The Mysteries: The Others (and Jacob's lists)

What is Jacob even doing with the Others? Apparently, he makes lists. Part of Ben’s Jacob-stabbing rant is a complaint about all slips of paper Jacob sent him over the years.[1] While I wonder if maybe Ben’s anger was an act, I’ll assume Ben was telling the truth because he had no motive to lie to the man he was in the middle of stabbing to death. Earlier that episode, Ben admitted to Locke that he never met Jacob before.[2] So all the communication between Jacob and Ben occurred in written instructions presumably passed through Richard. But of all the lists we have seen on Lost, none of them make sense as having originated from Jacob.

The first list is found on body of an Other killed by the tailies during Others’ first wave of attack. That list has names and descriptions of the nine people kidnapped from the tailies’ camp.[3] We also know that when Ben sent Goodwin to infiltrate the tailies, he told Goodwinn he wanted a list of survivors in three days.[4] So it’s more likely that Goodwin wrote the list rather than Jacob, though it is possible Ben needed Goodwin’s more updated list to match against Jacob’s. The children Zach and Emma were among the names on the list and among those kidnapped. Ben later doe claim to Juliet that Zach and Emma were on Jacob’s list.[5]

The Others’ frequently imply that the list is good. Goodwin tells Ana Lucia that the children are better off with the Others.[6] Goodwin also defends his murdering Nathan by telling Ana Lucia “Nathan wasn’t a good person. That’s why he wasn’t on the list.”[7] Apparently the list is life and those people left off are expendable. It is odd then that Cindy is taken by the Others much later and she is shown living happily with the Others.[8] There should be nearly a dozen ex-castaways in the Others’ camp.

We see another list drawn up by Ms. Klugh. She gives the list to Michael and tells him to bring the survivors on the list back to the Others if he wants them to release Walt.[9] The names listed are Sawyer, Hurley, Jack and Kate. Hurley is caught and immediately released to go back and warn the other castaways. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, meanwhile, are held captive and only escape after Jack promises to operate on Ben. The likeliest explanation is that Ben needed Jack to perform the surgery and wanted Kate and Sawyer as leverage. Pickett even complains that Jack wasn’t on Jacob’s list.[10] The implication is that Kate and Sawyer were on the list. I think it’s more likely that Ben told different stories to different members of his staff and none of it had anything to do with Jacob. If Sawyer and Kate were on a list, it wasn’t the good list. The Others kept them in cages and forced them to break rocks and eat fish biscuits. Maybe Jacob wanted them punished. After all, Kate and Sawyer were both murderers before they came to the island. Still, regardless of why they were on the list, once Ben had Sawyer and Kate in his grasp he used them solely to manipulate Jack.

In more evidence that Ms. Klugh’s list did not come from Jacob, Mikhail later tells Kate, Locke and Sayid that none of them are on the list because they are flawed, weak and angry.[11] Of course, Mikhail may be the biggest sheep on the island. Also, if Jacob wants to bring certain people to him, we have seen he’s capable of doing it himself. For example, he personally convinces Hurley to return to the island.[12] Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that the lists once served Jacob’s purpose but Ben has long ignored them. All of the lists we have seen are ones Ben wrote himself for his own purposes. He wanted lists of the tailies in order to eliminate possible threats. He needs children to build the modern community he wants for the Others. And he needed Jack, Kate and Sawyer to save his own life.

“Jacob’s lists” were just a convenient way for Ben to get what he wanted while convincing his people they served a larger purpose. The Others’ bought it and for a long time, so did we.

[1] “The Incident”
[2] Id.
[3] “The Other 48 Days”
[4] “A Tale of Two Cities”
[5] “The Other Woman”
[6] “The Other 48 Days”
[7] Id.
[8] “Stranger in a Strange Land”
[9] “Three Minutes”
[10] “I Do”
[11] “Par Avion”
[12] “The Incident”

The Mysteries: The Others (as war criminals)

But it cannot all be Ben’s fault. The Others have a history of massacring large groups of people. Richard admitted in 1954 that the Others wiped a unit of US army soldiers stationed on the island.[1] He claims both that he was forced to kill them because they wouldn’t leave and that the army started it by firing on the Others first.[2] I know we all enjoy Richard’s charms, but are we going to give legitimacy to the Alpert insurgency? The Others follow that up with the flaming arrow attack on the survivors’ beach, killing about 20 people including Hurley’s buddy Neil.[3] Even if the army did start a war with the Others, the survivors were innocent band standers; civilians really. When one goes around committing purges on a hunch, that party bears the risk of mistaken identity.

In 1954, Ben hasn’t even been born yet and Charles Widmore is a geeky teenager. Richard either ordered the attacks himself or got the orders directly from Jacob or was following another temporary leader with a disposition towards mass murder. The third purge occurred in 1992 when the Others wiped out the Dharma Initiative, including Ben’s old buddy Horace Goodspeed.[4] It’s unclear who made that decision. Richard leads the Others into the barracks after all the Dharma folks are dead. But Ben also played a very active role, gassing Roger himself and gave orders to Richard once the dust settled.[5] As for Widmore, Ben didn’t exile him until after the Purge[6], so maybe it was Widmore’s decision.

I am fully convinced that Ben is evil. What we don’t know is whether or not Jacob is evil. The Others and Ben all claim to work for Jacob. Unless they are all lying, then at some point Jacob is responsible for the actions of his employees. Free will aside, t is just negligent of Jacob to keep appointing leaders who turn out to be selfish, power hungry killers. The same could be said of Richard. What is the point of having Richard around as the leader’s cosmic advisor/observer if the Others keep winding up with blood all over their hands?

[1] “Jughead”
[2] Id.
[3] “The Lie”
[4] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[5] Id.
[6] “Dead is Dead”

The Mysteries: The Others (as bad guys)

This is Others Week. Unlike the just ended Jack Shepherd week, the Others discussion aims to be more focused. It will concentrate on the Others’ war with the survivors and how that relates to the Others’ history and the Others’ relationship with Jacob and his adversary. It is one discussion broken up into five daily entries.

One way to learn about the Others is to go straight to the source. According to the Others, the Others are, of course, the good guys. The Others tell us that several times. But I don’t think their protests can be anything but a ploy to instill doubt in the survivors. Because the Others are bad guys.

