Looking Glass Station - Underwater Hatch

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.

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. =)

I’m really looking forward to this week, and beginning the long haul of hopefully good episodes. To prepare, I’m going to dump out a couple random theories or thoughts I’ve been considering about the show, and see which ones play out and are either proven or not.

1. I think Kate is playing along with the others, and has been since the beginning of season 3, after her meal with Ben. This could be complicated by any number of twists, such as her just pretending to cooperate with them to then turn on them later, or them suspecting that and using her in spite of it, etc. etc. - double/triple twists, etc.
2. Paulo (I think that’s his name) said something interesting in the bathroom in the Pearl; something to the effect of “the bathroom still works”, which was supposedly the exact same line that Charlie said when he was exploring the cockpit section with Jack and Kate. I speculate that this is a reference to Paulo having other reasons for going in there, just as Charlie did.
3. I still think that the info the others get from the outside world is a one-way communication; they get whatever someone on the outside gives them, but they cannot make requests or have conversations, etc.
4. The four toed statue is a red herring. I believe that its only purpose is to cause those who find their way onto the island (as well as us as viewers) ask some weird questions.
5. The losties will (hopefully) follow that cable one way or the other (ocean or jungle) or both, and find something interesting. Of course, they could also find it tied to a big heavy rock or tree - another red herring, for those on the island as well as us as viewers.
6. Ben used to monitor the Pearl; they show too many shots with him in that other monitor room that it seems obvious.
7. How the heck did the others not know about Desmond’s boat? Ben seemed not to, until they said something about it and he said “I have to have that boat”, or something to that affect. This is especially interesting since the guy that was with Desmond definitely knew about it, and seemed to have hidden it in almost plain sight to anyone with unfettered access to all of the island, as we assume the others have. Something doesn’t line up.
8. I still think Libby didn’t belong in that place where Hurley was. Whether she was there to spy on the numbers guy or she actually did have some sort of mental issues (hopefully somehow related to the projects/experiments), I hope we find out soon.