LOST Season 4 Questions and Theories: “Confirmed Dead”
February 8, 2008 by Kath Skerry
(Please keep questions, comments and theories based on personal speculation. This post is NOT to discuss spoilers you have heard.) Last week you all stepped up and shared your thoughts on some of the questions that were raised during the season premiere of LOST. With that, I think it’s only fitting that we dive right into it and look at some of the questions that came up during “Confirmed Dead”. I’ll start off with a few but feel free to add to the discussion.
Help me figure out what the hell is going on here people. These are some of the questions I had last night (in a completely random order)
- Why did Daniel Faraday have such an emotional reaction to the news of the found wreckage?
- The news showed the entire plane under the water. We know that most of the plane ended up on the island, so what exactly was being shows on the news?
- The body being shown wasn’t Seth Norris, he was killed on the island by the monster, so who was that?
- When was the wreckage found? (a calendar in Frank’s office says ‘2004’)
- Why are they looking for Ben?
- Who is the man that Ben has on the boat and why?
- How does Miles have a picture of Ben at an airport (did he leave the island?)
- Why did the rescue team pack gas masks?
- What’s a polar bear doing in Tunisia?
- Why was Charlotte so intrigued by the DHARMA leather strap she found alongside the polar bear?
- Clearly Matthew Abbadon lied to Hurley about being a lawyer for Oceanic, but what does he have to do with all this, and why did he pull together a team to explore the island if he was convinced there were no survivors of 815
- Why did Naomi think that there possibly could be survivors of Oceanic 815 on the island? It seems like a pretty broad hunch that a plane that crashed would have survivors on the very island she was going to.
- Who is Minkowski and why couldn’t he take Miles’ call?
- What the hell was that dustbuster device Miles brought into Mrs. Gardner’s home?
- Why was Charlotte wearing a bullet proof vest?
So yeah, a lot of questions and I didn’t really even skim the surface.
Also, courtesy of LostPedia.com, here are some interesting “coincidences” between the names of the “rescuers” and some other famous people. I find this stuff fascinating.
Charlotte’s name: Charlotte Staples Lewis, is a reference to Clive Staples Lewis (commonly referred to as C.S. Lewis), author of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Michael Faraday was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to electromagnetism as a field of study. From Wikipedia: “He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena.” In this episode, Faraday comments on abnormalities in the light rays on the island.
The name Minkowski is a reference to Hermann Minkowski, the mathematician who pioneered the idea of 4-dimensional space-time.
The name Lapidus may be a reference to the movie Sleeper, in which one character says “Then I would talk like Mr. Lapidus, who got hit by lightning.” Sleeper is about a man who wakes up after being frozen in liquid nitrogen for 200 years. “Lapidus,” literally translated from Hebrew, means “candles,” or “torches.”
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I think Ben’s man on the boat is Michael. Ben gave Micheal the heading to leave the island, didn’t he? That would explain Walt appearing to Locke.
Natalie, I was thinking that perhaps Michael was on the boat too. Ben gave him and Walt the boat to escape along with general directions. What if those directions led Michael to the rescue boat, and he’s now there.
Yeah, I agree. I think it’s Michael too. The more I think about that, the more sense it makes. Only, I really wish I hadn’t thought about it because how cool would that have been to be totally surprised to see that it was Michael??
Regarding the news stories, I think all of that (the whole plane, the bodies, etc) were decoys planed by whoever it is that’s in charge of all this as a way of explaining the “deaths” of the Oceanic 815 passengers to the world. There had to be some way to explain away the crash to families, etc so that nobody would be looking for them. That’s also the reason behind the “there won’t be a recovery of the bodies” announcement that was made on the news. Not sure who’s behind the plant, or why, but somebody sure when through a lot of trouble.
Otherwise, I was left completely bumfuzzled by last night’s episode, especially the whole ghost hunter/dust buster thing. WTF was that????
I really liked the newbies (except freak show Miles) but, like you GMMR, that’s gonna come back to get me eventually. The only one I think may be really a good guy is Frank.
Awesome start to this season. I am so sad there are only 6 eps left. Lost is back, baby!!
