The actress who plays her is almost 50, IIRC. So if she meant “child” is “fruit of her loins” then Alex could be, let’s say 30 (assuming she didn’t have a kid when she was under the age of 20).
But as previoulsy speculated, she may have meant “child” could have meant something like “creation.” Eg/ “This robot is my baby.”
Or heck, perhaps Alex was a normal adult and she did weirdo psyhcological experiments on him and created the next Jack-the-Ripper – then she could still mean that this guy is her “child” is she “created” the person he is today. Starts of as Alex, the well-adjusted boring guy, turns into Hannibal Lecter.
I’m thinking that this redshirt, Ethan, is NOT Alex. It’s too early to introduce Alex.
Oh, and the opther reason he’s creepy is because he keeps playing bad guys on shows like CSI.
Actually, he didn’t. I just watched it again, and all he does is say 'Rom" and Ethan says “Rom” again. But I think it has been verified thru the LOST web site that R-O-M is the correct spelling.
I don’t buy the Ontario, CA idea. Ethan didn’t correct Hurley when he mentioned Canada. That Ontario, CA is near LA isn’t very compelling, since virtually every flight between Oz and North America goes through LAX. I think there’s a few through San Fran too, but I don’t think there are any through Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver. So everyone going to the US or Canada from Australia goes through California.
The odd thing is that, assuming that Ethan wasn’t on the plane and has lived on the island all these years, is that he’d pick Ontario as the place he’s from. It’s too large a population centre, people are familiar with it, dangerous possibilities of getting quizzed about whether he follows the Jays or the Leafs, etc. Assuming he’s lying and he doesn’t want his story closely examined, he should have picked somewhere more obscure. North Dakota, say. Who knows anything about North Dakota? I live right next to it, and don’t have a clue myself.
I’m thinking that Locke was definitely ‘changed’ when he encountered the WhateverHeSawThing.
And I think Locke knew about Ethan and is in cahoots with him. I think Locke knew that it was Ethan who conked Sayid in the head and that he deliberately misled Sayid into going after Sawyer to cover for Ethan. Notice that Locke also seems to act a bit weird (or at least weirder than normal) when Sayid returns and starts telling Jack and Co. about Danielle…almost like he’s trying to figure out how much Sayid really knows…and note that when we first meet Ethan, he is with Locke. So my vote is that Locke is in cahoots with Ethan somehow.
However…
I don’t think that Ethan is actually evil. I think that’s the impression that the writers wanted to give, but only as misdirection. I think Ethan is actually trying to save Claire’s baby from the clutches of The Big Evil Whatever that is really after her child for nefarious purposes.
So there you have it. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong. That’s why it’s a WAG, right?
er…When I rewatched this scene again for just this reason, Hugo said “Rom, like r-o-m?” Ethan said, “Yeah.”
So the spelling was specified in the episode, but it came from Hugo and was only ‘verified’ by Ethan.
In other news…the whole debate about the psychic being an unscrupulous baby-broker seems to me to be just way too much of a stretch. The writers have given us insufficient information as part of their plan to get us hooked on the series, and a good plan it clearly is. This invites speculation, again as part of the writers’ plan. However, you can only speculate so far into the creations of the minds of people who you don’t even know. Clearly (to me at least) much of what they have deigned to reveal to us must be taken at face value until such time as they, in their wisdom, decide to otherwise inform us. Charlie and Claire , through intense discussion, arrived at the conclusion that the psychic knew the plane would crash and that that would ensure that she raised her baby herself. The writers wanted us to think that, and that is good enough for me, for now! It seems unlikely that they would wait until this far into the series to, for the first time, outright lie to us.
This is true. Sniffs_Markers is here in Ontario and all her return trips to Oz go through LAX (sometimes with a pit stop in Vancouver first) although I think a couple of times her flight went through Honalulu instead of LAX.
If that’s the case, of course Ethan was never on the plane. He probably found that legendary portal to the tropics that we Ontarians try to conjure every winter. The lucky bastard! I’ve been trying to teleport myself to a tropical island every January for years.
Oh, and I vote that Ethan will be the next to be eaten by the TCM.
I noticed and I believe it was deliberate because $6,000 is such an odd sum of money not to mention significantly less than what the Australian couple offered.
Rose is still MIA. As is the Tree Felling Monster. Maybe Claire’s screams scared him off?
I’ll have to watch it one more time. I can’t believe I missed that since it was one of the things I was looking for. I assume you’re right, though, since it’s easier to miss something twice than to see it twice if it isn’t actually there!
There’s the “unknown” stuff built into the plot. E.g why are there other people on the island, are they connected, what’s eating trees, why was Jack’s father there, why was there a Polar bear there, who crowned Sayid, how did the women have electricity?
Those are elements for speculation. And there are TONS of them. And they’re interesting.
But, when we’re told “there’s someone on the Island who wasn’t on the plane” there’s not room to speculate “well, I think that someone was just giving Hurley a fake name and they really were on the plane.”
I know it’s not my place to define what should and shouldn’t be speculated on, but there’s a difference between speculating about what’s left open by the writers and speculating in such a fashion that you’re simply casting doubt on what they’re trying to tell you.
Somewhere on page 1 or 2, someone mentioned that the airplane mobile over the crib was spinning the wrong way. (I know, I should go back and look, but come on, there’s already four pages of crap here! ) I didn’t actually notice that, myself, but wouldn’t it spin counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere? And even if they’ve crossed the equator, Claire’s mind would probably automatically spin it in that direction.
And count me as one of the people who thought Ethan’s responses to Hurley’s questions were shifty enough to make him suspicious right from that moment.
Hurley/Sawyer–brilliant. I thought that was great. Hurley said probably the only thing that would have gotten Sawyer to give anything up for free. Speaking of, I have a friend who is a spontaneous vomiter–it’s usually just as much a surprise to him as it is to the rest of us when he gets sick. I’m willing to bet Hurley has the same problem.
Late check in, as I TIVO and watch later (avoiding ads and gives the ability to replay sections easily).
This was the first episode where I think they went astray. The backstory wasn’t as compelling as the other characters in many aspects, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with the new direction (a bit too Lord of the Flies).
Although we do know who the French woman was afraid of now- but I guess her version of dead now is different from ours.
In any event, this was the first episode I didn’t love, and the first one that I think they started to go astray. Hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be a expended version of Survivor Jungle Immunity Challenge, with the baby as the prize.
No. The spinning of a mobile is going to be determined by wind, not Coriolis Force. But I wouldn’t put any meaning on the direction of spin of the airplane. Just seems like way too much detailed symbolism, IMHO.
