Hey, well look at that

SPOILERS AHEAD – If you haven’t seen the LOST episode “The Brig”, don’t read any further.

Looks like my posting from back on May 24th, 2006 did have a prediction that was right:

Sawyer and Locke

It’s pretty weird that Locke’s father, used some “con man” terms in a recent episode. Sawyer is looking for a con man and I think he could be looking for Locke’s Father.

Tonight’s Lost Episode: The Brig

I’m writing this about 6:30 central time, so Lost is a couple of hours away.

From the previews last week, Locke says that he’s not able to do something, and is trying to get one of The Others to do it.

Since Locke just saw his father, could this finally be the tie-in to the con artist that Sawyer has been looking for?

Could Sawyer (well, and the rest of us) finally find out that he’s Locke’s half-brother? (update: I’m brain dead… I keep thinking that Sawyer was looking for his father, when he was just looking for the con-man. This is at least the second time I made that mistake….sorry!).

Locke has been on the wrong end of a lot of things he thought would work out for him.   If he gets Sawyer to do something (say, like kill their father), is this going to be yet another thing that goes wrong for Locke?   Ben’s pretty good at manipulating people.  Is it going to be something that Ben gets to hold over his head?

Any last minute bets?

Summary of “24”: Episode 20 – 1 am to 2 am

Previously on “24”, we saw that – Jack was able to confuse CTU by driving under some power lines; Mike has been going to psychic classes and knew exactly where to go to find Jack; Bill was put on his annual “You’re not the head of CTU anymore” vacation; Audrey has taken some Chinese language lessons a little too seriously and has completely forgotten how to speak English, because her head can only hold one language at a time.

The following summary occurred between 1 am and 2 am:

1:00 am – While he was waiting for everyone to show up, Jack took the time to clean the whole building so there would be a nice clean explosion. He tells one of the CTU field agents that, yes, that was the only plastic explosive he had time to rig.

1:01 am – Mike goes to talk to Audrey, but she’s still very upset about Silver Spoons being cancelled so all she says to him is “Help me Jack! Please don’t let them do this to me!”, and several million viewers make the same plea to the writers about the rest of the episode.

1:02 am – Nadia has jumped right into CTU command, setting up perimeters and everything. She starts cutting off people while they explain what she just asked them to explain. This is going to be very endearing. At this rate, the people in the office will be rigging her chair to explode any time now.

1:04 am – Morris goes to see Nadia, and she denies his request to be reassigned, making her even more popular. Morris is pretty insistent, but Nadia doesn’t want to hear about it. Morris looks at her office chair, sizing it up it up for just the right kind of office explosives.

1:05 am – Nadia gets a call from Mike, who wants to know if they have a lead on Cheng yet, besides the three huge black Hummers that they just drove off in. It sounds like Mike has lost his amazing powers of deduction that he used to find Jack. Nadia asks about Audrey. Mike says that Audrey is completely non-responsive, and that the Chinese must have done a little take-out on her brain, because she’s acting weirder than normal. Nadia insists that Audrey be brought back to CTU, because there are going to be a lot of people that are going to want to make fun of her there. Nadia asks if Mike has enough psychic energy left to know what Jack was thinking, and he tells her all about Jack’s plan to blow up the building and sacrifice himself. Despite this, Nadia is still mad that Jack let the secret chip get away. Jack tries to get Mike to let him talk to Audrey, because they used the same Britney Spears videos when they tortured him, but Mike refuses. Mike takes Jack and Audrey separately back to CTU.

1:06 am – Karen briefs Acting President Noah about Cheng’s escape, and Noah looks like he doesn’t like sitting in The Big Seat as much as he had previously hoped. He asks about Bill and how it went when Karen fired him, hoping that she at least had SOME fun with it, because Noah sure would have. Noah gives a little speech to Karen that he gave to Lennox to make sure that she is on board too. Lennox interrupts to let Noah know that the Russian President is on the video phone. Since they get “24” on iTunes, the President probably already knows about Cheng having the chip.

1:07 am – Off in her evil secret lair, Evil Lisa locks a secret evil door, and surprise! Gets jumped by an evil lobbyist. They immediately start negotiating the clothes off each other.

1:08 am – Back at the White House, Noah is on the phone with the Russian President, who points out that Russia is still doing better than America in the President count, since America has already had four during the time he’s been in power. As expected, Sukarov already knows everything about what has been going on. Noah makes a pun and says that he won’t let Sukarov “dictate” to him. (Ha! Soviet humor). Noah tries to play up the “Hey! You guys let an ex-Russian General in OUR country!” angle, but Sukarov isn’t deterred. Sukarov threatens to let his Russian generals have an “appropriate response”, and hangs up.

