I'm also leaning toward the idea that the deaths of all passengers of flight 815 is a fabrication by the Others or someone else, but I also considered that it may be a facet of the time loop theory, in which in one loop everyone on the plane does die and in another loop, they wind up on the island. Still not buying the purgatory idea though.

Kate is pregnant

Yes, Kate is pregnant- remember how she struggled to fasten her pants (thong shot) when Sawyer was watching??

Naomi said "I am not alone"

I should really read the entire article before posting.

Julie - You don't start to gain weight just a few days after conception.

"Now, if she tells Ben that the baby was conceived on island he will assume that Juliet has finally cracked the island's fertility problems and, as promised, release her from her duty there."

the problem isn't that women on the island can't get pregnant, it's that they die in their second trimester if the baby was conceived on the island. sabine and the other women conceived on the island.

Wouldn't a plane crash merit an official government search for the wreckage? If so, then there may be a bigger conspiracy than just the Others to keep the survivors on the island forever. If the Others are connected to whatever government (US?) has oversight in this case, then that would explain a lot about how the Others know who the Losties are and what their personal pasts are like.

But, even if that isn't the case, having access to the world at large and the publicity of a major flight's disappearance, would have given them the ability to research who are the "reported" missing from the disappearance of flight 815.

The island's ability to heal would be a valuable asset indeed, so a company or government that controlled it would certainly be interested in keeping it under tight control, hiding it, and researching it.

I am thinking that Naomi came to the island expecting to find Desmond but, she had no idea about the survivors of 815.

also, i think that the dharma or mittelos or whoever is the front organization for the others in the 'real' world faked the plane crash, so that people would stop searching for the plane and potentially find the island.

and, in the preview for next week's episode, i don't think it's ben underneath that hood that locke wants sawyer to kill - the shoulders are much too broad. it's cooper (the real sawyer) under there.

11:36: I think the point is that if Sun got pregnant off the island then Julliet could pull a rouse on Ben and convince him that she has cracked the fertility code on the island. And he would let her go. It's out there, but Julliet is really weird and hard to get a read on. As for that facial expression, it seems to me to be the only one she has. Creepy poker face if you ask me. Kind of sociopathic. Personally, I think she's nuts.

that makes sense that it would be Locke's Dad because it sounds like Sawyer asks, "why me?" and Locke says, "because I can't"

My immediate thought when Naomi tells Hurley that everyone aboard perished following the crash of Flight 815 was - ooooooo! conspiracy!

Alternate 1985.

Pat, you misunderstood the point they were making. If Ben believes the fetus was conceived on the island, he expects the mother to die. If the fetus was really conceived off the island, the pregnancy can be carried to term. If an "on-island" pregnancy is completed, Ben will believe that Juliet has done her job and will let her go... maybe. It's a neat idea, but I think Ben would require more than one case to believe it's been solved.

pat - Women can definitely conceive on the island, the problem is they die before they can give birth. Claire is proof to the Others and Juliet, though, that if conception instead takes place OFF the island, it is possible to carry a pregnancy to term. Juliet's ticket off the island would be her showing Ben that she in fact has cracked the case of they dying women and helping Sun survive her pregnancy. If Juliet is lying to Ben and Sun where the conception took place, it makes sense - her motivation for doing so is getting off the island, which we know she is absolutely desperate to do. So it's to Juliet benefit to say that Sun conceived ON the island. If Sun conceived off the island, she is of no use to Juliet in completing her research.

I think Jen and Liz said all that more succinctly, but that's the theory. So we really still don't know for sure who the father is at all

I'm with Jen on this one; there was plenty of momentum and revelations forthcoming to keep me satisfied. Lost has definitely got its mojo back. Usually at least one of the multiple threats in an episode falls flat, but last night, Sun's flashbacks, Naomi's recovery and Sun and Juliet's venture to The Staff all held my interest. I do, however, expect the pace to pick up a tad as we head toward the season finale.

What a surprise to see McPatchy make a comeback. Was he responding to Hurley accidental (?) firing of the flare gun? Was a rendezvous prearranged for Mikhal to meet up with Naomi? Will he ever resolve his dental hygene issues?

There is definitely a inconsistency regarding the healing powers of the island. None of the crash survivors mentioned their injuries mending prematurely.

And what about Naomi's closing remarks? Are we talking parallel universe or major conspiracy theory. It would be pretty hard to fake a major plane crash with presumably identifiable bodies. That's a tough one to pull off, even for Mittelos. On the other had, I'm not ready to buy into the whole meta-time wrap string theory thing either.

Speaking of missing persons, where has Rousseau gotten to? Will she be popping her head up from somewhere before the season wraps up?

mnw and 'Lost at Work' - it was Liz that said there were "fertility problems" on the island, obviously there aren't.

I think the episode also continues the "father" theme, showing Sun's and Jin's issues with their fathers.
And the quite telling comment by Desmond reminding Charlie that he has killed more Others than Others have endangered him. I think it is a fact that all of the killing on the island has been done by Losties, not the Others, (although perhaps the Others can be blamed as causative agents for Michael's shooting of Anna Lucia & Hurley's gf (forgot her name).
The Others have used physical force, and perhaps some physical violence against the Losties, including kidnapping (Sawyer was shot on the raft & Sawyer roughed up in captivity), but most violence has been Lostie on Lostie, black smoke on Lostie, or Lostie on Other.
But we see the island through the Losties' eyes, so we sort of blind ourselves to their flaws. Is that an analogy to something about the American tv viewer? hmmm

from Liz, above: "(Let me spin this out a bit -- if Juliet knows that Sun's baby was conceived off island she knows that baby and mother will likely survive. Now, if she tells Ben that the baby was conceived on island he will assume that Juliet has finally cracked the island's fertility problems and, as promised, release her from her duty there. I'm liking this theory.)"

....fertility problems meaning carrying the pregnancy to term, not necessarily problems immediately occurring at conception (though in a Ben/Juliet moment a few weeks ago, they do mention that the problem "appears to happen at conception"... so the problem manifests at conception and kills the mothers a few months later perhaps)

Love love love Naomi saying "I am not alone."

Also I agree that next week it will be Locke's Dad, the "Real Sawyer" who he kidnaps from Ben's tent.

And I also think that Dharma/Mittelos staged the crash to be able to use the Losties as part of their experiments.

Lost has been amazing lately and I can't wait for more!

A couple of random thoughts:

If Naomi is not alone, maybe Penny made it to the island after all!

