This podcast focuses on season 5, episode 8 of LOST, LaFleur. Join Robert, John and Matt as we discuss speculation around the 4-toed statue's Egyptian roots and other Egyptian references, our Losties' newfound roles in Dharma, conversations about the truce between Dharma and Alpert and much more.
Links related to the podcast:
Wikipedia on Anubis
Wikipedia on Taweret
Wikipedia on the Ankh symbol
Wikipedia on Horus
Egyptian necklace in ABC store
Screencap of white king missing in chess game
Join us in two weeks for another podcast! Stay LOST!
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Posted by: Steven | March 08, 2009 at 04:02 PM
Jeff,
My fiancee and I put this together as an over-arching theory. The statue is the fertility statue that has been discussed on the EW boards, and when the statue was destroyed, the fertility problems began on the island. Richard Alpert is the Egyptian god RA, brought back to the island by the blast at the end of Season 2 (his first appearance on the show wasn't until Season 3). He's now doing whatever he can to make everything right on the island again. Perhaps Jacob was the "deity" in charge of the island until his return (we didn't hear about Jacob until around the same time as Alpert's appearance) and now the two are in conflict. Perhaps, to further extend this, Widmore is Jacob's man and Ben is Richard's.
I'm sure more can be extrapolated from this, but it's an interesting idea...
Jason
Posted by: Jason | March 08, 2009 at 05:16 PM
Oops - sorry about the Jeff - I'd sent this to Doc Jensen also but forgot to take that off when I copied and pasted. :)
Posted by: Jason | March 08, 2009 at 05:16 PM
I love this podcast. Love, love, love.
Regarding the whole Egyptian vs. Egyptian-ish statue question, I'd to cast my lot in with the Egyptian-ish side. Have you ever seen an Egyptian deity depicted wearing sandals? Also, those teeny little kitty ears look nothing like what is typically seen on Anubis' big jackal head. Yes, the stance and apparel have an Egyptian flavor, but none of these details match up well enough for a clear ID.
Plus, the statue has, you know, four toes.
Posted by: Mary | March 08, 2009 at 09:05 PM
i would also be disappointed if everything behind this show was simply Egyptian mythology. I've always liked the idea of the shows overall mythology was something the writers created, not something directly taken from a book. I agree that it could be partly inspired by Egypt but to throw out there that it's a blanket solution for everything on the show is underestimating the writers as well as stating that the show isn't as good as it really is.
Posted by: Nik | March 08, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Congrats on the forthcoming wedding - and have a great honeymoon.
My prediction is that the face of the statue is the face of a major character in the series.
Posted by: Hamish Thompson | March 09, 2009 at 08:18 AM
The one thing i found off about the LaFleur episode that i just recently thought of is the lack of Widmore. As we have been told by widmore he lead the others peacefully until Ben tricked him off the island.
I would imagine that if there were a truce the two leaders would be the ones discussing it. So shouldn't widmore have been in the dharma camp rather than Alpert?
Posted by: Chris | March 09, 2009 at 10:42 AM
All I could think about in this episode was La Fours in Mallrats...
Posted by: West Sayid | March 09, 2009 at 08:58 PM
Great cast etc and so on.
I agree with Matt this is not just Egyptian it's got to be more than that. It's some kind of multi-merge religion-belief system. ABC are simply selling anything LOST related to gullible suckers trying to raise a quick buck. They after all have a limited timeframe to bled LOST fans.
One random thing I thought of ....
Why does Sawyer have LeFleur (his assumed surname) on his Dharma jumpsuit yet Juliet has Juliet not Burke ? Also Horace and the other Dharma people had their first not second names. Didn't notice what Jin had on his.
It's not like the the Dharma people will know Juliet from the future .....
Just wondering.
Posted by: Mark B | March 10, 2009 at 08:17 AM
Good catch on the names Mark B.
Jin had "Jin" on his suit.
Also, I tend to agree that there is no "one" religious influence on the island. We have seen Greek, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Egyptian influences. It is definitely multi-religious.
Posted by: Mike in the Box | March 10, 2009 at 10:50 AM
to what you said about the burying.. Ana Lucia was buried but she appeared to Hurley so hm.
Posted by: alpha | March 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM
RE: Burying
I think it should be mentioned that Christian was NOT buried. He was in a coffin, but that coffin remained unburied. Same with Locke's coffin. I think all the talk of burying in the LaFleur episode was more about hiding the bodies than anything else. Also, by my recollection, Claire just disappeared, didn't die. There was no body found.
Posted by: Biolite | March 10, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Something to think about. Assuming Clare is somewhere on the island she might have been hopping around in time just like the other losties. She might be doing something that needs to done in the past as well, just off camera.
