Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Everybody Loves Hugo - Community Call

Black Rock LOST Podcast: Season 6 episode 12 of ABC's TV show, LOST. Curt, Dan, Nancy Drew, Lost Lindsey and our friends from the Smoke Hatch along with James. Collectively we try to process the latest episode in our popular Initial Reactions format.

MP3

So... the whispers laid bare, Illana's tragic and very unsatisfying end. The boy... Desmond... ALT-Locke, fake Locke... almost too much to process!

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47 comments:

arturo said...

Ilana RIP!

Unknown said...

WOW! right?

need to watch it again. got a few answers. and the AT is really kicking it up a gear.

Hurley calls it Bizzaro Alternate Universe.

The island was done with Ilana, but so abrupt oo, even tho you would have guessed that she would blow up, and then seconds later she did. So RA has access to grenades in New Otherton, but didn't suggest it earlier???

But the island isn't done with Desmond. So is he "where he is supposed to be"? in spite of all Widmore was trying to do, get the location of the pocket of energy etc, and in spite of MIB throwing him down a well, he is alive. well that's my theory anyway. he is where he is supposed to be, next to arguably the most powerful pocket of EM/islandy energy we know of - the FDW. so will he turn said wheel and see what happens?

The whole conersation just gave me such an uneasy feeling, and you sorta guessed that MIB was gonna throw him down the well, all the time yelling at the TV - "Desmond, get the frak away from the fraking well!!!!!!"

So in the AT, desmond is not chasing down the 815Xers and telling them a crazy lunatic story that the world is wrong etc. he is giving them "a little push" in Hugo's case and in John's case a little love-nudge with his car. he shoulda be driving a golden pontiac.

Unknown said...

hey guys. have we ever been shown a logo for Santa Rosa? in the AT the passenger door had a logo that looked like the Phi (Ψ). any ways, Phi is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet. and it appears in some heavy physics and mathematics, re Shrodinger's Equations - he of cat paradox fame. He actually spent some time in a sanatorium - medical facility for long term illness - the place was in Arosa in Switzerland. o well thought it was kinda cool. not quite a mental facility but he did some of his finest menatl work in Arosa.

I looked into more of what he did but it kinda made my head hurt. Other than quantum mechanics, he was also known for his work on color, color perception and how his theories/equations relate to the scattering of light.

warningtrax said...

“Love-nudge”....nice! I think Desmond sighting down his hood ornament serves the purpose of waking up both Jack and John at the same time. We all know there’s only one hospital in LA. The idea plays off the episode’s last island scene of the Jack & John Island Reunion.

I think ATL Desmond has a clear and definite plan. I also think MTL post-toaster-over Desmond....is Jacob. He is so calm, so knowing, and I believe right where he needs to be at the moment. MTL Desmond is just so un-Desmond-like (in the opposite fashion that Sayid is so un-Sayid-like.) I mean, the Desmond we know is a fairly spirited Scotsman, right? Also, MLT Desmond’s current situation really reminds me of Ben locked up in the Swan armory. So, I guess I disagree with Curt. MTL Des is more Jacobian than the ALT version.

I think the Hand Grenade Gang’s time on the island is just about up.

“You always have a choice.” Illana made the wrong one when she decided to go with the whole exploding plane plan. If you assume that she may have been able to execute this plan, maybe the island (Jacob) was forced to be done with her. It may not be the fact that island is finally done with you that determines your fate, it’s the fact that the island is concerned with what you’re going to do next. Illana’s life mission was to protect the final candidates, not to blow up a 747.

Some of John Locke’s looks that he lays on people are simply indescribable. I never know what to make of them, except that they’re creepy in a really cool way.

warningtrax said...

"I think I was a little distracted during that scene."

- Curt describing the beach picnic scene with Hurley and Libby.

Nice, Curt. I happened to notice that distraction as well.

Unknown said...

hmm i think i know what "distractions" you may be refering to , but cant wait to listen to the podcast. haha

and did anyone else think Hugo packed the cheese curds into his picnic basket? haha

Unknown said...

soooo.... i still am left saying... waddup wit the boy? probably the most unsatisfying introduced loose end.. maybe...

Ryan said...

Well if that's all we get for the whispers then it's yet another lame non-explanation explanation.

Fine that they are souls trapped on the island but that doesn't help us with whispering Walt appearing to Shannon, Sayid and Locke, Shannon being shot, being used when the Others attack, Christian uses them when he appears at times but seems corporeal so he isn't a ghost.