During the ferocious fighting between the tail section survivors and the Others during the formers first month the island, the tailies’ leader Ana Lucia asks Goodwin why the Others kept attacking them. Goodwin, an Other pretending to be a survivor, replies “maybe they’re not attacking us.”[1] Which is a possibility only if one forgets all the times the Others attacked them. The tailies are attacked their first night on the beach and three members of their camp are kidnapped.[2] About two weeks later, nine more people, including the two children, are violently dragged into the jungle. Later when Ben is the survivors’ prisoner, he tells Ana Lucia that the survivors killed two of them “good people who were leaving you alone.”[3] Again, that’s only true if one ignores the kidnapping, attempted murder and actual murder the Others committed on the survivors.

This is important because it relates to the good vs. evil theory of Lost. Back in the 1800s when Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island, Jacob’s adversary complained that no matter how many people Jacob brings to the island, it always ends the same: they come, fight, destroy, and corrupt.[4] So this is all just a game, or really, an experiment. But it’s not a valid experiment if residue from prior rounds affects the newest results. The Dharma Initiative catches a lot of flack for not being able to get along with the island’s native population. But how can we blame the Dharma folks when we have seen the Others attack the Oceanic 815 survivors without any prior provocation? The castaways do not even know the Others exist before Claire has been kidnapped[5], Charlie strung up by his neck[6] and Steve killed in retaliation for Claire’s escaping the Others’ clutches.[7]

While the castaways are not perfect, the Others’ list of sins is staggering. There is the attempt on Charlie and murder of Steve mentioned above. They also murder Juliet’s ex-husband Edmund, whose crimes include wanting to profit on medical advances at his medical research company, pointing out legitimate breaches of research ethics, and inconveniencing the Others’ plans.[8] That the Others’ have not killed more is not from lack of trying. Pickett tries to kill Sawyer[9], Mikhail shoots at Desmond[10], Ben shoots Locke where is kidney should have been[11] and Ben shoots Charlotte, who is luckily wearing a vest.[12] The Others’ are also experienced at turning on each other. Mikhail shoots Ms. Klugh to death, granted on her own request[13], and also kills loyal Looking Glass workers Bonnie and Greta on Ben’s orders.[14] Obviously a common dominator in most of these crimes is Ben. In addition, Ben personally gassed his own father to death[15], stabbed Keamy to death resulting in the death of everyone on the freighter[16], executes both Matthew Abaddon[17] and Ajira survivor Caesar[18], nearly kills Desmond and Penny[19] and finally strangles John Locke to death.[20] Recognizing as always that the island is a morally relative place, I still have to ask, with good guys like the Others, who needs evil?

[1] “The Other 48 Days”
[2] Id.
[3] “Two for the Road”
[4] “The Incident”
[5] “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
[6] Id.
[7] “Homecoming”
[8] See “Not in Portland”
[9] “I Do”
[10] “Through the Looking Glass”
[11] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[12] “Confirmed Dead”
[13] “Enter 77”
[14] “Through the Looking Glass”
[15] “The Man Behind the Curtain”
[16] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[17] “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”
[18] “Dead is Dead”
[19] Id.
[20] “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”

The Plot: Season 5 (Desmond's happy ending)

This blog is about what came before on Lost and not its future. While I do not write in a vacuum, I am avoiding spoilers this hiatus. So I apologize to those readers who may already know how the 6th season will open. My prediction/guess/hope/idea is that the final season’s first scene will not feature Richard or Jacob or his adversary as many predict, but on Desmond.

We all know that aside from his early featured episode[1], Desmond made only sporadic appearances during the last season. But he also got what no other character got: a happy ending. During the 5th season, it turned out that the mainland, not the island, is where one has to become what he or she wishes for. Everyone wanted to go home, but back home the Oceanic 6 all fell back into their same pre-island traps. Except for Desmond.

At the end of the 4th season, Desmond was reunited with his long lost love and on-again, off-again girlfriend Penny. In between seasons, Penny gave birth to their son Charlie. At the beginning of the 5th season, Penny, Desmond and Charlie are all living on board their boat, seemingly traveling the world to avoid Penny’s father, Charles Widmore. Desmond’s character flaw is literally walking away from his own happiness because he feels unworthy of it. Despite his happy ending, his almost does it again. He decides he has to return to Great Britain to find Daniel Faraday’s mother.[2] Still, Desmond promises her that he is never going back to the island. His efforts lead him right back to Widmore. Part of the reason Desmond doesn’t leave Penny again is because she doesn’t let go. She makes Desmond bring them all to LA so he can deliver Daniel’s message to his mother.[3]

Then Desmond surprisingly mans up. He meets with Eloise Hawking and tells her, Ben and Jack that he’s never going back to the island. Eloise warms him that the island isn’t done with him, but Desmond says he is done with it.[4] For the most part, Desmond doesn’t do anything for the rest of the season. When next we see him, he is returning to their boat with groceries. Granted, he has led Ben right to Penny and he gets himself shoot in the process.[5] But Penny and Charlie both escape unarmed, Desmond joins the I beat Benjamin Linus to a bloody pulp Club, and Desmond’s injury is merely a flesh wound in the shoulder.[6] Desmond’s last line of the season is his repeated promise never to leave Penny again.[7] Nobody gets off that easy on Lost and every bit of foreshadowing puts him back on the island.

We also know that the rules of time-travel do not apply to Desmond. When Daniel gives his message to Desmond in the past, Desmond suddenly remembers it in the future, even though Daniel himself said the past cannot be changed.[8] When Jack and Kate debate the merits of exploding the H-Bomb and changing history, they give no consideration to Desmond. Even if the Swan Station isn’t never built, Desmond probably still washes up on the island. If the Oceanic 815 folks never come, he might not get off. Most importantly, if goes to bed with Penny and wakes up back on island, he might remember everything that happened before. He is going to be royally pissed to be back in his island life, brother.

