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.
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.
Here’s another paragraph from the synopsis 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…
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, 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).
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.”
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.
