Season 5, Episode 7: "LaFleur"

Okay...I'm going to attempt to make some sort of "timeline" as to where (and when) everyone is. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong anywhere. But hopefully this will clear up some confusion about last night's episode and the chronological string of events we have seen recently.

- Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on the island on September 22, 2004
- The survivors are on the island for 108 days before the Oceanic Six decide to leave - this puts them in early January 2005.
- On the same day that the Oceanic Six leave (Jan '05), Ben "moves" the island, which causes it to start skipping in time.
- Sawyer, Juliet, Faraday, etc, are still on the island when it "moves" and now are traveling through time flashes on the island.
- After a few days, Locke decides to try and save everyone by leaving the island. In "real time," it is still January of 2005 - the Oceanic Six had just left a few days before. But they are in the middle of a time flash back to 1974 when Locke leaves, causing those still on the island to be "stuck" now in the 1970's.
- Meanwhile, the Oceanic Six go back to the real world - where it is still January 2005 - and go on for three years (to 2008), when they all get a visit from Jeremy Bentham asking them to go back to the island.

*Here is where I am confused: When Locke "leaves" the island, it is only a few days after the Oceanic Six left (in Jan 2005) - yet when he arrives back in the real world, three years have passed. Why has it only been a few days for Locke?

*Also, remember last season when we first saw Ben "move" the island and he woke up in the Tunisian Desert. He then goes to a hotel where he asks the front desk clerk what the date is: and she tells him it is October of 2005. Why has it been 10 months since he "moved" the island?

- When the Oceanic Six all decide they will in fact go back to the island - it has been three years since they left - so it is now 2008 - they board flight 316 which "crashes" on the island, with a whole bunch of new survivors - including the newly reincarnated Locke. We assume it is still the year 2008. However, we know that on the island it is still the 1970's, so Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc. are now in the "past," where Sawyer and Juliet have been living for three years as part of the still-present Dharma Initiative.


As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I believe the reason Widmore came to visit Locke and wants to help him get back to the island, is because he wants to make sure Locke takes over as leader instead of Ben. He mentioned there was going to be a war - and as I suspected back then, I think he was actually talking about the "war" that has already taken place between Dharma and the "Hostiles" (who we now know as the Others). This "future war" actually has already happened, and Widmore wants to make sure the outcome is different. Here is what we know about that:

- Back in the 1970's, the island is inhabited by two groups: the Dharma Initiative and the "Hostiles" (led by Richard Alpert). We don't actually know what the "Hostiles" are doing on the island, but we do know they were there first (perhaps they have always been there?) The Dharma Initiative came to the island to do scientific research, which was not met with approval by Alpert's group. Actually it was the Dharma Initative who came up with the term "Hostiles" for these people - even though they were there first. I can certainly imagine these people WOULD be hostile to a new group of scientists who just show up on their island and start doing research!

- So we also know from a previous flashback that Ben comes to the island as a young boy with his father, who was recruited to be in the Dharma Initiative after being so distraught back in the "real world" due to the loss of Ben's mother, who died giving birth to him. They come to the island, and Ben hates it. He hates the Dharma Initiative and doesn't want to be a part of it. As a young boy, he is out in the woods one night when Richard Alpert comes to him and "recruits" him to come over to his group...and we later learn that Ben has to prove himself worthy in order to make the switch and become their leader. He kills everyone in the Dharma Initiative (by gassing them), including his own father, and this "proves" his worthiness of becoming the leader of the Others ( a.k.a. the "Hostiles").