I am impressed at the way Juliet's character has been set up. It seems like about 50% of what she tells the islanders is true -- I just can't figure out WHICH 50%. She is the most unreadable character on the island -- even worse than Ben.

The Losties are not dead. This is not purgatory. They may be in a parallel universe somewhere, but they are definitely not dead...

Why would Naomi tell McPatchy she is not alone?

Also, Rousseau is supposed to be back next episode...finally!!

So the show's creators say the Island isn't purgatory and we MUST believe them? It is just impossible that they might lie about it so as not to reveal the "reveal" several years before the show's end? Right!

there are a couple issues with the idea that the crash itself was staged:

a. we were led to believe that Desmond caused the crash when he didn't push the button (i say "led to believe" because, as we all know, this could be a fake-out)

b. how in the world could you guarantee that anyone, but specifically certain people on "Jacob's list" are going to survive a plane crash? Again - this isn't the most "realistic" show, so anything is possible, but still.

I am more likely to believe that TPTB took advantage of the crash and told the rest of the world that everyone died.

Another question - were the Others aware of Desmond, the hatch and the button? It seems like they would be interested in that process - but they seem mystified by the cause of the "sky turning purple".

First, I have to give Sun mad props for asking questions and raising doubt about Jack. Props to Charlie as well, that lil hobbitt isn't that bad.

I definately think that Juliet lied about the baby's daddy, there was a look on her face that said something else. When she says "samples" how is she getting them?

I knew Naomi wasn't speaking Italian like McPatchy said but I'm confused as to why she started speaking English when she was able to breath. I don't believe that everyone is dead, I smell a big conspiracy. Overall, I found nothing to complain about with last night's episode, it was dare I say good.

Personally, Jin and Sun flashbacks are the only ones I really like anymore, and this one was good again. Still picking up a bit of momentum, but I hated the revelation at the end.

"You don't start to gain weight just a few days after conception."

Speak for yourself!

To Lindytx:

The idea that the Losties are somehow morally inferior to the Others based on body counts is ludicrous. Charlie is right -- the Others started it, and the Losties have been defending themselves ever since. Ethan sure didn't have any qualms about leaving Charlie to die up in a tree back in season 1. Or how about planting a device in Claire's stomach, or running a brainwashing center, etc. And yes, I do think the Others are directly responsible for Anna Lucia's and Libby's deaths. And really, how many Others have the Losties really killed, and under what circumstances? If the Losties are so bad, why are Ben and Juliet still alive?

Also, to Not Shlomo, there were several references to quick healing early in the show. Do you remember how fast Locke's leg healed after he dropped the blast door on it? Not to mention the fact that Locke is walking around in the first place, or that Rose's cancer is healed. I know there were other examples too, although I can't think of them off the top of my head...

Steve

What was up with Naomi spurting out things in different languages? There was spanish, portuguese, and chinese (they asked Jin what she said, and he replied he didnt understand becuase it was chinese). Does anyone know what was said in Chinese?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but what is TPTB?

What's to stop Sun from aborting the kid?

As of right now it seems that she's not gonna make it to the end of her pregnancy.

If she dies, the baby dies, so why not get rid of it?

"there are a couple issues with the idea that the crash itself was staged:"

i don't think the crash of 815 was staged - i think that dharma or mittelos or whoever created fake plane wreckage somewhere else to divert attention anway from the real plane wreckage on the island, which they don't want people to find.

Agreed...I almost meant staged a fake wreckage to be found so any search would then cease.

Whether the Others are/were aware of Desmond's existence on the Island is a pertinent question. Do we have a definitive answer? How could they co-exist on the Island, both availing themselves of Dharma Initiative facilities, and not know of each other? Can anyone reference a contact or acknowlegement? McPatchy certainly didn't seem to be previously acquainted with Desmond. Could the Others not have known about the number-punching routine in the Hatch and it's alleged connection to the crash of Flight 815 and the sky turning purple?

A secret room for the mothers to die? Who were they hiding them from? There is more to that, the room is designed like a prison... What if the babies don't die? The Others need the children, maybe they need the babies too.

Bored @ Work:

I kept thinking the same thing the whole time last night. Granted, I am sure there isn't exactly equipment on the island to do that, nor would the other's allow it. However, she seems to know a lot about herbal remedies. Maybe she will find a way to do it.

I mean I ALSO meant staged a fake crash...my bad!

TPTB: The Powers That Be

Don't the Others and Desmond's videos relating to the button all reference the Dharma project?

Desmond may know McPatchy and have some sort of peace agreement with him. Although they acted like they didnt know eachother, Desmond was insistent that McPatchy be let go, perhaps suggesting some sort of pre-exisiting relationship.

Good point, Gordo. I was thinking the same thing. Why would they hide the dying, pregnant mothers behind the lockers? Some of the junk in the room was striped from other rooms located in the Staff. Why'd the Other do that?

I loved Sun's threat to Jin's mother at the end of the episode, and I wish the writers would tap into her hard side a little more often. One of my favorite scenes in the whole series was when Sun shot that Other on the boat...

Naomi's plane crash revelation reminds me of a Stephen King novella, "The Langoliers." There's some sort of time rip where only those asleep aboard the plane make it through the crack in time to arrive at some mysterious and otherworldly airport. The other passengers disappered. Later, the remaining passengers reboard their plane, designate a pilot to fly them back through the crack in time. He helps the passengers fall asleep by dropping the cabin pressure, and all passengers minus the pilot return to normal time and space.

Perhaps this is another homage to King and only a selection of plane passengers made it to the island, while the plane in the normal universe crashed and killed all who remained aboard. This provides the possibility of returning to the regular world, but with what vehicle??

TPTB is The Powers That Be, i.e., the people who write and produce the show. When a show's producers and writers are doing an exceptionally awful job, they are frequently referred to as TIIC, or The Idiots in Charge.

Hope this helps.

The staged crash theory, while definately doable considering the clout at play here, seems a little clunky. And with Purgatory off the table as far as I'm concerned that only leaves room for the increasingly maligned string theory. If Flight 815 is used as sort of a shuttle between time and space here, at some point the mission has either already been accomplished or has already failed. Either way, doing away with the plane (or having the plane done away with) would fit.

This is the second site I've seen where no one's commented on the book Catch 22. So forgive me for saying the obvious. Catch 22 in Heller's book was the rule that kept you from leaving the army (if you're crazy, you can get out, but - the catch - you have to ask; and if you ask to get out, it proves you're not crazy). In other words, there's no way off the island.

