JohnLockeJesusBuddha

This is just to add to Leah's "leap of faith" post. This shot of Locke and Ben is the image that really sticks in my mind from the last episode. It's clear that this shot was deliberately composed to look like the crucifixion of Jesus. It's also clear, as mentioned in this post that he's a Buddha figure, too... I know this is all stuff we already know, but I just wanted to make a post that will keep track of all of the religious references.

John Locke = Jesus/Buddha
Christian = Jesus/Buddha
Aaron = Jesus/Buddha
Jack = St. Thomas
Claire = Mary
Ben = Some (so far) unknown false prophet
Richard = The angel Gabriel
Charlie = Some unknown martyr
Smoke Monster = St. Peter? (The "keeper of the keys to the kingdom of heaven"/"The guard of the island")
Charles Widmore = Satan (Satan was a fallen angel who was exiled from Heaven. Charles, for whatever reason, was exiled from the island, and is trying to get back).

Candidates for the twelve apostles:
Jack, Hugo, Claire, Sun, Jin, Sawyer, Kate, Sayid, Desmond, Juliet, Walt, Micheal, Ben, Rose, Bernard, Charlie

Episode Recap - "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Official recap here

I apologize for the delay.. I couldn't watch last night, so I played catch up tonight.. What a great episode!

Here's what I'm thinking:

Ben saved John and then killed him because if he commits suicide, he wont be able to come back to life on the island... but he still needed to die for some reason. Why else would Ben kill Locke? they both have the same goal - To get everyone back on the island.

This episode reintroduces Walt into the mix.. I have an interesting theory about Walt. Remember back in season 1 when he burned the raft because he didn't want anyone to leave the island? My theory is that Walt is under the influence of the Smoke Monster. I think the smoke monster takes your "soul" and makes you not want to leave the island. I also think Ben and Locke are under it's influence.

Remember how back in the earlier seasons, you would hear whispering in the woods all the time? It always happened right before someone appeared out of nowhere. My theory (Thanks Diana), is that the whispers are the "souls" that were taken by the smoke monster. If you remember, back in season 1 or 2, the whispers were heard right before Walt appeared to Shannon in the woods when she was shot... they never answered what was up with that.. its because part of Walt is still on the island!

Leap of Faith

Finally, an episode that didn't make my head ache from the flashing lights & high pitched sounds. This was one of my favorite episodes ever. I noticed quite a few religious references once again. The title of this weeks episode was 316, which immediately made me think of bible verse John 3:16:"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

This week we saw the survivors head back to the Island because Ben and Eloise told them that they should. As Ben mentioned, they took a big "leap of faith" that doing this would somehow 'save' them. The 'suicide' letter John left for Jack read "I wish you had believed me." Jack never believed in anything, since he is a 'man of science.' Since Jack took a "leap of faith" and headed back to the island, does this mean he's starting to believe and will have eternal life?

We learned that John sacrificed his life in order to save the island and from next weeks previews we learn that he will be 'resurrected'. Sounds a little bit like the story from the bible to me, not only that but Ben also referenced Jesus' resurrection, as well as the apostle Thomas. Thomas doubted that Jesus could/would be reborn unless he touched the wounds of a reborn Jesus. John's body was 'stored' at Simon's Butcher shop. Simon was also one of Jesus' apostles. Also known as Peter, Simon was the first one to declare that Jesus was the messiah. He was also the one who later on denied Jesus.

When we first saw Desmond back in season two, entering the numbers out of fear that the island would explode or everyone would get sick if he didn't, it looked like some sort of religious ritual to me. Desmond had no scientific proof that anything would happen if he didn't enter the numbers, but he did it for years. He didn't do it because he enjoyed it or even believed in it, he did it out of fear. Not only that, but he was able to convince others to do the same. Now Desmond has turned his back on the Island. He told Eloise (who was perhaps a pastor of some sort?) that he was done with the Island and that she lied to him and told him that the Island was his purpose. He was upset for giving up so many years of his life to it.

