I know some of you are upset with me for not being active on this site over the last two weeks. I had good reason. 2 weeks ago when I appeared on the Bob & Brian show I mentioned that some A-hole leaked the secret plot twist in the Lost finale, better known as the frozen donkey wheel. I promised that this site would remain spoiler free, and so it has… no thanks to another major A-hole who tried to ruin the surprise for me. As we predicted on the morning show someone emailed it to my comments section, fortunately I was able to avert my eyes before getting to any information and the surprise is still safe.
But the close call did force me into an internet ban as not to further risk exposure. So without the aid of the internet to prepare for the season finale, I decided to turn to my DVR. I barricaded myself in my living room with a bucket of Mr. Cluck Fried Chicken and a case of Apollo Bars (ok, so it was Popeye’s and Milky Way bars) and watched Season 4 from start to finish in one day... all glorious 12 hours. Below you will find an episode by episode recap of all of the questions that are still unanswered in each episode. Some of the questions will be ones whose answers will have significant impact on the series (like why the Oceanic 6 are lying?) and other questions will be of the less than serious variety (like why after more than a week on the island is Daniel Faraday still wearing his neck tie?) It will be a long read, but should adequately prepare you for the big finale and take less time than re-watching all 12 hours.
Before I start the episode by episode breakdown, I want to share with you one answer Damon and Carlton did share with us in their most recent podcast. A fan asked them about the concept of the island not letting someone die. The person noted the number of times that Michael tried to kill himself, but the island wouldn’t let it happen because he had work to do. This fan went on to ask if when Jack was going to jump from the bridge the island made the car crash by him preventing him from jumping. The fan also noted that when Ben is in Charles Widmore’s bedroom that could be the reason that Ben can’t kill him, because the island wouldn’t let it happen. The producers were shockingly forthcoming in their answer and basically confirmed that indeed was the case. Keep that thought in mind as you ponder all of the questions below and take note of how often that can be the simple answer to a previously tricky question.
Episode 4.1 “The Beginning of the End”
Hurley Flash-forward Ultra-Brief Recap: Survivors split into 2 groups behind Jack and Locke. Jack calls the freighter for help and takes his group to the beach. Locke’s group goes to New Otherton.
Unanswered questions:
- During his flash-forward why did Hurley tell Jack he is sorry for going with Locke?
- Charlie visits Hurley and tells him he has to go back because “they need you”. What exactly does that mean?
Ok, so the easy answer on that one is that he is talking about everyone else not in the Oceanic 6. What happened to them is obviously going to be a major theme as we move forward.
Episode 4.2 “Confirmed Dead”
Flashbacks of “The Scientists”
Ultra-brief Recap: The survivors encounter Daniel, Miles, Charlotte and Frank and start to get a better understanding of what their mission is. In the flashbacks we see each of them hearing that Flight 815 was found and we also get a little bit of their backgrounds.
Unanswered Questions:
- We have seen that Keamy and his men are an unrelenting force to be reckoned with and they seem to know how dangerous Ben is, so why would they send a bunch of scientists and a ghost buster as the first people to go extract Ben off the island?
- Why is Daniel Faraday crying upon learning of the crash?
- How is it that Miles can talk to the dead and why does that ability make him a good fit for this mission?
- We see that Abbadon was the person who assembled Naomi and the team of scientists. At the time it was easy to assume that he worked for Widmore, but in a later episode he shows up in Locke’s flashback, so who is he really working for?
- Frank Lapidus was supposed to be flying 815 on the day it crashed, so why wasn’t he?
Episode 4.3 “The Economist”
Sayid Flash-forward
Ultra-brief Recap: Sayid and Kate go to Locke’s camp and trade Miles for Charlotte which earns Sayid and Desmond a trip to the freighter. In the flash-forwards we learn that Sayid is working as a hitman for Ben and that Ben has the ability to get off the island.
Unanswered Questions:
- Sayid took the bracelet off of Naomi’s wrist and it had an inscription from “R.G.”. In his flash-forwards after we see him kill Elsa she is wearing a very similar bracelet. So who is Elsa’s boss? Signs point to the idea that Widmore is the boss of both Elsa and Naomi but since we have seen that different people on the freighter seem to have different intentions, we don’t exactly know who is working for whom.
- Why is Sayid working for Ben? This of course was partially answered later in the season when we find out that Nadia’s murder pushes Sayid into this role. But there are still questions surrounding those circumstances that we’ll get into when we look at that episode.
Episode 4.4 “Eggtown”
Kate Flash-forwards
Ultra-brief Recap: Kate decided to stay at Locke’s camp in order to find out that the freighter people know about her. In her flash-forwards we find out how he avoids going to prison for her crimes and we also see that she is raising Claire’s baby.
Unanswered Questions:
- Why does Miles ask Ben for precisely 3.2 Million dollars in exchange for telling Widmore that Ben is already dead?