The question of whether the Others knew of Desmond and the button has been asked many times. Last week's comments sections has several entries about this. 1) we saw in a flashback a scene where Juliet and Ben look at a monitor of Jack in the hatch. So they definitely knew of the hatch, and had probably seen Desmond in it at some point. 2) When Ben was Henry Gale, Locke showed him the button and I belive HG actually pushed it for Locke. He didn't say he knew what it was, but he was lying about 100 things already, so we can't actually believe he didn't know it was there already.

This doesn't explain why Jin thought that Naomi was speaking Chinese, but I thought that Hurley and Mikhail's guesses that Naomi was speaking Spanish and Italian, respectively, were just that: Guesses. And since Portugese is close to both Spanish and Italian, they are pretty good guesses at that. Hurley didn't understand her at all, and we don't actually know what, if anything, Mikhail understood since we know he at least lied about the "I'm not alone" comment.

Catch 22 - If you check out the comments section of this blog from last week's episodes, Catch 22 was discussed a lot.

She was speaking Spanish at first, as Hurley translated that she was saying "I'm dying."

I wonder if Austen's "samples" mean that Kate is going to become pregnant by Sawyer, and Juliet is orchestrating that with her closeness to Jack. Or, do they just want another woman on the island to use for testing?

Or perhaps Kate is already pregnant from Sawyer and they set that up in the cages.

I don't know if the plane crash was staged. Didn't the Others look surprised when the plane crashed? Only then did Benry pass out assignments for what they each should do. Maybe he knew about it, but no way did all of the Others.

How does everybody know that the "girl's from the sky" name is Naomi? I missed something.
About "they found Flight 815- there were no survivors" - did anybody see 1989 movie "Millennium" with K.Kristofferson? The premise of the movie is that scientists from the future seek out plane crashes in the past, and "steal" people from the plane, replacing them with clones, or something like that; by doing that they're saving people for "repopulating the Earth". As soon as the girl spoke about no survivors, I thought of that movie.

Naomi is what she is listed as on Lostpedia

interesting comment about millenium and clones. in the first episode of season one, claire questions why in all that luggage there were no hairbrushes. it is possible that the others were collected genetic material from the start.

I also think that ben knows more than the rest of the others. it is possible that the plane crash was not a surprise to him although he would have pretended that it was. although, jacob's list does seem to be common knowledge among the others.

one more thing: sun's flash back also brought up the theme of adoption/orphans in Jin being reared by a man who was not sure that he was really Jin's father. this may be an out there theory, but is it possible that since conception to full-term pregnancy was not possible on the island, that people were sent off the island to procreate? just a random thought.

To beat a dead horse...about the Others knowing about Desmond...and this goes back some...what about that scary guy with the beard? He was one of the guys on the fishing boat that intercepted the raft. He was also the guy that told Desmond to push the button in the first place...he's now shaved and appears top be a top Other under Ben. Have no idea what his name or significance is but he could be the connection between Desmond and the Others. I could also be very wrong.

Question, in a previous episode about Jin and Sun, doesn't the Japanese doctor approach them or get approached by someone connected to the Underworld? I can't remember exactly, but I thought it was that he was paid to tell them Jin was infertile since he was a "shamed" son, etc.

"I think it is a fact that all of the killing on the island has been done by Losties, not the Others"

Actually, the other that infiltrated the Tailies (forget his name. He was the one Juliet was with.) freed Ana Lucia's suspect, then killed him in order to keep his cover.

Lost at Work, thanks for reminding us of Ben's encounter with Locke in the Hatch. So, if the Others and Desmond know of each other, can we speculate that Dez might be in cahoots with the Others? Would this explain why he was not afraid to run back to camp for help with the jungle crawling with Others? Is this why he so willingly trusted Mikhail to treat Naomi and then insisted he be let go? Say it ain't so, brother!

This show & the Others/Losties relationship is really starting to remind me of that old riddle... the one on the island where one tribe always tells the truth and the other one always lies, and you don't know which is which. Not sure if that helps anything, really, just an observation. And, this has to be a coincidence, but if you google "natives on the island tell the truth" (I did it to make sure I had the riddle right), the 5th link ("Dr. Math") is answering this riddle in response to a "Dr. Ethan"! Freaky.

Those are two different guys... Kelvin = guy who told Desmond to push the button. Tom = other guy who had the beard costume.

One question: what has happened to the wreckage of Flight 815? Is it still on the island?

I ask because we know there is something about the island that causes distortions in readings with respect to navigation. Is it possible the wreckage, or at least a significant part (such as the black box) has been "repeled" from the island and found. I figure it's easy to assume that if such wreckage were found (or it was learned from the black box that the plane exploded in mid-air at significant altitude) that everyone would be presumed dead.

Also given this crash presumably occured in international waters, the search may have been caught up in bureaucracy, making the presumption of no survivors easier to latch onto for the respective governments.

I love a good conspiracy, but also wanted to propose a slightly less malevolent approach. (Of course, the others/ Mittelos could have moved wreckage and or the black box to set forth a plan in motion, but want to propose the conspiracy does not reach to world governments)

clearly lost: It's not the same guy. The man that Desmond was pushing the button with was killed by Desmond in one of his flashbacks. The Other that intercepted the raft and kidnapped Walt, was wearing a fake beard (the Others revealed in the season 2 finale that they were definitely wearing costumes and he took off his beard in front of the Losties). He was one of the Others that was in surgery with Jack and Ben... They look similar but they're not the same...

Don't worry, we're all pretty much Lost with this show... there's too much to keep track of!!

What about Ben being born on the island? He said he had lived there all his life.
There are a lot of dead-ends and conflicting logic going on with this show just like X-files. If it continues I will stop watching it. I'm still puzzled that when hurley and sayed set up a radio last season they picked up 1940's era big band music.

Clearly Lost, you're confusing Kelvin, Desmond's boss/partner, with Tom the Other who wore a fake beard in several episodes. They do look a bit alike. Can understand why you'd get them mixed up.

Lost Viewer -- the Losties burned the fuselage.

"what about that scary guy with the beard? He was one of the guys on the fishing boat that intercepted the raft. He was also the guy that told Desmond to push the button in the first place"

Different guys. The guy from the hatch that saved Desmond however was the guy that made Sayid into a torturer.

