I Am DB

Hulllo, what have we here? No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I’ve whipped up an extra message to be delivered ahead of tonight’s episode. Consider it a bonus…with the understanding that the word “bonus” suggests not only something in excess of the norm, but also something worth getting excited about. Your general interest in reading these tedious messages will determine whether or not this is a bonus or just another message from me to ignore.

The purpose of this is A) to bring up a couple of the things that I was thinking about after the recent “Cabin Fever” episode; and 2) to toss out some theories – albeit, extremely fragmented ones full of holes, and each covering just a small corner of the massive quilt that is the story of Lost.

First: Cabin Fever, an episode which spawned a lot of talk about Ben and Locke, Jacob, and that ‘ol Doc Brown classic we like to call the space-time continuum. It definitely seemed worth pointing out that Ben and Locke came into the world in similar fashions. Both were born to mothers named Emily who did not stick around to raise them – Ben’s died, Locke’s abandoned him; both were born prematurely; and both, as children, encountered Richard Alpert. Richard’s encounter with Ben was by chance, or so it seems at this point. But it was on the island, and happened when Ben was…I don’t know how old. Maybe 12? Conversely, Richard actively tracked Locke, which means it was off the island, and it began when Locke was a newborn.

Do these early-life similarities say anything about Locke and Ben? Both seem to share a connection to the island, and their own personal relationship is complex, to say the least. Does time travel come into play here? Is it possible that when Richard seeks out baby Locke, he is doing so from a future in which Locke has already been to the island? Perhaps a future in which Ben has recognized something in Locke that he believes is vital to the survival of the island, leading him to send Richard back to a time when he might be able to bring Locke to the island earlier, for a purpose that could thwart Charles Widmore’s island intentions? And if by some stretch this is remotely accurate, it would mean that Ben and Richard have a fair amount of control over the use of time-travel. So far, such control has not been in evidence. If moving the island involves any sort of time travel, then it has been described by Ben as “dangerous and unpredictable” and “a measure of last resort.”  Of course, this whole notion does nothing to explain the things Ben and Locke have in common. But this is Lost. There are no coincidences.

Now we also have to remember that Richard Alpert was not the only familiar face to turn up in Locke’s pre-island life. He also met Matthew Abbadon. How does that factor in? Well let’s suppose that there’s some truth to the Alpert/Locke/time travel theory. What if Widmore and Abbadon were able to access similar technology? Abbadon might then be able to visit Locke in the rehab center and encourage him to go on the walkabout. If somehow Widmore knows about Locke and his connection to the island, then perhaps he tries to get Locke on Flight 815, knowing that it will crash and knowing that once Locke is there, he will discover its power and want to stay. But what if he were taken off the island against his will? What if he were the object of an “extraction mission,” as Captain Gault said to Keamy – an attempt by Widmore to remove him from the island so that he could be forced to share its secrets, or lead the way back if the island were to “move” after his removal? Serving Widmore in this way might be fulfilling Abbadon’s pledge that when he and Locke meet again, Locke will “owe him one.”

If there’s any credence to this, and if Ben became aware of Widmore’s intentions, then it would be extremely important to him to get to Locke himself before Widmore could. Important enough to send him trekking across the island alone in search of Locke (eventually getting caught by Rousseau and claiming to be a balloon-traveler named Henry Gale); important enough to build Locke up and make him believe in his kinship to the island while at the same denying him many truths and revelations – truths and revelations he would not want Widmore to be able to access if he did get hold of Locke; important enough to shoot him in a misguided attempt to keep him from being any good to Widmore (he admits later that he hadn’t thought the shooting through, and should have known it wouldn’t have done any good); important enough to convince Locke that Widmore is an enemy of the island and that he must work with Ben to protect it. When Widmore fails to get Locke off the island – via Naomi – he begins targeting the Oceanic Six and trying to get them to lead him back to the island…hence Abbadon’s visit to Hurley in the mental institution.

