Season 4: Episode 10

Season 4: Episode 10

I was bored to tears by this episode.

Hard Facts

1. Juliet performs an emergency appendectomy on Jack. [NOTE: Yes, of course, every fertility doctor can do an emergency appendectomy in a pinch.]

2. In the future, Jack moves in with Kate, proposes marriage but then their relationship collapses.

3. Miles can sense the burial place of Carl and Rosseau which is accompanied by whispering sounds.

4. Claire goes off into the jungle in the middle of the night with someone she refers to as “dad” leaving Aaron behind.

5. Charlotte is fluent in Korean.

6. Christian Shepard appears to Jack in the hospital after the smoke alarm starts beeping.

7. Hurley delivers a message to Jack from Charlie that he (Jack)is not supposed to be involved in raising Aaron.

Analysis

1. The flash forward with Jack and Kate is set in 2006 at the earliest. Jack sees a newspaper story that the Yankees have creamed the Red Sox. However, in 2005, the Red Sox beat the Yanks in post-season play. This means that Jack has over a year of relatively normal living upon returning from the Island.

2. Jack will learn that Claire is his half-sister. He comments in anger to Kate that “you’re not even related to him.” This suggests, though not conclusively, that Jack is aware that he is, in fact, related to Aaron because Claire is his half sister.

3. Either Desmond’s visions were inaccurate or the future can be changed. Desmond’s original vision was that Claire would climb to safety on the helicopter with Aaron. However, it now appears that will not happen.

4. Claire likely works for Sun’s father. Knowing Korean is not like speaking French or even Chinese. It is simply too much of a coincidence for Charlotte to speak fluent Korean. This may mean that Widmore is allied with Paik.

5. Kate's destiny is to be one of the people who raises Aaron. The message that Hurley is directed at Jack and not Kate. Therefore, in addition to it being inappropriate for Jack to raise Aaron, Jack is also not pre-destined for marital bliss with Kate.

6. The use of the Island’s powers creates or involves smoke. That’s why Christian Shepard sets off the smoke detector.

7. Whispers evidence the presence of people who are dead according to our conventional definition of life and death. This is confirmed by Miles encounter with the bodies of Rosseau and Carl and is consistent with the previously stated analysis on this blog. See Episode 4:1, Thesis 2.

8. The rescue and removal of Aaron from the Island is pre-destined. Claire was told by the Australian psychic to get on Flight 815 so that another loving couple could raise Aaron. Claire is led off to the jungle but Aaron is left behind safely which is odd given that the Others have always been interested in young children and in the earlier seasons Ethan Rom had sought to convince Claire to give up her soon to be born baby.

9. Jack’s destiny is connected to the Island. Christian Shepard is not just coming to say hello. There have also been allusions to this earlier on including in the episode when Locke kills Naomi, when Hurley tells Jack that they belong on the Island and in the initial flash forward at the end of season 3 when Jack tells Kate he needs to return to the Island. Also, Jack's life in civilization is ultimately not a happy one with failed personal relationships and a deep abiding sense of paranoia.