What about the fact that Jin's father said something like he wasn't even sure he was the father and that Jin's mother was promiscuous? Does this mean that his father is someone else? Does he share a father with another Lostie or - even worse - Sun? Hey, it wouldn't be the first incestuous relationship on the Island...
Also, did I miss something? Why did Sun track down Jin's mother, why did she pay her, and why did the seem to know each other prior to the scene that we saw??

JustAskin - I think you missed the first few minutes of the show :) abc.com has the whole episode from last night. in Sun's first flashback, that woman approaches Sun and blackmails her.

lost_me - a Ben flashback episode will be shown before the end of the season. I can't wait!

Korea flashbacks - is that downtown Honolulu? - they manage to make it look kinda non-tropical.

I too believe the death of all passengers is a fabrication. Think about the purgatory thing..its way too obvious a conclusion, and has anything up till now been totally obvious? I for one know that all my theories have been blown out the window.

Another excellent episode:

1. Mikhail explained how he was still alive: The island has amazing healing powers -- hence he wasn't killed by the barrier, and recovered rather quickly from his injuries.

2. If he is that aware of the island's restorative powers, then perhaps so is Naomi? Desmond was convinced that Penny was in the helicopter. They heard it on the beach and saw the signal beacon. Maybe the others did, also, and got there first? "Here, Naomi, were going to take this woman we found, stick a tree limb into your lung, and don't worry, we'll make sure you survive." That gives them another person on the inside...

It's not purgatory because events on the island can be observed by others in the outside world (portuguese dudes) and vice versa (Sox winning the series). No one's getting Sportscenter in purgatory.

Didn't Rousseau give birth on the island? Did she conceive before she left on the science expedition? (that doesn't seem like a wise thing to do, if you're going on a science expedition) Alex is 16 and born in 1988, is there the chance that Rousseau conceived on the island and had a successful birth? Is that why she's not with the Others?

And... what are the chances that Desmond IS an Other??

I too am wondering about how Ben could have been born on the island if pregnancies can not be carried to term.

Also, if I were Kate or Sawyer, I'd really want to ask Juliet what the hell they were doing to that kid, Alex's boyfriend. That was a really disturbing scene...

I think Mikhail was responding to the flair Hurley shot up...but you're right, could be the beacon too.

If the island has such fabulous healing powers, enough to the extent that it brought Mikhail back from the dead... why can't it heal Mikhail's eye? It would seem he would not have a need for the eye patch anymore.

A minor gripe...

Ideagirl,

Or bring anyone else back to life, like discussed in the blog entry. His coming back to life better not be just because of the island, otherwise, you would think that everyone who "died" of a gunshot wound would also come back to life.

1)Desmond being an Other: Yes, it's possible - the argument could be made either way, there's no conclusive evidence for either side, though I personally do not think he is.... the juries still out.
2) Ben and Alex being born on the island: Again, pregancies CAN be carried to term on the island, but only if the baby is conceived OFF the island. How this works, we still have no idea, but it's definitely feasible for both of them to have been born on the island.

Lisa - Right on! And, what happened to Karl, anyway? I can't remember if we've seen him since Sawyer and Kate let him go... anyone?

About Ben being born on the island - we don't know if this problem with pregnant women always existed or not. Maybe something happened during Ben's lifetime that has changed things and now pregnant women cannot carry to term on the island. Or like others have said maybe Ben was conceived off the island.

He wasn't the one who told Desmond to push the button, that was an army general (played by Clancy Brown) who legitimately joined the Dharma initiative, I believe. The one with the beard is the guy who Sawyer originally called "Zeke."

Two weeks ago, I posted a theory about the Television screens in Juliet's flashback. Five of the 6 screens that Mikhail was overseeing had footage about the crash (not disapperance) of Flight 815 (the other screen showing Juliet's sister). No one really caught on to my theory it seems.

I think that Noami was on a mission looking for Desmond, but found the Losties. She, like the rest of the world, is of the belief that Flight 815 has crashed, and there are no survivors. I believe this was set up by the Others (read: Ben). A plane crash of this nature has HUGE international attention. Of course, if someone or some entity were to work to counteract that and have proof that it has crashed, then who's to say they're wrong? Others/Ben set that up to keep the Losties there in order to see if any of them could get pregnant and further their studies on pregnant women. the Others need the Losties to be alive, b/c they become huge test subjects for their research.

While there are Dharma Initiative hatches for medical research, I still do not understand why there are hatches for psychological research (such as the "button" that needs to be pressed).

In addition, we should not forget that Ben sent out two people to the surviing groups. One such group, the Tailies, were killed mostly by one man, who infiltrated them and made himself appear to be a Tailie. While Eko and Ana-Lucia told the Losties that most of them died b/c of an Other, Charlie may not know that; hence his comment about killing more Others than Others killing Losties. I'm not so sure those numbers add up right.

Mikhail was not necessarily dead. He said "I've already died once this week" but maybe he only said thay cause the fence-shock he got clearly led the Losties to believe he was. Also, if Patchy's eye is completely gone, maybe it can't be "regrown".... Perhaps, for example, a broken leg can heal, but you can't regrow a new leg if your old one is lopped off?

Also - I think Mikhail was running towards the Losties because of the flare as well, but he seemed surprised to see it was the Losties that set the flare off, no? It looked like he was half-expecting to see the Others there, like he thought they were signaling him with the flare or something. (Though if he saw Naomi fall, maybe he thought SHE had set off the flare and he was nearby because he was searching for the parachuter as well... hmmmmmmm...)

In terms of Mikhail's eye....maybe the healing powers of the island only affect those injuries sustained on the island. Though, I guess that theory may nto have that much clout (eg Locke being able to walk).

"The Others knowing about Desmond"
Just a thought, but maybe the Others didn't know about that the Hatch was populated until after Michael started to communicate with Walt. The Others turned on the cameras and observed the Losties at that point which would be after Des had left.

I don't think Des let McPatchy go because Des is an Other. He let him go because Des made a promise and he is an honorable man.

Thanks to Sun's questions last night, Jack no longer appears to be that gulliable. I wouldn't be surprised if he is assisting Juliette with whatever Ben has assigned her to do. Has anyone noticed how quickly night turns into day and day into night on this show? Perhaps its part of the quirky editing but unless Sun and Juliette headed out right before dawn, why was it pitch dark when they went to the sonogram hatch and morning daylight when they emerged? I don't think it took that long to perform a sonogram.
My favorite characters last night, Sun, Jin, Charlie (!) and McPatchy- glad to see the ol evil Russian is back

Lost at Work, I'm 99% sure Naomi WAS speaking Spanish when she said, "Estoy muriendo," which Hurley could have known given his background. Although that phrase could sound very similar in Portuguese and Spanish, so she could have been speaking the former the whole time.