Knowing that Ben killed everyone in the Dharma initiative would make me want to take along a gas mask 😉 Maybe the boat people were thinking the same thing…
at least that’s my best guess!
cam – the fact that we both like Frank and think he might one of the good ones pretty much means he will be rotten to the core.
Maybe he was the guy behind ALL of THIS. That’s why he wasn’t flying #815, he knew exactly what was going to happen.
wow… soooo good 🙂
hmmmm Michael on the boat… interesting idea.
I think the “rescuers” must be connected to the Dharma initiative and hence are quite angry with Ben. And good point 2mchtv, this would explain the gas masks. Charlotte also recognized the Dharma symbol at the dig wherever/whenever that was.
At the very least, they seem to be a resourceful bunch… Someone faked a plane crash at the bottom of the ocean so there would be no real search effort. Naomi seemed to be anticipating survivors on the Island so I think she, at least, was aware the one on the ocean floor wasn’t 815.
But each week I’m more and more convinced there’s a time travel angle. Remember last season when we thought Walt’s sudden growth spurt was just bad casting? Well Locke addressed that last night… interesting.
Just had another thought….Given that Walt is the one warning Locke about Naomi and her gang, it makes even more sense that Michael is Ben’s man on the boat.
I really dont think that Walt was bad casting. I think they just didnt realize how much a 10 (?) year old boy will change in 3 seasons. I think they had Locke reference that he looked taller purely because they couldnt ignore the fact that all the viewers would be able to tell he has changed alot since the show began.
Also, Remember how the “others” were happy to get rid of Walt? They said they “really had their hands full” with him. I think he has some sort of ESP or time-“Jumping” abilities. I think that is how he is able to communicate with Locke. It is possible he is on the boat with Michael, but still able to be on the island too.
Last night helped to prove my personal theory that only hot people can find the island.
Aside from that, I agree with the theory that Michael’s on the boat but I have some issues with it. It makes sense, but it might be too obvious. I’m sure Ben’s using him somewhere, but I kind of think that his being on the boat is much too logical for this show.
As an anthropologist, I’ll keep my observations about Charlotte to myself since they’re kind of picky little ‘real anthropologists wouldn’t . . . .’ things. We’ll see what happens with her.
dudeeee;
remember the scene when frank is watching the coverage of the wreckage?
well I dialed the number on his tv screen, the hotline for Oceanic 815.
I swear, the message will scare you.
its starts with a phone ringing, then its a lady basically telling you everyone died && to make funeral arrangments && that the hotline will be updated && they say “we’re sorry for you loss. please contact the medical exainer or your accident cordinater for additional information”
call it!!!
there’s more in the message like if you don’t hang up right away the lady comes back && tells you dialed a wrong number, but I’m too freaked out to write it all out.
lol.
Annie,
Ah, I stand corrected… I thought it was a new actor and perhaps chosen to look older for a reason. I believe the cast aways are only supposed to have been on the Island for a couple of months but you are right… still three years for a young actor.
Still think there’s something wonky going on there about time… 😉
Here’s the number for anyone interested in calling it 888-548-0034
whoa, I called the number, that’s pretty crazy.
Daniel crying in the beginning was a little strange especially when we see the rest of the episode. Something that was brought up in another forum is that that scene was perhaps a flash forward for him. (?) weird I know, but kind of makes sense. Maybe he’s crying because he feels guilt about whatever went down on the island that we haven’t seen yet. Remember Naomi went to the island with the assumption that there were no survivors. This team in the heilcopter were all so different with different gifts/talents/etc and they were in search of Ben and something else. My head is spinning! And only after trying to make sense of one question! 🙂
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“I will leave your toothbrush on top of your tire tomorrow morning” (Angela)
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LOST Q’s:
Why did Daniel Faraday have such an emotional reaction to the news of the found wreckage?
I thought I was the only one wondering the same thing! What would upset him about FINDING the wreckage. Could it be he felt he had something to do with the crash so its just bringing up bad memories. Is he worried about something?
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The news showed the entire plane under the water. We know that most of the plane ended up on the island, so what exactly was being shows on the news?
Someone seems to have faked a wreckage site. The pilot is different, someone doesnt want anyone asking questions! But who, the island, Jacob, Ben – is he powerful enough to make that happen?
Why are they looking for Ben?
