starting to lose my faith in Lost, hopefully next week's episode with the guy with the eyepatch will restore my faith.

[Raz Minder]

I'm just pumped up about the dude with the eye-patch from the preview. I suppose this connects back to the glass eye from the Arrow station. It's not Radzinsky, is it? (Yeah, I know, who is "supposed" to be dead.)

But as for this episode, Sawyer’s flashback fed the theme of “every man for himself” nicely. Probably wrong, but I thought it was meant to foreshadow Sawyer selling out his "team." But again, he shows his softer side in the flashback by setting up the fund for his alleged daughter (but in a twist, Cassidy was conning him - come on, that baby pic looked like one of those photos that come with the picture frame ; ).

Great use of "Of Mice and Men" throughout the episode.

Those X-rays likely belong to Ben. I guess this is the decision Jack has to make.

Good job by Jack playing Julia - i.e., taking orders from Ben. It paralleled Ben playing Locke back in the day. And it does seem quite clear to me that there is a hierarchy and Ben sits atop.

[Errockk]

also, 10 bucks the glass eye Eko found belongs to mr. patchy mc-patch-patch

[NeoEJ]

bummer dude that colleen died, i really thought she would have a bigger part. im glad that Jack is playin with juliet, hopefully at least. Can someone explain to me wtf Desmond's machine was supposed to prove? That he can control lightning or something?

[sam]

Errockk, i like the nick name
Mr. patchy mc-patch-patch.
Anyways, I think that the whole Mr. Eko thing was a dream because he had no blood on him. And you don't just heal up you body in like 2 days from being attacked by a poler bear, not that I would know, just a guess.
And one question, i noticed something about Desmond that I bet is nothing, but maybe not. Did anyone notice something on the back of Desmond's hand when he was looking at Claire. it looked like it was engraved into his hand.
Also, i liked the Charlie one-liner in this one.
"You know I was building a church w/ Eko until he got blown up."

[frankwit]

The device that Desmond created was a lightening rod to keep Claire from getting killed by lightening. He foresaw it happening and tried to get her to move, when that didn't work he went ahead and solved the problem another way. I think this proves that Desmond can indeed peer into the future... or something along those lines.

[NeoEJ]

oooo that makes a lot more sence haha

[NeoEJ]

oooo that makes a lot more sence haha

[OldManGout]

I'm inclined to think that Desmond doesn't see the future but rather experienced it firsthand.

[marninthian]

I liked the episode. Did anyone see the possible "Michael" appearance at about minute 32 walking behind Juliet when they were escorting Jack to try to save Colleen? If you have it recorded look again. I read about it at the Fuselage and I think it might be him...that would be pretty crazy...what does everyone think?

[Raz Minder]

The more I think about it, the more I like this episode. Not great, but better than my initial reaction.

The writers attempt to humanize the Others with the death of Colleen. They also showed that the Others might be book smart, but not exactly experienced (this was previously alluded to by Sawyer in terms of fighting) - i.e., young Other unsure of the placement of the needle ("just like in the mo"[vie?]), broken defibrillator (Juliet: "this doesn't happen" or whatever she said). There are chinks in the armor, even if they are subtle.

Though predictable, I enjoyed all the Sawyer stuff. But, I have some believability issues with his flashback (Munson was smart enough to swindle 10 mil. from the gov., but dumb enough to entrust this stranger/convict with the location of said millions... eh).

And Kate symbolically chose Jack with her "live together, die alone" comment. The irony is that despite Sawyer saying it is every man for himself, he was trying to protect her.

Desmond is most likely reliving the past. It's like he remembered "oh yeah, this was the day Claire and baby Aaron got struck by lightning."

[Jeff]

A few things
1. they didnt have a working Cardiac machine since they've never had a need for it. So all that medical equipment was used for tests and experiments on the island.
2. If they've never had a need for cardiac machines, how long have they been there, and do they have other ways to over come death and heart failure.
3. Bens from the island, the others probably are too. Were they left over from a clonning or medical experiment? Does that explain Ben's super strenght against Sawyer?
4. The others dont live on the island, so is the island their testing ground?
5. Desmond remembers the future.... the writers mentioned time is not what it appears, is this island a rift in time?

[adam!]

http://flickr.com/photos/adamdavid/279630189/

i did a new LOST island map, now apparently obsolete, but as a curios, it's not so bad, i guess.

[Mike M.]

LOL, I just think it funny that in my eniglish class we just read Of Mice and Men, and I have a paper due on it next week.

[Zuul]

As people mentioned, there seems to be some utilitarian goals fulfilled by most people on the island :
jack is a spine surgeon (what a coincidence !)
sawyer is probably gonna be used to con the 'other' others
juliet is a birth doctor, and the others seem to be VERY interested in breeding, ...

now for something completely different, did you catch the dialogue when sawyer wakes up :
"in the two days since the sky went purple we've been blind, our coms are all down, and I can't get 'em back up"

now that's an important piece of info, isn't it ?

[static]

Wow, wow.. great episode.

The Kate-Sawyer thing confused the hell out of me. For some reason I want to think she really DOES love him, and was just saying she "just said that".. but I dunno.

frankwit, your theory on Desmond's doings makes a lot of sense. I second that.

I hate how the "next week" previews are always so quick and hard to catch! [at least they are for me.] My parents and I could have sworn we saw an alien! Did anyone else see that, was that what it really was? haha.

The previews also showed that Ben is the one with the tumor. Aww, that's pretty sad. I like Ben.

Another aww moment: Sawyer putting that money into an account for his daughter. Aww. He must really believe he has a daughter then.

Spoilers said in this episode we would find out something big about Sawyer and his purpouse that even he didn't know.. did we? I don't feel like we did. :/

Can't wait for next week!
Can't wait for the podcast!

Stay LOST.