Unrelated to this, did anyone else notice that some of the stuff piled in the room "where mothers go to die" was an assortment of decorations from the nursery they built for Claire during her abduction??

"Two weeks ago, I posted a theory about the Television screens in Juliet's flashback. Five of the 6 screens that Mikhail was overseeing had footage about the crash (not disapperance) of Flight 815 (the other screen showing Juliet's sister). No one really caught on to my theory it seems."

What exactly was your theory? The flashback scene where we saw these screens occurred around the time just after the plane had crashed. From the dialogue between them, Mikhail and Ben at this point, it seems, were searching for information on the survivors, and watching those news reports, etc may have been one of their research methods to find out where the plane was going, who was on it, etc...

Here's a thought to connect the baby-death-vault to the stolen children. Perhaps being conceived and/or growing up on the island makes people into some sort of super race with militarily important powers. So they needed the expecting mothers tied down to make sure they give birth on the island, and they need to keep fresh stocks of potential mothers through the numerous aircraft crashes (ballons, helicopters, prop planes and jets so far). Not the most efficient plan, but it would tie a few things together, including the incentive for TPTB to keep it quiet (I like that acronym, thanks)

"I'm still puzzled that when hurley and sayed set up a radio last season they picked up 1940's era big band music."

well you can still find radio stations that play big band music. But remember the conversation about the music?

HURLEY: Whoa, you hear how clear that is? It's got to be close, right?

SAYID: Radio waves at this frequency bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel thousands of miles. It could be coming from anywhere.

HURLEY: Or, anytime... Just kidding, dude.

Chris, maybe everyone who died of a gunshot wound HAS come back to life...

This is from another site but is an interesting theory that I haven't seen yet.

Hurly=Jacob. He was making lists in Season 1;he says he's "a master" at talking people into things;he got kidnapped, then let go; he gave Juliet the watch out or else speech (ie don't double cross us; he knew it was a satelite phone last week not a "thingy";he called Mikhail with the flare and told/gave him the phone;he prob owns the company the others work for;Hurley is Jacob the #1 Other.

Sure this theory has been posited before, but reading the news got me thinking... is it possible that they're on a different planet and trying to figure out a way to populate it? As in trying to set up a back up planet in case things don't work out here on earth, but working out some unexplainable kinks, i.e. no babies on the island, the smoke monster? Dharma were the explorers, and Others are the Mittelos scientists paid to make sure they can establish life there; would explain a government's involvement. Juliet's trip reminded me of another Stephen King short story (called "the Jump" maybe?) about how they had to put people under to send them to another planet, otherwise they couldn't handle it and they go crazy or something.

Also, maybe this has been covered already and I forgot this - but did Rosseau give birth to Alex on or off the island?

Since it was explained to us that the island has healing powers. Now maybe Kelvin's (the guy that told Desmond to push the button) death was staged and he is still alive and that he is JACOB! It's not far-fetch, he's the one who taught Sayeed the art of torturing.

TO LostAtwork:

My theory was that the outside world exists (at least furthering the theory, and moving away from Purgatory) b/c of the live feeds and attention towards this simultaneous event.

If you watch it closely, it's hard to argue that they were researching just yet. That plane crashes, and Ben and Juliet go straight to that warehouse room...when did Ben ever order Mikhail to research the crash!? Mikhail was watching that on his own, perhaps b/c it was such an international and cataclysmic event.

Eric - I totally agree that the outside world still exists.... The Red Sox footage and Ben talking to the guy videotaping Juliet's sister/the newspaper with the correct date are the two examples that come to mind that support me in my mind here.

I'd have to go back to the episode, but I'm pretty sure that Ben and Juliet viewing the footage of the crash/Rachael on the playground was at a different point in the flashback than when the plane crashed. It could have been a few hours or a day later, but I think it was definitely later... that's how I remembered it, but could be wrong... :)

I think that after Ben gave people their assignments following the crash he told Juliet he wanted to show her something and took her to see the video.

Buck Dharma -

INTERESTING about Hurley=Jacob!

I forgot about that exchange between Hurley and Sayid... lol, another reason why Hurley is one of my favorite characters :)

Did anyone catch the code to the safe when Sun's father gave her the money??

fairfax - Ben wanted to show juliet his x-ray - that is when he showed her his tumor.

Could be...but right after Ben gives the order to Ethan and (sorry can't remember his name) to infiltrate the survirors, he asks Juliet to come with him; and they walk over immediately from there, moments after seeing this plane crash. I translated it that way...if there was more time in between, it wasn't shown (who's to say HOW far that barn was from the village).

As for the Red Sox footage, I completely agree; and think that footage like that throws out the "Alternate 1985 Back to the Future II" theory, since that event took place after the crash (in real life and in their TV-universe). This all demonstrates the "real-time" aspect.

- did anybody see 1989 movie "Millennium" with K.Kristofferson?

I've seen it. (and if you wondering, I don't recommend it, really bad acting)

I also thought of this "millennium" theory but I had it when they where on the other island and they rescued Alex's boyfriend. Remember that creepy room and the subliminal message (you had to rewind on TiVo to see it but it said something like "you are all prisonors of time and space")I don't know why I thought of it then, I guess it was the time space thing, it just popped into my head.

Black Box Finder - that is genius. Love it. That would be, like, the best twist ever.

Estoy muriendo (Spanish)- I'm dying
Aiutami sto morendo (Italian) - Help me, I'm dying
Portuguese (after branch was taken out) - You're one of those (meaning an Other)

I've always thought the "psychic" people are actually from the future. They are not so much "psychic" as knowing what actually happened in the past.

When Naomi said that everyone on Flight 815 had died - that might have been true. And if the future Others needed those people to help change the course of future events, they might have inserted themselves back in the timeline and CHANGED what happened to have the plane go down in the mysterious Golden Triangle I now think might be the Bikini Atoll (Micronesia).

The Bikini Atoll was the testing site for nuclear (and hydrogen) bombs from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. If the Dharma initiative had gone there to "research" the effects of nukes in the 1960s and early 1970s, then it makes sense that the "hatches" look an awful lot like fallout shelters of that time period.

