The point would be that Charlie, Scott, Jin, and Claire are already dead. So what difference does it make if you knock them around a little? You can’t do them any real harm anymore with violence. The real danger is what will happen to their souls if they don’t save themselves.
I’ll admit I’m not committed to this theory - but I thought it was an interesting way to look at the show from a new viewpoint and argue that maybe the Others are really heroes not villains.
I said quite a while back that I thought the ‘others’ might be crewmen from The Black Rock. There’s a weird electromagnetic field on the island that has strange properties, and all of these initiatives are designed to explore a different aspect of the island’s strange field. Life extension is one of them. The people on the Black Rock are stilll alive, maybe 150 years old. They’re the original ‘others’.
Ethan and Nathan are more likely soldiers or guards from Dharma or the government or something. Maybe the island was abandoned because the experiments got dangerous, and the workers and scientists on the island were left to their own devices. Nathan and Ethan wound up allying with ‘the others’ to survive, perhaps. It’s interesting that they have to abduct the right people, especially children. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the genetic manipulation thing.
Or perhaps the people are being harvested. Maybe there’s some larger reason why these particular people were rounded up and flown over the island. Is it a coincidence that the plane broke in two, and each half was taken to an opposite side of the island, and crashed on the exact beathes where Ethan and Nathan happened to be waiting? We know it takes days to cross the island on foot. What are the odds that they were both right there? I can see two possibilities: Either they caused the plane to crash, maybe with telekenetic powers amplified by the island or something. The other possibility is that someone could see the future, and knew exactly where the plane’s pieces would land. But there’s there problem that the passengers should never have survived the crash, so I’m going with the theory that the plane was actually pulled apart in the air and the contents deposited on the beaches by some force.
sdrawkcab sgniht od ew neam t’nseod erehsimeh nrehtuos eht ni era ew esuaceb tusJ. ynnuf yreV
Waaaallllt!
Could the TCM be a security system against the Others? That would explain why the tailaways have been decimated while the Lostaways have for the most part, been left alone.
I just realized… the tailaways don’t seem to have encountered the TCM…
Or have had any other paranormal experiences. No polar bears. No visitations from dead parents. No miraculous healings. They’ve got a bunker, but no world-sustaining button. No vision quests. No voices until they approached the midsection camp. Just the Others. And while they’ve got jungle ninja mojo, Ethan was pretty much superhuman, much more impressive than Goodwin, anyway.
I think we’re on to something here. The tailies have had a far more horrific experience, but also a far more mundane one.
I’m also digging the comparisons of the circumstances of Ana Lucia and Jack’s leaderships. You’ve actually succeded were the show itself failed. I think I like AL now.
One thing I noted was that AL said “This is our life now”, when she threw out the radio. They’d abandoned all hope of leaving the island or even doing anything but dodging the Others. Meanwhile, what were the midsectioners up to around that time? Building a raft to get off the island. Exploring the mysteries of the hatch. They had hope. That’s a lot. That’s everything.
I’m still hung up over the radio contact between Boone and the tailies. According to this episode, that occurred on Day 41, merely a week ago in “Lost” time. A good chunk of last season and all of this season has occurred since that event. That was only a week ago? Doesn’t seem right. How long after the contact was it before Boone died? One day or two? Claire’s baby was born at the same time as Boone died. That baby is only 5 or 6 days old? It’s just not adding up for me.
Well, it broke into three halves actually… 
Remember the front section of the plane ended up in the middle of the jungle. Only survivor there was the pilot, and not for long.
that we know of… there were plenty of empty seats.
That’s one big baby!
[QUOTEMenocchio=]
Or have had any other paranormal experiences. No polar bears. No visitations from dead parents. No miraculous healings. They’ve got a bunker, but no world-sustaining button. No vision quests. No voices until they approached the midsection camp. Just the Others. And while they’ve got jungle ninja mojo, Ethan was pretty much superhuman, much more impressive than Goodwin, anyway.
I think we’re on to something here. The tailies have had a far more horrific experience, but also a far more mundane one.
[/QUOTE]
Seems that way but we only saw a 40 minute exerpt of their time on the island. The other crew we’ve seen for a season and a half. Many things may have happened that we don’t know about.
Well, that radio contact was in episode 19 last season, “Deus Ex Machina”
Since that, we had:
#20 “Do Not Harm” – Boone dies, which is in the night (immediately after #19)
#21 “The Greater Good” – Shannon steals gun, goes after Locke (next day?)
#22 “Born To Run” – not sure which day, but can’t be too long after
Then, #23-25 was “Exodus” parts 1, 2, 3. Season finale. ALL taking place on the same day (the day of the launching of the raft, finding the Black Rock, exploding Arzt, and that night, the opening of the hatch).
So this is probably no more than 3 days after the Boone radio transmission (so far).
Season 2, the first 3 epsodes are all focused around Locke, Kate, Jack entering the hatch, finding Desmond, and the aftermath of the attack on the raft. This is all happening on the same night as “Exodus”. I think the end of episode 3 “Orientation” is happening the next morning at some point (because it’s daylight when Jack catches up to Desmond in the woods).
So while a long time has passed for US, episodes 1x23, 1x24, 1x25, 2x01, 2x02, and 2x03 all happen in about 1 day (or perhaps a little bit over a 24 hour period from start to finish).
Which is still no more than 4 days after the Boone radio transmission, it appears.
Then there’s only episodes 4, 5, 6 ending in the shooting of Shannon (and episode 7 is the tailies story). If each one is one day after the previous one, it would make right about a week since Beechcraft Boone.
According to this guy’s chronology, it was on day 41.
Goodwin, not Natan.
But that’s an interesting idea and would explain the clothing with no tags on them that “the others” were wearing.
Thanks for the breakdown Monstre (and the link, John Mace). I had the same concern about the timeline, but it appears to work out OK.
I can buy into the idea that the Others are 150 years old due to a Life Extension project but I don’t think it would work on their clothing. Granted is was tattered but my Levis look worse after wearing them for a year and I’m not creeping around a jungle abducting people day after day.
Even more so since the “life extension project” would’ve started 130 some odd years after (assumed) they got to the island…
unless of course, they mean life zombification project…
Why is it the Others walk around barefooted and in rags, but when they decide to infiltrate your group, they suddenly come up with nice clothes?
Maybe those are their Sunday-go-to-kidnappin’ clothes.
Haven’t we seen FOUR sections?
The Main cabin (Losties), the tail section (tailies), the Nose (pilot), and the section where Kate found the briefcase under water (Kate in her undies!).
I still don’t think Ethan/Goodwin are part of The Others-- the feral OThers. They may be using them, but they’re not the same.
Did anyone notice that Goodwin was the one who wanted to build a signal fire “to let them know where we are”. No one asked him who “they” are. 