Official "316" Analysis Comments!

[brian]

Jack,

I wish you had believed me.

- JL

[Katie Kat]

I gotta say, this episode confused me more than anything!  I, too, was sort of miffed (or amused) by the silly explanation by Mrs. Hawking.  It reminded me of how Stephen King has a habit of writing these wonderful stories, and then his explanation of it all at the end is RIDICULOUS (for example, "It").  I don't know if the writers are just getting tired or if it was just meant to be an easy way for the O6 (or 3, whatever) to at least get some sort of explanation - even if it was too simplified.

Someone mentioned that maybe the runway that Sawyer and Kate were made to work on when they were on Alcatraz came into play for the Ajira flight.  I don't know exactly HOW, but maybe just the O6 were "flashed" out of the plane and then it landed safely on the runway (with SUPER pilot Lapidus at the helm).  Dunno...

I'm a little confused by your thoughts about Ben and Faraday or Desmond fighting (to the death supposedly).  If what happened, happened, then how could either of them dying change anything?  Even though they were in the past, their "now" self would be what dies in the future where their timeline is, right?  Is it just that Daniel and Faraday are "special?"  I don't think I'll ever understand time travel!!! 

So much speculation in this one for everyone - I feel like we're out on a limb.  And now we have to wait another week to find anything out.  Sigh! 

[bmc]

Good analysis as always Brian! I agree that we shouldn't necessarily get too caught up with trying to figure out the details of how tho O5 got from Ajira 316 to the island for the time being, and just accept what we know : there was some turbulence, then a flash, and then they woke up back on the island with no recollection of what happened between the flash and that point... However, one thing that is bugging me is that if we assume the plane did not actually crash, then what would the other passengers think when all of the people in first class suddenly disappear??! Also, if Frank was one of the people that "flashed" back to the island, then let's hope there was a co-pilot..!!!

I also agree that Jack's grandfather could well turn out to have more importance to the storyline rather than just being a plot device for Jack getting hold of Christian's shoes... I think there could be more to the fact he had a suitcase packed than just an attempt to "escape" the care home or because Christian's shoes happened to be in there... Wouldn't surprise me to see him on the island at some point...

[JacobDaddy]

Question: Do we know for sure that the "other Others" haven't been skipping?

It's a fact that 1954 Richard met John for the first time in 1954. It's a fact that 2001 Ethan shot John in 2001. It's a good guess that it was 2005 Richard who gave John the compass in 2005. However, I don't remember seeing anything to indicate that the other Others weren't skipping along with the 815 survivors, freighters, and Juliet.

We assume the Others were all in the Temple when Ben turned the FDW. (Was the Temple unknown to Alex and Karl because it is only used in temporal emergencies? Does staying in the Temple give the Others a way of avoiding their past selves?) If the skipping has stopped in the 1970's, will the other Others have to leave the Temple for supplies, etc.? Will there now be two Richard Alperts on the island?

[JacobDaddy]

If the other Others were skipping, it would make for a great explanation as to why there were two teddy bears, one old and one new, being carried by the Others in the first couple seasons. Maybe Zach was holding it while the other Others took shelter in the Temple and it skipped along with him.

[xyourmomx]

Who do we define as 'other Others' because I do remember Alpert telling Locke "We didn't go anywhere, you did"

Do you mean people like the kids and the flight attendant?

[JacobDaddy]

I had forgotten that, xyourmomx. Thanks. So that does make it clear that Richard is not skipping.

The transcript I found:
LOCKE: Wait, wait. Wait up... where did you go?
RICHARD: I didn't go anywhere, John. You went.

I'm still holding on to the possibility that Cindy and the kids are skipping -- along with the teddy bear.

[JacobDaddy]

In case anybody is wondering why I posed the question here instead of creating a new theory, I was prompted by this week's analysis where Brian said, "It still doesn't explain all the logic behind the skipping - we still don't know why someone like Ben would skip but the other Others do not. But if the skipping only applies to people who have been to the Island before, it would conveniently get the Oceanic Five, Ben, Frank, Ilana, and Caesar off the plane without killing all the innocent people on board."