There were Bikini natives who were forcibly relocated during the testing period. At some point in the 1960s or early 1970s some of them tried to return - but they had to be relocated again due to fallout contamination. That contamination might explain what happens to pregnant women there - but as for the mysterious healing - well, nuclear fallout has no positive side effects that I've ever heard of! And fallout effects (birth defects) might explain the 4-toed statue.

The Bikini atoll is comprised of some 36 islands - which could explain where the Others went to with Locke (if they didn't return to the Future).

The Bermuda Triangle effect or time warp/black hole explains why various vehicles from different time periods wreck there (the pirate ship, drug plane, hot air balloon, etc.)

It might be hard to find a black-box, unless the Others have it (though, that would be incredible work, considering they never really SEE where the plane crashes, only that it's crashing).

I can't imagine that the plane crash was known by the Others before it happened. the pulsing of the Island was all a shock to them (almost like they didn't know that might happen; therefore, maybe not knowing about the button and desmond). they must have some incredible outside resources to fool the world into thinking that Flight 815 crashed with no survivors (wouldn't be surprised if video footage of this claim by Naomi comes out in a flashback of someone in a future episode to further prove that claim).

Monkey Wrench, do you have the Portuguese context as you did for the other two?

it's true, or seems to be, that many things are "attracted" to the island (pirate ship, airplane, hot air balloon; even an ejector from a helicopter that crashes over the sea). But, why does the island attract these people? Is there an electromagnetic attraction of the island (aside from a stronger pusling from the button not being pushed?)

oops, Black box finder - meant to credit you with my comment about Hurley=Jacob... I like it! would be the ultimate deception from TPTB to us viewers...

Eric - you're probably right about the timing of the plane crash/video viewing.... it's good support for the theory that the Losties are living in real time in the real world. good catch!

Re: the world thinking there were no survivors. It's possible that with 324 people on the plane and only 71 on the island that the remaining wreckage and passengers were found and it was assume that was it.

BTW: I went back and looked at last week's episode re: the picture of hawking and the monk on the monk's desk. It's not a real picture of the two of them but rather a composite (2 cut-outs taped together). She is looking in a different direction and is scaled larger then he is. Also they both have a scowl on their faces (the monk's looks like a mug shot).

I have no idea what this means but I thought it was interesting.

FairFax:

It could definitely be that way (maybe not a bigger Other-drive conspiracy).

Though, I could have sworn that by the way Naomi said what she said, I interpreted it as the survivors found, but were all dead.

I guess that would be a hard thing though, being over water and all....damn.

Yea I agree...it could go either way. My initial reaction was a coverup by Dharma/Mittelos, etc. and I still think that is the case but I just wanted to throw out that suggestion too!

Here's a mystery that hasn't been solved, or addressed in a long, long time...

What's the deal with Hurley's fellow mental hospital inmate - the one who kept repeating the famous numbers?? Remember him? I think that's probably a vital piece of the puzzle, that hopefully will be delved into more soon.

EricGewiz,

I do not think that the vehicles (and occupants) crash on the island randomly. I think the Future Others want/need those people very specifically - and so they somehow "program" the big magnetic gizmo that's at the heart of the island - to pull them in - like a sort of tractor beam. Someone somewhere must be onto this tractor beam thing - which is why the Portguese guys at the pole were monitoring and picked up on the "failsafe" moment.

Whatever history it is that the Future Others need to change (probably some cataclysmic world war nuclear thing) - they seem to have a very detailed and specific plan of how it is to be accomplished who exactly they need to do it. That is the part that reminds me very much of "The 4400". In any event, those are the folks who get beamed . . . "through" to the island.

After Jin's dad said he didn't know if he was the father, I thought that maybe Sun's dad might be, and that is why they could not conceive. If Jin's Mom was a prostitute, maybe she slept with Sun's Dad...far fetched, and sick, but maybe another connection??

Whoa, Hurley as Jacob, that's a great theory! How would that fit in with the episode from Season 1 when we see Hurley and Libby in the mental institution? I have always wondered about that scene, I don't know if that has been cleared up.

Penny is running Mittelos.

Exactly . . . "no survivors" means "we didn't find anyone still alive" not "we found a dead body for everyone on the plane."

Of course, given that the tail section landed on one side of the island, a big chunk of the fuselage landed on another side of the island, and the nose of the plane (with the pilot in it) landed in the woods, I'm not sure how much MORE of the plane would be left outside the island area to be discovered . . .

Fairfax: It's a mix of Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese...Eno estoso (uno de estos-one of these or uno de esos-one of those)

Monkey Wrench - I'm trying to follow you here...Are you saying that instead of "I'm not alone" Naomi said "You're one of those?" Or were these separate statements?

in regards to Jin thinking she said something in Chinese - can anyone confirm if this was, in fact, actually Chinese and can anyone translate? (or find on another site where someone else has already done this?)

Naomi seems to be multi-lingual. This might be to her benefit, considering she didn't know where she landed (or didn't know where was going to land).

If they are indeed in the South Pacific (which seems VERY likely), many island chains were territories of countries with different languages.

Perhaps she was just trying to bring across her message in as many languages as possible, so that someone could understand her. Though....was she alone in the helicopter? Is she the only survivor of THAT crash?

Didn't Ben and Rousseau give birth to Alex...doesn't that mean that Alex was conceived off the island?

MeAgain:

According to Rousseau at least, she was pregnant when she got to the island. Her team, which included her husband, got sick and died. She told Claire she had to have the baby by on her own.

MeAgain - Ben claims to be Alex's father, but there is no evidence that he is her *biological* father. The prevailing theory seems to be that the Others stole the baby from Rousseau (as Rousseau claims) and Ben raised her as his own.

From lostpedia: "She mutters in an "asian language" (from the captions) which Jin claims is Chinese, not Korean. "出了什么事?(chu le shen me shi)" is Chinese for "What happened?" or "What's going on?". "

Thanks for the clarification.

RE: Jin not understanding Chinese but knowing it WAS Chinese: It's like Spanish to many of us. I can't understand it (maybe a word or two) but I can identify it as Spanish when it's spoken around me.

In Korea, it wouldn't be uncommon to hear Chinese on a regular basis and identify--but not understand--it.

He's certainly picking up English pretty quickly! (I wonder if the actor was getting tired of only speaking Korean on the island and having Sun translate.

I don't believe the purgatory theory either, because remember the end of last season, the two guys on the ship heard radio calls from the island and they were working for Desmonds girlfriend? And...when they say "On the island" what exactly does that mean, because as we found out there are at least two islands, Sawyer and Kate had to take a boat when they were released, remember?

