# Lost 5:14 "The Variable" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746 "2009-04-29T18:12:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![TheVioletCreep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@TheVioletCreep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheVioletCreep)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/121 "2009-05-02T16:02:40Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Thought’s while watching- apropos to nothing > > The theme of parent child relationship (generally screwed up) keeps repeating: > > Jack and his dad > Kate and her (step?)dad > Ben and his dad > Penny and her dad > Hurley and his dad (recently reconciled) > Miles and his dad > Dan and his mom and dad > > Kate has to give up “her” child > Claire loses her child > Eloise kills her child > Sawyer and his daughter > > More? Sun/Jin and Ji Yeon? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/122 "2009-05-02T18:18:53Z")
> [@TheVioletCreep](#): > > Sun/Jin and Ji Yeon? Also Sun and her Dad. And Jin and his Mom. No one has a good relationship with their parents on this show. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/123 "2009-05-03T02:27:54Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That guy is such a dick. I hope he gets jacked up by Sawyer. (Regarding Radzinsky)… If by “jacked up”, you mean “gets his ass kicked”, then that’s a good possibility. Hope it happens. But if by “jacked up”, you mean “gets killed”, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. According to previous season Desmond flashbacks, Kelvin Inman told Des (in the hatch) that Radzinsky was his hatch partner for a while, then shot himself – and pointed out the spot on the roof, saying, “That’s Radzinsky”. A fitting destiny for Radzinsky, I’d say. As a decorative spot on the Swan station ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/124 "2009-05-03T02:31:52Z")
> [@TooSchoolforCool](#): > > So when did his big “you can change things” epiphany occur? Daniel was hanging out in Ann Arbor, doing some equations. And suddenly he stopped fucking around with Avogadro’s Number and realized that there was also an “X” on the line, which he’d never noticed before. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/125 "2009-05-03T05:00:33Z")
Gah, Daniel was such an idiot in this episode. Though I guess if the island didn’t cure him completely of his mental illness, then I can live with it. The whole “people are the variables OMG” thing was stupid and doesn’t make any sense, but I’m glad that the episode itself didn’t actually show it to be true; we’d have to take Daniel’s (mentally-ill) word for it. But shot in the back by your own mother? Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/126 "2009-05-03T14:07:11Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > But shot in the back by your own mother? Ouch. BFFG: You think that’s rough? Try losing a testicle in a knife fight with your mother! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilton_Doiley_Philosopher_King)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/127 "2009-05-03T15:43:54Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > Gah, Daniel was such an idiot in this episode. Though I guess if the island didn’t cure him completely of his mental illness, then I can live with it. The whole “people are the variables OMG” thing was stupid and doesn’t make any sense, but I’m glad that the episode itself didn’t actually show it to be true; we’d have to take Daniel’s (mentally-ill) word for it. > > But shot in the back by your own mother? Ouch. After Ellie shot Daniel in the back, Daniel said “You knew this would happen, and you still sent me here.” Or something like that. If he believes that his mother knew that she would shoot Daniel, then he still believes in “What happened, happened”… so Daniel would have always gone to the camp. Even though he called it his present (to Jack), it was still the Others past, so “whatever happened, happened”. If he couldn’t change the past in 1977, why would he think he can change the past in 2004? Also, I would like to know more about the interactions between Sawyer & Co and the Others. Sawyer told Richard that he was with Locke, you’d think that Richard would be more than willing to help Sawyer’s cause. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/128 "2009-05-03T15:48:57Z")
> [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](#): > > Also, I would like to know more about the interactions between Sawyer & Co and the Others. Sawyer told Richard that he was with Locke, you’d think that Richard would be more than willing to help Sawyer’s cause. I think that Richard isn’t quite sure about Locke anymore at this time. He went to visit him as a kid, but he failed his test. Then he tried to get him to come to his “science camp” (obviously the island) and he refused. ---
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746/129 "2009-05-04T02:27:11Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Thought’s while watching- apropos to nothing > > The theme of parent child relationship (generally screwed up) keeps repeating: > > Jack and his dad > Kate and her (step?)dad > Ben and his dad > Penny and her dad > Hurley and his dad (recently reconciled) > Miles and his dad > Dan and his mom and dad > > Kate has to give up “her” child > Claire loses her child > Eloise kills her child > Sawyer and his daughter > > More? You forgot Sawyer and his parents, arguably the worst of the lot, though Locke comes close. Seriously, you would have an easier time naming characters that don’t have issues with their parents. I’ve come up with Juliet so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-14-the-variable/494746.md?page=6)