[Sarah]

Good episode… Great reveal and con. A few things…

-In The Official Lost Podcast Lindelof & Cuse said the Charlie and Claire relationship would become a love triangle. I think the 3rd person is Desmond. He was watching Claire rather intently in the opening sequence (I LOVE the circling camera shots—random fact of the day), and then offered to fix her roof. Also, in the season finale of the last season, he was quite flirty with her.
- Did anyone else catch the Dharma logo go across the eye of the cartoon? I didn’t see it, but my dad did.
-Why was Sawyer so defensive about Clementine? And there is no doubt that the baby is his—that little girl had Sawyer’s eyes. As soon as I saw the picture I was like, “That kid’s got Sawyer’s eyes!” so yeah.
-I thought it was hilarious when Kate and Sawyer were saying episode titles to each other. “Every man for himself!” “Live together, die alone!” Next thing you know people will start having conversations like, “Dues ex machina!” “…In translation?” “?”. Well, just kidding. It wouldn’t be funny, it’d be more of an, “Are you kidding me?” moment, so yeah.
-When Sawyer and Ben were climbing up to the top of the Others Island (by the way NEVER saw that coming!), I saw a rock that had a face on it! It was in the very opening shot, in the bottom right hand corner. I saw two little crater-type eyes, a nose and a mouth. Anybody else see it?
-What the heck was purpose of the lightning rod? To generate electricity? Was Desmond trying to give Charlie a sign like, “Don’t mess with me.. I’m smart… I know things…” so Charlie would back off Claire?
-Sawyer says he kissed Kate to see how the Others would react and get a good feel of their strengths and weaknesses. Kate says she only said she loves him to make Pickett stop hitting Sawyer. I think they’re both lying.
-Does Sawyer have a tumor?? Or does Ben? Because in the promo for The Cost of Living Jack was saying, “You have a tumor,” to Ben, but Jack said the spine belonged to about a 40-year-old man. I don’t think Ben’s that old, and Sawyer might have been lying about his age. Of course, it could also be the promo people messing with us and the tumor could belong to a completely different man entirely. Although it’d be much more dramatic if Sawyer or Ben had it.

All in all, I loved the episode! Can’t wait for the podcast! Stay LOST.
Sarah

[jonny boy McFish bizkit]

dudes,this may be a far out theory but it kinda makes sense, the others are like a big family and are all actually the same age some have just look older because of experiments, and they all have the same mother and father- Alvar Hanso and Penny Widmore, who had a romeo and juliet thing going on and when she had the kids hanso snatched them and stuck them on a deserted island in the south pacific,and the reason penny wants to find the island isnt because of desmond , she just wants her children back. (i told you it was far out(Dudes))

[Tracy]

There have been a couple comments about the two islands, and the map not being accurate. I had a theory about this that I thought I’d throw out there (I also posted on The Transmission) --
Is it possible that prior to the hatch implosion there was “one” island — but it was really two islands somehow being held together by the electromagnetic force in the hatch? And then with the hatch implosion the two islands are now “drifting” apart? This would help explain a few things… like why the Losties never noticed the other island in their explorations — particularly when they climbed to the tallest point of the island to try to get a cell or radio signal in the first season. This would also help explain Zeke giving the Losties the “line in the sand” last season and telling them that it was their (the Others’) island. Perhaps that line was where the two islands were joined and part behind the line literally was "their" island.

Great episode, I really enjoyed it!

Can't wait for the podcast!!

[Carl]

I really enjoyed last nights episode. At first, I really didn't like last week's Locke episode, but I watched it again and really enjoyed it. Last week I had seen the previews for the episode and kinda knew what was supposed to happen. So once I saw the episode, I got so impatient because I knew that Locke was supposed to go find Eko so I didn't think we needed to go through this whole process of Locke finding out what to do. It frustrated me and made me feel like the show was moving slowly.

This week though, I didn't know anything about the episode and just decided to relax and watch the show. Let the show take over and take me where it will. I found it much more enjoyable because it was the approach that I used to take watching Lost in season 2. I didn't know anything about the show before season 2 and would just let the show play out.

Sometimes just letting the show do what it does is the best thing for myself as a LOST Fan.

By the way, I really enjoy the Podcast.

[Joni]

I loved that episode.

First off, the others do not live on another island. Their compound is on the same island as our Losties as shown in the first episode of the season. The camera zoomed out it was in the center of big island and the plane came down on the same island they were on. They are keeping Jack, Sawyer, and Kate on this other little island.

Plus this explains why they didn't want Sun/Jin/Sayid to have the boat. If they sailed around enough they would discover this other island and possibly attempt to rescue J/K/S.

I think the Xray is actually of Jack or at least they will want him to think it is. I don't think Jack is 40, but I also don't think Jack can tell a persons exact age by an xray. Jack loves to fix things but he can't possible operate on himself. He will either be asked to do something to 'get off the island' and get the tumor removed. Or he will have to train Juliet how to remove it.

My first thought was Ben and that this is the big thing he wants Jack to do. That to me is too obvious for Lost.

[Brotha From Another Motha]

Longtime lsitener, first time poster. I really enjoyed the eppy and I'm a little befuddled by the confusion over a couple of points:

First, Desmond's lightning rod. We saw last week that Desmond can somehow see the future or is reliving present time. He foresaw that Claire's hut would be struck by lightning and when plan A (move Claire down the beach) failed, he came up with a new plan and built a lightning rod.

Second, island number two. Do you guys know how big Alcatraz island is? Tiny. According to Wikipedia, Alcatraz is .03 square miles, which would make Island number 2 .06 square miles. You could walk from one end of the island to the other in ten minutes. Contrast that with the Losties island which we know to be many many miles wide. The Others live on Big Island, and right now they work on Island number two.

[Matt Jones]

Interesting throwaway, important line of the night.

"The sub's back."

[Sarah]

@ frankwit, Yeah I never thought of that before but now that you mention it does make a whole lot of sense...

@ Tracy, yeah I like that theory. Before I thought Ben was just being a liar but I like that theory a whole lot better. It definitely makes more sense.

[Mr. B]

Ben tells Sawyer that "we are not killers", so was that just a warning shot to Sawyers gut on the raft?

