Welcome to the Lost Rewind for ‘Live Together, Die Alone’
Long post alert – this is a double episode, very weighty but without an ounce of fat!
Timestamp: Days 65-67
*Live Together or Die alone was first mentioned by Jack in S1.5 and has been one of the major themes running through the whole show. In season 4 we may see this premise taken even further with the Losties having to unite with the remaining Others to defend themselves and the Island.
Flashback
*Des told the discharge officer that he wanted ‘Our Mutual Friend’ by Charles Dickens to be the last thing he read before he died.
Q: Given Desmond’s flashes, is it possible that he could know when he was to die?
*The scene in the car with Charles Widmore shows him to be a very controlling father, Penny seems ignorant of this (later asking Desmond why he hadn’t written) –
Q: Would Penny be able to conduct the search for Desmond on the Island without Charles knowing? Could this shed any light on Naomi’s possession of the Des/Penny photo? Could Charles or whoever is behind the Freighter crew be using Penny’s search for Desmond as a front for their own search for the Island?
* We finally learn a little more about the hatch.
Radzinsky made the edits on the Orientation film, splicing out the bit that said
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Do not attempt to use the computer [blip] for anything else other than the entering of the code. This is its only function. The isolation that attends the duties associated with Station 3 may tempt you to try and utilize the computer for communication with the outside world. This is strictly forbidden. Attempting to use the computer in this manner will compromise the integrity of the project and worse, could lead to another incident. I repeat, do not use the computer for anything other than entering the code.
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They were found hidden in a bible in the Arrow station.
Q: What’s all that about then ? Was Radzinsky an original Dharmite?
Q: Did he have anything to do with the Incident? Is that why (according to Kelvin) he killed himself?
(Later, when JKS&H find the tube dump, Kate reads from a notebook “0400 S. R. moves ping-pong table again” R = Radsinsky ?)
* What’s behind the concrete wall?
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Kelvin – Electromagnetism, geologically unique. The incident... there was a leak. So now the charge builds up and every time we push the button it discharges it before it gets too big.
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This matches with the explanation given by Damon in the S2 DVD Bonus Feature ‘Secrets from the Hatch’
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The function of the hatch, what it was built for, was that there was an accident here... It’s a big thumb sticking in a dyke… that dyke is holding back this massive magnetic anomaly…
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Q: What was the function of the experiments before the incident? Could the Swan have originally been the site of the Orchid hatch? Was the incident connected or similar to the bunny kerfuffle we saw in the Orchid clip that was teased at Comicon?
Namechecks
*
Penelope was the
wife of Ulysses who famously waited faithfully for many years for him to return from War, avoiding many suitors (eventually he does return and they are re-united).
*We find out that Des’s full name is
Desmond David Hume – David Hume was a philosopher whose doctrine – ‘The Science of Man’, was to trust in humans’ reason and insight into reality. Desmond becomes the ‘Man of Science’ as the timer counts down for the final time, analysing the evidence and coming to the conclusion that, “it’s all bloody real” (his subsequent turning of the key was arguably an act of faith though).
Meanwhile, Locke has gone from Faith to science - concluding the Swan a psychological experiment, just as Eko turned man of Faith to take his place as button pusher.
This is also the climax of the audience’s constant re-evaluation of whether the button is real, set in motion by Candle’s mention of B.F. Skinner in Orientation.
Locke hits his lowest point, in a classic piece of Island Irony (I hereby coin the term Isle-rony : ) his button pushing ‘slavery’ resembles his pre-Island meaningless existence. Angry and beset with guilt that Boone died ‘for nothing’ he is determined that the button will not be pushed.
*
Kelvin – in Solaris, a novel cited as an influence on Lost, Kris Kelvin arrives at a scientific research station hovering above the surface of the planet Solaris to find one of the scientists has committed suicide.
Connections
*We revisit, this time from Des’s perspective, the iconic crossover between him and Jack at the stadium. Penny intercepts Des outside having tracked him down – “With enough money and determination you can find anyone” she says. This sets the scene for her bigger search for Desmond after he is washed up on the Island.