- Kate’s mother says that she has been given 6 months to lives by her doctors for the last 4 years, yet somehow she is inexplicably still alive. Is this a case of the island not letting her die?
- At the end of the episode we see Charlotte helping Faraday with a sort of test, trying to remember 3 simple playing cards. What is Faraday’s condition?
Episode 4.5 “The Constant”
Desmond Time Traveling between 1996 and 2004
Ultra-brief Recap: Sayid and Desmond take the helicopter back to the freighter and when it goes off of the 305 heading Desmond gets unstuck in time. Faraday tells him to find his “constant”, which ends up being Penny who he is able to talk to on the phone, which saves him and keeps her searching for the island.
Unanswered Questions:
- Why is Keamy so upset that Frank brought Desmond and Sayid back to the freighter?
- Why is it that Desmond doesn’t remember anything about 2004 when he is jumping back and forth, but Minkowski does seem to know who he is and what is going on?
- How did Penny find out about the island?
- We see Widmore bidding on the journal of the First Mate of The Black Rock, what is its significance?
- In 1996 Faraday references that in 2004 he would remember his meeting with Desmond but he clearly does not, and we had the question about his memory problem before. Later we see in his journal that if anything goes wrong Desmond Hume will be his constant. So does that mean that Faraday used his machine on himself to unstick himself in time?
Episode 4.6 “The Other Woman”
Juliet Flashbacks
Ultra-brief Recap: Faraday and Charlotte go to shutdown the poison gas station and Ben sends Harper Stanhope to Juliet to tell her to stop them. In Juliet’s flashbacks we see how crazy and obsessed Ben is with her.
Unanswered Questions:
- In the flashbacks Harper Stanhope has a diploma on her wall from the Hanso Foundation, which started the Dharma Initiative. Yet Ben supposedly killed all of the Dharma people in the purge, so what is the lingering relationship between Dharma and the Others?
- How was Harper able to communicate with Ben?
- The Tempest is not a power station, as Juliet first told Jack. So where exactly all of the power on the island come from?
- Who was Harper referring to when she told Juliet “you look just like her”? Was is Ben’s mother or was it his childhood friend Annie?
- Why does Charles Widmore really want the island?
Episode 4.7 “Ji Yeon”
Sun Flash-Forwards/Jin Flashbacks
Ultra-brief Recap: Juliet tells Jin that Sun had an affair to keep her from leaving the beach. We find out that she has her baby off the island but that Jin never made it off and could be dead. Sayid and Desmond meet the captain and learn more about the fake wreckage of 815.
Unanswered Questions:
- Someone, presumably Michael, slips a note to Desmond and Sayid that say’s “Don’t trust the Captain”. Yet later we see the Captain add odds with Keamy and helping Sayid and Desmond. So why shouldn’t they trust the Captain? Of course that may be a moot point as the Captain is now dead.
- Sun’s baby appears to be born early, muck like Ben and Locke were both born prematurely. Is Sun’s baby “special”?
- What specifically is causing the Cabin Fever on the boat that causes Regina to throw herself overboard?
- Who staged the wreckage of Flight 815? The Captain implies it was Ben, but in the next episode Tom tells Michael that it was Charles Widmore.
- When Hurley visits Sun and her baby, why does he seem happy that none of the other Oceanic 6 members are coming?
- Is Jin really dead?
Episode 4.8 “Meet Kevin Johnson”
Michael Flashbacks
Ultra-brief Recap: Michael explains how he came to be on the boat to Sayid and Desmond. Michael wants to kill himself but the island won’t let him. At the end of the episode Karl and Rousseau are killed by Keamy who takes Alex hostage.
Unanswered Questions:
- After Michael tries to kill himself by crashing his car he wakes up in a hospital and looks at his surroundings, confused as to what is happening and screams when he sees Libby. Then he wakes up again, also in the hospital, but if you look closely all of the surroundings around him are different. So was he “dreaming” when he say Libby or could he possibly been time traveling back to the time he was hit by the car when Walt was a baby?
- How does the island prevent Michael from killing himself and why?
- When Michael first board’s the freighter as Kevin Johnson, Miles says to him “Your name isn’t Kevin…” How does Miles know this?
Episode 4.9 “The Shape Of Things To Come”
Ben Flash-forward
Ultra-brief Recap: Keamy’s team attacks Locke and Ben at New Otherton. Keamy kills Alex which prompts Ben to summon the smoke monster? In Ben’s flash-forward he uses Nadia’s murder to recruit Sayid?
Unanswered Questions:
- How did Ben end up lying in the Tunisian desert wearing a parka with the Orchid logo and what happened
to his arm?
- Why does Ben say that Keamy and his men won’t risk hurting him?
