Looking Glass Station - Underwater Hatch

I think it’s pretty clear that a lot of the things going on around the island are all about Ben trying to maintain his position as the leader. I think that he was chosen to be raised up as a leader after he was embraced as a kid because he somehow had the ability to connect with the island (speak to “Jacob”, whatever that means).

I think that it goes back to the moment he killed his dad (and arranged or participating the killing of the others); I suspect that from that moment on, his island connection began to wane, and he had to increasingly rely on manipulation to remain in his place as the leader, since was loosing his connection to the island.

I suspect that since the crash (or shortly after) he has always seen Locke as a big threat to his position. I think this is why he has tried to manipulate Locke into doing (or not doing) things throughout the show; the latest example of this is his attempt to coerce Locke into killing his own father (just as Ben did himself), in hopes that doing so will cause Locke’s “island connection” to suffer as Ben’s has.

To go even further out on a limb, I’d suggest that the pregnancy problems are actually Ben’s doing. He sees that children somehow have more potential for the “island connectivity” factor, and he therefore (either consciously or subconsciously) knows that it’s in his best interest to have no new kids born on the island, because they would threaten his position. I think he may also have targeted Juliet to come “fix” the problem specifically because believed that she would fail.

So I’m guessing the smoke monster is somehow tied to the island to the degree that it can’t “fly” up high enough to go over that electric boundary fence.

This would seem to be the only explanation for why the fence would stop it (assuming that it did, and it wasn’t an act), and it would fit with other appearances such as when it tried to drag Locke into a hole that it appeared to be “reaching up” from.

The only part that would not make sense would be the footage from the beginning of the show where people say that it shows the smoke monster flying up and destroying the plane. I don’t remember this at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. The only thing I did see was a frame-by-frame image of the smoke monster going through the turbine right before it blew up, but that was when it was on the ground. They may have shown a similar shot while the plane was still in the air as well, but I don’t remember it. Even if they did though, I think since it was not visible to the unaided viewer (in normal speed) it’s safe for them to ignore that and decide that it didn’t happen, since they’ve never referenced it in the show itself.

My latest theory involves the explanation for Locke’s healing, and its temporary nature - depending on his “relationship” with the island at any point in time.

Basically, it goes like this: through whatever manner the island is able to interact with the past, it can influence things to happen. Some believe that past events were orchestrated to bring (at least some of) the people on that plane to the island.

My theory is based on Locke’s dad being brought to the island the same way. The kicker is that when the island reached back and altered the past to direct him towards the island, it altered the timeline by causing him not to be there to push John out of the window, so therefore he can walk.

Now, this depends on it actually being Locke’s dad (instead of a fake / illusion) on the island, which I’m still not sold on. There are also other holes, like the other healings, but those may have similar explanations. The Sun and Jun one isn’t really a verified healing anyway, since there are clear questions as to whether Jun is the real father. As for Rose, she probably is associated with Dharma anyway, so she probably can’t be trusted.

To follow up on Dan’s comment here and clarify my current stance on time travel in Lost, I thought I’d post my thoughts on it (in the context of this show).

There’s probably no one who’s a bigger fan of time travel stories than I am, but even so, I really was hoping (even after watching the Desmond episode) that there wasn’t actually any “real” time travel going on in Lost.

After watching Desmond’s episode this season (and to some degree, before that) my theory on the flashbacks was that they were more a part of the story than it seemed. I believed (and still suspect, albeit to a lesser extent) that the flashbacks we are watching are the survivors’ memories, but that the specifics of the scenes they are remembering are somehow being influenced (and sometimes slightly tweaked) by something on the island. This would be the explanation for the common characters as well as some other almost easter-eggish stuff that we’ve seen.

After watching Desmond’s episode, I initially thought it supported my theory, and that Desmond just got a super extra dose of whatever the island is giving everyone else to induce their flashbacks, only because of the extra boost / overload some things were different. One was that he was aware that he was experiencing the flashback (as in a lucid dream, when you realize that you’re dreaming but you’re still interacting with the “dream world”). The other was that the island influence was also on overdrive and he was given multiple possible projections about potential future events, which he now keeps experiencing as further “flashbacks”.

However, this hope / theory was apparently debunked by the producers (although I haven’t heard it myself) who apparently confirmed that Desmond did indeed travel back in time. I’m not sure why I was hoping that the whole time travel thing isn’t true for this show, other than maybe it’s too easy.

Well, that and then you have people who start making really crazy theories (as if they hadn’t before), like mine from this week where I suggested that Ben is Juliet’s sister’s baby, who had been pushed back in time (after she and Juliet came to the island and either before or after he was born), and that’s why he’s been there his whole life and is in such control - he had knowledge of future events the whole time he was growing up.

Now if that theory doesn’t convince you that time travel is a bad idea for this show, I don’t know what will. =)