[1] “Jughead”
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] “316”
[5] “Dead is Dead”
[6] “Dead is Dead”, “The Variable’
[7] “The Variable”
[8] “

The Plot: Season 1 (the music)

This morning’s post is a short, semi-random observation on the music of Lost. I don’t mean Michael Giacchino’s score, although that is pretty cool, I mean the soundtrack. I love how all of the songs played on the show are natural, that is, they emanate from an identifiable on-screen source. The first episode after the pilot goes out with Joe Purdy’s “Wash Away” playing on Hurley’s CD player.[1] The song’s mood totally matches the theme of that episode. The island offers rebirth, an escape from one’s mainland baggage. But it is also the type of pop song a network show would use for overly dramatic effect. It works because the audience isn’t quite ready for how different a show Lost while be. It’s still kind of an island set soap. At the point, you can almost imagine the Fray playing while Jack works on Boone. When Hurley’s Discman finally dies later in the season, it ends on a Damien Rice song.[2] Pop songs make a come back with Cass Elliot’s “Make Your Own Kind of Music” with Desmond down in the semi-civilization of the hatch. We continue to hear mostly ‘60s and ‘70s pop songs because they are from the Dharma Initiative’s time period. Of course, the change in music might just reflect J.J. Abrams leaving and Carlton Cuse joining. But still, it’s interesting to think how everything on Lost serves a very specific purpose.

[1] “Tabla Rasa”
[2] “…In Translation”

The Plot: Season 1 (eye opening)

I had planned to end Jack Shepherd Week with a discussion of his love life, specifically the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle. But I was up early this morning for a job interview and now don’t have the energy to attack such a monstrous topic. Instead, I am going to start my plot discussion. First season, first episode, first image is Jack. “The Pilot” opens on a close up of Jack’s eye. He’s lying in the jungle. Vincent, Walt’s yellow lab, approaches him. Jack stands up, and after finding a shooter of vodka in his pocket, starts running at full speed. He passes a white tennis shoe stuck in a tree. Then he runs out onto the beach and finds the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815 and the surviving passengers in various states of distress.

We have to ask ourselves: how significant is that opening? The show reminds us of it frequently.By my count, there are 16 other episodes that begin with an extreme close up on an eye. Over half are from the first season. The question is, what could the opening mean? Jack claims that he blacked out during the plane’s turbulence and woke up in the jungle.[1] In the 5th season, Jack also wakes up in the middle of the island’s jungle.[2] Only he’s also traveled back in time to 1977. Is it even possible that Jack’s first introduction to the island was free of supernatural forces? He did seem to run to the crash site on his instincts. He was also the only passenger to awaken so far away from the crash site. Basically, we know that when one travels through time and space to reach the island, one can flash randomly into the jungle. On the flip side, is it possible that one can flash randomly into the jungle and not have traveled through time and speech? In other words, did the producers bind themselves to a time-travel theory from the first shot?

[1] “The Pilot”
[2] “316”

The Characters: Christian Shepherd

I wrote just a few days ago about the difficulty of separating certain characters from the mystery that surrounds them. If that’s true of Richard Alpert, it’s doubly true of Christian Shepherd. At least Richard, in all his ageless wonderment, is always Richard—well, with one possible exception. When we see Christian, we do not know if seeing him, his ghost or the smoke monster/Jacob’s adversary in disguise. We only know for sure that we’re seeing the real, human Christian during his flashback appearances. We see him as Claire’s biological father, Sawyer’s drinking buddy and Ana Lucia’s employer, but he is primarily Jack’s Dad.

Christian may be the worst father on the show and we all know that’s no mean feat. He earns that title in his first appearance. A young, maybe 12-year-old Jack has just gotten beat up because he tried to stop his friend from getting beaten up. Christian responds to this act by telling Jack he’s a loser and should give up because he “doesn’t have what it takes.”[1] What does that even mean? Not surprisingly, their relationship remains strained. When Christian leaves for Australia on his last bender, it has been two months since they spoke.[2] Jack’s mother sends him after his father. Jack is reluctant to go but his mother insists Jack owes it to his father “after what [he] did”.[3] We assume she means Jack’s informing the hospital authorities that Christian performed surgery while drunk.[4] Christian is a pretty big dick then too. He kills a woman and then pressures Jack to lie about it. Christian says he sacrificed part of their father-son relationship to make Jack a better surgeon for “the greater good”.[5] Christian next appears with Sawyer at a bar in Australia.[6] Christian says he is proud of what his son did. But he also convinces Sawyer to do what he came to Australia to do, namely kill the innocent Frank Duckett. It turns out listening to Christian Shepherd is a bad idea.

But then as soon as we’ve really learned that lesson, the redemption of Christian starts. In all of Jack’s flashbacks, Christian is a nice guy. He shows up to Jack’s wedding all fatherly.[7] They share a drink and Christian assures Jack that he’s committed. He tells Jack to give Sarah, the apparently paralyzed future Mrs. Shepherd, hope before what turns out to be a successful spine surgery.[8] Christian does contradict himself. As they treat a wealthy Italian cancer patient, Christian warns he cannot provide miracles while Jack is full of hope.[9] Christian does warn the now married Jack about getting too close with the Italian man’s daughter and jeopardizing his marriage.[10] Christian does everything he can to keep them apart, but it’s too. Sarah is already leaving Jack because he is too career obsessed. Jack’s failed marriage is the catalyst that turns him into the show’s worst son. Jack suspects Christian of having an affair with Sarah just because his number is in Sarah’s cellphone.[11] Jack then follows Christian to a hotel room that turns out to be an AA meeting, yells at Christian for being a drunk in front of whole room, and then tackles him.[12] I believe that’s the event Jack’s mother referred to back when she sent Jack to Australia. Because that event causes Christian to fall off the wagon and eventually leads to his final disgrace and suicidal Australian trip. So then a season later, when Christian shows up on the island seemingly returned to life, we are all ready to listen to him.

[1]“White Rabbit”
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
[5] Id.
[6] “Outlaws”
[7] “Do No Harm”
[8] “Man of Scien
[9] “The Hunting Party”
[10] “The Hunting Party”
[11] “A Tale of Two Cities”
[12] Id.

The Characters: Jack and Locke

I am constantly surprised how my reactions rewatching the series contrast with my impressions the first time around. It is not just plot points that I remember differently than they actually occurred. Whole relationships seem to unfold differently than I remember. Often times I found there wasn’t the textual evidence for theories I planned to advance. In this case, it’s the relationship between Jack and Locke that played out differently than I thought. I remembered them arguing about philosophy while the camp burned around them. Their stalemate is one of the reason’s I grew to like Sawyer. Rewatching the series though, their conflict is less debilitating, and ends sooner, than I remembered.