[Rob]

Ok, so Desmond is future guy right? so here's something interesting; He "knew" Claire would get zapped by the lightning so he asked her to move, that didn't work so he built the rod to prevent it.

This proves that he sees the "possible" future and that the course of future events can be changed. Which questions the whole fate angle of the show.

Had he been remembering events, he just would have built the lightning rod and not bothered Claire as he would have known she wouldn't have moved, right?

[Anna]

If the Others truly do have actual contact with the outside world, you'd think that they would have fixed the defibrillator... just a thought.

[Challabuck]

Great ep, mainly because I wasn't expecting it to be.

BTW, not sure if it's John, Robert or Matt who's the massive Deadwood fan, but this episode was a BIG shout out to that show, since Deadwood's 2 main whores were pivotal to the goings-on this week: Trixie (Colleen) and Joanie Stubbs (Cassidy). Totally didn't see the Joanie Stubbs connection during the Long Con last year but it was clear this time.

[Rob]

also, another thing..

If Juliet is a fertility doctor, what do you think the odds are that they fertilized Kate before she got thrown into the cage? She was acting a bit weird as I recall.

[Lindsay]

Rob - If Kate WAS fertilized (great thought!), that would also explain why Tom asked said if her clothes didn't fit just to let him know...

Also, another thought... this may be a long shot, but what if the tumor is Locke's? Might explain why he was paralyzed... though don't ask me to explain how they got the x-rays, haha. :)

[Jack+Sayid=DurtyIslandLuv]

Hey guys, love the podcast.

Great episode this week. It really got me thinking.

Between Juliet being a fertility doctor and the Others' fascination with stealing children, LOST is starting to look a lot like a certain episode of Star Trek TNG: "When The Bough Breaks"

In this episode a hidden planet reveals itself to the Enterprise and starts stealing its children. It turns out that the planet is facing an envirnmental destruction that rendered the whole population infertile. They stold children just to reproduce.

Check it out at wikipeida;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Bough_Breaks_%28TNG_episode%29

I see BIG paralells here with what the Others are doing. Perhaps the Island's electomagnetic anomoly has rendered them infertile? So they steal the children and kidknapp fertility doctors?

And of course this feeds into the speculation that they're trying to breed Kate and Sawyer.

Peace.

Big connections here.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

I think the previews wre misleading *shock* You don't see who Jack is saying has a tumor on their spine. There's a shot of Ben, but not necessarily from that scene.

My prediction on Desmond was while he was unconscience he basically dreamed what would happen for the next few days. He doesn't trust what he saw or otherwise he wouldn't have said to Hurley it's an "experiment." I think he old dreamed a finite number of days and I bet when they need him the most to tell them what's going to happen next he'll say like "that's were I woke up."

If we had seen the "The Once and Future King" referenced, I'd say he's living backwards like merlin did. I mean they do love their literary references, but there has been no hint of that.

[John Smith]

I'd fertilize Kate...hell, I'd even buy her dinner first. Somethin' real nice...like Red Lobster or Sizzler.

[Bob from Chicago]

Two things.

First, I have theory that Munson is involved with Cassidy. Perhaps he is the ex-husband? The other blond woman was part of their plan. Cassidy made Sawyer think he was a Dad and then Munson tricked him into thinking that he trusted Sawyer with the money. Sawyer gets the Feds to pick up the money and put it into a bank account that Cassidy can use. Nice plan huh?

Second, the others may be clones. One of the possible "side effects" of cloning animals (sheep, mice etc) is sterility.

[Jonny Oswego]

Kathy,
I was thinking the same thing about Desmond. When I first realized he was "remembering" the future, I thought that he may have been rocketed into the future, now living backwards, like merlin.

Merlin, wikipedia'd!-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin

ooh. This just crossed my mind. The three hatch guys are each a different type of holy man/mystic.

Locke-Shaman
Desmond-Wizard
Eko-Priest

[Ben]

Two VERY crucial bits of information were revealed in this episode in a quiet way. Both were posted about, but I feel they bear repeating:

- "The sub's back." The other have a submarine!!! This is probably how they got to steal Desmond's boat from Sun.

- when sawyer is waking up, zeke says "in the two days since the sky went purple we've been blind, our coms are all down, and I can't get 'em back up." This would suggest many things about what the others know and don't know. The others don't know that the Swan imploded, only that something happened to disrupt comm (possibly the comm system noted on the diagram on the hatch door). The others don't know what specifically happens when the key is turned, or else they'd know what the purple sky meant. Also, not only do they have Comm systems, but clearly they also have video systems monitoring other parts of the island ("we're blind" would imply that they could "see" and now cannot).

Juliette being a fertility doctor is also very interesting. It further adds to the speculation that there is some kind of fertility experiment going on, or that perhaps the others are barren. So far we have: 1) Juliette is a fertility doctor. 2) The French woman saying the others stole her baby. 3) The others stealing Walt. 4) The others stealing Claire and trying to steal her baby.

Anyway, this was a great episode. My favorite this season aside from the first episode. Can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about it.

[Nancy]

I also think the Others' commune is on the first island and they are just keeping K,S and J on this smaller island so they cannot be rescued by the remaining Losties. This would explain why they wanted to get the boat away from them. Also, it would explain why someone (an Other) now has a large tumor. The Lost island has cancer-healing magic (Rose) but this one probably doesn't. I don't think they really need Jack to save someone, they just want Jack to feel like he needs to "fix" someone. His MO is his need of fixing people. Once they make Jack feel needed, they have got him! Plus, they are too smart to just leave those Xrays out if they didn't want Jack to see them. And all the Cancer guy needs to do is go back t the first Island to be healed.

[Christine the Lost/Dune Dork]

Ok I might be an uber dork here, but does anyone see a parallel between Desmond's situation/situation on the island and Frank Herbert's Dune books?

It almost seems to me that Dharma represnets the "Golden Path" and the island situation is approximately what happens after Leto II dies...

I'm probably overthinking it, but i'd love to hear anyone's thoughts!

[Christine the Lost/Dune Dork]

Ok I might be an uber dork here, but does anyone see a parallel between Desmond's situation/situation on the island and Frank Herbert's Dune books?