[xyourmomx]

I also wanna bring up that we're forgetting that time moves differently on the island.

anyone caught in that 'wave' could end up in the 70's.... Let's not forget, remember the freightor people had  apicture of Ben Linus that looked like it was from the 70's... maybe Ben is in the 70's with the rest of our skippers and that picture is taken soon after., we always thought Ben was time traveling off the island...  maybe this is what all that was?

It's just a random thought that popped back in my head.

Just caught a rerun of 'Solitary' from Season 1, when CFL had Sayid held hostage.  He straight up asks her 'Have you ever seen anyone else on this island?' and she says no.

So... what about Jin?

Again, as much praise as we can give the writers... and while they've done a good job of tying things together, they aren't perfect and certain things won't ever make sense.

[Trip Turlington]

Just caught a rerun of 'Solitary' from Season 1, when CFL had Sayid held hostage.  He straight up asks her 'Have you ever seen anyone else on this island?' and she says no.

So... what about Jin?

This exact sentiment has been attacked in a previous thread, and while I "get it" that we are supposed to have just written her off as "crazy" and her mind was a traumatic jumbled blur or whatever...it still just doesn't make sense how she remembered all the other details of her time on the island, but didn't remember Jin: the single, solitary other person she EVER encountered on the island besides the 815 survivors. It's not like he was some guy she met at a restaurant, shared a drink with at a bar, or talked to on the bus 16 years ago...that's easy to write off as forgettable. The only other person she encountered during her time on the island, was Jin...who they found floating on ship wreckage, who kept her from going down in the hole, who disappears in to thin air right after she kills her friends/shipmates/lover...and oh yeah...he shows up again 16 years later looking (nearly) identical to the way he did when he last disappeared. Not very forgettable for her, I would imagine.

Again, as much praise as we can give the writers... and while they've done a good job of tying things together, they aren't perfect and certain things won't ever make sense.

I think that's what we have all had to chalk it up to (and what I have come to just accept), since someone previously posted, pointing out that Mira Furlan wanted off the show, and the writers had to work around that or whatever. I know the writers aren't perfect but that seemed to be a pretty big detail that most of us caught and were not (entirely) happy with. I still think it was a creative way to get CFL's back story and show us some cool stuff for that episode, but still...continuity should have taken precedence, IMO...especially if this time travel thing works the way it is being presented, where what happened, happened. She may have been crazy but she remembered every other detail but Jin...oh well. Can't change it, and short of asking the writers directly what they were thinking we may never really know why they decided to do it that way.

[renee]

Maybe CFL thought Jin was an angel...?

[Jabbadoo]

Remember.. she's French. She only remembers what she wants to remember and how she wants to remember it.

tee hee

 

[xyourmomx]

Also.. take note.  No one ever suspects the Spanish Inquisition!

They are responsible for the island!

[fish3k1]

There are a few possibilities for why CFL said she's never seen anyone on the island - maybe she did go crazy, maybe she THOUGHT she went crazy and had imagined Jin, or maybe she was just lying (for who knows what purpose, maybe just so Sayid wouldn't think she WAS crazy - "well yes, there was this one Korean we pulled out of the water who disappeared i a flash of light..."). But I think the more likely reason is the exact same reason Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn't recognise R2D2 and C3P0 in A New Hope even though they were in The Phantom Menace - it was written first, and someone on the writing team forgot that one line, all those years ago. Easily done, and now they have to deal with us picking it apart all over the place.

[xyourmomx]

like I said... things do get forgotten, but they have done a good job piecing things together for the most part.

Also...  If you just got on a weird island, found a korean guy who was acting kinda weird...  and then a giant smoke monster attacked and ripped off the arm of a friend, and then said korean guy disappears in a flash of light, only to return a few months later when all hell is breaking loose and then disappear again...

Maybe you'd think it was a product of the sickness or some other screwed up thing?

that is a lot of bad joo joo to happen in a short time.