No thread yet? There was a lot going on this episode (I thought). Here are a few points…
How did James and Miles track Sayid down so fast? After the shooting, the police had to be notified that a shooting had taken place (presumably they learned from Jin), get to the restaurant, find the surveillance camera footage, identify Sayid as a suspect, figure out who he was and where he was staying then get there themselves. They did all this in about the same time it took Sayid to get to Nadia’s house from the restaurant. Why did it take Sayid so long? Where was he? (Or is this one of those things we shouldn’t think about too much.)
“Locke” dumped a lot of information talking to Jack. Some of it answers a lot of questions that have been floating around but some of it doesn’t make sense and some is a bit contradictory.
First, “Locke” claims it was he who took the form of Christian Shepherd since way back in the episode White Rabbit in the first season. He also says that Locke’s body had to be on the Island before he could take his form so apparently Christian Shepherd’s body was on the Island as well. (There had been some speculation as to if it had ever even been loaded on the plane.)
What about the other visitations people have experienced on the Island? Mr. Eko saw his brother, who was of course dead in the smugglers plane. Richard saw his dead wife but her body wasn’t on the Island. Who was he seeing? And what about Walt? He was seen several times and he is alive and well in New York. For that matter, what about when Michael saw Christian Shepherd on the freighter? “Locke” has said he can’t cross water (except by boat) so how did he get out to the freighter?
Then there was Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave. Was that just a hallucination of Hurley’s or was he a manifestation of something? I won’t even speculate about Kate’s horse.
If Smokey was manifesting as Christian Shepherd then it was he who manipulated Locke into killing himself (or into being killed by Ben as it was). When Locke was shot at the smuggler’s plane and given first aid by Richard, he was told by Richard that he would have to die to bring the others back to the Island. Richard said this because he was told by “Locke” to tell him that.
Later, Locke falls down the well to the donkey wheel and encounters “Christian Shepherd”. “Shepherd” tells him how to turn the wheel to stop the Island’s shifts through time but again says that Locke has to die to bring the others back. So, Smokey (in one form or another) has been manipulating Locke all along.
When Locke went with Ben to Jacob’s cabin Locke heard someone say “Help me”. Was that Jacob or Smokey? Later, when Ben has left Locke for dead he sees Walt. Again, was this Smokey impersonating Walt (unlikely since he stated earlier that a body had to be available in order to assume that form). So, who was Walt in this case?
Another thing to point out is that “Locke” first tells Jack that Locke was stupid because he thought he was on the Island for a reason then tells Jack that he was on the Island because he had been chosen by Jacob.
So Jack is on the Island for a reason. Which means, since Locke was also chosen by Jacob, that he was on the Island for a reason. So “Locke” is lying. (Yeah, I know. Big surprise.) Just like Smokey manipulated Locke into killing himself it seems he is manipulating Jack here. What is he up to?
That’s a lot of answers, speculation and mystery for such a short conversation.
Why didn’t “Locke” kill Desmond himself? It seems that is is only the Candidates that he is somehow prevented from killing; he certainly killed a number of people at the Temple. Desmond doesn’t seem to be a Candidate so why didn’t he stab him before pushing him down the well? (Or simply turn into Smokey and tear him apart?) Is there something about Desmond that prevents “Locke” from acting directly against him? Is Desmond special in some way? And does Desmond know this; is that why he was so unafraid of “Locke”?
Jack’s comments about them having a purpose on the Island is exactly what “Locke” said of Locke’s feelings and he said that Locke was stupid for it. The comment about the Island not being done with them has now been said by several people.
Note that Jack has now gone from being the man of science to being the man of faith; Locke’s old position. Sawyer even tells him to take a “leap of faith”.
My full recap/analysis - http://www.14kofginafpd.com/details.php?id=278