Anyone check out the video clip of “Gary Troup” on that Amazon page?
I remember speculating back when this first came up early in the season that it meant “good tasting”. 
I tend to think it means “good” in the traditional sense given the many, many references to good and evil in this story.
Maybe Scott and Steve were gettin’ it on, and Ethan whacked the one that was, shall we say, gettin’ it. After all, how can a trendy show like *Lost *not have any gay characters?
I only read the SDMB Lost threads, not any of the other sites. But I have read the EW theories, and the theory of the hatch being a Skinner box that induced some kind of psychic break in a guy who now heads the Others seems to resonate more with every week.
Which is a reason I find the Hanso Foundation password – breakingstrain – to be interesting:
Rudyard Kipling’s Hymn of Breaking Strain
Next, I wouldn’t believe a word out of Michael’s mouth. Sure what he said makes it seem like there may be more than one group of Others. FTR, that’s not what it sounded like to me – more like there is a group of lackeys on the outside who guard a hatch where the more priveledged are. But still, he could give names, social security numbers, and mothers’ maiden names for each one of them and I wouldn’t trust a word out of his mouth. I would be very hesitant to extend any kinds of theories about the Others based on anything he said.
Now that said, how long has Michael been gone in Lost time? A few days? A week? I think that this is too short of a time to be completely brainwashed by the Others. Look at Claire – they didn’t turn her in two weeks and had to keep her medicated. So, no, I don’t blame the Losties for not being suspicious of Michael. So I’m putting my chips behind “sick” rather than “turned.”
Back to what Michael is saying, it doesn’t matter his motives. Calmer heads may have prevailed based on his words alone. With AL and Libby (dead/wounded), there will be no calmer heads. This was truly methodical and may have nothing to do at all with the Others or any deals. Michael may just have wanted more manpower and thought long and hard about how to get the Losties in a blood rage. His actions in the hatch were perfect for doing that. In fact, the pause he had after he got the gun may be construed as the wheels in his head clicking, with the plan coming to him and all of the ramifications being demonstrated…
Anyway, my two or three bits.
We also know, from the Tailies experience, that it took around 40 days from the time the children were taken from the beach to the time Eko and Jin saw them as Others. Now of course this doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be done shorter…
Walt’s status is in dispute in my mind.
When NotHenry says AnaL killed two of his people, did he mean Ethan and Goodwin?
Because I cannot buy that the grubbies are not the foot soldiers of the Others. Goodwin seemed to confirm that he sent the grubbies to capture the good ones.
They had a list with them and Goodwin told AnAL that they were the good ones.
Yet, NotHenry doesn’t seem to count them in his body count.
This seems to indicate that he doesn’t consider the grubbies his “people.” Just tools.
I assumed it was Goodwin and the guy that Eko bashed on the head with a rock. Note that Eko appologized to Fenry (Fake Henry).
THe Others that Eko saw were not the kids that were taken from the beach. Anal specifically asked him if they were and he answered in the negative.
Ana also killed one of the others who attacked the Tailaways’ camp, so she did kill two others herself. I’m not sure how Henry would know that she specifically was the one who killed them. Eko also killed two himself, and confessed it to Henry as you mention, so maybe Henry was referring to that.
Greetings, fellow Lost fans. I registered here just to post in this thread.
One of the things I like about the discussion you have going here is that, compared with, say, lost-forum.com, people here seem to have a much more realistic and intelligent way of interpreting what we see on Lost (I don’t see anyone here seriously advocating the Purgatory theory. :rolleyes: )
Yet, I think some people are still getting a bit too “out there.” For one thing, I don’t have a link right now, but I read that in some podcast or interview or something, the producers explicitly shot down any “multiple groups of Others” theories. So I think we have to assume that those Michael saw (if his story has any connection to reality) are in league with the Mr. Friendly group.
People recapping the final scene have forgotten to mention that Michael’s teeth were chattering very prominently several times as he shot the people (and himself), indicating he was very nervous. I got kind of an actor-on-opening-night, “wow, this is what I’ve been drilled for, now I’m really going through with it” vibe from it.
I wouldn’t say it’s clear they know each other. Michael did indeed look scared and his teeth were chattering; Henry’s look was just a wide-eyed, intense stare. It could just as easily have been a “strange man I’ve never seen before just entered the room carrying a gun” look. And I’m fairly certain no words were exchanged, contra BobT.
I agree with edwino that assuming Michael’s story is true, the people he saw were more like lackeys who work for the more powerful Others. In fact, I’ve wondered whether this group may be comprised of castaways like our Losties (in contrast to the “real” others, who are Dharma people) and that this group is what they’re “recruiting” castaways for.
My money for now is on Michael having succumbed to The Sickness and believing that this crazy plan will somehow help him get Walt back. I don’t think we have enough reason to believe yet that he’s been Otherified.
I wonder if there’s any link between Michael killing his fellow Lostawats and CFL killing her crew. Maybe she jsutified in her mind that she had to kill them because they were sick. The Others have obviously left her alond for 16 years-- she claims she’s never even seen one (until Fenry).