Their relationship goes through five short stages. They initially cooperate but with disagreement. When Claire and Charlie are kidnapped by Ethan, Jack wants to immediately follow their trail while Locke wants to form a larger search party.[1] Locke’s probably right and Jack is guilty of the show’s greatest sins: the belief that one’s knee jerk reaction is the best strategic approach to a problem as long as it’s accompanied by the right amount of self-righteousness. They disagree again after Claire, and Ethan, return. Jack wants to go on the offensive while Locke is more cautious.[2] Again, Locke is probably right that the castaways are fighting a losing battle, until Jack shares with him the existence of a briefcase full of guns. As I have also said from the first post, Locke is a very attractive leader during the 1st season.

But soon enough Locke is hatch crazy and Boone is dead. This is Jack’s first wanting to kill Locke stage. Granted, he never actually says he’s going to kill Locke. But after failing to save Boone, he marches off into jungle with an ominous “I am going to find John Locke.”[3] He doesn’t find Locke until Boone’s funeral. Jack attacks Locke and blames him for Boone’s death. Locke kind of talks his way back into camp. That begins the suspicion stage. When the gun case key is stolen, Jack immediately suspects Locke.[4] (Sayid deduces correctly that Shannon stole it.) Jack and Locke also call each other names over Jack’s hiding the guns and Locke’s lying about the hatch.[5] Finally, Jack tells Kate that they’re going to have a Locke problem going forward and asks if she has his back.[6] However, that is on the return trip from the Black Rock. They worked together long enough to retrieve the dynamite and blow open the hatch even if their motives for doing so are at odds.

That begins the second working together but disagreeing phase. They do have a long debate about faith, but the button still gets pushed.[7] They also search for Michael together. Jack is right that Michael is in danger and Locke is right that even if they catch him, he’ll just run off after Walt again and that’s probably his right.[8] Either way, it’s Kate who gets captured and forces the castaways to give up their guns.[9] The central exhibit in the “Jack versus Locke to the detriment of them both” show is Sawyer’s conning them out the remaining guns. It has nothing to do with faith versus science though. It’s about peace versus war with the Others. What is annoying about Jack and Locke’s relationship is how often they switch sides between hawk and dove. Jack wants to build an army while Locke wants to respect the Others’ supposed offer of peace.[10] Locke wants Sayid to torture Ben while Jack wants to threat his arrow wound.[11] Then Locke makes friends with Ben while Jack says Locke and Sayid were right originally to torture him.[12] All during their holding Ben prisoner, Jack and Locke largely work together. Their relationship finally breaks when Locke loses his faith. Locke decides the button is a fake and goes off to the sulk while Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley follow Michael into the Others’ ambush. Then when Jack finally returns to the castaways’ camp, Locke joins the Others.

There is one last stage to their relationship: the Jack trying to kill Locke phase. After the 2nd season, Locke and Jack are in sight of each other only a few times. One of those times, Locke puts a knife in Naomi’s back.[13] That’s pretty cold blooded, even if Locke didn’t have faith in her promise of being rescued. Yes, her freighter has a group of murderous mercenaries on board. But Naomi may have been on the good side. If there any Locke apologists out there, I ask you, what if Locke had put that knife in Daniel or Miles’ back? This time, Jack does promise to kill Locke.[14] He takes Locke’s gun, points it at Locke’s head and pulls the trigger…but it’s unloaded.[15]

My argument is that Jack and Locke accomplished more together than I previously considered. And their disagreements had less to do with a faith vs. science debate than legitimate tactical differences. Locke also abruptly switched sides to fight for the Others. But even if their conflict was over blown, Jack too often bought into it. In the end, he let Locke provoke him into attempted murder.

[1] “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
[2] “Homecoming”
[3] “Do No Harm”
[4] “The Greater Good”
[5] “Born to Run”
[6] “Exodus”
[7] “Orientation”
[8] “The Hunting Party”
[9] Id.
[10] “The Long Con”
[11] “One of Them”
[12] “Two for the Road”
[13] “Through the Looking Glass”
[14] “Beginning of the End”
[15] Id.

The Characters: Jack (still a leader)

For Lost to make sense in the big picture, it isn’t enough for the producers to offer a solution for the mechanics of all the weird happenings on the island. It is just as important that the show’s characters behave in a way that is consistent with their known personalities and not just in a way that is convenient for the plot. In this post, I discuss Jack’s possible motivations for trying to get all the survivors off the island, then lying about what happened there, and then leading the Oceanic 6 back to the island. While doing so, I’m also going to address those complaints that Jack has sucked the last two seasons.

I say Jack has been on his game the whole time. The reason people think he’s sucked is because they fixate on the image of bearded Jack. We first see Jack with a beard, and as a near complete drunk, in the 3rd season finale.[1] That episode aired on May 23, 2007. We see Jack shave his beard in the 5th season premiere.[2] That episode aired on January 21, 2009. Almost two years in real time. But it’s only supposed to be about a month in the show’s time. Of course, a month can be an eternity in Lost time. Yet, really, how much do we really see of Jack at rock bottom? Not as much as some people think.

Jack spends most of the 4th season on the island leading the efforts to get the survivors rescued. There is one choice he makes, though, that I do not understand. Jack has just beat Ben to bloody pulp and has him tied up. He apparently backed away from his plan to execute Ben when he discovered that Jin, Sayid, and Bernard really hadn’t been killed on Ben’s orders. Still, Jack says that he does not trust Ben with anyone but Jack.[3] But then by the end of the episode he hands Ben over to Locke. Why would he unite his two greatest enemies on the island, one of whom he knows to be unstable and the other he knows to be a great manipulator of people? The only answer is that he wants to be rid of them both. Jack then does spend his efforts helping his group of survivors contact the freighter for rescue. He befriends Daniel, gets Sayid and Desmond on the freighter, helps Juliet reach the Tempest Station, defends Daniel and Charlotte from the frustrated castaways, rescues Hurley, and gets Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Frank on the rescue helicopter. Granted, that chain of events has mixed results. But it wasn’t from lack of trying and some good did come from it, most notably Aaron and Ji Yeon getting off the island.