It almost seems to me that Dharma represnets the "Golden Path" and the island situation is approximately what happens after Leto II dies...

I'm probably overthinking it, but i'd love to hear anyone's thoughts!

[Bryan from the Dena]

Another great Episode!

So here are my thoughts. In regards to Desmond, there seem to be two camps of thought: 1) he is seeing the future 2) he is remembering events that happened have not happened (meaning he was briefly in the future or he was outside of time or something). I don't think he can see the future, because of how he is acting. Personally if i had a vision that Claire's tent was going to be struck by lightning I wouldn't be so calm. However, if I was remembering it then I would be slower to act. Mainly because it takes a little more controlled thought to accurately remember "past" events. I hope that made sense.

Next, we have the mysterious cancer patient. I don't believe that it is either Ben of Jack that has the tumor. Just becuase that is how the trailer for next week looked doesn't prove anything. In fact I would say it suggests the opposite (I think this because as I saw the preview for yesterdays episode it appeared to me that that were torturing Sawyer, which was not the case). Anyways, I think the two most likely people to have the tumor are either Tom or Danni ( I think that is his name, Colleen's Husband). Of the two I think Danni is the more likely, since we have seen such venomous anger he has towards our losties, and if he does have te tumor it would require him to rely on Jack and to trust him.

Finally the mini Hydra island that we were revealed. Seems to me that the heading that Ben told Michael and walt to take probably led to the island. This is also where the Pearl station employees were taken after their shift was over. Like others have said this fact and the reveal that the galaga is a sub answer how the got to the boat without going on land. I would guess that if Sayid, Sun, and Jin had gone a little further around the island they would have seen the little island since the Pier was probably built at a point that was close to the other island. here is a question about the island though. How did the Polar bears get to the other one? DId they swim or were they transported over there and let go?

So those are some of my thoughts, maybe later I will post my crack pot ideas and theories about the island itself.

[SonofaBitch]

HELLO EVERYONE

ECKO IS GOING TO DIE.

I JUST HATE THAT'S HAPPENING. DONT YOU??

[Courtney]

I can't wait to hear the podcast for this week's show! Theories Galore!

[mike]

FUCK YOU with the spoilers
You ruin it for everyone

[Mr_Hurley's Food Stash]

Good episode last night.

Okay, this is my take on things.

At the end of last season when the hatch imploded, basically we had an electromagnetic anomaly which was found by the Portuguese guys working for Penny (So it was big, we know this).

Alright, so basically it must have been like an electromagnetic pulse/bomb which would have altered the physics of gravity, space and time (If it wasn’t doing something like this on a smaller level prior to the explosion). We see this in the fact that it could explain why Locke/Desmond and Mr. Eko are out of the hatch and were found as if thrown through the air. It seems now quite clearly that Desmond, who was the closest to the source of the EMP may have been affected the most, it seems his space and time were distorted and he can see events happening, either through living it backwards, seeing the future, or through a sense of remembering events through a kind of déjà vu"in his environment (like with Claire last night, he looked and her and remembered the event).

We’ve already seem some level of this with Locke as well, he knew something happened with Mr. Eko and he had to save him (Was it the Island speaking to him or was that induced through his faith in the Island?). However, Desmond is a guy who just seems to see things as a strange coincidence (Like with Inman and the button) while Locke likes his drugs, faith and his sweat lodge so we’re seeing his visions in a different perspective (The wheelchair might have been in his vision as that may be something to come soon, which I think we’re all expecting anyway), but he still got an insight into the future of who he could and couldn’t help, who was okay etc as well as elements of the past (Boon – I believe his vision was tainted via the drugs, so that’s why it’s not as clear in comparison to Desmond). We have to remember we’re seeing these experiences from their perspective, we all see things differently even if it’s the same situation. This is going to be very interesting when Mr. Eko finally wakes up, he himself will have some influence from the EMP, just like Locke and Desmond I expect, however, where Locke is from a viewpoint of faith in the Island, Desmond from more of a coincidence stance, we’re going to see Eko with a religious twist. Also, with "in the two days since the sky went purple we've been blind, our coms are all down, and I can't get 'em back up." Suggests it was an electromagnetic pulse, but I think we all know this.

Okay, maybe I’m looking too far here, it might be the tiredness or the coffee that just made me hyper, but I’ve found some parallels to Desmond, Mr. Eko and Locke to the three wise men. (Stay with me!!..lol). Alright, in Christian tradition the three wise men are also known as Magi.

From wiki
“The word Magi is a transliteration of the Greek magos (μαγος pl. μαγοι), which is a derivative from Old Persian Magupati. The term is a specific occupational title referring to the priestly caste of a distorted form of Zoroastrianism, known as Zurvanism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained an international reputation for astrology, which at that point was a highly regarded science, only later giving rise to aspects of mathematics and astronomy, as well as the modern practice of fortune telling going by the same name.”

Okay, astrology, mathematics and visions are what Lost are based on. And who’s had influence over Claire and the baby? Locke protected her when Charlie was doing Charlie, Desmond just saved her life, and Mr, Eko told her she needed to baptize the baby. Who will protect Claire when the others come for the baby? Probably those 3 (Charlie’s a bit of a wimp to be honest), also Herod tried to trick the 3 wise men into telling them where Jesus was, will Ben try to trick Desmond, Locke and Mr. Eko at some point to get the baby? I was hoping to find something on Mr. Ekos stick to back this up, but all I could possibly use is ‘Lift up your eyes and look North’ being reference to the star.

But check into Zoroastrianism – basic beliefs
-Another school of thought perceives the battle between Good and Evil as an ethical dualism, set within the human consciousness.
- The universe will go through three eras: 1) creation 2) the present world where good and evil are mixed. People's good works are seen as gradually transforming the world towards its heavenly ideal 3) and a final state after this renovation when good and evil will be separated.

Okay, I think I better stop now!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

Stay Lost

Mr_Hurley’s Food Stash.