And does anyone believe Fenry when he says he was on a mission to take Locke to The Others? Sounds fishy to me. Sounds like just the sort of thing Locke would want to here-- that The Island (thru The Others) had singled him out for special treatment.
I don’t think Michael is sick or brainwashed or anything. My guess is that the Others made a deal with him–bust out PseudoHenry, and he can be with Walt again. They’ve spent a lot of energy setting up Michael’s desparation, so we know that he would shoot the whole crew in the head without even thinking about it if that’s what they told him he had to do.
The idea that the Others want Henry back keeps popping up, but if you think about it, do we have any reason to assume they know he’s being held captive? Maybe he was sent on a mission that was supposed to take longer than he’s been away. Even if they did expect him back by now, the most they could know is that for some reason he hasn’t returned yet. Unless the stuff about “remote viewing” turns out to be true, and the Others have the equivalent of a video feed from our Losties’ camp (which I have to admit I’ve considered, since Bluebeard was able to drop their names so easily–I never thought a verbal report from Ethan would be enough for him to recognize them at a quick glance in the jungle at night, where you’d have to go primarily by voice.)
In this vein, I think they had him wait until Ana Lucia was alone with Fenry because they convinced him she was bad (she did shoot Shannon).
Well, that’s a shame. I really like the Barefoots vs. Seabillies idea.
I just re-watched and I agree he’s clearly upset. I don’t know about nervous, but I guess so. I read his look before shooting AL as “I’m about to cross a threshold here, and I hate it, but I have to do what I have to to.” Thus, the “I’m sorry.”
The shooting of Libby seemed like a complete panic move. I agree with whoever said it was like he didn’t even know who he shot until it was over.
Well, I guess it all comes down to interpretation of facial expressions, but I’m still pretty convinced that they at least knew who each other were, and what they were doing there. Thus, no need to speak before Michael shoots himself. I thought Michael looked upset, but determined, again in that “made a deal with the devil” sort of way.
I would have enjoyed “My name is Michael, and I’m here to rescue you,” but I guess that would have been out of character.
Certainly possible, but I dunno. This just feels wrong to me. Like too easy, or something.
I do not think that Michael is acting on his own plan - it’s pretty crazy, even for him. I do think he made a deal with the Others for you-know-who, and we all know how nuts that dang kid makes him. The plan could be either to free Henry, or maybe just to convince the Losties to arm up and walk into an ambush. I guess the sickness could be part of the bargain too. Maybe he and/or Walt is sick and the Others have the antidote?
OR! Perhaps Waaaaallllt has been Otherfied, and he’s convinced pop that they are the good guys?
Since the sickness hasn’t been a big issue this season, it could mean that this becomes HUGE in the last couple episodes, and in the next season. Or, it could turn out to be another 108-minute button. Everyone’s convinced they’ll die if they don’t get the “antidote,” and since the Dharma-Others have the antidote, they get to be in charge. But what if the sickness doesn’t exist, and the “antidote” is just a placebo? As far as we know, nobody on the island has caught “the sickness” even though Danielle seemed pretty convinced it would hit at any time.
And the fun thing about this show, is that ALL of these things could be true!
Michael looks at Henry. Henry looks at Michael. Closeup on the gun as Michael starts to squeeze the trigger. Pan out to see Michael turn the gun toward his arm just as it goes off. End of shot.
My guess is that Michael lets Henry go, then claims that Henry shot all three of them, just to be sure that Jack, et al. go and attack the Others, for revenge.
I believe he killed Ana just because he didn’t like her in the first place. Libby happened to walk in to see it, so he had to kill Libby to keep his cover story. He shot himself so that he would have a reason for not going after Henry when Henry “tries to escape.”
I also don’t believe his story about how undermanned and undergunned the Others are, BTW. He could be lying to help convince Jack to help him, or he could just be making bad guesses based on what he saw there (if he even saw anything). For all we know, the Others had him doped up and brainwashed, then released him to feed the story to Jack.
I agree that he was extremely nervous, but (and maybe this is my audio system) it didn’t sound like chattering teeth; it sounded like the gun rattling in his trembling hand.
For the most part, I agree with you. But Claire’s not a good comparison - they weren’t after her, they were after her baby. Since we don’t really know how an Other gets Othered, I wouldn’t rule out anything yet.
He had to have been brainwashed or somehow controlled by the Others. First, it’s too much of a coincidence that he happened to stumble out on Jack and Kate when he did. And even as crazy as he is for his kid, I don’t see him shooting two innocent women as part of a cockamamie scheme to get his son back.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that he was originally ‘lured’ away from the group by that “Dad?” message on the computer screen, because he was singled out as someone who could be brainwashed and used as a mole in the group. Either that, or they just captured him when he came looking for his kid and after Henry was captured the Others devised a plot to send Michael back to release him.
To me, he had a look about him almost like a puppet on strings - jerky movements, moments of conflicted anguish followed by sudden action. I think he was programmed.
The first episode with a Claire flashback was titled, “Raised by Another”. Perhaps the title refers not just to her baby and the warning regarding its upbringing, but also to Claire herself.
(I also have a theory that “The Long Con” refers as much to Locke as to Sawyer.)