Posted by: Chris | March 10, 2009 at 01:21 PM
Regarding the names on the Dharma suits...
It seems like the higher ups have their last names (LaFluer - Head of Security, Goodspeed (I think), Waxman on the parka.) The drones have only their first names (Juliet, Roger, Ben, Jin, etc.).
Posted by: Memnoch | March 10, 2009 at 04:33 PM
This is off the topic of this week's episode, but after watching The Watchmen movie, I think there are some strong tie-ins with Desmond. Since there are some MINOR movie spoilers for those those that want to see the movie fresh, I've posted the outline of my theory here: http://joythrusin.blogspot.com/2009/03/watchmen-influence-on-lost.html
After I wrote the theory, I did some searching on the Fuselage. I saw some statements that went into this territory, but did not see an in-depth discussion on it.
Posted by: Memnoch | March 10, 2009 at 04:42 PM
I LOVE the idea about Desmond being the child born in this episode.
I've been working hard for a while trying to figure his place out - he's really the "oddball" - he doesn't really FIT with any group & he's always been an anomaly in the show's space/time... Phara-day even calls him "special" --- at the very least it's conceivable to believe this baby wasn't "supposed" to be born - juliet interceded & now he's outside the rules of space & time as the losties observe them. Good theory
Posted by: Scott in Philly | March 10, 2009 at 08:58 PM
--POSSIBLE SPOILER?--
I'm sure most of you have rewatched this video if you scope out the forums but I thought I'd post it here out of interest anyway.
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Dharma_booth_video
I find it interesting to watch again as it makes much more sense. Also, it's very easy to hear that the person off screen Pierre Chang is talking to is Daniel. However, most people have identified that Pierre Change says 'LaFleur' to the person off screen, however after listening a couple times I don't think he does.
anyway that's all for now.
Nik
Posted by: Nik | March 10, 2009 at 11:36 PM
Kind of off topic .....
In "The Lie" when Juliet suggests they take the zodiac and look for a shipping lane Daniel said they can't just sail off the island as he needs to calculate a new trajectory but before he can he needs to know where they are in time.
Obvious question is why, once the time shifts have stopped and they were settled in Dharma times, didn't he calculate a new path off the island ?
Or did he ?
Posted by: Mark B | March 11, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Personally, I think the eyeliner reference (Sawyer's nick name for Richard) is important, with regards to Egyptian culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohl_(cosmetics). Just a thought people ;)
Posted by: Dan | March 11, 2009 at 09:15 AM
Try this again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohl_(cosmetics)
Posted by: Dan | March 11, 2009 at 09:17 AM
Definitely agree with the Atlantis theory!
Posted by: Laura | March 11, 2009 at 04:06 PM
Just thinking - when Ben sends Michael to bring back some of the Losties he asks for Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley. All of these people are now in Dharmaville. Maybe Ben meets them when he's younger? Of course Jin is also there which doesn't completely work.
I like the theory that the baby is Desmond, after all he is 'special', but I'm sure he's supposed to be older than 27.
Posted by: Laura | March 11, 2009 at 04:20 PM
Hey guys, I was just thinking that Richard Alpert has got to be Ra. Apart from never aging he also wears eye liner, remember the famous eye of Ra? Being the egyptian god of the Sun, will it mean that there's gonna be another love triangle with Jin, he he!
Posted by: Luis | March 11, 2009 at 07:00 PM
@ Laura
I like your thinking. I would love it if the writers had a plausible reason for the main characters to be on a list made by a mysterious group of others. Based on the beginning of season 3, they did not (unless you count writhing around in cages and watching each other on monitors a plausible reason).
The idea of Ben remembering Sawyer Kate and Jack from his childhood (1974) and seeing them again basically the same age 30 years later is interesting. It would explain why he amassed so much information on them.
The beginning of season 3 gave no explanation of why Ben wanted these specific people or exploited this knowledge (other than needing Jack for spinal surgery).
There was the mysterious meeting with Kate on the beach, I hope they address that again.
Posted by: frankmorris | March 11, 2009 at 10:55 PM
For me, Juliet>>Kate. Anybody else?
EW, in a link I now cannot find, is reporting a major character death is coming up, and that it's not Kate. I wouldn't mind Kate or Jack, but it's not them.
Posted by: Mike | March 12, 2009 at 12:00 AM
@frankmorris/Laura
Klughs list is a fantastic idea. Doesn't explain Jin though. Check back last week and someone else had the same idea.