Joe and I also had a theory that Ben hurt/beat himself up to 'test' the island and/or himself, to see if returning to the island would heal him and therefore he would be declared "the one." A few seasons back, Ben developed a tumor on the island, which coincided with him losing faith in the island. The verse clearly states his one and only son and there has clearly been some 'rivalry' going on between Locke & Ben.

Eloise told the Jack, Kate & Sun to get back on the plane and to recreate the original flight as closely as they could. Sayid & Hurley also ended up on the flight. Not only that, but Sayid took on Kate's original role, being handcuffed to an officer. Hurley had a guitar this time, as Charlie did the first time. Did they get the same message or was it just a coincidence? I think this points to the fact that the Island (like Eden) is basically a test of/between fate and freewill. When Jack asks Kate how she thinks it (Sayid & Hurley being on the plane) happened, she simply says: "They bought a ticket." (freewill).

Research

I've done by blogly duty and done a little research about the last episode. Here is a possible clue about Charlotte's past... though for some reason, I don't remember the episode described here.

Sarah's POV

This is Sarah...who has never blogged on here before now, so feeling a little bold to write this at the moment.

ok, I disagree with Ben, I think the focus of this week's blog should be who was Charlotte's mother and father and if Faraday was the guy that scared her, why did she not mention it before now?

Also, I'm still a little confused about Jack's dad and Claire and their connection with the island. We know that weird things happen,(Locke being able walk) Was Christian on the island before, like Charlotte? What is Claire's purpose in her involvement with the island? (other than Jack's half sister and Aaron's mom) they haven't shown her doing too many creepy things besides telling Kate not to bring Aaron back in a dream. It's all still up in the air.

One last question...what are they going to do to get the rest of the Oceanic 6 back if only Locke, Sun and Jack are going? How come Sun isn't thinking about taking her kid, instead of just leaving it with her mom in South Korea? If they're meant to be on the island wouldn't you want to take your kid to be with you and your husband?

Episode Recap - This Place Is Death

This Place is Death

I'm still digesting this episode, but I wanted to say one thing before I forgot. We learned something about the "smoke monster" this episode. He turns you bad... or effects you in some strange way. This raises the question, Who else is under the influence of the smoke monster? Theories?

Just throwin this out there...

I'm watching the recap of last week's episode.... Anyone else notice that when the lawyer went into Claire's mom's hotel room it was sunny out? When The lawyer leaves, its pouring out... Jack get's soaked just going from the car to the door.

This happens right around the time that the people who are still on the island get zapped from a sunny day to a rainy night. Are the Oceanic 6 traveling through time too? is there some connection there?

Episode Recap - "The Little Prince"

The Little Prince

Seems fairly obvious that they want us to think the title refers to Aaron.. So either it's a hint and Aaron is special... like we've thought all along, or it's meant to distract us from the real story. I think it's a hint. Let's think about this... I have a theory.

Locke dies to bring the O.8. back to the island. We know this from the season 4 finale... What if Aaron is Locke. Or a reincarnation of him... I keep thinking back to the episode last season where Richard visited Locke as a boy. If you remember, he showed little Locke an assortment of objects. These were presented to Locke as a test to see if he was who Richard thought he might be. It reminds me of the way they choose the Dalai Lama or other religious leaders in Tibetan Buddhism.. The Lama dies and the monks go throughout the country looking for his reincarnation. They present certain children with a group of the Lama's posessions to see how he (it's always a male, apparently) reacts.. If he chooses the correct object, he is deemed the reincarnation of the Lama....This is my understanding of it anyway... It's the same as Richard did with Locke.

Locke failed the test, but this could be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.. what is significant is that throughout the entire series, we've been made to feel as if Aaron is special in some way. It's becoming more and more clear that Locke is special, too. So I'm posing this theory and I want to get your thoughts on it:

Aaron is Locke is Jacob.

By the way, they showed the birth of Aaron this episode.. coincidence?.. Dont be distracted by Jin coming back... that doesn't matter in the big picture.