I don’t think it has anything to do with Ben not being willing. He said, “We both know I can’t do that.” I took that to mean it was impossible. The Island wouldn’t allow it.
Yeah, you guys are right. Odd phrasing, I think, since he hadn’t been actively searching prior to the flight and I thought that he had taken her for dead.
I think The Island not allowing Micheal to kill himself and Ben’s “You changed the rules” and " We both know I can’t do that" statements are all related. I think it all has to do with time paradoxes and changing the future. Probably because the island seems to be a kind of temporal nexus, but maybe also because of some sentient aspect, I think The Island acts as a force for fate. If there is an important event Michael is responsible for in the future, then until Michael lives that event, the island won’t allow him to die, possibly to eliminate any paradoxes, but more likely to fulfill some (perhaps already seen by some) overall destiny. I think “The rules” pertain to not changing the future too much as well, and if both Ben and Widmore have fore-knowledge of the future impacts of each other, then they’d know they couldn’t successfully kill each other too. This would explain Desmond’s “Time has a way of course correcting” stuff too.
It’s kinda the opposite of Hero’s string theory. It’s more like an “all roads lead to Rome” theory.
Yep. Jay and Jack is another podcast where you can tell that the hosts genuinely like each other.
Totally different feel, but interesting calls… an occasional song parody… and GWC’s quarter bets correlate nicely with J&J’s ongoing points system thingie that I can’t recall the name of.
Any other similarities to GWC?
Has anyone thought that maybe Ben and Widmore can’t kill each other because each is the other’s Constant?
Woah! Great thought! I could see that being the case.
-K
I think they refer to them as tallies. Not TAIL-ies…TALLies (rhymes w/ Cally).
I think we need a GWC crackpot theory of the week!!
-K
emilyfromohio has been on J&J before, along with just about every other Lost podcast i listen to.
I’d say “where does she find the time?”, but I’ve heard how fast she speaks.
So, I’m still on my “Ben went back in time to kinda program the Smoke Monster to attack Widmore’s thugs” kick.
Here’s my latest and crackpottiest…
In this Ain’t It Cool News interview with Michael Emerson, Emerson says “Let’s say that Ben was able to manipulate the smoke monster, but on the show everything is a binary system, everything is in balance, morally balanced or economically balanced, so for Ben to make a thing happen like that, there is also a price, I think, that he had to pay.”
It looked like Ben was a little worse for wear after unleashing Smokey. I wouldn’t be surprised we find out Ben had to pay an interesting price to motivate Smoky (or Smokie’s handelers) and is now…
…missing a pinky toe.
Huh? huh?..
Anyone?
I know it sounds crazy, so I don’t consider this theory cast in stone. 
Hey, that’s what makes it a “crackpot” theory! Actually, though, I think it’s a great theory, though I’m thinking it may have cost him something more than the pinky toe. I’m thinking his left nipple…
-K
What’s the going rate for pinky toes these days??
Hadn’t thought about that but that’s a frakking awesome theory tanstaafl 
Oh, a couple pounds.
Oh man did you guys hear the Barenaked Hurleys Parody of Billie Joel’s we didn’t start the fire from mondays J&J podcast
it’s called We’re getting off the island
Best line:
“Mr. Friendly’s such a queen
By the way, Friendly’s Gay
Listening to Coldplay”
Yeah, that was hilarious!
Alex’s death was completely shocking. I knew that Smokey was going to be back and figured that since they left the fence off it would come and save the day before Alex was shot. Boy was I wrong. That was the most shocking scene since the end of Season 3.
Also - I read somewhere that Michelle Forbes (Admiral Cain) is going to be on Lost!
With green nailpolish it’ll get you a ringer full of Walter Sobcheks dirty undies.
This picture kills me… At first I immediately thought it was the left foot of the Colossus at Rhodes, until I count 4 toes only. Maybe it’s secretly Thrinacian Island from Greek Mythology.
I have a crackpot theory based specifically on that line. He mentioned changing the rules, not breaking them. To me, that implies that the rules of the game are in flux, with any player being able to alter them at will. To my knowledge, only one game fits that description: Calvinball. Which means, obviously, that Ben and Widmore are, in reality, Calvin and Hobbes – both of whom are named after philosophers, like so many other characters on this show. Widmore calls Ben “boy”, so we know for sure who is who. This, of course, is why Ben can’t kill Widmore; while the rest of the world sees him as an ordinary English businessman, Ben knows that he’s actually a ferocious man-eating jungle beast (also thereby explaining why he considers the tropical island to be “his”). And what about all the weird stuff that happens otherwise? Ben has a very active imagination. Spaceman Spiff, leader of the Others, what’s the difference?
There. Explains everything.