Can they appear to anyone or only certain people like Harper to Juliette or Emily Linus to Ben?

There are things that are just so natural for people to talk about like Miles and Hurley asking Ben why he doesn't remember them in Dharma and being shot by Sayid and other things like what they knew about the Smoke Monster and how he's been playing them for years which is just basic information that they would care to know.

Nancy Drew said...

The whispers got me thinking today--along with the fact that we've seen this mysterious boy again. Michael told Hurley that the whispers were the spirits on the island that were trapped there and unable to "move on". Michael pretty much said that it was because of what he did--meaning the fact that he killed Libby and Ana Lucia.

MIB has been told by the kid that he can't kill Jacob. Given what Michael said about the whispers, I have to wonder if Jacob can't be killed because he, like MIB, is also trapped on the island and unable to move on. He explained MIB's situation to Richard, but it could have also been his fate, too. And although we've not seen Jacob kill anyone with his bare hands, we have seen where he's brought people back to life. And from what we know of Sisyphus, that doesn't always work out too well to come back from a place intended for the dead, right? It could be that that is what Jacob's "crime" is.

The boy, on the other hand, may not be anyone of significance, other than he may also be one of these spirits that can't leave. Michael has been able to tell Hurley things or give advice on what to do, even though he didn't know about any of this while he was alive. I think the boy may end up being a kid that is stuck on the island, too, and maybe the blood on his hands was to signify that he killed someone or something and that's the reason for his island imprisonment.

Kunal said...

Super episode. I HIGHLY doubt that the appearances of the 2 (different) boys are just "unsatisfying loose ends" that the writers have introduced. The way they're slowly setting it up, I'll bet good money that those scenes will turn out to be absolutely crucial once we get Jacob or MIB's origin story.

I liked the explanation for the Whispers. It's basically what most people have thought since season 2 anyway. If you read the transcripts, it makes perfect sense. Not only do we hear dead characters trying to talk to the living, but in many cases they also seem to be sending warnings.

If you buy that answer, it all clicks into place, cause the whispers were also heard a couple of times right before the Others attacked or ambushed our Losties (season 2 finale, LAX temple passage, etc). We also heard the whispers once or twice before Smokey attacked. In both cases, it makes sense that the dead were trying to warn our heroes beforehand, but it comes out backwards and in whispers, cause they're not in our "dimension" after all. Only Hurley has the gift of being able to break through and communicate with those trapped souls.

warningtrax said...

I guess I have a problem with Michael’s explanation, or acknowledgement, of what the whispers are. If we can (somehow) believe that young adult Ben was genuine when he told Danielle to run the other way when whispers are encountered, what does that say about the possible motives of these whispers, or the stranded souls that they are said to comprise? Can these souls gain anything by helping or hindering those alive on the island? Is Michael to be trusted or was Hurley led astray?

To me, the whispers are like rain-- a sure sign that bad things lie ahead.

Kunal said...

You say sign, I say warning :-)

Miguel said...

It was interesting that Miles questioned Hurly about always doing what dead people told. Could some of these whispers have their own agenda? Like Warningtrax, I too question the whispers motives.

It seems that love was the emotion that triggered the island memories for Desmond, Hugo, Libby, and Charlie. I wonder what emotion would trigger Lock’s island memories. Lock is already with his love in alternate time line. It could be the hope of walking again and having a leadership purpose.

JayJay said...

I think we've been given the answer from Richard this season. THEY'RE ALL DEAD! He's repeated this proclaimation several times already. They find themselves on an island with dead spirits which want to get off, just like MIB.

I like how the camps have come together on the island, and they will come together in the sideways world. It will be a huge reunion in the hospital.

Anonymous said...

your podcast needs an editor as dead air is a killer. You also need to be less polite when someone starts spouting nonsense you all know is not true. Ten minutes of this podcast were wasted discussing phantom rattling bags of ash ( the inclusion of which served the purpose of demonstrating whose knapsack Hugo was emptying and the way in which the book that fell out, "Notes From The Underground" told us more about Ilana than anything she ever did or said before she blew herself up, something she may have done before judging by the bandages she was swathed in the first time we met her.)It didn't get a mention.

And in the last podcast you wasted another ten minutes discussing dialogue never uttered by Rose concerning mris. Who knows how long that nonsense would have been indulged if it hadn't been for Lost Linsey (sp?) calling ND on her fabrication. Thank you Linsey.

