In the episode where he had to get Penny to be his anchor so he could stop bouncing back and forth in time.
But I think Justin’s point is that Desmond never physically traveled in time, just his consciousness. His two physical bodies (past and present) stayed put.
Although there is definitely something quirky going on with time, it has not been made clear that anyone has physically, bodily, traveled through time - except the few days lag time between the Island and the freighter. However, this episode does hint that Ben might have traveled through time as well as space to get to Tunisia - though the confusion about the date and year might simply be that once you leave the Island (presuming he came from there) you can never be quite sure ‘when’ you’ll arrive in the outside world.
In other words, whether or not someone can physically and intentionally move their body from one time to another has not been established in the show, unless I’m forgetting something.
Yes. This is exactly the point I was trying to make.
He was suggesting that Desmond didn’t actually time travel when he met the old woman, but there’s every indication he did.
But the line between “physical” and “consciousness” travel is a fine one…
I said it’s never been conclusively shown that Desmond time travelled that time.
Just because his mind time travelled later, doesn’t mean that episode was telling the truth.
I was all excited to post the theory that Ben and Whidmore are each other’s constants. We don’t watch the episodes until Friday or Saturday, so I’m just going to have to get used to being scooped…
The show’s creators have said it in the podcast, if that helps.
Yeah, this was one of the better episodes. And it was a minute or two shorter than usual, too.
Most people have already covered what I was going to say, but I’ll add that Ben must be the only Westerner who can walk around casually in Tikrit without being kidnapped or killed.
Isn’t Tikrit one of the “safer” regions of Iraq right now (and in 2005)?
At the very least, it is as safe as that freaking island.
Have we speculated that Ben set up Nadia to be killed, to get Sayid on “his” side?
For some reason, I got the feeling Charles was Ben’s grandfather. That’s why he can’t kill him. I’m probably way wrong on that one.
I wonder if Sawyer is falling for cute little Claire?
Tikrit was also the location where Saddam hid his WMD, at least according to Donald Rumsfeld, who, as we all know, was never wrong about Iraq.
Yes, we have.
I think Sawyer just went into “protect the baby and babymama” mode. Oh, sorry, I meant “protect the bay-bay” mode. I don’t think he’s hot for her so much as none of the guys want to be responsible for turniphead, woman being the only critters who can take care of bay-bays and all. (From Sawyer’s point of view.)
What the FUCK does that have to do with his question, just out of curiosity?
Does Widmore have any other children?
Yes, Penny, remember, Desmond’s True Love.
Tikrit is Saddam’s home town, and part of the so-called Sunni Triangle. I don’t know about now, but that part of Iraq was extremely dangerous for Westerners in 2005.
Maybe it was an indicator that Ben had finally made a mistake because he was rock stupid enough to believe that he might be able to pick up some WMDs nearby?
-Joe
I put very little stock in what the creators say in podcasts/interviews because I have also read they are very willing to change anything they’ve said as canon that wasn’t shown on screen.
I agree – but it’s yea. Different word from yay. I thought it was a joke when I started noticing people on the SDMB misspelling yea y-a-y; now I think it’s an example of an old word that people still use verbally but don’t know how to spell.
Ben pulling the shotgun out of the piano bench and handing it to a startled Sawyer was great, but it’s also another example of how bizarrely incurious our heroes seem to be. If I’d been living in Ben’s house for several days, I would have gone over every inch of it looking for things like, oh, hidden weapons, secret rooms, unexplained high-tech devices, stuff like that. Actually I would have checked out the entire compound during the time our Losties have been arguing, fornicating and playing Risk.
Interesting that the two areas mentioned in their Risk game were Siberia and Australia. Wasn’t Penny’s monitoring station in Siberia? I can’t remember.
Ben could get swallowed by a whale and then be coughed up on Miami Beach wearing a new suit and smoking a cigar.
I’m trying to wrap my head around the whole mystery of this show and lumping all the issues into broad categories. There is SO much going on, I am trying to build a framework so I can even begin to digest it all.
Here is my effort so far lump them into five key areas:
The Native Island-
Covers all mysteries tied directly to the island. Who really belongs there (natives with four toes)? What are its powers? What is the monster (makes an assumption it is part of the island)? How does the island alter events back in the mainland (Michael’s gun)? How does it cure people? Where is it? *When * is it? Time travel, Dammit?!
What are the teams-
How many teams are there in this big mess? Who ran Dharma? Why does Dharma keep dropping food? What is the nature of their experiments? Where does Ben get his money? What is his relationship with Widmore? Who are the dirty Others (overlap with Native Island question)? Hanso Foundation. The Black Rock.
Special People-
Jacob. Waaaaalllllt. Aaron. Claire’s psychic.
The Conspiracy-
Why are all these survivors seemingly connected? Who got them there? What role does Jack’s dad play (see the Lost mobcast for more info!). Libby!
Pet Peeves-
All the other little crap that either doesn’t matter, fits into one of the others but we don’t know it, stuff that will never be answered because the creators went a different direction, red herrings, or mysteries that WE created in our heads.
My faves: Adam and Eve, white rock/black rock, La Mer, Henry Gale, and Who’s foot was just sitting around?
Even this is not satisfying. This show drives me mad.