[Art_Vandelei]

Heyy!!
Where is the damn spoiler warning!!
You sure picked the right nickname

[Jack+Sayid=DurtyIslandLuv]

we're not POSITIVE that eko's gonna die.

A better link:

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/When_the_Bough_Breaks

Big connections here.

Big.

[Art_Vandelei]

Eko is my favourite character.
I hope he makes it

[TTD]

What a good episode!
I'm thinking the following things:
Now what the others referred to when they said if S/J/S had the sailboat they could find them - the other island.

I think prehaps the Hydra is based on the small island, it would provide easy access to the sea for aquatic based research and if any of the experiments got lose they may not be able to cross the sea, (Kate's cage looked like it held a monkey or ape? the swing hanging down made me think that anyway.) Alkatraz reference, it's kind of the prison island with all the cages and such?

So yeh I think the Hydra is based on the other island to meet its requirements as a station and othersville is on the main island.

And they have a sub :D

All for now and looking forward to the cast!

stay Lost, Pete.

[Aurora]

I'm really interested in whether Clementine is really Sawyer's, or whether there really is a Clementine. If she is his, that would make Sawyer the only one of our whole batch of Lostaways to have a kid (who wasn't with him like Michael's Walt). Which is striking and probably important, I think.

I hope someday we find out more about Kate's pregnancy test (she said she took one back when she was keeping Sun company with hers). So far we already have two of our group who had near misses with having children: Jack (when he and his wife are falling apart, she mentions a negative pregnancy test) and Ana Lucia (infamously). Add Sun and Jin's issues and Juleit's status as a fertility doctor and I think we might have ourselves a seroius connection.

[Fish Biscuit]

The sub's name is Galaga.

[Bryan from the Dena]

Ok - just remembered this. we get Charlie calling Desmond brother in this episode. I know he is being protective of claire and probably mocking him, but shouldn't there be a little UK brotherhood between these two.

[melontherocks]

I don't know if anyone has posted on this so I'll just give it a go here.

Did any get an erie feeling whe they heard Sawyer say something to the effect of "get the stars out of your eyes, Freckles"

Right before the episode I rewatched Further Instructions and saw that while the camera is on Sawyer and Kate you can hear him say that same sentence.

Any thoughts?

Stay Lost!

[Andrew]

Interesting about Juliet being a fertility doctor. I don't remember seeing any children in the Othersville scenes in the previews. Were there any children? Could be unusual if at least some of the Others are long-time resident of the island.

I liked the episode but I liked last week's better. I like the Others as a force on the island but I'm not as excited by the mindgames/prison/manipulation of the Jack/Sawyer/Kate portions. The elaborateness of all the machinations by Benry are starting to seem like a Rube Goldberg machine. Maybe one of the Others should just ask Jack or Kate for something directly. Maybe I'm just overdosed on these prison things because Battlestar Galactica has also had segments with similar elements lately. In contrast, the Locke episode seemed to have more of a sense of resonance with Locke's search for enlightenment, community, whatever. I know a lot of people didn't seem to like it but for me it seemed to connect to the question of the mysterious island and whether there is a reason for all of them to be there.

As far as ratings: This article goes into how quick networks are to cut shows even with what seem to be a lot of people watching: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/business/media/23smith.html?ex=1319256000&en=293451645ff
It discusses the cancellation of the Ray Liotta crime show "Smith" which, the article says, had 11 million viewers for its premiere and 9 million for next few episodes before cancellation.

[Jack+Sayid=DurtyIslandLuv]

Lost will never be cancelled.

Stay Lost.

[Jack+Sayid=DurtyIslandLuv]

The ratings actually went up a tick this week.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952697.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

[Mr_Hurley's Food Stash]

Bryan from the Dena.

I'm English and from the UK (Although I've been living in Puerto Rico for the last 15 months), I think you'll find the Scottish and the English really don't like each other, it's not all out war, just an understanding between the two. Actually the Scottish hate the English more...but that's understandable considering in the past the English basically invaded Scotland (after numerous wars before) and cleared people of their land so we had some nice pastures for sheep! Still, I wouldn't read too much into it.

Stay Lost

[Aurora]

It's like how two Americans wouldn't necessarily get along if one of them was from Georgia and one from New York. You hear the accent and you have a lot of expectations.

Ever listen to the Welsh 815 flight survivors podcast? They're always making fun of Charlie's Manchester accent.

[Mrs. hurley]

just a fact:

1. Polar bears are strong swimmers; they swim across bays or wide leads without hesitation. They can swim for several hours at a time over long distances. They've been tracked swimming continuously for 100 km (62 mi.) (Stirling, 1988).

from: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/PolarBears/pbadaptations.html

[mooze]

Rabbits have played an interesting part in LOST so far. We see Sawyer reading Watership Down, Desmond takes a stuffed rabbit with him when he leaves the hatch, and Ben gets hippity-hoppin' with the number 8 bunny. What is the significance of all of this rabbit information?

I wouldn't be surprised if Jack had been watching the Bugs Bunny "What's Opera, Doc?" cartoon... Rabbits and doctors, hmm. Kill the wabbit!

[Kitty]

Mr_Hurley's Food Stash, I love that three wise men connection!

[sam]

we only finished .3 behind behind CSI NY, AWSOME!! But seriously, y do people care about the ratings. I mean, if your not a network exect, then y do you care. LOST still has 16.8 million APPROXIMATE viewers. And about that person who talked about Smith getting cancelled, it had 7 or 8 million viewers less than LOST, so LOST will not get cancellled.

Ok, now into something LOST, did any1 catch the thing on the back of Desmonds hand at the very biggining?? I have HD, and I noticed something. Could this be an exgraving that is a show of his powers?? Or am I just looking too deap into this??