Now feel free to slag my theory but did it ever occur to anyone that the whole "ghosts stuck on the island" thing may have been the writers' way of upping the stakes? We've been told by a number of sources that if the MIB wins, then everything and everyone the losties have ever known would cease to be. I don't know about you but I'd rather be a ghost amongst other ghosts on a beautiful tropical island than simply cease to be. This makes the choices of the potential candidates even more crucial as their actions would not only affect themselves but the souls of the people dear to them who may not have moved on. Afterall Michael wasn't the only ghost who was a murderer. Also, I doubt very much that the others that Hurley ran over with the Dharma Bus would include themselves amongst 'Everybody' who 'loves Hugo'.

Nancy Drew said...

Awww.......a fan.......

DontHateAnonymous said...

I guess trolls love Lost podcasts

JayJay said...

I guess anon doesn't realise that Talkshoe doesn't allow editing. It just records on the fly.

Anonymous said...

Trolls love Lost podcasts that get to the point.

Some of you do a good job of that while some appear to have been watching a different show altogether.

As for the talkshoe edit stuff, fair enough.

Kunal said...

Ok....getting back to LOST, I think that since they've gone through each one of our main characters, there won't be any more single-character centric episodes this season. I highly doubt Widmore, Miles, Frank and Claire will get their own episodes this close to the end.

Btw, I don't know any spoilers and if anyone does, please don't correct me :-) I'm just making a prediction.

Lost Lindsey said...

Its too bad we cant edit out dead air, but oh well...its free.

The ghost thing is making me think, if they keep dying they could stick around and show up more in the last 4 episodes as ghosts. I mean isn't Jacob doing that. I for one didn't think we would ever see him again after he died.

Anonymous said...

LL, there must be something in the "rules" governing ghostly screentime or else there'd be a queue of dead islanders all the way out to the looking glass waiting to give Hurley spectral advice.

btw did Lapidus find a bottle of 'just for men' stashed next to the abundant pregnancy tests on the beach? He's looking a little younger while Batmanuel appears to be aging ever so slightly. Purely subjective observances of course.

Mairuzu said...

I could try to play sound effects or 5-second clips of music during the silence. ;)

Sadly, yeah.. being that it's a live-recorded TalkShoe podcast, we can't run a 'remove silence' like we can in Audacity. Although, I'd suggest that it might be a GREAT suggestion to submit to TalkShoe (since they already have to compress live recording into MP3's for the download feeds).

I, for one, appreciate the criticism Mr Anonymous suggested and I tend to agree with most of what he said. With that said, though, it is an initial reactions episode and so, without proper time spent to analyze scenes or to verify the nebulous recollections of old scenes and their relevance, it can sometimes have boughts of back and forth until someone blows the whistle and diffuses the conversation to move it on.

On the other hand, you could argue that it's not really worth criticizing 10-minute moments of debate over something we don't know if you're listening to an hour and a half moment of debate over something we don't know. :)

Keep listening and coming back to reply, though, and I hope people won't keep calling that trolling. I don't feel that term is justified. I, for one, felt like you were giving your honest impression after listening to us and offering an opportunity for better cognizance of the listener experience. As a critical bastard myself, I can appreciate it. :)

Kunal said...

Nicely done Dan...reverse psychology...I like it! :-P

Lost Lindsey said...

I agree with the last anonymous, can you imagine how many dead people we would be seeing if we could see them all...it would fill the entire island, Hurley would get no rest

Anonymous said...

Dan took the criticism the way it was intended. I'll assume that Taurus' understand each other on a different level.

But this point I'll contend,

"On the other hand, you could argue that it's not really worth criticizing 10-minute moments of debate over something we don't know if you're listening to an hour and a half moment of debate over something we don't know. :)"

One certainly is entitled to one's own opinion but one is not entitled to one's own facts.

While it is my opinion that Lapidus is looking younger and Richardus appears to be rapidly aging, I wont claim that opinion as fact so people are free to disagree quickly and move on (time will prove me right or wrong).

However if one of your group during discussion, claims they saw Hugo taking island advice from the spirit of Authur Fonzarelli, just how much time would you devote to solving that mystery?

Though I'll concede that it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Widmore does indeed have the Fonz locked up somewhere on his bottomless submarine as a backup plan (protocol AAAAAAAYYYY) just in case Desmond should fall down a well or something equally rediculous.

Unknown said...