- Keamy and his men shot and killed all of the nobodies that were with Locke’s group in New Otherton, yet somehow Sawyer was able to run around, dodge bullets and get Claire to safety? Is the reason he wasn’t shot because the island was protecting him, much like it wouldn’t let Michael die?
- When Ben checks into the Tunisian hotel as “Dean Moriarity” and says he is a preferred guest, the desk clerk gives him a look of alarm. Why?
- Sayid starts working for Ben because Ben tells him Widmore’s man killed Nadia. What reason would they have for killing Nadia? Is Widmore really the one responsible or did Ben actually do it and blame Widmore knowing that it would push Sayid into working for him?
- Why did Ben wait to summon the smoke monster as a measure of last resort? He did it right after Alex was killed and he says Widmore “changed the rules”. Was not using the smoke monster as a weapon part of those rules?
- Widmore is sleeping alone… who is Penny’s mother and does that have to do with the history between Ben and Widmore?
- Widmore tells Ben, “Everything you have you took from me.” What does he mean by that?
- Widmore says Ben won’t find Penny, is she somehow being hidden and protected like the island is protected?
Episode 4.10 “Something Nice Back Home”
Jack and Kate flash-forward
Ultra-brief Recap: Jack needs his appendix removed. Claire walks off with her dead father in the middle of the night leaving Aaron in the jungle. Jack and Kate are raising Aaron in the future until we see Jack start his downward spiral.
Unanswered Questions: - Why did the island let Jack get sick?
- Why does Charlie tell Hurley that Jack isn’t supposed to be raising the baby?
- When the smoked monster attacked Keamy’s men why didn’t it just kill all of them?
- Since Claire left the baby in the jungle, what exactly are they feeding that kid?
- Is Claire dead or alive?
- What does Jacob want with Claire?
Episode 4.11 “Cabin Fever”
Locke flashbacks
Ultra-brief Recap: Locke, Ben and Hurley finally find Jacob’s Cabin and are told to move the island. In Locke’s flashbacks we see that Richard Alpert has been recruiting him for the island since birth. On the freighter we see a large divide between Keamy and his men and the rest of the people on the boat including the Captain and the scientists.
Unanswered Questions:
- In Locke’s dream Horace Goodspeed says he has been dead for 12 years, which would mean the Purge was 12 years ago. But Ben kidnapped Alex 16 years ago, that timing doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s more evidence that begs the question, are the current “Others” more related to the Dharma Initiative than we originally thought?
- When Locke is a baby born prematurely the nurses say he has survived every infection and illness. Is this another case of the island intervening and not letting him die?
- Is Richard ageless? How did he know about Locke’s special ability as far back as birth?
- When Locke meets up with Abbadon in rehab, he tells him to go on a walkabout. Then he says “When you and me run into each other again, you will thank me.” What does that mean and once again makes us wonder who exactly Abbadon is working for.
- Christian tells Locke that Aaron is “where he is supposed to be.” Yet we have been told before that Claire must be the one who raises him. So why is Claire willing to leave him at what would appear to be Christian/Jacob’s orders?
Episode 4.12 “There’s No Place Like Home Part 1”
Oceanic 6 flash-forward
Ultra-brief Recap: Jack and Sawyer are going to the Orchid to get Hurley. Locke and Hurley are together at the Orchid after Ben turns himself in to Keamy. Kate and Sayid are captured by the Others. Sun and Aaron are on the freighter where Desmond and Michael find a huge bomb.
Unanswered Questions:
- Why are the Oceanic 6 lying about what happened to them and who set up this cover up?
- How does Faraday know about the Orchid station and secondary protocol? Keamy had to use his key and the Captain’s key to get it out of a safe.
- In the Oceanic 6’s story they say 8 of them got off the place but 2 died. Who are the 2 that “died”? Why even say 8 got off? wouldn’t there be fewer questions if only those 6 got off the plane?
- Who did Ben signal with the mirror? My guess is that is was Richard. It makes the most sense, plus if you look at the map that Ben drew for Alex in episode 4.7, it looks like the temple is up in the mountains.
- What are Sun’s plans for her father’s company?
- Sun blames 2 people for Jin’s death. Her father is one, who is the other?
- What exactly does the Orchid do and how can it be used to move the island?
- Why did they feel the need to show is the shot of Ben giving Locke his collapsible baton? We have never seen him with it before except in flash-forwards and in that flash-forward he is wearing a jacket from the Orchid and is injured. What does that have to do with the events currently happening on the island?
- What is causing the radio interference on the boat? Is the thing on Keamy’s arm set to detonate the bomb on the boat?
- Where are the Others taking Kate and Sayid?
OK… so that was a lot of questions. Some are significant and some are not. Hopefully we’ll get some good answers tonight. Enjoy all 3 hours of Lost tonight and tomorrow make sure to tune in to Bob & Brian to listen to our discussion.