[Mike89]

First off, loved the episode this week and next week should be pretty good with the guy with the eyepatch. Sorry for the long post, a lot on my mind
A couple things: People have said that Locke is the new Jack on the Losties camp so i was wondering...with the opening shot(the circular one around Desmond which is the same one that showed Locke in season 1) is this a subtle way of showing that Des is the new Locke?
I agree with other people who say that Desmond is "reliving" the past. He knew the lightening would strike and hurt claire and aaron so he built the rod to protect them
Jack's fascination with the x-rays interested me...i believe that tumor on the spine is the same type of tumor that the italian guy had on The Hunting Party so maybe because Jack had experience with this tumor then (1) the others picked him specifically for that and (2)Jack knows the consequences and understands that he has to operate on it quickly. Lastly, Ben confirmed that the others have a sub ("the subs back") this explains how Ethan came from the water and how the others snuck onto the boat behind Jin and Sayid's back

[Mrs. Hurley]

someone mentioned (sorry for not remembering the nick... read too many posts) that the others are not stupid and wouldnt leave those xrays where jack could see them... but in that scene it appears as if Julia brought Jack without consulting anyone.. so it wasnt planned. so the xrays could be real and not a plant to con jack...

but then again it makes sense what another person wrote (sorry again) about the tumor being dodgy because the island (or energy in the island, or whatever) cured Rose and cured Locke. and Locke is still walking so either the island cured him for good from the begining or the healing effect is still there working it's magic. in a tangent, that's another question there, are the healing properties of the island permament like it just cures you or is it like an energy that if taken out of it you get bad again?

but that's another matter. thing is, there shouldn't be anybody there with a tumor (by the way that is probably why they have never needed the defibrillator before, because no one ever gets sick in the island... at least not physically)... unless the healing properties are an illusion and the person with the tumor, looks ok, feels ok but the tumor is still there, just kind of powerless or something................ that or the nano robbots from the smoke monster are picky about who they cure... god knows!!!!

[Mrs. Hurley]

sam - or maybe is just the engraving of the key he was using to stop the electromagnetic explosion and burned the back of his hand... or something along those lines.

[Joni]

Hopefully someone hasn't already posted this. It would take forever to read all the messages!

I just got a good look at the creepy eye patched man at the end.

It has to be Dr.Candle. The tailies had his glass eye in the arrow hatch. And the writers confirmed he had a glass eye!

Mystery solved??

[Joop]

Wazinski lives!

[Bazooka Joe]

I really felt like the last two episodes were snoozers. Every Man for Himself is more what I've come to expect what a lost episode should be like. There was drama and mystery, a few answers and even more questions. The previous two episodes had those elements but just didn't seem up to snuff.

The new island raises a lot of questions, doesn't it? It's possible our Losties never knew about the other island because they haven't explored the entirety of their own island. But that does raise the question about which is the HQ for the others. Is it the main island with the compound (remember on the first episode of this season Ben tells Ethan and Gordon to split up and infiltrate with out Losties) or is it the new island? And if the poloar bears are from the otyher's island then how did they get to the Losties island?

Just out of curiosity, how many of you think that Sawyer really does have a pacemaker in him?

Questions, questions, questions.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

My friend just pointed out something. The money was transfered to the bank in Albaquerque. Wasn't the bank Kate robbed in Albaquerque?

[just a summary]

1 bears swim
2 sawyer doesn't have a pace maker
3 othersville is in main BIG island
4 little island very very small as said by Brotha From Another Motha:
"Second, island number two. Do you guys know how big Alcatraz island is? Tiny. According to Wikipedia, Alcatraz is .03 square miles, which would make Island number 2 .06 square miles. You could walk from one end of the island to the other in ten minutes. Contrast that with the Losties island which we know to be many many miles wide. The Others live on Big Island, and right now they work on Island number two."

[Raz Minder]

Re: Ratings

A 6.9/17 in the 18-49 age demogrpahic is the key number here - it beat every primetime show handedly. That's the market advertisers covet and television networks strive to please.

----

Eko cannot die yet. Sayid would be my guess if someone is going to be killed off. Of course, sometimes this is out of the producers/writers' hands so anything goes.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

I figured bunnies were a theme since fertility was a theme and when you think bunnies you think fertility. Especially since in the olden days, you used bunnies in pregnancy tests.

[Courtney]

On the tumor spec.
Remember the Rose/Bernard flashback - some places heal some people but not others. It's possible that the person with the tumor is one of the people that this island wouldn't heal. Just because the island heals some people, doesn't necessarily mean that it would have to heal everyone.

[I_Love_Sayid]

wow. i can't believe the level of unprovoked rudeness on the abc message boards. i thought i'd ask the producers a ? about the map but got totally flamed by a bunch of people who think the pearl is the "?". never going there again. this place is so much more friendly. Can I change my name to: I_Love_Lostcasts?

[Joe]

One thing that I think people forget is that since they take a break this season they have to set everything up. So that means they cant be giving away awnsers every episode.

[Sarah]

@ Ben, I thought of another fertility tie-in. In Claire's flashback episode in Season 2 Ethan tells her, "We're a good family."

@ I Love Sayid, if you wanna change your name, I doubt anyone's going to stop you. I like the name, so go for it.

@ Joe, yeah you're right. Last night my dad and I were watching it and once it was over Dad was like, "I'm about to stop watching Lost--they never tell us anything! All we know is these 3 people were captured by a mysterious group of people." I was all, "Dad, we're only 4 episodes into the third season! Be patient!" lol

Can't wait for the podcast!
Sarah

[Disney source]

I Love Sayid...Yup, those ABC boards are god awful and only monitored by one person once a day. There was some truly offensive stuff on there and it took me three phone calls within Disney to get someone to do anything about it. They told me they have one monitor to do all the ABC boards. I volunteered free of charge to help out and was told thanks, but no thanks. I stopped going there after that. Such a shame.

[Mike]

I believe Desmond has now become a major player in lost. In last nights episode he knew that claire would be struck by lightening, and acted to save claire, thus changing the future.
This is exactly what dharma were attempting to do by altering the core values of the valenzetti equation. Changing the future so that mankind could be saved.
After years of study by dharma, in the end its Desmond's freak accident in the hatch which will save mankind.

[Dave]

To all the haters that say the show doesn't tell us anything... Helloooo... It's a Mystery, when they tell us the answer it's over..

