# Lost 1.23 "Exodus, Part One" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420 "2005-05-18T15:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/201 "2005-05-20T00:55:26Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > Assuming, of course, that they are actually still on the Earth they know. Actually, following on my half-tongue-in-cheek “predatory island” idea above, I’m becoming somewhat enamored of the idea that the island is not in fact stationary, that it moves around at sea. It would certainly explain a lot of things: why it’s uncharted (obviously), why nobody came looking for them (it could have collected the falling plane, then moved way outside a typical search grid), where the polar bears came from (passengers, deliberate or inadvertent, from a trip to the far south), the weird high tide a number of episodes ago (water would wash against the leading edge)… I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t like a big UFO type thing (consider the hatch, the picture in Walt’s comic, and the TCM-“security system”) that settled into the ocean, gradually became covered in dirt and vegetation over the centuries (consider the evident age of the Black Rock), and now wanders the ocean for its own as-yet-unrevealed purposes. The Others could be the descendants of castaways who’ve been recruited by the island for some reason, and who either serve its wishes or believe they are doing so. The more I think about this, the more I like how it makes certain pieces of the puzzle fit together. And as an idea, it’s neat enough for me to share even though it’s almost certainly wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/202 "2005-05-20T00:57:25Z")
Oh, and one other item: IIRC, Rousseau’s map showed the island to be awfully round, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/203 "2005-05-20T01:02:02Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > Minor nitpick. Sun was supposed to have learned English in secret so she could get away from her husband so I don’t find it realistic that she would know the word “starboard.” Left and right, of course, but starboard is a more obscure word for a non-native speaker to learn. But by this point, everyone already knows that she speaks English, and she has been hanging around down near the Raft Builders. It’s possible she overheard enough of what they were saying to interpret context. I mean, for Pete’s sake, she knows what to do for headaches, asthma attacks, emergency blood transfusions, etc. She seems to be a pretty quick study, even when most people don’t realize she’s even taking notes. That said, I never heard anyone ever use the word “starboard” before. Although she could have asked Locke or Sayid, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/204 "2005-05-20T01:12:50Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > You wouldn’t happen to be capable of making screen captures, would you? [Tada!](http://www.geocities.com/sdmb_lost1/BlackRock.JPG) (And a [mirror](http://www.geocities.com/sdmb_lost2/BlackRock.JPG), since GeoCities is stingy with the bandwith). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/205 "2005-05-20T01:21:03Z")
Two masts, no visible gunports, my guess is Rotterdam for home port, and with that stern, built for speed. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/206 "2005-05-20T01:26:07Z")
[nitpick] **Cervaise** , north is the way to go for polar bears. South will only get you penguins. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![aaelghat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@aaelghat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaelghat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/207 "2005-05-20T01:58:29Z")
Here’s another paragraph from the [synopsis](http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/2004-05/23.html) about a scene that didn’t appear in the episode (eighth paragraph from the bottom). It certainly answers the question of whether Sayid thought Nadia was alive… > [@](#): > > He looks up on the mast and sees a yellow necktie flapping from the top. > > We FLASHBACK to the Sydney airport and see Sayid considering that same necktie on a rack with many others. A woman is helping him decide. She asks him what he will be using it for. “I’m going to see a woman.” Sayid asks her to pick it for him and she points him towards the yellow one. As she rings it up she asks the girl’s name and Sayid can’t help but smile when he tells her. “Nadia.” And as he is lost in the emotion of finally seeing his love again, the airport police arrive and ask him if he left a bag unattended earlier. He tries to tell them that he asked someone (Shannon) to watch it for him, but they aren’t hearing it and tell him he needs to come with them. “Of course I do.” ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/208 "2005-05-20T02:01:18Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Interesting, but the poen is about an actual rock, not a ship. No? Perhaps it’s a rock with dreams of being something more. But it can never be a ship because it’s a rock and rocks tend to sink which is not a good quality in a ship. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/209 "2005-05-20T02:36:58Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Perhaps it’s a rock with dreams of being something more. [Woody Harrelson] Even a rock wants to BE something. [/Woody Harrelson] ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/210 "2005-05-20T02:41:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Two masts, no visible gunports, my guess is Rotterdam for home port, and with that stern, built for speed. I think with that stern we’re well into the 19th century. 