What doesn’t make sense to me is why Jack decides the Oceanic 6 have to lie about their time on the island. Why doesn’t Jack want to go back to save their friends left behind? The freighter wasn’t Jack’s first chance to leave the island. After saving Ben’s life, Jack thought he would take the Others’ submarine back to the mainland. Saying goodbye to Kate, he promised twice that he would return with help.[4] It is not Jack’s fault that only Kate, Sayid, Sun, Hurley, Aaron, Desmond and Frank get off the island. When they boarded the helicopter, the plan was to shuttle the rest of the survivors onto the freighter. Jack promises Hurley that they will return to look for the missing Claire.[5] After the freighter blows up, Jack tells Frank to take them back to the island. Then the island disappears and they are forced to crash land in the ocean. Still, it is not until Penny’s boat shows up to rescue them that Jack decides they have to lie.[6] It happens so suddenly it seems supernatural. Just before Jack left the island, Locke had begged him not to leave, but also to lie if he did. As Penny’s boat appears out of the dark, Jack decides Locke was right, they have to lie to protect themselves and the people left behind from the man for sent the freighter in the first place.[7] I understand the logic. If they told the Oceanic 6 told the truth upon their return, the only people who would probably believe them would be the bad guys. But Jack never let logic get in his way before when it came to saving people.

Jack’s critics may rightfully point out I have ignored the 4th season flash forwards. Even though they occur after the events discussed above, those scenes are a significant part of season four. However, Jack isn’t as much of a loser in those scenes as people think. It’s just because we know the beard is eventually coming, and its appearance is frequently teased, that we judge Jack so harshly throughout his time off the island.

As the Oceanic 6 return to real life, Jack is still their leader. On the military transport ship to Hawaii, he reminds them of their story.[8] Even if you don’t agree with that decision, he is still leading. Jack actually keeps his shit together much better than some of the rest and he continues to help them. This is all after he learns at his father’s much delayed funeral that Claire was his half sister and therefore Aaron is his nephew.[9] Jack sticks to their lie while testifying at Kate’s trial, helping her avoid jail even though it denies his early heroics.[10] He also visits Hurley in the mental hospital.[11] Jack even gets over his survivor’s guilt long enough to move in with Kate, getting her all turned on with his fatherly ways with Aaron.[12] Then Hurley is the jerk. During one of Jack’s visits to the hospital, Hurley tells him that Jack isn’t supposed to raise Aaron.[13] Dude, would you like it if Jack came all the way out just to say you’re fat and crazy?Yes, then Jack freaks out, gets all jealous that Kate is doing something for Sawyer and yells that she is not even related to Aaron while Aaron is standing in the doorway. Still, I respect that when Locke gets off the island and visits Jack, Jack calls him out on being a lonely old man and tells him to leave the rest of the Oceanic 6 alone.[14] Jack’s still trying to protect his friends.

Of course, that is when Jack grows the beard and goes off the deep end, deciding they have to return to the island. That is what we see in the 3rd season’s extended flash forward.[15] He flies around drunk on Oceanic Flights hoping one will crash. He almost kills himself. For the record, does anyone else think his ex-wife is a jerk for not driving him home from the hospital? Anyways, worst of all, Jack works with Ben to persuade the Oceanic 6 to return to the island. More accurately, he works for Ben in that endeavor.

So, we have a few legitimate complaints against Jack in the 4th season flash forwards. Again, though, I disagree who those who say he sucked last season. The main complaint is that he refuses to help Kate and Juliet save young Ben after Ben’s shot by Sayid. When Juliet confronts him about it, Jack says he’s back on the island to do something but he’s not sure what.[16] I don’t think Jack’s being fair to himself. He came back to save Sawyer, Juliet and the rest of the remaining survivors.[17] He didn’t know they didn’t need saving. Everyone told him that “very bad things happened on the island” after he left.[18] Locke, Ben and Hurley all told him they had to go back. He does accept Sawyer’s leadership in Dharmaville[19], but also asserts his own will. He challenges Dharma leader Horace after the fire that young Ben used to free Sayid[20] and he threatens Roger into backing off his suspicions about Kate.[21] Most importantly, he convinces Eloise, the Others’ leader, to help him set off the bomb to change the past.[22] Again, one might not agree with that decision. But then everyone wants Jack to be a leader until he makes a decision they don’t like.

I believe the series has to end with Jack. He has kept the survivors alive, from each other and from the Others. On individual decisions, Locke has been right at times, but he has never backed it up with the right actions. While he wants to be a leader; Jack leads. Jack might not win the coming war, but I think he will end it and will save a lot lives doing so.

[1] “Through the Looking Glass”
[2] “Because You Left”
[3] “Beginning of the End”
[4] “The Man From Tallahassee”
[5] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[9] “There’s no Place Like Home”
[10] “Eggtown”
[11] “The Beginning of the End”
[12] “Something Nice Back Home”
[13] Id.
[14] “Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”
[15] “Through the Looking Glass”
[16] “Whatever Happened, Happened”
[17] Id.
[18] “There’s No Place Like Home”
[19] “Namaste”
[20] “Whatever Happened, Happened”
[21] “Some Like it Hoth”
[22] “Follow the Leader”

The Characters: Jack (as leader)

Welcome to the first entry in Jack Shepherd Week: five days devoted to my favorite character and the show’s hero. Certainly other characters have stepped up during Jack’s absences. And yes, Jack’s stubbornness and single-mindedness can both blind him and annoy the hell out of us. However, Jack will always have my loyalty; he earned it through at least three solid seasons of leadership. It’s not just that he’s the dashing doctor. It’s because he’s been comfort to those in pain, strength in times of war, a peacemaker in times of peace, and a friend to all those who would have his friendship. He has consistently chosen the right over the easy.

He is also the dashing doctor. In his first 10 minutes on the island, he saves four lives: an unidentified man trapped beneath one of the plane’s wheels, Rose, Claire and then Claire and Hurley.[1] He does the hardest thing to do in an emergency: cuts through the diffusion of responsibility to both help his fellow passengers and organizes them to help each other. The next few days are a combination of Jack taking leadership and having it trust upon him. He tends to the slowly dying Marshall while Sayid works on getting a radio signal and later persuade the castaways’ to burn the bodies in the fuselage. Then tasks for which he is only marginally qualified are assigned to him. For example, Boone tells Jack that Rose has eaten since the crash. He does convince her to eat despite her missing her husband who was also on the plane and is unaccounted for.[2]