As for this episode, anyone notice that Ben didn't have have his scares when he was wearing his glasses and watching the monitors? Possible that there are two of him? (Just a thought. Could have just been the lighting or a make-up error)

[Adam Goodchild]

That was one of the most enjoyable episodes of Lost in the whole of the series, in my opinion. It didn't have an overflow of mythology but adventure/plot-wise the island story was great. I felt very much like I was on the ride with the characters. It's the fastest 42:30 on TV.

[Matt Lafferty]

After reading all of the comments previous to the one I'm writing (it really doesn't take that long, you know... some things can be scanned along), I'm now worried that I've become one of the grumpy malcontents that we smartypants on here make fun of. If you've been on the site more than a few weeks, hopefully you know I love Lost and find the debates, questions, arguements, and points on this site and the podcast to be part of a great intellectual dialogue.

Simply put, I felt a little let down by this episode. Now, I can just hear Matt Jones saying, "it's a serial show. Every episode can't be the hatch exploding." I know, I know: it took weeks of careful crafting of episodes to have Sayid out Henry Gale, to have Michael kill two people--heck, it took about 27 hours of TV to get more than five minutes into the hatch.

Nonetheless, I just feel like this six episode mini-season is flat. Think what the first six episodes of last season brought us: the hatch, the shark, the fantastic zinger of Jin saying "Others," the introduction of the tailies, the teddy-bear-dragging people, and the orientation film. This week's big zinger was that there is a small island. The big flashback reveal was that Sawyer is always, always a con man but that he's got a good corner of his heart. Is that new? I mean, Sawyer is arguably the most popular character and has been for most of the show, and it's because he's a bad guy who is on the side of the good guys.

I just feel like there is no sense of urgency to the show, nothing driving it the way the the reunion of the raft, tailies, and beach folks drove the show faster and faster until Shannon's death in, ironically, the sixth episode of last season. With two episodes to go until February 8th, what's driving Lost?

In the end, the answer is the same: I'll just have to wait, watch, and find out.

[Mindriot]

This whole show is about Desmond - everything else that is happening is just inconsequential filler. If and when we ever get the final reveal and all the mysteries are solved we will realize that all these other characters and backstories, although interesting at times, have nothing to do with anything. The writers are going to milk this show for everything it's worth and when it gets boring, they're going to add more characters out of the blue and waste more time creating useless backstories that are coincidently connected to other characters' backstories until nobody really cares anymore. And in the series finale perhaps we'll see that an elderly Desmond is still in the hatch pushing the button all by himself, the plane crash and everything we've watched was a sad, but elaborate, hallucination.

[Cameron]

This was a great episode! This block is really picking up momentum. It is sure going to be a long, long summer/winter break after the end of episode 6.

I just wanted to add another Australian take - this time on the rabbits and the small island angle. We had a very strange incident here in Australia in about 1995 in which some government scientists were experimenting with a rabbit virus known as the calicivirus on a small island, called Wardang Island, which is just off the southern coast of Australia. Anyway, due to an 'accident' the virus escaped to the mainland and wiped out a sizable proportion of the rabbit population (including as I recall, quite a few pet rabbits). In the February 1996 edition of Scientific American, this was said about the incident:

'Despite many efforts to control them, rabbits have overrun Australia and are causing blight, erosion and extinction wherever they go. On an island off the Australian coast, scientists had been testing a deadly rabbit virus to see whether it could serve as a weapon against the long-eared pests. The virus escaped from the island and is now spreading, uncontrolled, through the Australian outback. The unplanned viral outbreak--along with a Scottish experiment involving pollen--raises concerns about the ability of scientists to control the spread of organisms that they introduce into the environment.'

I wonder if this is where the rabbits fit in. If the LOST writers dug this one up, they certainly deserve top marks for the depth of their research! On the other hand, I might be just another crazy LOST fan.

As usual: can't wait for the podcast!

[Mike in the Box]

@ I love sayid

The ABC forum is not the only one that is bad. I used to frequent the "numbers" forum, but man, people just argue and flame each other all the time. I want intellegent dialogue and witty banter. That's why i come here.

As for theories:

I have officially decided to not theorize and just watch. I tend to get frustrated when the actual events of the show do not live up to my theory. I think that is one of the big "letdowns" of the show. People build up a lot of anticipation by theorizing, sharing, and discussing possibilities and then BLAMMO, the show goes in a different direction and the wind is let out of our sails.

Don't get me wrong, I will continue to listen to the podcast and carefully examine the show, but i am not sure i want to make any theories.

@ Adam! and I Love Sayid:
Sucks about the two islands and the maps. Do i smell a revision or two coming?

[jonny boy mcfish bizkit]

whhooooooo lost is back with a vengeance!!!! yeah i hate all those lost bashers out there.its rubbish now?????!!!!-DONT MAKE ME LAUGH.

[jonny boy mcfish bizkit]

can i have your autographs, especially johns!!

[jonnyboy mcfish bizkit]

:D

[Arlo]

Just wondering if anyone thought when Jack asked Ben what he wanted from him and Ben replied "Patience Jack, patience" If maybe it was actually "Patients Jack, patients". Maybe he needs some Losties for some tests...

[Bill Hess]

I have another theory about the two islands. What if Ben is conning Sawyer into believing that the rest of the survivors are on the other island when they're really not?

It doesn't seem practical to have those houses on one island and do all your work on another. That's a lot of wasted ferrying back and forth.

Plus, as Ben is showing the other island, he's telling Sawyer that they're better at conning that he is.

Just a thought

[Midnight]

After all the episodes that began with zooming in on someone's eye, they're now giving us a guy with an eyepatch? That's definitely something that'll keep me thinking till atleast next week.

I enjoyed the episode. The heart-meter thing seemed a bit far-fetched, but as it turned out to be a lie, it makes more sense. I'm still rooting for Kate and Sawyer. Jack will probably be too busy "playing" Juliet anyway.

