The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Good morning, Losties!

1. I have been doing a little research on Jeremy Bentham, and I think the most bizarre thing I discovered is that he had his body preserved in a wooden box called an auto-icon. This box has a glass cover, and it is prominently displayed at a college in London. So it is no coincidence that our JB/JL was also preserved in a wooden box!

2. I also learned that Bentham’s youngest direct descendant is named Richard . . . he is a distinguished marine.

3. Jeremy Bentham was a utilitarian, which means his philosophy was centered around pleasure and pain. I will have to do a little more research before I totally understand this.

4. THIS WEEK IN BIBLE STUDIES: Matthew Abaddon – Let me refer you back to some previous comments I’ve made:
In a scene that we saw before, Locke is in physical rehab. His nurse explains that he needs to keep trying. Only this time, it is revealed that Matthew Abadon is that nurse. He believes in miracles. He went on a walkabout. He experiences a miracle. He tells Locke that when they meet again, “You’ll owe me.” (May 2008)

the angel "Abaddon" possesses the keys to the Abyss into which Satan is hurled or imprisoned, indicating that he serves as Satan's "jailer" and must therefore be someone else (lostpedia.com – Feb 2008)

It is also important to note that Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, and also the most widely read. It contains the Sermon on the Mount. Maybe some of our more Biblically Educated friends can tell us more . . .

Matthew tells Locke that he “gets people where they need to go.” Does he also keep people from where they shouldn’t be?

This all adds to my theory that Ben is a representation of hell/the devil!

5. On the Beach – Caesar is a creep! He is up to something! Ilana is the US Marshall who was with Sayid. She also seems sketch for sure, and I wonder why she is not more freaked out that her prisoner disappeared. Could they be with Ben?!!

6. Everyone thinks Locke is pathetic and fooling himself to think that he is important. Sayid says he has nothing else, that’s why he wants to go back. Kate says he never loved anyone (wrong). Jack straight up says he is pathetic.

7. Kate is a bitch. Sorry.

8. Locke deducted that Jack was Christian’s son. That is why Jack started taking flights around the world. The whole FATHER motif continues . . .

9. BIBLE STUDIES #2: (with Carla) – Locke is the John the Baptist. Jack is Jesus. Locke must “baptize” Jack, get him to believe that he is the “chosen one.” That is why Locke is important.

10. THIS WEEK IN LOST LITERATURE: Paradise Lost. Look it up on Wikipedia.

11. Is Abaddon dead?

12. I thought this was going to take me 10 minutes . . . aaargh!

13. HOLY CRAP MOMENT: Ben strangles Locke. He is doing anything he can to get back to the island. He is a bad, bad, bad man. LUCIFER!

14. Ilana and Caesar KNOW who LOCKE is! THEY WORK FOR BEN . . .

15. Walt is the key!!!!! He knows it all!!! He tells Locke that he saw him on the beach and that there were people there who want to kill him . . . CW said there was going to be a war . . . Ben is getting ready . . . he’s brought soldiers with him!

16. I’m starting to side with Charle’s Widmore . . . this may be a mistake in the long run, but I believe him about Ben being a baddy.

17. Frank is with Sun. She wasn’t supposed to come back to the island either – Locke had given his word.

18. The plane is in present day. Jack, Hurley, and Kate are in the 70’s. How will they all find each other?

Ok, what do you think? My mind is spinning! Help me out, people!

Namaste,
LLL

316

Dear Losties,
Another awesome week in Lost Land. We learned some things, but, of course, we were also taunted with some new questions. Good thing there is only one and a half seasons left of this show to drive me crazy, otherwise I might end up in the same loony bin as Hugo!

This week we learned how the 06 got back to the island . . . and we were inundated with Biblical imagery and allusion. I am so clearly an English teacher, because I love this shit!

1. THIS WEEK IN BIBLICAL STUDIES PART 1:
a. The Episode is titled “316.” This refers to the Ajira flight number, but is also a reference to the most famous biblical quote: “For God so loved the world, he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

b. This quote was also all over Eko’s big stick back a couple of seasons ago.

So, who is the “only son”? It seems to be Jack, based on the evidence in this episode, what with the tending to the feet of Locke and all, but perhaps Locke thinks he is . . . after all, he is the one who sacrifices himself and believes he is the leader. But then again . . . and I’ve said this before . . . John and Jack are really the same name. So maybe they are both supposed to represent Jesus.

