# Lost 5.5 "This Place Is Death" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401 "2009-02-11T18:35:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/21 "2009-02-12T03:37:21Z")
The smoke monster is a security system for the temple? What? I’m mean, we’ve all suggested it, but how did the Frenchies figure it out? and I still don’t see why Rousseau thought the others had gone crazy…so. some answers, more questions. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/22 "2009-02-12T03:50:30Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I don’t think it’s contact. I think something happened to them down in the hole, and the same thing would’ve happened to him had he gone down the hole in the first season finale. > > Also, I gave hell ya to the smoke monster breaking Frenchie’s arm. Okay, so it’s not so much contact with it, as it has to do with entering the temple. (Which I assume was built by the Four-Toes.) Yes, sheared off limbs are always welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/23 "2009-02-12T03:50:46Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > The smoke monster is a security system for the temple? What? I’m mean, we’ve all suggested it, but how did the Frenchies figure it out? and I still don’t see why Rousseau thought the others had gone crazy…so. some answers, more questions. Do we know ANYTHING about the temple? How have our Lostie friends not checked it out before now? Because they’re retarded? Because it’s disappeared? -Joe ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/24 "2009-02-12T03:56:53Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Do we know ANYTHING about the temple? How have our Lostie friends not checked it out before now? Because they’re retarded? Because it’s disappeared? > > -Joe Maybe they’ve never been there? It’s a big island. I’m curious as to whether or not it’s the same place the Others went to last season. I’d bet good money to say that before this show is over we will find out what’s under there, at it will also explain what the smoke monster is. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/25 "2009-02-12T03:58:02Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I think that last turn of the Frozen Donkey Wheel (thanks to Locke) will put the Losties at the time of Dharma Initiative’s heyday, as we first saw Faraday working in the mine in the opening of this season. It will probably bring us full circle, and that’s where Daniel will bump into kid-Charlotte to tell her not to come back or she’ll die. Couple comments about the Wheel: First, Christian says that Locke was supposed to turn it, not Ben. How the hell can the Wheel tell the difference who’s turning it? Back into mystical mumbo-jumbo territory, IMO, but I suppose that makes sense since it’s Christian saying it. Second, the Wheel was “off its axis.” We see it skipping back and forth. That strongly implies to me that the time jumping was a result of the wheel being partially broken. I suspect that the uncontrollable time jumping is going to stop now that Locke has fixed it. Which is not to say that ther won’t be any more time travel - it seems that thehre almost HAS to be - but I bet the random, nose-bleed-inducing jumps are done with for now. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/26 "2009-02-12T04:00:07Z")
I can’t imagine the temple’s disappeared, it looks like it’s been there for thousands of years, what with the hieroglyphics. If anything the DI demolished it… but it doesn’t seem like something they’d do. Desecration of the island and all that. Nor do I think the smoke monster would let anything like that happen. Maybe even getting near the temple releases the monster, and the soft, pink humans always just scatter in terror. But you’d think the Losties would have stumbled on it as some point, especially since it seemed to be on the way to the antenna. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/27 "2009-02-12T04:03:01Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I can’t imagine the temple’s disappeared, it looks like it’s been there for thousands of years, what with the hieroglyphics. If anything the DI demolished it… but it doesn’t seem like something they’d do. Desecration of the island and all that. Nor do I think the smoke monster would let anything like that happen. > > Maybe even getting near the temple releases the monster, and the soft, pink humans always just scatter in terror. But you’d think the Losties would have stumbled on it as some point, especially since it seemed to be on the way to the antenna. It’s on the way to the antenna, from the Frenchie’s beach. It looks like it’s on the other side of the island, and close to the shore. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/28 "2009-02-12T04:05:00Z")
