Skoks Responds

I figured I would turn this into a full post, rather than leave it relegated to the comments section. The following is from our resident expert Skoks, who has not only seen every episode at least 3 times, but freakishly knows the name of every episode in every season:


We're off and running! Good work Kennedy, I didn't think I could possibly look forward more to the final season of the greatest show I've ever seen...but I will definitely enjoy discussing here each week.

Some thoughts regarding your thoughts:

- Good job tracing the Dark Man's "loophole" plan. I think we'll probably be getting a clearer picture on the plan itself, the relationship between Jacob and the Dark Man, and the origin and rules of The Others, so I won't speculate too much at this point. It is worth noting that the "rules" have been mentioned before. As you stated, in 4.09 "The Shape of Things to Come," Ben references the rules in explaining why he can't kill Widmore. Also, the first thing Ben says after Alex is killed is "He changed the rules"...presumably meaning Widmore (later in the season Ben asks Keamy specifically if Widmore ordered him to kill Alex). Finally, the rules were mentioned even as far back as early Season 3. In the infamously poor-rated episode 3.09 "Stranger in a Strange Land," Ben stops the execution of Juliet, after she had killed Pickett (the annoying fellow-Other who was going to kill Sawyer), by stating that "the rules don't apply" in this situation. Nice to know that even a seemingly throw-away episode might end up having some relevance afterall. Anyhow, I'm definitely excited to get more info on all of this (and find out we're way off probably ha).

- The cabin scenes remain a mystery to me. I suppose we can assume that everything we've seen take place in the cabin (starting with Ben and Locke's initial visit in 3.20 "The Man Behind the Curtain") has not involved Jacob, but instead the Dark Man. Then again, perhaps that was Jacob which said "Help Me" to Locke while invisible during that episode. Then at some point the ring of ash around the cabin was broken (we're not sure of the importance of the ash, although Ilana and Bram make a big deal of the broken ash ring when they arrive at the cabin in "The Incident"). After the ring is broken, we notice that the cabin begins jumping around (Locke can't find it early in Season 4 and Hurley accidentally runs into it). Then in 4.11 "Cabin Fever," Locke finds Christian Shepherd in the cabin, which I agree is most likely a manifestation of the smoke monster. Anyhow, perhaps the ring of ash acted as some form of protection for Jacob, although considering the fact that the Dark Man could not kill Jacob outright (because of the rules), it's unclear why this protection would be needed. Add the whole cabin saga to the list of interesting questions which might be addressed in Season 6...although it's not really a dealbreaker for me if it goes unanswered.


- I won't enter the Kate-debate, but I will say that I actually quite enjoyed Evangeline Lilly's work in 5.11 "Whatever Happened, Happened," in which Kate heartbreakingly says goodbye to Aaron and leaves him with Claire's mother. I thought it was well done, and it'll be interesting to see what happens if and when Kate finds Claire on the island this season.

- The Rose and Bernard scene was neecessary for closure (imagine if they had never shown Rose and Bernard again on the island?). They could definitely be "Adam and Eve" from the caves, although I think they are the obvious choice and the writers might throw us for a loop by making Adam & Eve turn out to be someone more important/shocking. A popular theory has always been that Adam & Eve will turn out to be Jack & Kate, since they were the ones who first discovered the skeletons, and Kate made a big deal about "not wanting to be Eve" (delicious irony perhaps...). Cue broken record -- "we'll see." Sidenote, the Rose and Bernard scene was probably worth it for Rose's "Oh hell no!" and Bernard's "Son of a Bitch" exclamations.

- Finally (and briefly), I agree that the Whatever Happened, Happened theory should and hopefully will prove correct. Depending on how the new season starts, I might devote a post to the theory, so I'll save it until then.

6 days to go!!