2. BIBLE STUDIES REVISITED: I went back through previous blogs to find a couple of possibly relevant connections:
a. JEREMIAH 2:4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob . . . (Jeremy is Locke’s alias)

b. James – Brother of John (interesting). First disciple of Jesus to be martyred. Sawyer did “martyr” himself by jumping off the helicopter.

c. Daniel means “judged by God”. Or “God is a judge.” Some people think he is a prophet, others do not. He spoke to angels but not directly to God. DANIEL was among the Jews who were taken captive into Babylon about 2600 years ago. He rose to a high position in the Babylonian government. Daniel saw and described the great world empires that were to come. He also prophesied about a Messiah. (aboutbibleprophecy.com) Daniel predicted when an anointed one would be rejected Daniel 9:26Daniel foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (isn’t there a hatch called the Temple?)

There are plenty more, but these seemed somewhat relevant to this week.

3. 46 hours before the Ajira plane crashes, Jack, Sun, Ben, and Desmond are “educated” by Ms. Hawking. We learn that:
a. The church basement has a hatch; it is called “The LampPost.” Ben claims he didn’t know it was there, but he’s always lying, so why trust him now.
b. Eloise has a picture of the Island – it says, “US Army Ops 264/ 8/23/54” – this must be when she was young Ellie, the badass. She’s still kind of a badass!
c. The island is “always moving”
d. Des’ time jumps last season were actually memories. Apparently, it wasn’t an accident that he ended up on the island – ELOISE TOLD HIM TO GO THERE!
e. There are windows of time when you can “enter” the island. Jack et. al’s is about to close.
f. The island isn’t done with Des, though he says he is done with it. A return is imminent.

4. Remember when the Flashies (new name I heard on a podcast referring to Sawyer and co) found all that stuff on the beach from the Ajira airlines? That was the 06 flight crash remnants. BUT, IS THAT WHERE/WHEN the O6 LANDED? Or was that the debris from the OTHER people on the flight? There was a big flash, and J, K, and H don’t remember crashing at all, nor are they hurt.

5. Jack’s granddaddy is in on it! It’s no coincidence that Ray just happened to have a pair of Christian’s shoes in his suitcase.

6. BIBLICAL STUDIES PART 3: Doubting Thomas painting. The Apostle Thomas would not believe that Christ had risen until he touched his wounds; however, he was first very brave – “Let us also go that we might die with him.”

7. What happened to Aaron? Did Kate give him back to Claire’s mother? This also makes me think of a bible reference, but that’s probably going to get annoying by the end of this post. Sorry about that!

8. WTF – Does Sun give a crap about her child? She totally just abandoned her!

9. Oh, Irish lit teacher . . . educate us on the relevance of Ulysses, the book Ben was reading on the flight.

10. BEN IS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO BACK TO THE ISLAND. Everything is trying to stop him – might he be Lucifer? He is an evil bastard, after all, but he also seems to occasionally want forgiveness.

11. All the 06 now represent someone ELSE on the 815 flight:
Sayid – Kate (under arrest)
Hurley – Charlie (guitar)
Kate – Jack (all morose and mourning)
Sun – Rose (fingering the wedding ring)
Ben – Hurley (mad dash to get on the plane)
What do you think it means?

12. AWWWWE Moment: Hurley buys up all the seats to try to save lives.

13. HOLY CRAP MOMENT #1: Frank Lapidus is the pilot of the plane. He has a great line, “We’re not going to Guam , are we?”

14. BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT: Jack, “How can you read?” Ben, “My mother taught me.” HA!

15. LOCKE(D) in a COFFIN:
a. Suicide note – “I wish you had believed me.” I think Locke is Jack’s alter ego.
b. Jack puts shoes on Locke, kind of like Jesus washed the feet of Lazarus (?) Lazarus couldn’t walk, but with JC’s help, he did. Is that right?

16. SOUL GLOW AWARD: Jin’s

17. Jin appears to be working for Dharma. Have they crashed in the 70’s? Are they all going to be a part of Dharma now?

I could go on and on . . . but I won’t. Looking forward to your thoughts on another kick-ass episode.

Namaste,
LLL

This Place is Death

That episode kicked ass! It’s my favorite so far this season . . . in part to the fact I was proved right! You know it – Lost Loser rocks!