1:09 am – Noah is freaked out about the Russians already knowing that’s going on and wants all White House blogging to stop immediately. Lennox points out that it probably wasn’t the blogs that did it, but it was more than likely a spy at the White House or CTU!
Noah tells Lennox and Karen that CTU can get whatever they need to find Cheng.

1:10 am – We finally have an answer about how Cheng was able to get away: They used their lo-beam headlights so no one would see them! Even more surprising, Cheng has the exact interface he needs to connect the chip and upload its information to his technical support guy, who is less than an hour away. Oops! They must be running windows, because the tech support guy says they need a special access code to get at the chip, and their computers don’t have Windows Genuine Advantage software installed. The tech support guy says they’re going to need someone to figure this out for them, and since their phone calls to India are likely to be monitored, they’ll need to find someone. This would be a really bad time for Morris to go to the 7-11.

Commercial

1:17 am – It’s been ten minutes, so of course Evil Lisa is done “debriefing” the guy in her secret evil hideaway. She goes off to take a shower, and of course, he goes into her purse to download something evil from her evil phone. Evil Lisa’s Evil Guy makes a quick phone call to another VERY evil looking guy, who confirms that Evil Lisa has no evil idea about any of this new evil stuff.

1:18 am – Chloe asks Morris what he was talking to Nadia about, and he explains his transfer was denied. Chloe apologizes to Morris for that “You armed a nuclear weapon today” crack. Morris tells her that they are “over”. (We didn’t even know they were really “started” again. We should pay better attention). Chloe seems to be pretty upset, since her chances with any of the other CTU guys are pretty slim, since she has no other technical equal there. She hides her face in the wall and tries to blow her nose while she cries, but cement isn’t very good for that.

1:19 am – Karen tells Nadia the good news about the Russians wanting to blow something up, and that Nadia can have some more resources. A team of experts has arrived to see Audrey too, but they haven’t looked at her yet. Nadia, realizing she’s now in WAY over her head, and that she’s already ticked off a bunch of the remaining CTU staff, asks Karen to have Bill back in charge. Karen won’t tell Nadia what happened.

1:20 am – Nadia tells Dr. Bradley, the doctor who will look at Audrey, that she wants to hear his impressions immediately. Dr. Bradley says that he does a great Christopher Walken, but there will be time for that after he’s looked at Audrey.

1:21 am – Milo tells Nadia that Mike and Jack have just landed. Nadia wants Jack secured (HA!), and wants to see Mike right away.

1:22 am – Dr. Miracle Max Bradley goes to see Audrey, who is doing some of her best acting ever by not saying a thing. They find little black marks on her arm, which are, technically, bruises.

1:23 am – Mike drops off Jack in a CTU interrogation cell, and Jack continues to beg to see Audrey. Jack tells Mike to “Take care of Audrey”, but he doesn’t really mean what the rest of us hope that really means.

1:24 am – Back in Audrey’s room, Dr. Bradley keeps saying “look at this!”, like this is first day on the job. He comes out to explain what everyone already knows: Audrey isn’t saying anything. It turns out that she either got repeatedly attacked with porcupines or that the Chinese gave her over 100 injections. Dr. Bradley seems to think the best course of action is to give Audrey even MORE drugs that will help her snap out of it. Mike is against this, and Dr. Bradley points out these are good American drugs, not the cheap Chinese stuff. Nadia asks what the downsides are, and Dr. Bradley says that it could cause vascular damage, neurological damage, and even death. Nadia says that she’s aware of the upside to all this, but wants to know what the downside is. Dr. Bradley says this is the only thing that will work. If only they had a Jack Bauer! Then they could do something! Mike says they do have a Jack Bauer! Dr. Bradley thinks a second and says that Jack might just upset Audrey more. Mike points out that at least Jack wouldn’t kill her, and Nadia points out there’s a downside for everything. Dr. Bradley says that he’s in charge, and since he has a lot of needles ready to go, he’s more comfortable about attempting something that might kill Audrey. He leaves.

1:25 am – Mike tries to convince Nadia to let Jack try to talk to Audrey, because it is what “Bill would have done”. Nadia gets a little miffed about this.

Commercial

1:30 am – Acting President Noah calls Evil Lisa and wants to know where she is, and that she needs to get to work right away. Noah says “I need you”. Evil Lisa says “I need you too”, but I doubt they’re talking about the same thing. Evil Guy and Evil Lisa kiss, and she leaves. Evil Guy calls Really Evil Guy, but we don’t hear what they say.

