Season 2, Episode 21: "?"

TITLE
The title of this episode is "?" - this refers to the question mark that Locke saw on the blacklight map while pinned under the hatch doors. It also refers to Eko's dream where his brother tells him that Locke needs to take him to the question mark.

MIRACLES
The father of the miracle girl in Eko's flashback was also the psychic who put Claire on the plane. He told Eko that he was a "fraud" and that he gathers intelligence on people and uses it to exploit them. He even believes himself that he is not a "real" psychic. He tells Eko that "people are desperate to find a miracle, but that none are to be had...not in this world anyway." But yet we have seen "miracles" occur on the island, so this sort of emphasizes that the island is not in "this world."

I do think that when he is with Claire that is the first time he has a REAL vision (which is what scared him from talking to her) - it was the first time he saw the truth. He KNEW she was going to crash on that island. Yet he had to get her there because for some reason she was meant to be on that island (with her baby). Or, another thought is that this "psychic" is somehow tied in with Dharma, and was "using" Claire to get her on the plane so the Others could get her baby. Either way I do think he knew that she was going to end up on the island.

Also, if at the point he met Claire he realized he was a true "psychic" then his daughter could have those same powers as him. SPECIAL powers. Just like Walt. Just like Locke. Just like Eko. All of them are "special" and are able to see visions of things happening, in their dreams, in their minds. This is why they were all drawn to this island, this is why the Others want them. Somehow they are all connected through these special powers that they share. Locke saw a vision of a plane crash in the island and he found it (which led to Boone's death). Eko saw a vision of Ana Lucia dead, as well as his brother telling him about Locke and the question mark. Walt had visions of things happening before they really happened. And now we see this "miracle girl" had a vision of Eko's brother while she was "in between worlds."

GUILTY
So we have seen pretty much every one of the survivors feels "guilt" for the death of someone, whether they killed them directly or indirectly. Now we can add Hurley to that list. He is somewhat "responsible" for Libby's death. As he said, he should've remember to bring the blankets for their picnic, otherwise she never would have gone into the hatch. Wrong place, wrong time. It seems Hurley's "bad luck" has followed him once again.

THE PEARL ORIENTATION
Another hatch, another orientation video. One thing I found interesting was that in the first hatch (the Swan) the orientation was shown on an old 8mm reel, yet they have technological advances like a washer and dryer, a computer, etc. However, in contrast, in this new hatch, the tv screens are very old looking (from the 1950s) yet they are watching the tape on a VCR. Why is the first orientation film on 8mm but the second one on a VCR tape? Both were created at the same time, as both state the copyright date of 1980 at the end of the film. Another strange thing about the new film is the narrator. In the first film (in the Swan hatch) he says his name is Dr. Marvin Candle. In this new film, he says his name is Dr. Mark Wickman. Also, in the swan video, he has an obviously fake arm. But in the Pearl video, he clearly has use of both arms. It seems that the Swan film was made AFTER the Pearl video. Perhaps the "event" that he talked about in the Swan video had something to do with that? There is something strange about the timeline of these films. Another thing I noticed is the cutting in and out (just like on the previous film) - there was one noticeable part where he says that "after you complete your 8 hour shift, proceed to the ferry and it will take you back to the barracks."

CONNED AGAIN
Poor Locke. He just keeps on getting conned, or fooled. He feels his life is a complete failure. After viewing the orientation tape, he realizes that the whole "Pushing the Button" thing was in fact just a psychological experiment. Nothing happens if they don't push the button. As the doctor explains, the people in the Pearl hatch are observing the other team members who are unwilling a part of this experiment. However Eko talks him into believing they have to do it, he is trying to help him "find his way" again.

?
I think this new hatch will answer some questions for the survivors, things they weren't necessarily looking for but will come in handy. For example, they weren't looking for this hatch. They didn't know WHAT they were looking for, they were just following the vision of Eko's dream. But clearly it is something important that they need to know about. Locke makes a copy of the computer printout, which appears to have all the numbers that have been typed in and if they were "accepted" - however after looking closely these are not the correct numbers that are used when pressing the button. But it seems this print out shows everything that was written on the computer, so they may be able to discover what Michael and "Walt" were writing to one another. Also, the observation cameras may have recorded Michael killing Ana Lucia and Libby, which the survivors may eventually find out if they get back into this new hatch and figure out how to watch what happened. Once they discover the cameras, they may try to go back and see where "Henry" went when he escaped, but will actually find out it was Michael who killed them. So, like I said, I think this ? hatch will actually provide alot of answers to the survivors, as Eko's brother said his work there is more important than anything.

I think the big "question" from this episode is...what happened to Henry? Where did he go? Did he escape or did Michael let him go? Is Michael working with him? I can't imagine Michael really would have let him go if it meant finding his son, but Michael is surprising me lately. I think he may have been "brainwashed" by the Others. It appears from next weeks previews that we will see what happened to Michael while he was gone, because I noticed the Others dragging him down and inserting a syringe into his arm. So he very well may be brainwashed (just like Claire was).