I realize that this theory is quite shaky, full of holes, and casts Locke in probably too central a role in the overall mythology while totally ignoring Jacob, the various lists of survivors that once seemed like a key plot point but haven’t been mentioned lately, and other things. It also assumes that Widmore and Ben have access to each other’s information, suggesting a double-agent or who-knows-what other form of treachery. This is why I don’t spend much time spinning theories, but instead try to keep track of the questions. Still, I found myself piecing the following together as well. While it too has holes and doesn’t fully add up, I do think it’s more solid than the preceding, and likely has elements of accuracy to it. So here goes:

It would seem that Charles Widmore once had possession of the island, but lost it to Ben. Ever since that happened, he has been trying to find it again and regain control. Knowing of the island’s electromagnetic properties, he’s had multiple crews deployed in the South Pacific – the closest approximation he has of the island’s location – looking for electromagnetic anomalies. One of these crews notifies him of such an anomaly on September 22, 2004 (caused, unbeknownst to him, by his own daughter’s beloved). The same day, he learns – along with the rest of the world – that a huge passenger airplane flying from Sydney to Los Angeles disappeared from radar somewhere in the South Pacific. Connecting the two dots, he believes that if he finds the plane, he can find the island. Determined to keep other search parties from discovering the plane before him for fear that they might discover the island and its powers, he stages a fake crash site in order to distract the world and draw other search parties away from wherever the plane really is. Of course, if he did this, he would have to either ensure that no survivors – if there were any – ever made it back to tell their story…OR he would have to create the story himself and get any possible survivors to go along with it. (We might find out tonight if this last piece is at all valid.)

Okay, that’s pretty basic stuff – I don’t claim to be breaking new ground with this theory; I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. But I think it’s pretty solid. From here, I’m much less confident, but let me try to fill in some possible details.

For whatever reason, Widmore has an obsession with the Black Rock. In an attempt to locate the remains of the ship itself, he discovers an island which may or may not be inhabited at the time. Soon after, he is approached by The Dharma Initiative, which is seeking funding to launch a remote commune for studying. He offers this island, which is useless to him other than being the final resting place of the Black Rock. Maybe he has purchased the island…although that would leave a paper trail, so maybe not. Or perhaps he purchased it through some sort of shady business deal with a certain powerful Korean businessman who was his closest business contact in that part of the world (the island isn’t too close to Korea, but considering the size of the whole planet, they’re kind of in the same ballpark). Anyway, in keeping tabs on the work of the Dharma Initiative, he discovers that this island has powerful properties which he wants to exploit.

The theory gets even hazier here, because there are parts I haven’t figured out yet, but Ben comes into the picture around this time. Maybe Widmore somehow enlists his aid, and since Ben has his own issues with the Dharma Initiative, he agrees to help Widmore destroy it…ergo, The Purge. But Ben does this not with the intention of letting Widmore have his way, but instead with taking control of the island for his own reasons – reasons which run contrary to Widmore’s desires and which therefore put the two men at odds. Yet how does this fit with Ben’s comment to John (made just before shooting him last season) that the Dharma crew couldn’t co-exist with the island’s original inhabitants? Given that young Ben encounters Richard Alpert in the jungle, does that make Richard one of the original inhabitants? By the time The Purge takes place, Richard seems to be taking orders from Ben, so something there doesn’t add up. Maybe The Purge doesn’t have anything to do with Widmore. Like I said, this theory gets less sound as it goes, and is riddled with holes and flaws. But I feel like portions of it could be on the right track. (Another problem is that I think the Dharma Initiative was already studying electromagnetism, which would mean that they probably had the island already as opposed to Widmore giving it to them. Also, if Ben acted on his own in betraying Widmore after The Purge, where does Jacob factor in? And how would Widmore even get to know Ben, who has been living on the island for years before The Purge?)

I’ll end the speculation for now, and see what the season finale leaves me thinking. Just thought I’d share…