Initial reactions should be mind-dumps and i guess more levity is required. as for silence - two camps. its ether golden..... or cue the crickets :) get the soundboard ready i say. as a final point, has any raised the issue of the "skippy" recording for the intro. i thought it was talkshoe laggy-ness initially but i think its just the recording. i dont mind it so much. its just part of the show now :)

Unknown said...

re the whispers - where's Jennifer Love Hewitt when you need her. should have a crossover ep with Hugo.

with their explanation, and someone like Hurley on the island, i thought they'd be lining up just bugging him all day long.

i will probably do further research and get the whispers transcripts and see what they say and what happens in the scene. i'm thinking it was not such a huge part of the "explainable" mythology to begin with. just easter eggy stuff, like having them backwards for the fans who like to dissect them and analyse etc, but now we're shouting "we want answers", so they give us one, and some of us are left somewhat unsatisfied. should we just move on? we may not get any more exposition. another loose end conveniently tied. upon closer inspection, i think some of these loose ends will unravel but the greater mythology will remain structurally sound. they may even fix/change some things when they release blu ray or definitive editions. i for one would love Directors/Creators commentary for every single ep, but that could be wishful thinking. i am a commentary buff :)

Unknown said...

sorry if this is an obvious point, still yet to finish the podcast - so now we may have a scene with Jack called in to see Locke. i'm betting on a walking Locke by the end of the next ep, if he appears. i can't remember if charlie escaped the hospital. but was also thinking he could possibly run into claire's room as he is hiding from the hospital staff. maybe the hospital is a possible meeting point for everyone too. anthony cooper rushes to see his son, and maybe hurley and libby. ben, arts, rose and bernard visit to bring flowers. sawyer is transporting kate with myles and gets wind of anthony cooper there.

on a tangent - penny doing the tour de stade makes me think she is not so close with her father, charles. is she the one who is trying to gain his approval? and when des was coming out to the limo, i had a deja vu moment and thought it looked like the video ben showed to locke with charles widmore - the one he's beating someone up. i was creeped out for a moment and thought des is gonna die, cos even the music was winding down or as matt says, resolving.

Robert R said...

One post for show critique': I don't disagree with 90% of what Trollonymous said, but I really enjoy the podcast and I keep coming back. When the conversation lags or goes off into minutiae I feel trivial or misguided, I just have a blast in chat making jokes. We have some brilliant people (in addition to the hosts) in the chat room, and I can talk to them until things pick up, without ever feeling like my time has been wasted. I appreciate the work "the crew" puts into each show. God knows I couldn't pull it off nearly as well. I'd rather have a little lack of polish than people so preoccupied with "radio rules" that they don't speak their minds freely.

Robert R said...

Another post for content: I hit my *bullet point* observations (table reflections, anyone?) in Lindsey's thread on facebook, but I would like to bring up 2, more philosophical, points here, also essentially reposts from various places on the facebook page.

I think Desmond is "of one mind" after "Happily Ever After", but it's interesting to me how different his attitude is in each timeline. In the FS, he is acutely focused on his task of *awakening* the 815 passengers. However on the Island, he is content to be influenced by the whim of anyone near him, almost like a leaf on the breeze.

I don't think Alt Des was trying to kill Alt Locke. I think he was trying to *almost kill* him, in the same manner that Charlie showed Desmond the flashes by launching the car off the pier. For some reason, the *kissy -kissy* method of inducing the flashes would not work with Locke and Helen, as they seem to be with Des/Penny and Hurley/Libby. Or maybe Des was in too much of a hurry to "move on down" the manifest.

LOST's overriding thematic subject: Duality/Oneness.

Since "Happily Ever After", we have seen two ways that cause someone in the "X" timeline to experience the Island timeline. I believe this will introduce a new pair of opposites/two sides of the same coin to our list of good/evil, light/dark, fate/choice, etc. That pair is sex/death, or in this case, the approach of sex/the approach of death. The sensuous touch/kiss represents sex, and violence/injury represents death. Sex is reproduction, the creation of life, and death is its counterpart. Either is a conduit from one plane of conscientiousness to another. In LOST, "the approach to" proxies are conduits between conscientiousnesses with two planes - one landed, one crashed.

Robert R said...

I do know there is a difference between "consciousness" and "conscientiousness", but I had already turned the failsafe key before I realized I needed to employ that knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Desmond is anybody's mug in the OT. Jin asked Widmore what was going on and he said it would be easier to show him than to explain it. He tried explaining the situation to Desmond and his head received the business end of an I.V. stand for his troubles, so he showed Desmond rather than try to explain.

