Big banks exposed: Now I could understand why we never have the freedom to do what we want to do.

It does have a name, Cerberus (in Greek and Roman mythology, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell), that’s been known since the blast door map in season 2.

BTW, I’m interested in learning what your screen ID means. If it’s your name, I’m curious of the origins and English translation.

Nikki and Paolo were an example of the producers listening a little too much to the fan base and then having to deal with those decisions.

The characters are at the heart of the show and watching them wrestle with everything emotionally and physically is what makes the show so great.

Exactly. That’s my point. That the island is a metaphor for the world we live in. I agree that the ABC/LOST powers that be did not plan it this way, it was a higher power–whatever it is you wanna call it. I’m being totally serious.

Yes, originally no one knew what day the show would air and there wasn’t supposed to be any breaks. Interesting how that all worked out, right?

I think once LOST concludes, the writers will come clean to reveal what clues and patterns they had actually planned within the show, and what they didn’t. I believe fans are going to be blown away that the vast majority were just serendipitous parallels–the universe working its magic. For me, that’s what makes this show so extraordinary. It’s working on another level. LOST truly is alive.

I have one issue though, and it’s not so much a bone to pick as a little cautionary warning.

I’ve been seeing a lot of commentary going around lately that makes points about the dates specific episodes air. A lot of folks took issue with the fact that “Whatever Happened, Happened” aired on April Fool’s day, and wondered if maybe some elements of the episode weren’t supposed to be misleading. I’ve also been hearing the statements about the date “Dead is Dead” aired (as you’ve mentioned in your article here). I just want to warn folks against making such statements because we can ascertain for a fact that these air dates are simply coincidence.

If you’ll remember, several weeks ago we took a week off. This was not originally planned – we were told to expect a complete season with any breaks. These episodes were written late last summer, as filming began on the early half of the season. I find it hard to believe the powers that be planned to air certain episodes on thematically appropriate days. For one, this episode had been written before we even had a firm date for the start of the season. If you’ll remember it was mid October before we were given the firm January start date. Even then, the time slot was up for discussion. Do you recall the “Will it air on Wednesdays or Thursdays” debate from last fall? Up until then the consensus was that season five would start in mid-February.

And, as I said, the week off (and there’s another break coming just before the finale) was decided on late in the game, after the season had already begun. This of course pushed every subsequent episode back one week from when originally intended.

This is all to say that the connections folks are trying to forge between air dates and episode themes are really no more than coincidence.

Unless of course it IS fate, and the Island influenced the big wigs at ABC to push things back for its own mysterious reasons…

Because the actor who plays Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) wanted off the show, they had to rush his story line a bit, but I do think his death satisfied the atonement rule. The monster killed him when he realized that he’d done the best he could with his life and didn’t need to ask his brother Yemi for forgiveness. I believe that when he told Locke and gang “you’re next” it wasn’t a threat, it was his wish that they too would solve their issues and be freed.

I feel the only characters who did NOT satisfy the rule, were Nikki and Paulo. The writers got around it by having the Losties kill them, not the island (since they were accidentally buried alive).

I agree that this season is definitely less character-focused, but I believe they will get back to that next season since the characters are the essence of “The Myth of Lost” theory.

“LOST” loves to make this point that you can’t die until you’ve finished what you were supposed to do. When you’ve been atoned for your sins; when your story has come full circle. That’s why guns mysteriously misfired for Michael. That’s why Locke survived like 8 times. With the exception of Eko, I think this idea holds up well. In the past, it was easier to predict a “major death episode” because it was always character-centric, a final good-bye. Season 5 episodes has a less character “centricity” than ever before which I believe to be the real difference in storytelling this year, not the time travel.