One of Them
This job-hunting stuff is really getting in the way of my blogging. Geesh! Here it is over a week since this epi and I am just now collecting my thoughts.
1. Seems like the writers are leading the characters back to their personalities prior to the crash. Sayid is the torturer. Sawyer is the con man. Charlie, well, I think that he is going to come back around to the nice, family man that he was (albeit heroin addict, but hey, who doesn’t have problems!?) but I think we are going to see more of his dark side first. Locke was passive. However, I think Locke is sneaky, sneaky and is up to something. Jack is the hero. Kate is the runner. She is in a really bad situation, as far as she sees it, so will she run away from the camp? Eko was the drug smuggler, murderer but now he is a priest again? I don’t think we know enough yet about his back-story to predict where his character will go. Vincent, well, he’s just the damn trouble sniffing dog. I do hear, however, at some point that Vincent will have a back-story epi. Interesting! But, check out the last paragraph of the epi recap from abc.com:
“But, you see…that’s the thing about human nature. We all have a dark side. And if we need something badly enough, there is almost no limit to what we will do, or who we will become in order to get it.”
2. Symbols on the counter. I was wondering “why” would they use these? I have done some research and found some theories and then coupled them with my thoughts. There are five symbols, or numbers normally, on the counter. There are six hatches. What if each symbol represented one of the hatches and they would not need one for the Swan because that is where they are. Maybe it was a status symbol - whether the station was occupied and/or active at the time. The fifth symbol never did appear and that could be why Locke could still punch in the numbers because the final hatch had not responded yet.
3. The power up. When the symbols are flipping you can hear a “power up” noise in the background. What is this? Why did the doors that Michael found not come down if there was impending doom?
4. Black and white. Numbers are normally black and white. Suddenly we see them turn black and red. B&W is a running theme in show.
5. Could Locke have possibly been imagining these symbols? Another possibility is that Locke has been in the hatch when the counter ran out and nothing did happen. Maybe he is in a panic to type in the right numbers because he doesn’t want anyone to know that Jack is right and nothing happens. If the survivors know that they are safe, Locke would lose a large amount of control that he has over everyone. He does keep mistyping the numbers so maybe he found out the truth by accident but wants to maintain his control and keep it his secret.
6. Ranch dressing. What is up with this? First they shoot it now Hurley is confiscating it. And what is up with the seven-year shelf life? Is this the term for the “tour of duty” so to speak?
7. Sawyer and Hurley. I don’t think that Sawyer was going to kill the frog. He is petting it and seems to change his expression when he sees that Hurley is watching him. Sawyer has an image to uphold and if he let the frog go that would completely go against the image that he is working to create and maintain. Sawyer is comfortable in the bad guy role.
8. I don’t believe that Sawyer is the bad guy he wants us to think that he is. I think that he is planning a rescue for Walt and again I have to put out there that he may even attempt to join the “Others” in order to find him. It has been shown again and again that he feels remorse and guilt over Walt’s kidnapping and he is the ultimate con man so I could see him duping the survivors because if they don’t believe that he is bad, why would the Others believe that he wanted to join them? Plus, Sawyer tells “Zeke” that “This aint over,” so this could be another way to get at him. Join them and then destroy them.
9. Henry Gale. Hello? Name sound familiar? Like Dorothy’s uncle? Also, Zeke is also the “real” name of the tin man when she gets back to Kansas. But Henry in a balloon? Next Auntie Em will come to the island. How ironic. Smoke and mirrors. Hm, already have put my reflection theory out there and this would go along with it.
10. The army man “is” Kate’s dad. Scott, you were right. He caught this right away, especially once he looks at the picture of Kate.
11. Check out the numbers 23-108-42 on the video of Sayid’s hometown and the “Property Of DIA.” Dharma Initiative?
12. Sayid is the son of a great hero. Was he educated, therefore, in good schools maybe in America and that explains why his English is so good? This presents the possibility of more crossovers. Who was the hero and what did he do?
13. Numbers. Henry crashed 4 months ago. Sayid was 23 when America came to his country. It took Sayid 6 years to erase it from his memory. Hurley was 6 when he got is turtle Stewart. Henry’s balloon was 140 x 60 wide. It is a 2-day walk to the site when Henry crashed. Counter was on 27 when Jack let Locke go.
14. Info about Henry. Wife was Jennifer and her maiden name was Murphy. They met at the University of Minnesota. Balloon has a big smiley face on top of it if you were to look down on it. He “was” rich from mining non-metallic minerals. Henry’s company was named Widmore Mining.
15. Was Henry an Other or not?
Why we could say yes: His name and story are suspicious. Sayid seems to think he is and we were shown that Sayid has a special way of extracting the truth. The look on Henry’s face when Jack pulls Sayid off of him seems like “Ha, ha couldn’t get me.”
Henry’s answers all seem too staged and come to him too quickly. Danielle thinks he is, too.
Reasons why Henry might “not” be an Other: There could be lots of survivors of crashes on this island. Sayid was angry and may have misinterpreted Henry’s answers. The look on Henry’s face could just have been relief.
16. I’ve read that the actor that plays Henry is on for 6 more episodes so we should find out the truth! I can handle it!! lol
17. Far out theory. I have contended that there is some type of mining going on here at the island. There are lots of clues: blasts from underground, the dynamite found at the Black Rock, the security system. What if Henry’s mining company was hired to mine the island? Maybe he didn’t know who he was selling to, but the Dharma group bought him out (it’s top secret, after all). Remember the fresh concrete Jack found in the hatch? Maybe they mined into something that they don’t know how to fix (some type of geo thermal valve) and “they” had to get Henry to the island to fix it. Maybe his balloon accidentally on purpose crashed there. Every 108 minutes the makeshift release valve must be managed or there would be a pressure build up and explosion and that is why the button must be pressed to release this pressure. We don’t know how long ago Henry sold his company but maybe Dharma has been trying to get him to the island and he refused so they just brought him there themselves. I would think that whatever they are mining is important enough to have a security system in place that rips apart pilots.
18. Danielle. How long must she have had Henry in the net? She warned Sayid not to listen to him no matter how long he contends that he is innocent. Plus, she insists that he is an Other, how does she know? Why does she hand him over to Sayid? I think that she has caught other “Others” especially if she has been on the island for 16 years! This is probably how she knows that he will lie and lie.
19. I thought it was odd that Sayid marched right over and cut down Henry. Maybe he was using it as a test to Danielle to see if she really thought he was an Other. Once she shot him, Sayid was sure at that moment that Danielle was right.
20. Sayid and Charlie have a connection. Back in Season One when Charlie kills Ethan, Sayid comes to Charlie to console him. Charlie goes with Sayid to find Aaron when Danielle had taken him. They both now have losses (Shannon and Claire) and are outcasts on their own on the island. So I don’t think that Sayid only went to Charlie because he was taken by the Others, but also because Sayid feels a certain connection to Charlie.
21. The sickness. This is now being talked about more and if Henry starts telling the survivors about his wife, will they begin to “feel” the symptoms? Remember that there are immunizations in the hatch that could lead to some interesting debate about who should and shouldn’t receive them. Also, they find the medical hatch this week and there could be all sorts of goodies there!
March 2nd, 2006 at 9:34 am
After “Maternity Leave” aired, there’s NO DOUBT in my mind that Henry is an “Other”. He manipulated Locke BIG TIME playing on the fact that Jack is calling the shots and Locke is just a lacky. I think Locke was reminded of his stint at the box company and also how he was “less than a man” in his own mind when his legs did not work. Oh yes… Henry is playing it up now!