Since being bombarded with EM energy, Desmond knows what he has to do, he has clarity of purpose in both timelines, in one he is active and in the other he is passive (so far).

He and Locke classic have been referred to as men of faith but the writers chose to define that faith when Soren Kierkegaard's work, "Fear and Trembling" fell out of Montand's bag when he was discovered "sans un bras" under the temple.

I choose to interpret that as stating that Desmond is what Kierkegaard calls a "knight of faith" while AT Locke is the "knight of infinite resignation".

They are saying that to have faith one must believe in the absurd.
Define 'the absurd' as you like, a miracle perhaps? AT Locke claimed there was no such thing as miracles. Perhaps Desi-Bhoy is trying to prove him wrong and return him to his Island state as a "knight of faith"?

To paraphrase Jack,(who btw, appears to have gone straight to work after disembarking, Mr FunTime as usual) I wouldn't give up on boxman just yet.

Unknown said...

I finally got around to watching the episode again and has to pause it having only watched about a minute. Hurley's introduction has completed to a standing ovation. Hospitals, humane societies, parks and playgrounds. “The philanthropy was unparalleled.” ATL Hurley is a leader and is very comfortable as such. I don’t know why that thought never crossed my mind before. It’s a nice reflection to the island story.

Libby is awesome. Everything with her is so bittersweet.

It doesn’t appear that Jacob is “talking” to Richard any longer. I think it was obvious that Richard was lying about the plan to blow up the plane just prior to the Illana explosion.

Every single character that I thought was “in the know” on this show, really knows little to nothing. I really hope I’m wrong about Ms. Hawking and Charles Widmore.

Unknown said...

Two more thoughts:

Desmond magical license plates:
At the Hurley-Libby beach picnic: 4PCI264
At the Locke rundown at the school: 2FAN321


When Huerly & Co. walk into Locke’s camp at the end of the episode, there are three looks: Hurley to Sawyer looking for help to run the con, Locke to Sayid in assurance that support is there, and Locke to Jack to signify that the game is most definitely on. Wow.

Robert R said...

You can file this under "Wild Speculation". Remember the branch that fLocke was whittling on while explaining the difference between "doing nothing" and "waiting" to Sawyer? I was reminded of Eko's "Jesus Stick".

And what might an MiB-made "Jesus Stick" turn out to be? Aaron's Rod, maybe? If you read the Wikipedia entry for Aaron's Rod, your mind will zing with possibilities.

. . . then again, it might be a spear . . .

warningtrax said...

Interesting finales...

Season 1: Kate goes down in to the hatch

Season 2: Desmond goes down below the floor in the Swan to the failsafe

Season 3: Charlie goes down into the Hydra to jam the signal

Season 4: Ben goes down underneath the Orchid to turn the frozen donkey wheel

Season 5: Juliet goes down into the the drill hole to detonate the bomb

Season 6: Desmond goes down into the well?


It’s too early!!! Seasons 1 through 5 were during the finale. Maybe the finale of Season 6 someone will go up? One time?

Unknown said...

@Robert - it could be the Spear of Destiny! :)

Unknown said...

BMW = Break My Wheelchair

Unknown said...

my previous post in trying to understand th AT : i thought Desmond would be like Jeremy Bentham, coming to the AT losties, and trying to convince them. now we know he is trying to "show them something", by various means. but i can see where comparison with jacob comes in - as the podcast was giving some time to.

marlene said...

I know this is kind of bitchy but I hated a lot about this episode, even after the second watch. I didn't mind the Black Rock explosion - condolences to your crew! :) - but the fact that both of Jacob's right-hand persons, Alana and Richard, came off as raving idiots was just too weird in light of how these characters have been built up. I found myself (in honor of Lost Lindsey) yelling at my tv. I too thought the whispers reveal was cheesy - and I just don't care about Michael at this point.
I did love the prominent stitches on Desmond's forehead because they seemed (to me) to be an obvious symbol for his stitching the two timelines together. And the conversation between him and Lock was pretty fantastic.
PS: The protagonist in Notes From the Underground is a total critical bastard so its all good.

Anonymous said...