However, I do have to make a correction to last week’s blog. I said CS Lewis wrote Through the Looking Glass – but I meant The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. They go through a magic closet in that one . . . however, the Mister found out that CS Lewis taught at . . . OXFORD

1. Holy crap moment #1 – French Dude’s arm gets ripped off by Smokey! That was pretty frickin’ sweet, I have to say. But have these French folk no common sense? A guy gets his arms torn off and he calmly remarks, “I’m hurt. Help me.”? Come on, people – a giant cloud of smoke just amputated him and you think he is not going to be screaming? Or dead? Those French!

2. Does anyone remember if Jin’s hair was that sexy when last season ended?

3. Anyone read hieroglyphics? There were some sweet ones, reminiscent of the ones on that map Locke saw on the back of the hatch door back in the day.

4. THIS WEEK IN BIBLE STUDIES: I refer you back to an earlier post about the prophet Jeremiah (aka Jeremy Latham). http://lostloserramblings.blogspot.com/2008/05/theres-no-place-like-home-parts-2-and-3.html
Locke becomes Jeremy in order that he can “sacrifice” himself for the island and its peeps.

5. What makes Danielle shoot all her friends and her husband/lover? What happened to them when they STUPIDLY went down in Smokey’s hatch? And why did Smokey come after them to begin with? Because they were “bad” people? Do they haves sins to atone for?

6. BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT: “He’s Korean, I’m from Encino.” – Miles

7. Bleeding noses – Charlotte (RIP), Miles, Juliet, and now Sawyer. Why not Locke? Or Jin? I predict Jin’s nose will be gushing soon . . .

8. HOLY CRAP MOMENT #2: Locke goes down the well just as the light flashes. Then there is no well. CREEPERS!

9. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT CHARLOTTE FOR SURE:
She grew up on the island
Her father was in the Dharma Initiative
She and her mother left
Her mother told her that the island didn’t exist, that her memories were not real
She became an anthropologist in order to find her way back
She encountered a “scary” man as a child who told her she needed to leave and never come back, and that man was . . .

10. HOLIEST CRAPPIEST MOMENT: DANIEL!!!!!!!!!! (Kudos to Chris – he called it) He doesn’t seem to remember it, so it must be something he is GOING to do to try to save his love (although I don’t really think Charlotte was feeling it for him . . . probably cause she subconsciously knew he was the scary man)

11. WHAT I NOW THINK ABOUT CHARLOTTE:
I may be totally overthinking; maybe it’s enough that she was a daughter of a DI member
I think Ben is her father. That is why he adopted Alex, to fill a void left by his own daughter’s departure from the island
There are big gaps in B’s life that we don’t know about, but we do know he had a love – Annie.

12. Jin does not want Locke to bring Sun back to the island. He tells Locke to say that he is dead, and to use his wedding ring as proof. This isn’t what happens . . .

13. VERY HOLY BUT NOT CRAPPIEST MOMENT: Christian shows up to help Locke. He tells him:
He told LOCKE to move the island
He can’t help Locke do it (probably because he’s not mortal anymore)
Locke will have to sacrifice himself to save the island and his friends.

14. The van Ben is driving is an anagram for REINCARNATION

15. BEN IS CONTINUING TO F* with EVERYONE! He was not supposed to move the island, he should not be the leader. I think he KILLED Locke! I think he is trying to DESTROY the Losties. He is not trying to save the island at all; he is mad at the island and Jacob for not making him the leader.

16. Shout out to Rob – THIS WEEK IN LITERATURE: Coming back to the island is like when Cory brings Rebel back to life in Boy’s Life. You think you want it, but being the walking dead is a far worse fate . . .

17. If Charlotte is right, if “this place is death,” are all the Losties coming back to die? Is this their fate? Could it be that YOU CAN”T ESCAPE YOUR FATE?

18. In the final moments, Eloise Hawking was revealed to be, indeed, Ben’s mother. Go, me! Do you think Des was set-up by Widmore?

MUST STOP NOW! NEED TO LEAD A REAL LIFE!

Namaste,
Your Loyal Lost Loser

The Little Prince

First and foremost, WHO THE HELL IS CHARLOTTE?!!! Seriously, this is driving me crazy. According to Daniel’s theory about exposure to the island, she has been there the longest, so was she born there? Who are her parents? Could it be Richard is her father? Widmore? Ben? Aaargh!