Maybe they all have family ties to those that died when Ben killed most from the Dharma project.
How does Miles have a picture of Ben at an airport (did he leave the island?)
Great question!!
Why did the rescue team pack gas masks?
Wasnt that creepy to see that – that was a huge UH OH. That stuff whatever they used (anyone know?) is obviously very powerful.
What’s a polar bear doing in Tunisia?
Oddest part of the show I thought!
Why was Charlotte so intrigued by the DHARMA leather strap she found alongside the polar bear?
She almost expected it or something – very strange!
Why was Charlotte wearing a bullet proof vest?
Another great question – could she possibly of been scared of anyone from her own crew? Who knows. That one really stumps me too.
I hadn’t thought about Michael being the man on the boat, but that makes sense. I think the rescue team and the “lawyer” who organized the mission are part of a resurrected version of the Dharma Initiative who are looking to get back to the island to take revenge on Ben for what he did. I think Ben has left the island (the submarine) and that’s how the picture in the airport came to be. Certainly other members of The Others have left and returned (when they fetched Juliet) and Ben has probably had plenty of contact with the outside world enabling the Dharma Initiative to collect info about him.
Why was the polar bear in Tunisia? Same reason they were on the island. I think the Dharma Initiative had other projects around the world and one was in Tunisia. Charlotte either uncovered evidence of them or was somehow affiliated with or descendant of those who were and was seeking information when she found the polar bear.
As for the plane, I think it was planted by these new Dharma folks to ward off searches to the island by non Dharma people.
About Daniel having an emotional reaction to wreckage, I think he might be a little crazy. Didn’t Naomi say something about him being a nutcase when she was talking to that scary guy about the team? Plus the lady daniel was with when he was watching the news said, “why are you so upset?” which sounded a little impersonal and like that sort of thing happened all the time.
The picture of Ben at the airport makes me very suspicious, maybe he has ties to oceanic or something.
* Why did Daniel Faraday have such an emotional reaction to the news of the found wreckage?/ Some sort of premonition I think. He knew he had a connection to the island.
* The news showed the entire plane under the water. We know that most of the plane ended up on the island, so what exactly was being shows on the news?/ A government cover-up.
* The body being shown wasn’t Seth Norris, he was killed on the island by the monster, so who was that?/ Some random body the government put down there to replicate the wreckage
* When was the wreckage found? (a calendar in Frank’s office says ‘2004′)/ Probably about 2 months after the crash?
* Why are they looking for Ben?/ Because Ben is in trouble with the former Dharma Initiative?
* Who is the man that Ben has on the boat and why?/ Probably someone we don’t know. The why? Because it’s BEN
* How does Miles have a picture of Ben at an airport (did he leave the island?)/ He did in fact leave the island. Just because they showed him as a young boy on the island doesn’t mean he’s been there since.
* Why did the rescue team pack gas masks?/ As a precaution. They know what Ben is capable of. HE did kill all of the Dharma Initiative after all.
* What’s a polar bear doing in Tunisia?/ The same thing a Polar Bear was doing on the island. Some kind of Dharma experiment.
* Why was Charlotte so intrigued by the DHARMA leather strap she found alongside the polar bear?/ She knew something about Dharma. She’s probably more curious about that than anything else.
* Clearly Matthew Abbadon lied to Hurley about being a lawyer for Oceanic, but what does he have to do with all this, and why did he pull together a team to explore the island if he was convinced there were no survivors of 815?/ Either he was lying and did believe there were survivors or used that as an excuse to find Ben for whatever reason he had to find Ben.
* Why did Naomi think that there possibly could be survivors of Oceanic 815 on the island? It seems like a pretty broad hunch that a plane that crashed would have survivors on the very island she was going to./ No comment.
* Who is Minkowski and why couldn’t he take Miles’ call?/ No idea.
* What the hell was that dustbuster device Miles brought into Mrs. Gardner’s home?/ Some sort of ghostbuster’s thing. Probably just to look cool to make his clients feel better. And to cover up the sound of him talking to the dead.
* Why was Charlotte wearing a bullet proof vest?/ Same reason they had guns and a gas mask. A precaution against Ben.
These are just far fetched guesses mixed with my initial thoughts.