How can any of you even consider criticizing Nancy Drew for what she brings to the table when that one guy is rambling on and on over nothing all the time? What's his name? He's the most boring nonsense I've ever heard and I would actually like to see the Sunday night shows go back to their normal format of the original three. I am not a mean person and I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I find that I can barely listen when that guy is talking. He's completely boring, he interrupts all the time, and he never keeps his comments short! Even on the newest show this week, he cut in when ND was going through her notes and he tried to change the subject! Some of us listen to this show for a reason and he is definitely not it for me!

Mairuzu said...

Format of the first three? I'm not sure I understand what you meant. The first three of what and when? Seasons? Or you mean the first three episodes of this season? Not sure I follow. Let us know what you mean so we can at least consider what you're pointing out.

As for that boring, rambling guy in the last podcast... is that me? (Dan) or Curt or James? I, for one, think Nancy has great stuff to bring to the table--very. It's hard to know who's the one that interrupts since we all do it at one point or another. It's sort of necessary since we're not all in the same room together and can't read expressions or raise hands or something.

Just the same.. thanks for the feedback, just shoot us back some more elaboration on what you were pointing out.

Thanks!

Robert R said...

It all will be over before the Dead Air Committee can even schedule a meeting. Personally, I wouldn't sweat it. Now, when we rev up the Breaking Bad podcast, that will be a tightly-run ship!

Kunal said...

On behalf of Anonymous, I think he meant go back to the earlier format which had just the 3 of you and no James. Now, I'm just clearing things up and I don't quite agree, but James does tend to ramble, especially about love, and sometimes it doesn't quite make sense lol.

Anonymous said...

The Dead Air Committee?
Jay-Jay explained the format's limitations and I conceded that I understood nothing could be done about it when I said 'fair enough'.
That was four days ago. Try to keep up.

That last anonymous critique calling someone boring and long-winded (on a podcast????) was not mine. But all the others were me.

I listened to the latest thoughts on 'ELH' and although I'm only half way through the podcast I think there's been an improvement already even if my posted comments regarding Desmond's clarity of purpose were atributed to someone named Robert.
Yes Nancy you mentioned that some reading material fell out of Ilana's bag but even though it is an initial reactions show and few of us actually speak Russian, the Lost community is massive and any book's identity can be tracked down and analysed before Eve Lily has even sold her first bottle of Shampoo. BTW your breakdown of the book was helpful, I read it when I was 15 or 16 so my instant recall for it wasn't great. Herman Hesse was more my bag when I was kid.

Fans are wearing out keyboards demanding answers and we ARE owed them for some of the 'Hows' but as Jacob himself asked Richard, why should he tell everone what is right and wrong.

Everytime the writers throw a literary work into the mix they are pointing us in the direction of those solutions. Some of the answers aren't going to be very satisfying. Some people want mysteries like the whispers to be explained scientifically while others accept that some things are simply literary devices. ( keeping in mind that Lost is an entertainment afterall)

The novel references are a great help to those of us asking the question why? And we've been given enough info to help us debate that ultimate 'Why' just over the horizon. Enough to keep asking that question, long after the show has ended.

~Trollonymous

Mairuzu said...

I particularly dig Marlene's entry--especially regarding the conversations between Locke and Desmond. Desmond was vexing Locke and it appeared as if the Locke Monster didn't want to tip his hand or something.. and tried to be vexing himself but appeared worried, on some level, that it wasn't working on Desmond. As if Desmond knew something and it prevented the intimidation from working.

It almost felt like a poker game. Whether or not Desmond knew something, his poker face completely messed up Locke's confidence and it worried him.. so he tried to force Desmond out of the game, so to speak.

Also... hehe.. Trollonymous is a hella funny and yet cool name. :) I like it. Y'should register it to officiate it as yours. And your comments are great, by the by. The idea that the literary works, and other 'easter eggs' that get thrown our way, are a means toward figuring out the answers to the how and why outside of the direct storyline is a particularly good way to look at things. I think it also validates all our reading up on the varied topics that keep coming up all throughout Lost from science to religion, mythology, history, philosophy, literature and so on and so on. If nothing else, Lost has managed to do (with very small efforts like throwing a prop into a scene) what most classrooms could never do to get people motivated to learn something they otherwise might not have had an interest to learn about. So..wholeheartedly agreed! I don't necessarily expect EVERYTHING to be answered for that precise reason: You still want some mysteries for people to solve for themselves and to theorize about.

Some thing are left better unanswered that way. Take 'the force' in Star Wars. I preferred it when it was a nearly Bhuddist mysterious life-force--before the prequels came along and Lucas pulled some pseudo-science explanation out of his butt about midichlorians. Ugh.