Still unclear about the motivation of the others in these mind-games they play. I can understand they want Jack to join them, but Sawyer and Kate? Sometimes I think Ben is just bored and wants some entertainment on those televisions of his. ;)

[Sarah]

@ Mike in the Box, yeah, that's a really good strategy. I didn't watch Season 1 until it was out on DVD and Season 2 had already begun, and seriously just watching those Season 1 episodes back to back without having much time to over-analyze everything was really the most enjoyable experience. I would wait to watch the show until all the DVDs came out, but I don't have much patience. :) Plus I'd hate to be another "lost" viewer.

@ Midnight, yeah one of the few bad things about Lost is that stuff happens and we're like, "What??" But, that's why there are obsessed fans like us who go back and analyze almost everything! :)

@ Matt Lafferty, I agree, with you--these few episodes have seemed dry, but I've still loved them. But one of the biggest things that have bugged me about them is that so far only Sun and Jin's flashback seemed to have a purpose. We saw Jack being overpassionate and angry. We've seen Jack being overpassionate many times. Boone, that old Mexican guy... But, we all know Lost. I'm sure the sixth episode is going to leave us BEGGING for more.

Stay LOST.
Sarah

[Aurora]

There are a couple things I don't quite have straight in my mind. 1) I understand that Pickett was freaked out and upset at our lostaways for his wife's death, but why did he keep asking Kate if she loved Sawyer? I assumed he was asking so he could be assured that he was hurting people who love just like he was hurt, but then why did he stop when she admitted it? Was admitting it the point? I'm confused.

Also, what's the significance of the quote that Ben gives Sawyer? I get that it's from Of Mice and Men, but I don't understand what it meant in context. Something about people needing each other just to avoid being alone? I would like some professional analysis, please.

[I_Love_Sayid...&_Lostcasts]

one map revision comming up:
http://www.geocities.com/colwildr/LostMapProject.html

served with a side of:
Loved That Episode!!!

I think it's going to be Sawyer that has the tumor...just something in the way Ben spoke to him as if he pittied him more than just an "I feel sorry for you because your a sad human being." And call me emotional but the bit about his daughter choked me up.

by the way... dl and cc did say there was a flame station so I added it back in. Plus I flipped the map around cause I had it upside down, and wouldn't you know it... an archipelago appeared just across from where Sayid had drawn the Apala Ferry. Now that the map is in the right direction, that circular thing I once thought was a possible location for the radio tower lies directly below the Swan. I love how everything falls into place. Also, there's an "X" above the archipelago...maybe that's where the tower is. Also, the map to Henry Gail's baloon works better now I think.

Any thought's guys?

[Nash]

Matt Lafferty,

You're breaking my heart. This is the best show on TV! Arguably, what makes it such a great serial mystery is that they reveal so much in each episode but still have plenty left over to keep our collective genius churning.

Reveals this episode: There are two islands; The Others have a sub(marine); They need Jack to save one of them from a spinal tumor; Juliette is a fertility doctor; Kate loves Sawyer (regardless of what she said, getting back in the cage was evidence enough); Ben can con Sawyer; Ben wants Sawyer's respect, Sawyer might be the only Lostie with a kid off-island.

New mysteries: Is Desmond's clairvoyance permanent? How does his ability to change "the future" affect the proposition that the Valenzetti equation predicts the end of mankind? What's up with the Other's preoccupation with children and fertility? Are the Other's really "the good guys" when they keep beating the snot out our Losties at the drop of a hat? Who's the one-eyed Other? Which one of our Losties isn't going to make it through the next episode?

Anyways, I agree that the first part of this season (I'd say after the first segment of episode 1 through episode 3) wasn't the highpoint of Lost, but I think we need to cut them a little slack. Honestly, I don't remember any episode that wasn't met with some disdain after it aired. Then as time passes and the season wraps up, we can finally see the bigger picture and all these gripes mysteriously disappear and we wonder why the newest episode doesn't live up the seasons of old.

[Raz Minder]

Aurora, one of the main themes that dominates the novel is loneliness - loneliness of fear, the loneliness of isolation from society, the loneliness of inadequate communication. To me, Ben was simply relating to the isolated life Sawyer has led like most of the characters in the book. I'm sure people could dig deeper, but that's my basic interpretation.

Actual quote:

“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long he’s with you. I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.”

Ben says this right after telling Sawyer that he "acts like [he] doesn't care (about Kate), but..."

It just fits his character - he doesn't want to show or know how to show compassion outwardly (as shown in his flashback with the commission money going into an untraceable fund for his alleged daughter).

Putting on my psychoanalysist hat, it probably goes back to his parent's murder-suicide - he doesn't want to care about something only to have it taken away, and that is why he remains isolated.

[Sarah]

@ I Love Sayid...& Lostcasts, I tried the link and it came up with a picture of Sayid and Charlie... Do we have to go somewhere from the link you gave us?

Sarah

[I_Love_Sayid...&_Lostcasts]

@ Matt Lafferty

chin up my friend.

i know that this miniseries has been less of an adventure than they promised. I had even borrowed a tv so i could actually watch and not download but after the Glass Balerina I gave it back.

but it's damn entertaining and at least it's given us a hobby. lol
i wouldn't say it's "dead man's chest" disappointing yet though

so let's stay lost brotha :)

[I_Love_Sayid...&_Lostcasts]

@Sarah

there's a link at the top of the page. :)

[JeffreyB]

I have a wild theory.

Do you think that there are two Bens(one original, one clone)? It didn't hit me until I saw Ben with the glasses. I'll have to watch again to see if there are any differing marks I can see on Ben.

Maybe he was telling the truth about his leader when he was captured and taken to the Swan hatch?

[I_Love_Sayid...&_Lostcasts]

woa...i exceded the bandwidth. well you only get so much for free, lol. i'll try to fix this tomorrow but it's getting a bit late here. night all.

[Blackfonzie]

Fantastic episode, really great...but I just about lost my mind when Ben pulled the #8 Bunny out of his satchel. The bunny he'd apparently been carrying around up the whole hill. And then back down again. I only wish he'd followed it up by pulling a quarter out of Sawyer's ear.