1:31 am – Lennox arrives in Noah’s office, and beats around the bush for a while about the CIA report he’s holding, outlining that someone at the White House is talking to Evil Guy, whose name is Mark Bishop. Lennox finally tells Noah that Evil Lisa is involved, and Noah seems really surprised. Noah had been thinking he was the only one she’s been evil with. Lennox points out that they have lots of evidence that Evil Lisa and Evil Mark have been evilly meeting for lots of evil naughty time. Noah says this is a pretty big problem because he’s been playing Evil Noah with Evil Lisa and they’ve been having evil naughty time together too. Lennox gets a look on his face as if to ask why HE wasn’t getting any evil naughty time, but doesn’t say anything. Noah tries to explain how he and Evil Lisa get involved while Lennox makes a lot of disgusted expressions. Lennox finally tells Noah that they might be able to turn this whole situation to their advantage.

1:35 am – Mike goes to see Jack, and tells Jack about Dr. Bradley’s evil plan…. While he uncuffs Jack!!! He tells Jack to “Make it look good”, and turns his back! Jack jumps Mike and makes him pass out. Jack gets out of the cell, grabs a gun from a guard, and goes after Audrey!

1:36 am – Dr. Bradley gets everything set up so he can try and kill, er, I mean, “help” Audrey, and Jack bursts into the room! He grabs Dr. Bradley throws him against the wall, and takes Audrey. After they leave, Dr. Bradley pulls the “Jack Bauer Has Audrey” alarm, and everyone at CTU knows that Jack has Audrey. Nobody except Nadia seems to be the slightest bit surprised.

Commercial

1:41 am – Morris tells Nadia that they still haven’t found Jack. Morris says it’s going to take a little bit of time, and Nadia offers the helpful manager advice of “make it take LESS time”. I’m sure Morris never thought of THAT. Good thing Nadia is on the job. Nadia looks up to not see Chloe, because Chloe is either invisible or not in her seat, and Morris doesn’t know where Chloe is.

1:42 am – Mike shows up on the CTU show floor, and Nadia confronts him about Jack. She’s not buying the whole “Jack overpowered me” thing, and Mike says he thought the plot needed a little spicing up, so he did what he thought was best.

1:43 am – Morris spots Jack! Nadia, acting like only a Star Trek captain could, decides to go get Jack herself, telling Morris to have others follow her.

1:44 am – Jack locks himself in a room with Audrey, and tries to talk to her. Jack starts telling Audrey her life story but she doesn’t seem to register anything. Thankfully, Audrey doesn’t say a word. Jack tells Audrey he loves her, and she grabs his hand, just as Nadia and gang use a CTU arc-welder to get through the door. There’s a brief drawing of guns, and Audrey blurts out “Bloomingdales!”, which everyone interprets as “Bloomfield”. Nadia tells Dr. Bradley to go to her office and some other CTU agents take Audrey away. Nadia promises Jack that she’ll make sure Dr. Bradley doesn’t touch Audrey.

Commercial

1:52 am – At the White House, Lennox tells Noah that there are large numbers of Russian troops entering the Asian theatre, and they’re going to be mad there’s no popcorn and no show being played. Lennox says they’re going to be so mad, they’ll be able to get to an American base within the hour.

1:53 am – Evil Lisa arrives back in Noah’s office acting like she didn’t just do something evil with someone else. Noah tells Evil Lisa that the Russian’s know what’s going on. Evil Lisa tries to act like Innocent Lisa when Noah asks about Evil Mark, but Noah won’t have it. He reminds Evil Lisa that cavorting with the enemy is Treason, and tells her to go back to Evil Mark. She tries to protest, but Noah threatens her with another non-spot no-action filled season of “24”, and won’t hear of it.

1:58 am – Ex-Secretary of Defense Heller goes to talk with Audrey, promising to take her away. Audrey looks scared that he might drive off a cliff on the way home, like last year. Heller goes to ask Nadia if he can talk to Jack.

1:59 am – Heller goes to Jack. Jack promises to take care of Audrey. Heller threatens Jack and tells Jack to stay away from Audrey. Heller says, “You’re cursed, Jack! Everything you touch, one way or another, ends up dead!” I had no idea Heller was part Gypsy, but I stand corrected.

2:00 am – Time’s up!

NEXT TIME ON “24”: JACK WANTS TO CLEAN UP! JACK WITH A GUN! ASSAULT BY THE CHINESE! EXPLOSIONS IN A SEWER!

LOST: Why The Others Are Desperate To Get Women Pregnant

SPOILERS AHEAD

You’re going to have to stick with me on this one… This is going to be a long post.

I said in my A Secret War post that I thought there were people on the outside that wanted to find members of The Dharma Initiative. I have a theory about why, and what’s really behind what The Others are doing.

First, let’s recap what we know for sure:

The Dharma Initiative has been working on something on the island for more than 20 years.

They’re REALLY well funded.

The Others are working on experiments which involve fertility.

They’ve recruited specialists in infertility (Juliette) to try and keep women who got pregnant while on the island alive, since they die before the third trimester.

They’ve found an island that is very difficult to find in conventional ways to do these experiments in secret, and they’re going to great lengths to keep people from finding out what exactly they’re doing.