My head is close to exploding once again, but I feel a little bit firmer in some of my theories. So here we go . . .

1. THIS WEEK IN LOST LITERATURE #1: The title of the episode is “The Little Prince.” I sure wish my mom watched Lost since she was a French teacher and taught this book about 100 times.
The Little Prince is a French fable about a little boy who lives first in the desert and then on an asteroid, also referred to as his “planet.” It is a philosophical tale of human nature . . . sound familiar? The most famous line from the tale is "On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (One cannot see well except with the heart, the essential is invisible to the eyes).
While on the surface we might think that the title refers to Aaron, I think it actually has more connection to the Others and the O6. Some of the characters the LP encounters include the King, who can order the stars to do what they will do anyway, and then takes credit. Sounds a little like Ben, right? Then there is the Drunkard, who drinks to forget he is a drunk . . . Jack? Actually, Jack also fits the role of The Conceited Man who wants to be admired by everyone, but lives alone on his planet. He cannot hear anything that is not a compliment. Or, that could be Locke . . . I could go on all day, but you probably don’t really care!

2. It was Kate’s idea to claim Aaron as her own after the rescue.

3. THE NUMBERS MAKE A COMEBACK!:
-- According to Sun’s surveillance report, Jack and Ben are hanging out at 108 Pinehurst.
-- Kate lives at 42 Panorama Court
-- The meet at 23 Long Beach Marina

4. I watched the pop-up version of last week’s episode, and I am now sure that the Old Woman Des met in “The Constant” is Daniel’s mother. Daniel names his rats at Oxford Eloise, the old woman is Eloise. Furthermore, the blond on the island IS his mother – she’s named ELLIE!

5. I dig Mr. Norton! TV trivia – he was the dad on the best show of the 90’s – My So-Called Life.

6. WHO THE HELL IS CHARLOTTE!!!!!

7. VOICES IN THE JUNGLE – All those voices Danielle and others heard in the jungle in seasons past? Could it be the voices of the time travelers seeping through the time space continuum? Sawyer was standing right there watching . . .

8. I’m pretty sure that my theory about Miles is right! A) cause I rule B) because he is the second person to get a nosebleed, meaning he has had the second longest exposure to the island, followed by Juliet. He must be Dr. Chang (Dr. Change)/Marvin Candle’s son!!!

9. Why does physical stuff move with the flashes? It doesn’t make sense.

10. THIS WEEK IN LOST LITERATURE #2 – Reminder, Charlotte’s full name is Charlotte Stevens Lewis . . . CS Lewis, author of Through the Looking Glass, and also a devoutly Christian writer . . . perhaps giving my obsessive Bible studies for this show some credence?

11. RADIATION – If the bomb was buried, perhaps it has something to do with the time travel abilities of the island. Remember, Daniel was experimenting with radiation on the rats to see if it could move their minds to the future . . . and it worked! Maybe (but I hope not) Lost is a big indictment of our carelessness with the planet and nuclear waste.

12. Ben played Kate like a fiddle. Ha ha!

13. Have you noticed that Sayid just can’t stop the killin’? No one can overcome his destiny on this show . . . Kate’s always a fugitive, Hurley always struggles with his sanity, Jack always sucks . . .

14. HOLY CRAP MOMENT #1: Jin on the debris!! Damn!! Didn’t see that coming!!

15. HOLY CRAP MOMENT #2: Danielle on the boat . . . but I did see that coming when they were speaking French.

16. Could Charlotte be Danielle’s daughter, not Alex? Seriously, WHO THE HELL IS CHARLOTTE?!!!!

17. Hottie Award – Sawyer or Jin? I think Jin wins if only because Sawyer was a little too soft for me tonight . . . his pining for Kate is kind of annoying, especially since he has hottie Juliet right there . . .

18. Another plane crash? Arija airlines?

19. Some questions to ponder:
a. Where did the paddleboats come from?
b. Where are Bernard and Rose?
c. Where is Vincent?

20. Daniel warned that “if it didn’t happen, it can’t happen.” What will happen to the future now that Jin has been found in the past by a young Rousseau?!!!!

Ok, I guess I need to get on with my life now. But let me just ask one more time, WHO THE HELL IS CHARLOTTE?!!!

Namaste,
Loyal Lost Loser