Lost 5x05: "This Place is Death"

[Mr Light]

Are you kidding? Nikki has the most memorable introduction in the history of television! To this day, I routinely remember for no reason her saying "What are you TAAAAAAAAAAAAALKING about???"

[Temis the Vorta]

Excellent. And next week looks like it should be off the charts!

Loved finally seeing some background on Danielle and her Crew of Incredibly Hot French Guys*. Too bad she had to kill them all. So, what gives - did she see a "ghost" of Blond Asshole Guy and assume he was "infected" with a disease (and how did she get that idea) that made him insane, when in reality, he simply was a creation of the Island, which explains any odd changes in personality? And then got the idea that everyone who went down in the cave came out "infected" as well.

And wow, that whole cave sequence was creeeepy as hell.

*I also liked how it was possible to figure out which one was Alex's daddy based solely on his looks before he indicated anything by putting his arm around Danielle. Good eye for casting.

I really want to know what's up with Dr. Sheppard. Looked like he was there in the flesh. Was he resurrected by the island somehow? If so, that still doesn't account for how he knows what he knows. Can't wait to find out more. Theories are welcome.

I'm backing the theory that Christian and the other "visions" of dead people are the creations of the Island.

IMO he was dead at that point, and the smoke monster was using his voice to call for help to get the others down there.

Those guys obviously never saw a horror movie.

How did the dude know the smoke is a security system and who told him that?

That made me jump, too. That seems like awfully specific knowledge for him to have after just a few days on the Island - saying Smokey was "guarding" the temple maybe, but "security system" is a more specific description that we (but not he) have heard before. So maybe they really were all "infected" or brainwashed or whatever happened in that cave.

Haven't seen this discussed: are we supposed to assume now that Danielle remembered Jin and didn't mention it years later? Or did she simply not ever happen to meet him? Because everyone operates under one-timeline rules on this show, except for Desmond, who is allowed to change things and not worry about past continuity - right?

[chrisspringob]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

Haven't seen this discussed: are we supposed to assume now that Danielle remembered Jin and didn't mention it years later? Or did she simply not ever happen to meet him? Because everyone operates under one-timeline rules on this show, except for Desmond, who is allowed to change things and not worry about past continuity - right?

I saw this discussed to death on the IMDb boards, and someone went through every Rousseau episode to look for interaction with Jin. Apparently, there is never an episode where they're interacting 1-on-1 in any way.

There are a few cases where Rousseau comes to the camp or something, and Jin is part of a big crowd that she sees, and she might have been able to pick him out of the crowd, but it's highly unlikely that she would have concluded "Hey, that guy there, he looks exactly like this other guy I saw on the island 16 years ago....who I only interacted with for a few hours but whose face I remember perfectly. He must be a time traveler."

[SJA]

Excellent episode - was I the only one who wanted them to take a little wander into smokeys lair! Hope we see more of Rousseau!

[Temis the Vorta]

I saw this discussed to death on the IMDb boards, and someone went through every Rousseau episode to look for interaction with Jin. Apparently, there is never an episode where they're interacting 1-on-1 in any way.

Interesting - thanks!

She has no direct experience of time-travel, does she? Even if she glimpsed Jin and thought there was something familiar about him, it would be quite a leap to think he was the same person, who hasn't aged a day, and not just someone who kinda looks like that other guy she barely remembers from 15 years ago...

[Agent Richard07]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

I also liked how it was possible to figure out which one was Alex's daddy based solely on his looks before he indicated anything by putting his arm around Danielle. Good eye for casting.

One of the reasons I knew Ben wasn't the dad. Of course, he could have been and there was just some lazy casting going on.

[SupAJ1M]

lol

[Lindley]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

That made me jump, too. That seems like awfully specific knowledge for him to have after just a few days on the Island - saying Smokey was "guarding" the temple maybe, but "security system" is a more specific description that we (but not he) have heard before.

We heard that description from Rousseau. Have we heard it anywhere else? Or all this time have we been laboring under the impression it's a security system due to a guess by Robert?

[Emh]

Lindley wrote:

---

We heard that description from Rousseau. Have we heard it anywhere else? Or all this time have we been laboring under the impression it's a security system due to a guess by Robert?

So it would seem...I love it!

[Obiwanshinobi]

do you guys think Vincent gets nosebleeds too during his encounters with the flashes?

[Mallet]

Emh wrote:

---

So it would seem...I love it!

And another thing... What type of security system hunts down people and drags them BACK to the very place it is supposed to be protecting? Wouldn't it want to keep people away from it? And why didn't it attack/kill the other frenchies who found the temple? If it was protecting the Temple why did it just take one person and lead all the rest of the people right to it? And once it did that, why didn't it kill the rest of them off right then and there?

[Temis the Vorta]

Lindley wrote:

---

We heard that description from Rousseau. Have we heard it anywhere else? Or all this time have we been laboring under the impression it's a security system due to a guess by Robert?

Okay then, I'm going back to my original theory, it's a giant mechanical dinosaur that only looks like smoke because it exists in the 13th Dimension.

But I have this funny feeling Robert called it a "security system" because "it told him it was." That's what's creepy about it, how could he know so much about a frakkin' smoke monster - and something so completely counterintuitive (there's nothing particularly mechanical or "system" like about it, except the noise, a little bit) - unless something has gotten into his braaaaain?

But knowing this show, it could be something hilariously mundane, like he found the Security System Control Panel and realized he could use it to turn Smokey on and off.

[Gertch]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

how could he know so much about a frakkin' smoke monster unless something has gotten into his braaaaain?

I think the general consensus is that something changed him. Similar to how Richard and the original others behave. Rousseau noticed this and killed them.

[zengoth]

ObiWanShinobi wrote:

---

do you guys think Vincent gets nosebleeds too during his encounters with the flashes?

that's what i'm wondering... and why doesn't Walt need to come back to the island?

[Emh]

zengoth wrote:

---

that's what i'm wondering... and why doesn't Walt need to come back to the island?

Walt will be seen next week