We’ve heard over and over about The Others desire to get “Good People”.

The Others and some of the survivors of Flight 815 know that something about the island makes people heal faster.

We know that the helicopter pilot told Mikhail “I am not alone”.

I could go on with this, but you get the idea…

The thing that really jumped out at me after finding out that the helicopter pilot told Mikhail “I am not alone” was that the pilot was making an attempt to scare Mikhail, in the way that we’ve seen in other shows in movies. Nearly every time you’ve seen someone that’s dying in enemy territory, you tell them, “There will be more after I’m gone”, and things like that.

So, what possible reason would there be for a group on the outside to be so concerned about what The Others were doing on the island that they wanted to get to the island in the first place? That group must really want to stop, or at least expose, what’s happening on the island.

It’s also been very odd that The Others have gone to really great lengths to disguise what they’re doing. Here you have an island that no one can find, and when strangers crash on the island, they feel the need to disguise themselves and keep the crash survivors away by scaring them.

And it turns out that the experiments they’ve been doing have been to make sure that women that get pregnant on the island live through the pregnancy. Why would they hide something like that? Wouldn’t you really want to be sure you could get all the help you could?

I was thinking all of this over and I realized that the reason The Others are so desperate to find a way to keep the women pregnant is that they HAVE to do it, in order for the rest of their plan to work.

The Others’ Plan

Well, take into consideration that they’ve found a place where people heal really quickly. We’ve been told there’s no cancer. What if they’ve figured out a way to harness whatever does that on the island? That would explain why Ben could tell Juliette with such certainty that Juliette’s sister would survive. Furthermore, it could even be that it would make people live a LONG time. (I know, we haven’t seen anything about that yet, but stick with me here).

Also take into consideration that there’s something on the island killing people who have been “bad”. Sure there have been some deaths that were accidental (Boone), but there sure have been deaths where people who have been bad on the outside were killed for that very reason (Eko).

Now, say that you wanted to rid the world of all evil and make sure that all the good people lived. In fact, you could even rid the world of all disease, have people live healthy lives, and not worry about anyone “bad” harming anyone.

You find an island, and you have both parts: You have something that would be able to go through the population getting rid of “bad” people, and you have a cure for every known disease.
But you discover the “downside” of curing people would be that with that “cure” is women couldn’t survive a pregnancy. That’s a pretty big downside.

You’d REALLY want to fix that kind of problem, because if you could, you’d have what you consider to be the perfect society.

Would you want to hide that? You bet. Would that be something everyone would want? No way.

If The Others are really in the final stages of unleashing their plan to create a Utopian society, people opposed to what’s going on would want to find them to stop them. That’s why I think The Others have been so secretative about what they’ve been working on. If they can find a way to make women survive that pregnancy, they’ll be able to create their Utopian world.

Now, whether this island is Atlantis or another mythical place that had a perfect society that ended up dying out because they couldn’t figure out the whole pregnancy issue, I don’t know at this point.

I think all signs point that this is what The Others are trying to achieve.

Update

Back in October of 2005, I wrote a theory about Lost. In there, I wrote that I thought nanobots were used by Christian Shepard to cure Jack’s patient, the woman that eventually became his wife. While it’s not nanobots, having a vaccine from the island does fit in well with my theory that Christian Shepard was working with Dharma on testing the cure. He was the head of the staff at the hospital, and would have access to everything. Including the woman that Jack didn’t think he’d be able to cure during the surgery on her spine, only to find out later that she was cured. If Christian Shepard were working with The Others/Dharma/Whoever-They-Are, he could have been the one that really cured her with a vaccine from the island.

Furthermore, who better to be in on wanting a Utopian society than someone who profited from the war industry… Alvar Hanso.

LOST: A Secret War?

Some spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen D.O.C. yet, don’t read further!

If you’ve read the spoilers below, or read them on another site, you’ll already know that the pilot told Mikhail, “I am not alone”, which certainly seemed to surprise him.

What did she mean by that? She wouldn’t necessarily tell him that there were more people on the helicopter just for his information. I mean, why would it matter so much to her when she knew that she was dying that she needed to tell him something like that? It doesn’t make sense.

What does make a lot more sense is that she’s telling him there are more people like her out there, and that she told him that to scare him. We’ve seen scenes like that in other shows and in the movies. If you think you’re dying, tell the enemy that there are more people out there, and they’re coming.

I think it’s likely there is another group of people (Other “Others”?) that have been trying to find this island, and they’re going to continue to search until they can find it.

The type of gear the pilot was wearing, particularly the helmet and mask, make me think this might be some sort of military operation, or at the very least, they’re treating it like one.

I think this definitely ties into the reason The Others have been trying to keep women from dying when they’re pregnant, but I’ll leave that for a follow up posting that I’ll make later today.