Last night's episode may have revealed the fate of two former characters as well: Michael and Walt. If they successfully navigated their way back to civilization, wouldn't they have corrected the belief that all passengers aboard Oceanic Flight 815 were dead? I suppose it's only been a week or so (Lost time) since their departure, so perhaps they haven't made it back to civilization yet. But if the writers introduce additional castaways in the future, they may have to explain this particular plot point.

Hi Fairfax and Lost at Work- Those 3 statements are the only ones I figured out. The Spanish one was said just as they found out the branch in her side. The Italian one was said when Mikhail was with the four guys. The Portuguese one was said just as Mikhail helped Naomi. I don't know where the "I'm not alone" comment came from. I don't recall Mikhail or anyone else saying that.

The Stephen King story was called "The Jaunt". (Skeleton Crew)

It kinda works like a transportor, but you have to be asleep.

Brian - great find.

Perhaps Ben didn't give Michael and Walt exact directions, and they've just been sailing endlessly. It seems like those directions were sooo easy now....wouldn't Ben have mind-tricked them like he does to everyone else?!

Michael and Walt getting to civilization would certainly result in soooo much (the Losties being found, the notion that Flight 815 didn't crash and have only dead remaining, etc.)

Monkey Wrench - I found the "I'm not alone" bit on Lostpedia...it was never said in English tho, just Portuguese.

Thanks MonkeyWrench. From Jen's comments in the blog (info she got from Lostpedia):
"After Mikhail and Desmond treat Naomi's wound, she says something in Portuguese not spelled out in the captions. It is not 'Thank you' as Mikhail claims. Instead, it sounds like 'Eu não estou só' which is Portuguese (spoken with a Brazilian accent) for 'I am not alone.'"

It sounds like this is the same sentence you are translating to mean "You're one of those." I think it's a curious statement either way, though I think the "I am not alone" translation would help foreshadow more interesting twists to come.... but I guess I'm looking for theories in too many places :)

Does anyone remember how long it was between when Desmond left the hatch and when his sailboat showed up again? It might help us guess when Michael and/or Walt will come sailing back to the island? I think Des had a problem with sailing away, but that may be more connected with him not being able to escape his fate of being on the island.

1234:

I think Des was down there 2-3 years. I remember something about that.

In regards to him and ability to sail, perhaps this island does suck you up like "tractor beam." Maybe there's only one way off, which is the navigation he gave to Michael/Walt (unless, of course, Ben wasn't telling the truth about that, and Michael and Walt are just sailing around in cirlces...)

Wait, people will believe that there's a time-space warp that is used to make sure that a nuclear war is prevented, but not that people from purgatory can know what's going on in the outside world or some even could cause it to be found?

I think it's purgatory and people die when they're either going to hell or going to heaven. The producers denying it was just trying to throw everyone off the scent. It makes a ton more sense than anything else.

Someone upstream asked why Sun doesn't just abort. From what we've seen of Sun, I think she'd sooner die in pregnancy than abort her miracle baby with Jin.

Sun is also a totally underrated and totally awesome character.

And Kate, stop having unprotected sex with Sawyer! Aren't you the least bit concerned?

That being said, it's possible they used condoms back at the tent and the "withdrawal method" back at the cages, but...

First, I don't go for the puratory scene either, because at the end of last season two men on a boat that were working for Desmonds' girlfried got radio signals from them but they were never showed again...then, as we found out when Kate and Sawyer were released there are infact TWO (2) islands, remember they needed a boat to get back to thier island. If kate is pregnant, remember when she and Jack when swimming in the lake when they found the bodies underwater?

re: the Purgatory post

Can it purgatory if they can give birth? Not that there is scientific evidence about this, but Claire gave birth. If she is in purgatory, can she produce? Can Sun?

Would the Others be doing their research to see if it possible to reproduce succesfully while in purgatory?

I don't think we're dealing with Lost purgatory, but I also don't buy a cover-up by the Others. Don't get me wrong, this was my first assumption, but then my wife jokingly said, "It's a parallel universe". I said, "This makes sense."

Look at it this way. People mysteriously show up on parts of the Island when they shouldn't - Walt, Jack's dad, Locke's dad, now Mikhail - and Desmond definitely experienced an alternate reality (for an entire episode).

Perhaps the island is a juxtaposition of several alternate universes, and Ben's black box is a sort of portal.

So, in another parallel universe, perhaps the plane did crash. This visitor is perhaps as confused as Desmond was when he was entering alternate existences - her multilingualism might be a sign that she has tried to had to learn many languages to survive in these parallel existences (or she could just be good with languages).

One other unrelated thing - did anyone else notice that the sounds of the doors opening in the hatch sounded alot like the creature's guttural sound?

Liz -

Follow up from the last post of your chat:

>>>>Lost-ville: Hello! Us Lost-ies at work have an idea about parachute lady and Mikihal. The parachutist was trying out different languages to see which one the Losties don�t know so she could communicate with the others in front of them. We think she�s there to help the others get back in communication with the outside world. Which could also mean that she was just lying about the plane being found to mess with them!

Your thoughts?

Liz Kelly: That is actually a fabulous theory. The only thing it doesn't take into account, tho, is Naomi's (the parachutist's) photo of Desmond and Penny and her whispered "Desmond" when the Losties first found her.<<<<

Actually, the Others had to have known about Desmond. And we know they (or at least Ben) is nothing if not superlatively manipulative.

Naomi had what looked like a scanned copy of the photo, not the original. So maybe she was supposed to come and find Desmond as part of the plan...

The Stephen King novella "The Langoliers" appeared in Four Past Midnight. I had forgotten that "the Jaunt" had a similar premise, but "The Langoliers" directly involves a plane. Also those who were awake during the journey disappeared; they didn't go insane like in "The Jaunt."

hmm...so whatever happened to the very large polar bear?

"No one's getting Sportscenter in purgatory."

That's hilarious. For me, purgatory would definitely include Sportscenter.

I don't mean how long Desmond was in the hatch - when the losties found the hatch, Desmond gave them the task of pushing the button and ran out to sail away and escape the island. A number of episodes later his sailboat showed up again and he was drunk inside of it and said something like, "no matter where I go, I always end up back here" or something similar. I was wondering how long it took him to get back to the island. It might not be important if Michael was given a correct direction to get home, though. I just am interested in the Walt storyline and want him to show up again.