@Mike,
Spoiler alerts please. But yes Juliet is way better than Kate on a whole bunch of levels. Mainly because she seems to make Sawyer happy unlike Kate who made him bitter, untrusting, angry and resentful. Maybe it's the different situations but still.
I can't believe that Sawyer would throw a 'proper' three year relationship with Juliet away for the memory of a 100 day 'fling' with Kate, which was really much less than 100 days, probably nearer a couple of months, even if Kate was the 'love of his life' which I doubt she was.
If the writers start up a new who will Sawyer (as opposed to Kate) choose storyline I'll be dissappointed.
Isn't it odd that in one episode the writers have made Sawyer-Juliet more attractive to the fans than Sawyer-Kate everwhere. Great writing or the more normal situation (i.e. playing house as opposed to living on an island) we can relate to with Juliet-Sawyer ?
Posted by: Mark B | March 12, 2009 at 02:33 AM
Another thing i though about Richard Alpert being Ra: (R)ichard (A)lpert - (RA)!
Posted by: Luis | March 12, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Plz BRING TASHA back , i love her laughter and sweet voice . i hate u guys keep saying 'thats intresting' all the time .learn a new catch phrase like hurleys DUDE or sawyers S.O.B
Peace out puneet
Posted by: puneet | March 12, 2009 at 12:04 PM
I love it when jackasses post on the comment section without ever reading the comments or listening to the podcast:
"Another thing i though about Richard Alpert being Ra: (R)ichard (A)lpert - (RA)!"
Bring something new to the table or get up from the table.
The guys are just as bad, "Didn't Claire die?" WTF!
Posted by: Am I the only one who pays attention around here?! | March 12, 2009 at 03:29 PM
About burying dead people .....
In Jughead Miles walks over a grave of four dead US soldiers, one died of radiation poisoning and the others were shot, I assume the Others killed them but I guess they could have been buried other soldiers.
Posted by: Mark B | March 12, 2009 at 06:42 PM
Everyone knows that Nestor Carbonell does not wear eyeliner, right? I'm sure I'm just missing the ongoing joke but i wanted to make sure, lol.
Posted by: RamDass | March 12, 2009 at 11:26 PM
@ RamDass -- I'm pretty sure people think he does... but he doesn't. everyone knows that elizabeth mitchell has implants, right?
Posted by: Scott in Philly | March 14, 2009 at 11:19 AM
@ nik
thanks for the re-thoughts on this video - definitely faraday... it seems to make a lot of sense given the Losties stuck in Chang's time... interesting
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Dharma_booth_video
Posted by: Scott in Philly | March 14, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Looking forward to this weeks Theorycast 8-)
Posted by: Mark B | March 15, 2009 at 03:00 AM
I like the idea that Richard Alpert is the God Ra. Never aging, wearing eyeliner, and the fact that Richard Alpert's initials are R and A = RA :)
Posted by: Jes' | March 15, 2009 at 03:23 PM
In case you've not read it already this weeks EW column by Doc Jensen has a bit of a spoiler in about who appears in this episode. Someone we've heard about but never seen.
The spoiler is in the first paragraph of the article ....
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1550612_20245769_20266248,00.html
Posted by: Mark B | March 18, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Reading a thread on another non-lost site and something popped into my head. Is it possible Faraday actually built the room in LA that his mom used to pinpoint the island for the Oceanic 6?
Posted by: Lorne | March 18, 2009 at 11:34 PM
Okay, Comic Book Guy, or, sorry, you go by "Am I the only one who pays attention around here?!" nowadays, I cut people some slack when they are happy about coming to a conclusion without reading every post and listening and retaining every podcast and every plotline and character manifest from every episode. If they pursue it and drag down another conversation, then maybe it needs to redirected with, oh, what's the word? Oh yeah, TACT, but still, attitude like that does more to exclude than include.
Posted by: Rok | March 19, 2009 at 08:31 AM
Namaste:
There's a few things we need to establish. *These are the facts:
Frank is flying Ajira Airways flight 316 at night, in Jan 2008 (What I will refer to as present time, the present time in the narrative of LOST) *A flash*occurs*sending Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid to 1977. *Post-Flash the plane is flying during the day, and the co-pilot has a WTF? moment, while Frank is simply trying to land the plane. *Once they have crash landed the co-pilot has been impaled by tree branch. *We see the title card "Thirty Years Earlier". *
This is why everyone is stuck on the idea that the Ajira Airways passengers are in present time, late Jan 2008. *But the title card really means to say "we are about to show you 30 years before this moment", not "when" they ended up.*I think it's completely rational to say that the flash from Night to Day insinuates that Flight 316 traveled through time, or , in even simpler terms, Ajira flight 316 is not "when" it was before the flash. *So I think it is false to assume that the Ajira passengers landed in Jan 2008. *
If you swallow that, then there are two ways we can go. *We are before 2008 or we are after 2008. *
Arguments for before Jan 2008:
-The dock and surrounding area is full of old dharma stuff, kinda like post-purge looking and note: no sub.