The turning point is “White Rabbit”. By this point, Jack is a little pissy about being the leader. His day starts with saving Boone from drowning, who himself tried unsuccessfully to save Joanna from drowning. He then storms off into the jungle following what appears to be his father’s ghost. By the end of the episode, Jack returns to camp with his most famous speech: every man for himself isn’t going to work; “if we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone.”[3] This is way before the Others show up. The principle threat facing the castaways is themselves and they take the opportunity to attack each other over the dwindling water supply. They fight and may have destroyed if Jack hadn’t stopped it. He continues to be a peacemaker. He tries to break up Michael and Jin’s fighting after the first raft burns down.[4] As late as the 4th season, he breaks up the Rose and Bernard led lynch mob against Daniel and Charlotte.[5]

Jack is also a leader when the Others’ bring war to the survivors. His best moments are while the Others are holding Jack, Kate and Sawyer prisoner and threaten to execute Sawyer if Jack does not perform life saving surgery on Ben. Juliet and Ben have been working Jack hard when Jack pushes back. He describes in detail the grim ending Ben faces without surgery—just so Ben understand how he’s going to die.[6] He agrees to do the surgery in exchange for a ticket off the island after seeing Kate and Sawyer post-coital and supposedly no longer cares about them.

Once he gets Ben on the table though, he cuts his kidney sac, demands a walke-talkie, arranges for Sawyer and Kate to be released, tells Kate to run, and makes her promise not to come back before shutting off his walkie.[7] This is the guy Sawyer thought he could hustle at poker?

[1] “The Pilot”
[2] “Walkabout”
[3] “White Rabbit”
[4] “In Translation”
[5] “Something Nice Back Home”
[6] “I Do”
[7] See “I Do”, “Not in Portland”

The Characters: Richard (as Nestor Carbonell)

I haven’t even started this post and already I hear doubts. Isn’t Richard Alpert as much a mystery as a character? True, perhaps. He’s also one of the most universally liked characters, partly because he is so mysterious. We know just enough about him to know he’s dangerous. Throw in tall, dark and handsome and the woman want him and the men just want to be Richard Alpert.

In my most excited Lost moments, I imagine that Richard is part of the biggest long con on the show. Especially during the 2nd and 3rd seasons, I noticed that a lot of the show’s signature flashbacks featured semi-famous character actors in minor, one off roles. There was Saul Rubineck as Michael’s lawyer[1], Bruce Davison as Hurley’s shrink[2], and Zeljko Ivanch as Juliet’s ex-husband.[3] These are also three of my favorite Hey, it’s that guy actors. On the female side there was Julie Bowen as Jack’s ex-wife.[4] There were also slightly more famous names: Robert Patrick as Sawyer’s ex-partner in crime[5], Katy Segal as Locke’s girlfriend[6], Suzie Kurtz as Locke’s Mom.[7] I never thought all these familiar faces were a coincidence. I very early theorized that since so much of Lost was a shock to the audience—the isolated island setting, the complete serialization of plot, and a lot of strange, unlikable or foreign protagonists—the flashbacks were designed to give comfort as much as to fill in the characters back story. The flashbacks provided a self contained story of the week complete with the guest stars one finds regularly on any other network show.

So, when we all saw Nestor Carbonell giving a power point presentation to Juliet Burke,[8] we all thought, hey, it’s that guy from Suddenly Susan and a couple shows I never watched, he can’t be that important. As I rewatched the show, I saw even more of that type of casting: Hurley’s friend is DJ Qualls[9], Sawyer’s other con man boss is Kevin Dunn[10], and hey, that’s Bill Duke as the warden of Sawyer’s prison, never mind J.J. Abrams staple Ian Gomez as a fellow prisoner.[11] The important distinction was between on-island and off-island. Those people who ended up being important on the island were never as famous. I checked IMDb and John Terry, Alan Dale and Kevin Tighe have plenty of screen credits, but I cannot put them in same category as the names of above, all of whom have a couple famous movies and a couple stints as series regulars. The lesson: recognizable faces appearing in bit parts as just that, recognizable faces in bit parts. Except for Nestor Carbonell.

The strikes against the theory are many. But there are two aspects of the character that aren’t open for debate. First, the contrast with Michael Emerson. Emerson went from playing the sacredly underling Henry Gale to the manipulative Others’ leader Benjamin Linus in like half a dozen episodes. Richard’s character has been keep on a slow, steady boil for 3 years. Second, I think the producers did wire Nestor Carbonell to play against certain stereotypes. Even though he’s an American actor, because of his descent and the other roles’ he has played, people expect Carbonell to have a Cuban accent. They expect him to be ethnic. People also except the Others to be scary. Granted, I am sick to death of eyeliner jokes, but he does have intense features that could be played up to make him the scariest of the Others. Instead, Carbonell is the polite Other. He is cool, steady and often a peace-maker. We miss him when he’s not around. He is the Other we want to meet in a dark alley.

In fact, he is the Other a young Ben meets in the jungle. I think that may be the single most important shot in the show’s history: a young Ben played in 1974 by, well, a kid who is definitely not Michael Emerson suddenly seeing the 1974 Richard standing in the jungle, still played by Nestor Carbonell and looking just as he did in 2004. In a soft, clear voice, he tells Ben to return to his camp. He also tells Ben that if Ben wants to join the Others, he should really think hard about it and he must be really patient, but it can happen. Maybe he is the scariest Other.

[1] “Adrift”
[2] “Dave”
[3] “Not in Portland”
[4] “I Do”
[5] “Outlaws”
[6] “Further Instructions”
[7] Deus Ex Machina”
[8] “Not in Portland”
[9] “Everybody Hates Hugo”
[10] “The Long Con”
[11] “Every Man for Himself”

The Mysteries: The Numbers (on the hatch)

Late night Lost blogging. Might be a bad idea. But to continue from the day's post...