Did anyone else notice that around the temple where Smokey’s lair was (when all the Crazy French Chick’s people went down the hole), there were the doomsday glyphs (from the button-pushing station if you don’t hit the button every 108 minutes) on the wall? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/29 "2009-02-12T04:07:58Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Couple comments about the Wheel: > > First, Christian says that Locke was supposed to turn it, not Ben. How the hell can the Wheel tell the difference who’s turning it? Back into mystical mumbo-jumbo territory, IMO, but I suppose that makes sense since it’s Christian saying it. > > Second, the Wheel was “off its axis.” We see it skipping back and forth. That strongly implies to me that the time jumping was a result of the wheel being partially broken. I suspect that the uncontrollable time jumping is going to stop now that Locke has fixed it. > > Which is not to say that ther won’t be any more time travel - it seems that thehre almost HAS to be - but I bet the random, nose-bleed-inducing jumps are done with for now. My thoughts exactly. Ben effed up the wheel last time he used it. Although, while the show is certainly steeped in mysticism, Christian/Jacob could simply have been clarifying the point… that when Ben turned the wheel, that was all Ben, and what Ben wanted to do. Perhaps he knew, but still, the turn of the wheel that would matter for C/J’s purposes was in today’s ep. It was a red herring. We thought that C/J told Locke he had to move the island in order to flee whole Whitmore’s boat situation, apparently, that wasn’t what C/J had in mind… ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/30 "2009-02-12T04:09:07Z")
Wait - how could Charlotte have grown up in the Dharma initiative on the island? She looks (looked) too young to have been there but escaped the great Dharma-cide. And do you all have any speculation as to who her mother was/is? Ben’s friend Annie perhaps? Did she keep the food drops coming? Oh - and I’m not sure I trust Ben, Widmore OR Jack’s father/Jacob ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/31 "2009-02-12T04:09:44Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > It’s on the way to the antenna, from the Frenchie’s beach. It looks like it’s on the other side of the island, and close to the shore. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/32 "2009-02-12T04:11:39Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Did anyone else notice that around the temple where Smokey’s lair was (when all the Crazy French Chick’s people went down the hole), there were the doomsday glyphs (from the button-pushing station if you don’t hit the button every 108 minutes) on the wall? Yes. I was going to wait till tomorrow for the more studious Lost fans to explain it for us…but some folks have [already started](http://lost.cubit.net/archives/2009/02/5x05-the-temple-more-hieroglyp.php#more). Also, we don’t know for sure about the smoke monster being a security system for the temple - remember, those words were uttered by Crazy French Guy who was clearly off his bean at the time. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/33 "2009-02-12T04:12:04Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Did anyone else notice that around the temple where Smokey’s lair was (when all the Crazy French Chick’s people went down the hole), there were the doomsday glyphs (from the button-pushing station if you don’t hit the button every 108 minutes) on the wall? See post #26. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/34 "2009-02-12T04:17:00Z")
What’s the chance that all the ‘others’, Ben included of course, have been in the temple and thus transformed. Was this how Ben summoned the smoke monster at the end of season 4? ---
**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:** [February 12, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/35 "2009-02-12T04:38:09Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > Wait - how could Charlotte have grown up in the Dharma initiative on the island? She looks (looked) too young to have been there but escaped the great Dharma-cide. And do you all have any speculation as to who her mother was/is? Ben’s friend Annie perhaps? Did she keep the food drops coming? > > Oh - and I’m not sure I trust Ben, Widmore OR Jack’s father/Jacob The purge was 12 years before the crash, so Charlotte would’ve been 13 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/36 "2009-02-12T05:01:32Z")
Did anyone catch that the name written on the boat in the harbor where Jack & Ben were was “Illusion”? I have no idea if that is supposed to mean something, but I found it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/37 "2009-02-12T05:28:45Z")
So if Christian is Jacob, does that make Widmore Esau? ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/38 "2009-02-12T05:56:15Z")
I don’t think Christian is Jacob. I think he is just his messenger. I think Jacob may be some sort of time-dimensional being who is in all the time periods at the same time which is why you can’t see him clearly. This would be why he knows everything that is going to happen and he can tell his followers what to do to change the time line to suit him. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/39 "2009-02-12T06:08:40Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Yes. I was going to wait till tomorrow for the more studious Lost fans to explain it for us…but some folks have [already started](http://lost.cubit.net/archives/2009/02/5x05-the-temple-more-hieroglyp.php#more). Could this be the return of Defcon Penguin? I love this season! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401/40 "2009-02-12T06:18:24Z")
☹ I will grieve for Charlotte and her red-headed hotness. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-5-this-place-is-death/485401.md?page=3)