-The processing center's sign is swaying against the building while dharma signs are nailed to a few doors.
-This does not really resemble the 2004 Othersville days of yesteryear. The others used the sub and this area regularly, juliet came in the sub. I highly doubt they would have left up the pictures of the people they had just gassed and thrown into a giant ditch.
Arguments for after Jan 2008:
- The runway is finished which we assume was Ben's construction project, we see Sawyer and Kate working on it in season 3 when they were sleeping in polar bear cages.
The runway kinda seals the deal for me as a clear indication that we are post Jan 2008. How post? Damned if i know. A post where the dharma initiative was back in business or at least trying to appear that way. And Obviously from the look of things, it didn't work out...again.
Was someone trying to play dharma with old props to keep up a lie?
Posted by: indefilm23 | March 21, 2009 at 02:49 AM
Soooo... No podcast this week, I take it?
Posted by: MisterMingo | March 21, 2009 at 02:57 PM
I'm holding out hope that we'll still get a podcast for Namaste...?!!?!
Posted by: ae | March 21, 2009 at 09:34 PM
Oh well no podcast this week,
I'm sure one of the guys had another baby lol.
also no more annoying Tasha,
she has as much intelect as a pig,
Good look introducing her to your family John XD
Posted by: Steven | March 21, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Ben needed JACK to perform the sugery.
Ben needed KATE because he needed leverage on JACK.
Ben needed SAWYER to have leverage on KATE.
period.
Posted by: Kyle | March 22, 2009 at 01:19 AM
Didn't know LOSTCAST was in the business of deleting informative posts....
Posted by: Kyle | March 22, 2009 at 02:01 AM
could it be possible??? with all the time travel - that Penny and Desmonds son Charlie - is the ACTUAL Charlie that was in seasons past? (something could have happened that their baby was adopted???) Just a crazy LOST thought.
Posted by: Rebecca | March 22, 2009 at 03:16 AM
ABOUT LOCKE'S "SUICIDE" I am new to this podcast and just learnig how and when to post - so please forgive me while i adjust - im hooked and loving it! its 03/22/09 and im catching up on the past five eppys via DVR and your fab podcasts!! so i just wanted to mention a thought from Locke's "suicide" which i posted on that eppy's podcast but thought maybe you all dont look back? so posting again - hope you dont mind?
I Apologize - i originally posted this comment in the wrong place - one eppy too soon? but here is a thought that i cant get out of my mind:
I dont know if this was mentioned already and if it was I apologize. But I feel that it was right for Ben To Kill Locke - because Locke had to die to save everyone and return to the island. BUT if he killed himself he (Locke) cold never return - becuase suicide is the ultimate sin and the Island would not welcome him back.(im viewing the island as heaven and according to catholic faith if you commit suicide you do not enter heaven - or so im told) therefore - Locke had to Die and Ben had to kill him.
AND I want to thank you very much for this podcast = I just discovered it and it has brought me so much joy! (not to sound geeky or weird) BUT I dont know anyone else around me that I talk to that is hooked on LOST like I am and to find this site - makes me realize im not alone! LOL :) thank you - you are all so talented and IMO Wise!! keep em comming! :)
Posted by: Rebecca | March 22, 2009 at 03:23 AM
Faradays Wereabouts...
Initially ,from the conversation Sawyer and Jack had I thought Faraday was dead.But now I reckon he's done a Obi Wan Kenobi.He's somewhere on the Island living as a hermit.
Later maybe, our Losties need to find him and go on a search.
Afterall, Lost writers DO like Star Wars.
Posted by: Tahir | March 22, 2009 at 05:56 AM
Faraday is off somewhere ..... I like the Obi Wan idea. Maybe he took the sub back to the mainland and is working in the Lamppost developing that island prediction stuff. But why would they need that in the 70's .... unless he has convinced them they will need it later.
So no podcast this week then. Is John getting married this week or are they all watching the Jay and Jack 25hr podcast ?
Posted by: Mark B | March 22, 2009 at 07:54 AM
Don't be dicks, guys. Lostcasts are almost always posted on Sunday afternoons. I was getting a little weary of their lack of enthusiasm last season and in the in-between period. They just didn't seem into it. But they've been good this season. Give them some credit.
Posted by: Tony the Tiger | March 22, 2009 at 11:34 AM