* Libby gives the hard-up Desmond her late husband’s boat after a ‘chance’ meeting. There is clearly more of Libby’s story to tell.
Q: Is Libby in collusion with someone? Widmore? Ms Hawking?
Q: For Libby’s story to be completed (after she is dead), she must have connected with another character, who might this be?
*This also shed’s some light on Libby’s untimely demise, she was being buried just as Des arrived back, conveniently avoiding him recognising her – a ‘you’ moment to many!
Q: Is the fact that Libby said her husband David ‘got sick’ suspicious? This is used as a lie by Desmond earlier in S2 when he said Kelvin got sick and died, also the sickness on the Island may be fake.
Mythology
* Four Toed Statue. This is re-enforcing the fact that the island has a (bizarre) history way older than Dharma – something we start to learn about in S3.
*Hurleybird – as well as another Island-oddity, a dramatic device whereby Michael learns that the gun Jack has given him is empty.
*Whispers also heard at the tube dump
Q: WTF is the Hurleybird? Does it have any relationship to Smokey?
Q: Could they be relics of an ancient but highly advanced civilisation or even a future civilisation (given the Time Travel issues)?
(My present theory is that Hurleybird may be mechanical rather than biological)
Desmond – coward or courageous?
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here's the real question, Desmundo... do you have the courage to take your finger out of the damn and blow the whole thing up, instead?
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*Having been dishonourably discharged, called a coward by Penny (in FBYE) and her father and embarked on the round the world race to get his honour back, Desmond, after some years pushing the button, really does have the courage to turn the key (in FBYE, Ms Hawking tells him it’s the only truly great thing he ever does).
All roads lead here – The sky turned purple.
1. This, of course, was the moments after Desmond turned the failsafe key, changing his past, everyone’s future and arguably the genre of the show. The release of the Island’s energy that the Swan hatch was regulating caused Des to travel in time (something that some fans have found hard to accept)– his flashback in FBYE showed him waking up in his past, aware of his future and then reliving this past for a short while - he could remember how this segment of his life had happened the first time round. After this, Desmond also gets flashes of the future mostly revolving around Charlie’s fate but also hinted at in scenes such as his meeting with Jack in the stadium (“what if you did fix her ?”) and at other points in the show. For those that still deny time travel, the latest clarification by Damon in Lost Magazine June 07 was pretty unequivocal – when asked if Desmond ("in a conscious, physical, or in whatever way") really travelled back in time to 1996, he answered, "I'm going to give you a wonderfully simple answer -- Yes!!!"
Get over it! - But… Desmond was thinking of Penny when he turned the key.
Q: Was it a wish that Desmond was granted (to see Penny and have a chance to change things)?
This reminded me of S1.14 when Locke was teaching Walt to throw a knife, he told him
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That's right. Now do it again. But see it. See it before you do it. Visualize the path. See it. See it.
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And Ben’s comment (S3.13) about the magic (metaphorical) box
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What if I told you that somewhere on this island there's a very large box...and whatever you imagined...whatever you wanted to be in it...when you opened that box, there it would be.
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2. Since the sky turned purple the Others’ Communications were down (Ben was conning his people, he was jamming them from the Looking Glass Station).
3. Finally, the release was also detected as a magnetic anomaly by some people hired by Penny, seemingly giving them a location for the Island.
Q: Could the Freighter crew have detected this anomaly too? – Or even the earlier anomaly that caused the plane to crash (the one they missed)?
Q: Why did Ben choose to start jamming the signals then ? – Was he already aware that the ‘bad guys’ were coming or did he guess that the purple sky phenomena was not likely to go unnoticed by these people who had been ‘trying to find the island for quite some time’?
Q : Could the whole Island have shifted in time when the failsafe was turned?
Lastly, big thanks to the queST and huge respect to our very own blushing bunny - CrimsonRabbit for all his Rewinds. I believe he is back at the helm next week
I'm a Reb-Belle!! 
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