There's another option for Sun. She could try to abort this pregnancy with herbs as others have suggested and then bank Jin's sperm for use after they are rescued. I do not see Sun, who's been quite willful and ruthless at times, going gently into that good night.

What doesn't work with the multi-parallel universe's meeting on the island is this:

Can they travel back and forth beetween actual universe and parallel universes?

Remember, they have recruited Juliet - who's to say they haven't recruited others to join them. They must have one very magical submarine to travel this way.

Fairfax & Lost at work: thanks for the clarification. My Portuguese is a bit wonky. But given this show is all about double meanings...maybe it means both?!

1234: thanks for remembering that line of: "no matter where I go, I always end up back here" from Desmond"... would fit in with the theory out there that Desmond (or maybe everyone) is living in a loop and has to keep living the same events over and over again, which is where his flashes and ability to save Charlie come from, and maybe his drunken self was just letting this clue slip mistakenly (OK, so this theory is a bit over my head, but it's something like he has to live through the loop a certain number of times, or do certain things to get himself out of it, or, errr, something like that....)

If Hurley is Jakob- how do you explain all of Hurley's back story/flashbacks ??

Hurley could be schizophrenic....therefore his flashes could be as Hurley or Jakob?

...Or...Jakob is mascarading as Hurley! Yeah!

Dawn and dusk last forever near the poles. They pass in a blink near the equator. So if the sun rose that quickly, it's consistent with the island being in the tropics.

JULIE - agreed that the Hurley=Jacob thought does not make 100% sense having seen Hurley's flashbacks, but it would be a fun twist nonetheless :) I REALLY want to be able to trust all the flashbacks that we have been shown. They seem to be the only thing we've seen so far that we CAN take as fact. (though not to say they don't reveal some major mysteries/questions, but we can trust the point of view that they are shown from...) For example, we don't know just how much of what Juliet says or does now can be trusted, but my hope is that what we have been shown of her past is not an altered/biased view of her life. Are there any examples out there of character's flashbacks not telling the truth of the character's story?

http://oceanic-air.com/seatingchart.htm

Still not really sold on the idea of a parallel universe, but last night's episode, along with the seating chart, does confuse me a little bit. If you look at the Oceanic website (link above), Oceanic 777 and Oceanic 815 toggle if you first click on Jack's seat, 23A, then wait and watch the Oceanic 777 turn into Oceanic 815. Lots of other Easter Eggs there if you haven't seen the site.

Alex - that site freaks me out. did you click on Ana Lucia's seat?

Do you know the password for pre-board check-in? It is some anagram for Ethan Rom. Two words. 5 letters then 3.

Also I can't get mine to do anything...does it take a while to load?

Lost at Work: I love your comments about the flashbacks. The show is such a mystery with lots of lies and misdirection. But what grounds us is the flashbacks. I hadn't really thought of them that way. They're not simply a plot device that allows us to be at Season 3 even though only three months have passed on the island. They don't simply provide us with backstory. They're the only things we know are true.

other man = ethan rom

"The Stephen King novella "The Langoliers" appeared in Four Past Midnight. I had forgotten that "the Jaunt" had a similar premise, but "The Langoliers" directly involves a plane. Also those who were awake during the journey disappeared; they didn't go insane like in "The Jaunt." "

all of this Stephen King talk - do you guys remember in the heavy-Juliette episode that she was clutching a Stephen King novel, her "book club" book, when Ben asks her about not being invited to book chats any longer?

And, she (Juliette) totally had to be drugged (to sleep) to make the trip to the island.

so, where does Mr. King fit in here?
the ultrasound in the hatch was totally creepy.

Creepy...thanks mizbinkley!

Regarding multi-lingual Naomi, when they send space ships out, they usually write messages in various languages and symbols so that any being that found it could understand. If Naomi were a kind of astronaut/time traveller sent into the future through the time warp/black hole via the tractor beam [to find Desmond, hired by Penny], she (or whoever sent her) might anticipate needing various languages not knowing which one became dominant in the future. We know, for example, that in the past there was a time when Latin was dominant, then French, then English, now maybe Spanish - future who knows? Certainly could include Chinese.

How is one able to type in the anagram for the pre-flight check in with Ethan's name?

To Fairfax:
I can't get the seating chart to load either. Maybe it is my work computer, I don't know. If you figure it out let me know how!

Monkey Wrench - drag the letters into the boxes to spell "Other Man"

Yes, the Oceanic Seating chart is kind of quirky and it does do really weird things with Ana-Lucia's seat. Like, sometimes it doesn't exist.

Also, when you click on the rows 4-8-15-16-23-42 it shows you the season 2 promo. Not sure what to make of the fact that it says three times "They're not the survivors" before it finally says "They're not the survivors they think they are" or something like that.

Tricia -- it just takes some time. So far I have only gotten a few seats to load though so it is definitely not all the way done!

Fairfax:
Thanks. I'll work on it tomorrow, as it is officially time to leave. Then I'll finally know what you guys are talking about!

Meanings of "Naomi":
-It's "I moan" spelled backwards
-Means "above all, beauty" in Japanese
-Means "pleasantness" in Hebrew
-In the Old Testament she's the mother-in-law of Ruth, who is intensely loyal to Naomi.
-From Wiki: "She later renamed herself Mara. (Ruth 1:20-21): 'She said to them, 'Do not call me Naomi call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.'' referring to the death of her husband and sons. Mara is a Hebrew name that means 'bitter'. Through Ruth's marriage to Boaz she becomes a collateral ancestor of King David."

Wasn't Ruth the name of the woman Desmond left when he ran off to the monastery??

I'm definitely itching to get on that website now, but must wait until I get on my home computer.... Does anyone know when it was created or if it was part of The LOST Experience game from last summer?

It's going home time finally... I love hearing everyone's ideas and input... until next week...

1) Naomi did start in Spanish--Hurley is a native speaker, so he wouldn't have said it was Spanish if it werent--likewise, Jin would recognize Chinese (besides, there's no mixing up romance languages and Chinese). And she did switch to Italian when Mikhail said she did. Why she was switching languages like that, I have no idea.

2) Aborting a baby by yourself is extremely difficult, painful, and dangerous; she'd probably almost certainly end up infertile and possibly dead; or she could just hurt herself really bad without even succeeding. I can see why she wouldn't automatically turn to it. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the option comes up in a later episode.

3) I don't think it's the Others themselves who are necessarily perpetrating the conspiracy--unless they are a part of a government in some way or another, in which