18th century sterns tended to be much taller and narrower. See this 18th century [East Indiaman](http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/Article ____ 6245.aspx), for example. We can also see that the foremast and mainmast were square-rigged. If she’s really got just two masts, we’re looking at something like a brig. I think she’s got three masts, though, with the mizzen either hidden by the foliage or just gone. Those protrustions on the side of the hull are in line with the masts, used as anchor points for the rigging holding the masts steady. The rearmost doesn’t line up with the visible masts, suggesting a third that can’t be seen. That most likely makes her a barque. (Course, it’s possible the set designers know squat about sailing ships, and I’m massively overanalyzing.) Sadly, with no gunports she’s unlikely to be a pirate, and she’s in the wrong ocean to be a slaver (very late design to be a slaver anyways). ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/211 "2005-05-20T02:46:06Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Actually, following on my half-tongue-in-cheek “predatory island” idea above, I’m becoming somewhat enamored of the idea that the island is not in fact stationary, that it moves around at sea. It would certainly explain a lot of things: why it’s uncharted (obviously), why nobody came looking for them (it could have collected the falling plane, then moved way outside a typical search grid), where the polar bears came from (passengers, deliberate or inadvertent, from a trip to the far south), the weird high tide a number of episodes ago (water would wash against the leading edge)… > > I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t like a big UFO type thing (consider the hatch, the picture in Walt’s comic, and the TCM-“security system”) that settled into the ocean, gradually became covered in dirt and vegetation over the centuries (consider the evident age of the Black Rock), and now wanders the ocean for its own as-yet-unrevealed purposes. The Others could be the descendants of castaways who’ve been recruited by the island for some reason, and who either serve its wishes or believe they are doing so. > > The more I think about this, the more I like how it makes certain pieces of the puzzle fit together. And as an idea, it’s neat enough for me to share even though it’s almost certainly wrong. 😃 I hope you’re right. It sounds quite plausible to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/212 "2005-05-20T02:47:04Z")
Wasn’t everyone (the castaways, the CFL, etc.) stranded on the island after a storm? So that could mean that people only arrive at the island after a supernatural event. I was thinking of something like in the miniseries “The Langoliers.” ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/213 "2005-05-20T03:06:39Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > (Course, it’s possible the set designers know squat about sailing ships, and I’m massively overanalyzing.) Probably. They didn’t really give the plane too much thought. The plane wreck was an L-1011, which has nowhere near the range to make a Sydney to L.A. run. Also, when the tail came off, there was no engine on it, despite the fact that the throttle controls in the cockpit show for three engines. I’d blame that on the CGI guys though. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/214 "2005-05-20T03:11:35Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > According to [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JNOG/qid=1116537866/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-7088449-0011207?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846) it’s being released on September 5 of this year. I would’ve released it on August 15th. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/215 "2005-05-20T03:14:29Z")
My birthday’s September 9, so it would make a good gift. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/216 "2005-05-20T03:26:03Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > My birthday’s September 9, so it would make a good gift. > > 😉 I don’t know very many sesquicenturians that are in to sci-fi/fant TV, let’s give her all a hand! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/217 "2005-05-20T03:27:15Z")
> [@look!ninjas](#): > > I’m such a wuss. I got all choked up when Jack and Sawyer had their big scene. And then I got choked up again when Walt gave Shannon the dog. And then I got choked up _again_ when Jin and Sun reconciled. That’s nothing compared to me. I started bawling when Vincent tried to swim after the raft. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/218 "2005-05-20T03:33:22Z")
There were several scenes where some of us _LOST_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/219 "2005-05-20T04:32:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > “Dirty trick?” I thought you were _supposed_ to let the security guys know when a suspicious-looking Arab guy abandons an overnight bag in an international airport. Not so. Just mention the words “Arab-looking guy” and the Thought Police will descend from all directions… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420/220 "2005-05-20T04:53:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > For that matter, how did Sawyer get on the plane? Did the Aussie authorities let him fly with his forged passport? They must have, because Hurley didn’t know his real name - only the name on the manifest. As he is an experienced con-man, I’m guessing that Sawyer had a fake identity that would fool anyone without a DNA test or fingerprint records. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-23-exodus-part-one/304420.md?page=12)