The numbers also prominently associated with the Dharma Initiative’s Swan Station, often referred to by the castaways as simply the hatch. The audience notices 4 8 15 16 23 42 printed on the side of the hatch door before any of the characters do.[1] It’s an ominous sign that maybe danger does lurk inside. Hurley himself see the numbers just before Locke uses the Black Rock’s dynamite to blow open the hatch door; Hurley yells at him to stop but Locke lights the fuse anyway.[2] Then 108 (the sum of the numbers) is found painted on the interior of the hatch.[3] Finally, the numbers just happen to be the code that must be entered o the computer inside the hatch ever 108 minutes to prevent the world from ending.[4]

The numbers are unique among Lost mysteries in that the show’s creators have given us a nearly complete explanation of the numbers, but have never included it on the actual show. Instead, the story comes from The Lost Experience, one of the between seasons alternate reality games (ARGs); basically a viral Internet campaign that combines puzzles with short video clips to tell a Lost side story. According to The Lost Experience, the numbers are the Valenzetti Equation, a series of values used to determine the time of humanity’s end. The Dharma Initiative was trying to use the island’s strange natural properties to alter those values and thereby starve off extinction. As I understand it, if 4, for example, represents the weight of a polar bear’s droppings in the real world and on the island it is in actually 6, not 4, then maybe that changes the entire equation so mankind does not blow itself up in 2012.
Accepting all of the above as true, still does not explain either why the numbers are cursed or why the Dharma Initiative uses them as the computer code, which of course is often referred to as the button even though the button in question is really just the enter key. We see the Swan’s construction when the castaways travel back to Dharma times. A construction worker stamps the numbers onto the side of the hatch on the instructions of his foreman, who reads the digits off of a clipboard.[5]

The numbers seem to be a critical component of the Dharma Initiative’s back story. I recently read some distributing comments from the producers indicating the Dharma back story part of the show is largely over. I think we all agree they still have a lot of explaining left to do. I think primarily we need to see what happened after the Incident. Of course, that is something we can never see if the Jack’s attempted reset worked. I can see why they put Radzinksy down there since he was responsible for distributing the pocket of electromagnetic energy in the first place. The Dharma Initiative was still a lively volleyball filled place as late as 1992.[6] How long was Radzinsky down there? Similarly, did the Others know they were down there pushing the button? Did they care?

I always imagined the Dharma Initiative chose the numbers as the computer code because they would remember it easily, the numbers being of such importance to their mission on the island. But then why would they take their secret code and broadcast it all over the Pacific Ocean?

[1] “Numbers”
[2] “Exodus”
[3] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[4] “Adrift”
[5] “Some Like it Hoth”
[6] “The Man Behind the Curtain”

The Mysteries: The Numbers (history of the numbers)

The numbers are one of those mysteries of Lost with dozens of overall appearance, but with only a couple that produce something worth discussing. In this case, the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, appear in everything from the number of Flight 815 itself, to the digits on an alarm clock[1], the number of a safe deposit box[2] and on the backs of entire woman’s soccer team in Sydney Airport.[3] And that’s just the first season. As always, check out Lostpedia for the complete list.

The castaways' actual relationship with the numbers begins with Hurley notices that Rousseau’s maps have the numbers printed on them.[4] Hurley won the lottery by playing these numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, with 42 as the “powerball”. I would love to hear from people who have played these as lotto numbers; I do think most lotteries nowadays operate with 6 numbers plus a power ball, for a total of 7 numbers. Anyways, Hurley heard the numbers from Lenny, a follow mental hospital resident. Lenny was semi-catatonic, not communicating at all except for repeating the numbers over and over again. Lenny first heard the numbers 6 years before 2004 when he was in the navy monitoring radio signals in the Pacific. On duty with Lenny with Sam Toomey. Sam followed a similar path as Hurley only for a lot less money and worse ending; he used the numbers to correctly guess the number of beans in a jar, won $50,000, felt cursed because of the subsequent bad things that started happening, went crazy and killed himself. Most of that story is told to Hurley by Sam’s widow.[5]

Hurley hears more of the numbers history from Rousseau. She tells him that her French science team came to the island in 1988 after changing their normal course through the Pacific because of a strange transmission: a voice repeating the numbers.[6] The same signal Lenny and Sam heard, apparently. The audience, along with Jin, witnesses this occurrence during the island’s time skipping. They science team picks up the signal again shortly after washing up on the island in 1988 and they start following it to its source when they are attacked by the monster.[7]
What does this actually tell us about the numbers? Not much. All we know for sure is that around 1988, and presumably earlier, someone on the island set up a signal to broadcast the numbers out to the world. That party’s motive for doing so is unknown, though it’s noted that the broadcast’s impact on the world is very negative. For an island that moves invisibly through time and space, the numbers are the only tracks it leaves. Was that the point or an unintended consequence?

[1] “Exodus”
[2] “Whatever the Case May Be”
[3] “Exodu”
[4] “Numbers”
[5] Id.
[6] “Numbers”
[7] “This Place is Death”

The Characters: Hurley (and his curse)

Time is short today, so just a quick few words on Hurley. Ever since winning the lottery, Hurley is convinced that he is cursed. A lot bad things do happen to him and his family: his grandfather dies of a heart attack[1], his brother’s wife runs away with another woman,[2] his best friend steals his girlfriend.[3] Some of this can be explained as the added stress and jealous every lotto winner faces. But then his chicken store is hit by meteorite.[4] The reason I mention this is because Hurley has his own meta-theory on why everything that happens on the island happens. He blames it on his curse.

First, he blames himself for Arzt’s getting himself blown up.[5] He even tells Jack the “truth” about his curse, though Jack of course does not believe him.[6] Hurley also blames himself for Charlie’s impending death.[7] As late as the fifth season finale, after all we have learned about fate and the universe course correcting and Desmond not pushing the button and releasing an electromagnetic surge just as Flight 815 passes by, Hurley still thinks the plane crashed just because he was on board.[8] It’s sad.

But that is his character. Hurley’s central character flaw is that he has always felt cursed, just as Locke as always wanted to feel special. But there’s also a contrast there. When Hurley boards Ajara 316, the return flight to the island, he buys 78 other tickets in order to keep other innocent bystanders from being sucked into the island.[9] Hurley’s true curse is always feeling bad about himself despite being the most innocent guy on the island and still managing to be a force for good.

Or is he actually cursed? There is too much weirdness on the island to blame Hurley for any of the happenings there. But winning the lottery with The Numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 did seem to curse him. So, that’s the real reason I am talking about Hurley’s curse. We have to ask ourselves if the numbers really do have the ability to damn people and if so, how? I’ll try to answer that question in tomorrow’s post.

[1] “The Numbers”
[2] Id.
[3] “Tricia Taneka is Dead”
[4] Id.
[5] “Exodus”
[6] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[7] “Tricia Tanke is Dead”
[8] “The Incident”
[9] “316”

The Mysteries: The Smoke Monster, Part I

What exactly is the monster? That question has to make any top 5 list of unanswered Lost questions. On a quick side note, I am still accepting submissions for my list of the top 5 answered Lost questions. I agree with those who assume that the smoke monster and Jacob’s adversary are the same entity, or that at least they are working very closely together. That assumption follows logically from several late season events. This post shows how the monster’s early appearances can be linked to Jacob’s adversary’s long con on Locke in thematically satisfying way.