- So, when Locke leaves the island in 2005 and goes back to the real world, he is met by Widmore, now an old man, whom he met on the island in "1954" during a time flash when Widmore was just a teenager. That was 50 years ago. Widmore is now off the island, obviously has been for some time, as we know he has an adult daughter, Penny. Widmore tells Locke he wants to help him, so he can get back to the island so he can be the rightful leader - and warns him of the war "to come." As I mentioned before, I think this is actually the "war" that ensued back in the 70's between Dharma and the Hostiles. If Locke goes back in time, he can change the outcome, so that Ben will never kill off Dharma and take over as leader of Richard Alpert's group. (This reminds me of Back to the Future, Part 2, where Marty has to go back to the PAST in order to change the events that ultimately led to future Biff becoming rich and taking over, marrying his mother, etc. - Once he changes the events in the past that led to that "alternate future," Marty is able to go back to the present time where the outcome of the "future" has now changed. I assume everyone has seen this movie, if not you probably have no idea what I am talking about. But really, who has not seen Back to the Future 2 ??) - So, anyway, back to LOST - Locke has to go back to the past to prevent Ben from ever taking over. We haven't really seen the reasons yet that Widmore and Ben have had this longtime feud. Ben originally told Locke that Widmore has been trying to find the island for "a long time" and that he wants to exploit it because he knows of the miracles that can happen there. We had always assumed Ben and Widmore were on different sides, but in reality both of them were part of the "hostiles" - part of Richard Alpert's group, so at one point they were both on the same side. What changed this, we still don't know. We don't know how or when Widmore left the island, but I'm guessing Ben may have had something to do with it? Widmore may even want the Dharma Initiative to WIN the war, not only so Ben doesn't take over, but there may be some bigger picture that we don't know about yet, in which Dharma is actually needed on the island. Maybe Dharma was actually doing something GOOD there? And that's why Locke must go back and change the outcome in order to save the island? I don't know.


- So... meanwhile on the island, it is the 1970's and Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Faraday and Miles have all been living there and "working" with the Dharma Initiative for the past three years (even though Richard Alpert knows who they really are and that they are waiting for Locke's return). This, in true LOST fashion, has some major religious undertones, as in waiting for the Savior to return. The Bible says that God sent his Son to die, and that he will return some day and will be resurrected and that those who believe in him will have eternal life. As we have already seen, Locke was sent as a "sacrifice" (just as Christ was) in order to save the Others. He gives up his own life, just as Jesus Christ did. And just like in the Bible, everyone on the island is waiting for Locke to return someday, saying they'll wait as long as it takes for his return. And as we saw last week, once Locke's body crashed on the island, he was "resurrected." Maybe those who "believe" in Locke will have eternal life on the island? That could explain why Richard Alpert has "always been there" and has never aged. He believes in Locke, believes he is "special" and that he is the chosen one. Very interesting biblical connection there, I mean we have always seen a lot of religious/Christian references, but this is basically an exact metaphor to the whole story of the Bible and of God sacrificing his Son in order to save others from sin, and that those who believe in him will have eternal life (John 3:16). So, maybe those who believe in LOCKE as their "leader" will have eternal life on the island?

Anyway, we have some new characters now (from the 1970's):
-Amy was married to Phil. The Hostiles killed Phil and were going to kill Amy, until Sawyer and Juliet stepped in and killed the two men. Now, it is three years later, and Amy is married to Horace. (Remember back a few seasons ago, when Sawyer and Hurley found the Dharma van filled with beer cans and a skeleton...and the Dharma uniform on the skeleton had a nametag of Horace. Interesting because last night we saw him get drunk, and we now know that he ends up dying while drunk in the Dharma van...he could have been out there getting drunk when Ben "gassed" the island and that's how he died.) Anyway, Horace and Amy are now married and just had a baby boy. I am willing to bet that baby boy is going to turn out to be someone we know. I kept waiting for them to say what they named the baby and to see if it was the name of someone we have seen in the "future." If the baby was born in the mid-70s that would make him about 30-something in "real time." I don't know who it could be, though...Faraday maybe? Any ideas?

- So, now we do know that Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc., do in fact "land" on the island in the past - which explains why Jin pulled up in a Dharma van. It has been 3 years since any of them have seen each other - the Oceanic Six were back in "real life" for 3 years, and the islanders have been living there, in the 1970's, for three years. So it appears their time frames are the same amount, just living in different years. The only question is Locke - who said it had only been a week or so since he left the island. Why has it not been 3 years for him?

- Another interesting fact is that now in the "past," Faraday sees Charlotte as a little girl running around in the Dharma camp. Remember, she told him that when she was a little girl she lived there, and that a man came to her and scared her because he said she was going to die if she ever came back to the island. So now we know that Faraday must go to her (now, in the 70s) and warn her. He will tell her to leave so that she won't ever come back because he doesn't want her to die.