For all the times characters run screaming from the monster, it has only killed a few people. Its first killing might the most interesting. Flight 815’s pilot Seth Norris is snatched up out of the plane’s cockpit back when we all assumed the monster was some sort of dinosaur.[1] Later developments about the monster indicate it is either an island security system or an instrument of judgment. What was the pilot’s crime or threat? I suppose it’s possible that pilot sold poisoned milk to school children, but he seems to have died simply for sticking his head out the window.

Jack, Kate and Claire are chased by it just after the pilot’s death.[2] They do not seem to see it; at least the audience certainly does not see anything except uprooted trees. But it sounds very scary. Most of the monster’s further appearances follow the same pattern: castaways feeling in terror followed by various scary noises and snapping tree branches. Each encounter involves a great visual on the monster, much like the slow reveal of the shark in Jaws or any other movie monster. Each encounter ends like the first, with the castaways’ survival attributed to their hiding in a nearby grove of roots or bushes.

In the original “Pilot” script Jack was supposed to be killed. When the network brass decided Jack was too likeable to be killed off, the producers added the pilot as a victim so the audience would still realize the island is a dangerous place. If the smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, perhaps killing the pilot serves the same purpose. It’s like the first day of prison. If you want everyone to think your some crazy badass, killing Greg Grunberg serves the purpose. A few episodes later, Locke runs into the monster while out hunting.[3] Kate and Jack assume Locke has been killed just because the monster was last seen heading towards Locke. When the monster spares him, it makes Locke feel even more like he has been chosen by the island.

The monster is first seen as the “smoke” monster in the first season finale when Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Rousseau and Arzt are chased by the sound. Later, after Arzt is blown up, they encounter it again. Kate is the first to see a whiff of black smoke moving about. During this encounter, as in most of the first season, the monster still sounds very mechanical, like a hydraulic mechanism of some sort. Locke is almost pulled down the hole the monster creates. After Jack throws in the dynamite, we finally get a view of the black cloud of smoke as an entity, as it retreats following the explosion.[4] Locke refers to the encounter later that night, confirming that they aw him pulled by a cloud of black smoke.[5] So by the end of the first season only a few castaways have really seen the smoke monster: Jack, Kate, and Locke and to lesser extent Charlie and Hurley.

In between there is one episode that potentially involves the monster: “Hearts and Minds”. “Hearts and Minds” is a Boone (and Shannon) centric episode. Early in the episode Boone tells Locke that Boone does not want to lie to Shannon anymore and plans to tell her about the hatch. Locke responds by knocking out Boone, tying him up in the jungle, and putting some weird gunk on Boone’s head wound. Soon after Locke leaves, Boone hears Shannon scream and the usual monster scary noises. Boone finds the will to escape from Locke’s ropes, finds Shannon and two them get chased together by the monster for a while before Shannon disappears and Boone later finds her bloody corpse in a creek. Of course, Shannon is alive and it appears all the chasing a hallucination. The usual interpretation of this is that the island caused the hallucination partly inspired by the concoction Locke placed on Boone’s head.

When Boone returns ready to avenge Shannon’s “death”, Locke asks Boone, “is that what it made you see?” He repeats that he gave Boone an experience. But what if the “it” is the smoke monster. This interpretation starts with the Locke is always wrong law. Why does Locke know how to make an hallucinogen from random jungle plants? Even the idea that Locke thinks he knows how to make one is only confirmed circumstantially not directly. Boone refers to the whacky glue stuff as Locke mixes a concoction to help his own vision in opening the hatch.[6] Yet again, when Locke builds the sweat hut, he mixes a concoction that Charlie pointedly references as violating Locke’s no tolerance drug policy.[7] But again, always assume that Locke’s actual level of talent is much lower then he believes it to be.

If the smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, there is even more reason to believe the monster caused Boone’s visions of Shannon. In fact, the monster was Shannon just as it was later Yemi and a host of other people. It also supports the idea that many happenings on the island are part of the long con on Locke. Boone’s visions of Shannon bonded him to Locke and therefore directly lead to this death. Ultimately, Locke believed that Boone’s death was a sacrifice the island demanded and made him feel that more special. When Locke lost faith, Boone’s death was a source of tremendous guilt. Either way, Boone’s death was a powerful motivator for Locke’s behavior and a sore spot to be manipulated.

The monster’s next sighting is by Eko and Charlie.[8] Eko sees a whiff of smoke go by much like Kate did. Eko makes Charlie climb a tree, supposedly to get a better view of finding the Beechcraft, though possibly to protect him. Charlie and the audience get a full view of the smoke monster while Eko stares it down until it retreats.

The ability of the monster to appear in human form was confirmed by an unquestionably monster-centric episode: “The Cost of Living.” Eko is lured into the jungle by his brother Yemi. After refusing to confess his sins, Yemi says “You speak as if I was your brother”, confirming it is not actually Yemi brought to life. However, earlier in the episode Yemi’s body went missing from the burned out Beechcraft airplane, which leads many people to think the smoke monster requires the actual body in order to take human form. (There is considerable evidence against this theory, though.) Yemi then walks off and soon the smoke monster appears in full. It picks up Eko and drops him on the ground several times, killing him. Locke and Sayid hear the monster and come running, only to discover Eko’s battered body. According to Locke, Eko’s last words are “You’re next.”

Many theorize that the monster is a force of judgment and that Eko was killed for refusing to confess his sins. But again, it could be part of the long con. Eko behaves like Locke; he is a great believer in destiny, takes up Locke’s task of pushing the button, and is also seemingly protected from the monster. Eko is killed not for refusing to confess his sins, but for refusing the monster’s attempted manipulation of his guilt and faith. This interpretation probably depends on one’s own faith and sympathy to Eko. And Eko’s true level of righteousness is always lower than he believes. But that most of his actions were either in self-defense or protecting his brother, it is difficult to disagree.

[1] “The Pilot”
[2] Id.
[3] “Walkabout”
[4] “Exodus II”
[5] “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
[6] “Deus Ex Machina”
[7] “Further Instructions”
[8] “The 23rd Psalm”