# LOST 6.14 "The Candidate" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306 "2010-05-04T17:59:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/121 "2010-05-05T22:09:18Z")
Am I the only one who thought that box held something important, and it would be locked, and then the key would mystically get discovered somewhere later, and they’d both open it together and…what the hell has this show done to me? Also, both Claire and Jack looked in the mirrored lid of it, for those of you keeping “mirror” tabs. ---
**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:** [May 5, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/122 "2010-05-05T22:20:03Z")
I just had a half-assed speculation about who Jacob and the MIB are. MIB is Crazy Claire’s Aaron, all growed up. Hence the “Don’t let him be raised by another” prophecy. Jacob is Alt-Claire’s Aaron–raised by her. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/123 "2010-05-05T22:25:27Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > I expect that he and his companions will be bumping into the waterlogged survivors any minute now. > > I knoW everyone thinks that either Hurley or Jack is going to be the new Jacob. I almost wonder if it isn’t going to be Ben. He seems to be pretty repentant. I wonder if he will volunteer to be the Corkblocker for the sake of keeping Smokey on the island. > > -Joe I don’t think that. I think Locke is the candidate. Living Locke. From the ATL. I think they will go to the island somehow. Maybe at some point Mrs. Hawking have them all together with the proper coordinates. Perhaps the last flight didn’t work because Locke was dead and even wearing Christian’s shoes didn’t help him. This show is friggen insane. I will miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Nan\_Sequitur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Nan\_Sequitur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nan_Sequitur)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/124 "2010-05-05T22:25:28Z")
> [@Skott](#): > > Just watched that bit. > > Quote: > Sayid: Listen carefully: There’s a well on the main island half a mile south of the camp we just left. Desmond’s inside it. Locke wants him dead… which means you’re going to need him, do you understand me? > Jack: And why are you tell me this? > Sayid: \ Because it’s going to be you Jack. Having some memory problems, and my head feels like it’s full of bees after this episode, but has anybody other than Desmond time traveled off the island without their corporeal bodies? Faraday, I think, but anyone still alive on the island? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/125 "2010-05-05T22:38:57Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Or maybe I’m totally off-base, and the producers never meant for “The Incident” to be the explanation for the pregnant women problem at all. It’s not the incident per se - it’s the fact that the incident made a huge hole from which electromagnetic energy is being released, every 108 minutes from the Swan. > [@Dogzilla](#): > > Still doesn’t make sense to me how some people seemed to be able to come and go as they pleased (Richard Alpert comes to mind), yet pregnant women in danger of dying… not so much. We’ve seen that the Others are isolationists. Locke implies that in addition to that, they are also supposed to be somewhat Luddite. Most of the external technologies are Dharma artifacts that they’ve taken over. There were of course earlier technologies from the Egyptians, but Jacob says that they all killed themselves out. And there’s certainly opposition to Ben’s pregnancy project, but since he’s leader he gets to overrule that. The fact that Ben is able to get cancer is seen as evidence that his off island jaunts, use of Dharma tech, and pregnancy project might not be kosher. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/126 "2010-05-05T23:26:00Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I just had a half-assed speculation about who Jacob and the MIB are. > > MIB is Crazy Claire’s Aaron, all growed up. Hence the “Don’t let him be raised by another” prophecy. > > Jacob is Alt-Claire’s Aaron–raised by her. I like this theory, but so far we haven’t seen the time lines converge other than memories. When someone bridges the gap, I’m on board with this. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/127 "2010-05-05T23:39:11Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I doubt that Locke’s pilot license would cover flying a jumbo jet. Seeing as how he’d JUST gotten it and you start off flying things like little single prop planes and such. Just sayin’. I am also still confused as to how they were thinking they could get a jet off the ground with no runway. Well, technically there IS a runway (it’s the runway strip on the Hydra island that polar-bear-caged Sawyer and Kate were forced to help build in season 3), but I’m not convinced it’s big enough or long enough (or smooth enough) for a commercial jet. Especially one that made an emergency landing, took some major bumps, and ended up with a tree through the front window (and through the co-pilot). > [@Meatros](#): > > I’m confused at this as well - why are Flocke and Widmore on (presumably) opposite sides, if they both want the losties dead? It could be that Widmore just wants _everybody_ dead, and he just wants the island all to himself, for his own control and exploitation. > [@Fenris](#): > > I just had a half-assed speculation about who Jacob and the MIB are. > MIB is Crazy Claire’s Aaron, all growed up. Hence the “Don’t let him be raised by another” prophecy. > Jacob is Alt-Claire’s Aaron–raised by her. Well, I’ve seen the theory of MIB = Aaron before. Which I’ve been kind of leaning towards, too. Interesting notion on Jacob, though. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/128 "2010-05-05T23:43:23Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Well, technically there IS a runway (it’s the runway strip on the Hydra island that polar-bear-caged Sawyer and Kate were forced to help build in season 3), but I’m not convinced it’s big enough or long enough (or smooth enough) for a commercial jet. Especially one that made an emergency landing, took some major bumps, and ended up with a tree through the front window Nothing a montage can’t fix! > [@Monstre](#): > > (and through the co-pilot). …and a ShamWow. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/129 "2010-05-05T23:44:03Z")
It was also nice to have in show confirmation that Kate’s name was on the cave wall (but crossed off) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Blisters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Blisters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blisters)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/130 "2010-05-05T23:59:04Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Am I the only one who thought that box held something important, and it would be locked, and then the key would mystically get discovered somewhere later, and they’d both open it together and…what the hell has this show done to me? > > Also, both Claire and Jack looked in the mirrored lid of it, for those of you keeping “mirror” tabs. I thought it might be a throwback to Rousseau’s music box, though I don’t think they were similar…Another crazy mother connection? ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/131 "2010-05-06T00:39:51Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I just had a half-assed speculation about who Jacob and the MIB are. > > MIB is Crazy Claire’s Aaron, all growed up. Hence the “Don’t let him be raised by another” prophecy. > > Jacob is Alt-Claire’s Aaron–raised by her. I hadn’t considered it before, but I really like this idea. It has a symmetry to it that certainly fits the shows MO. And, given Jacob’s physical appearance, he does look like he could be Claire’s adult son. We’ve seen Aaron’s father haven’t we? What did he look like? One of the showrunners stated outright that Jacob has never appeared as anyone else, (in contrast to Smokey), so I think we can make the assumption that Jacob doesn’t make a habit of taking the shape of other people, even if he has the ability to do so, (an assumption supported by his statement to Richard about not interfering with people’s choices.). The only problem with this is that this means Jacob and Smokey should be physically identical in their ‘natural forms’, but that’s easily explained through Smokey being locked in a previous appearance much like he is with Locke now. It creates a circular loop with the entire situation on the island being a product of 815’s original crash creating the entire scenario. It’s not entirely logical, but it makes a certain thematic sense within the show. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Since the end of season 5 I’ve been operating under the idea that Jacob and Smokey have been locked in a philosophical battle that our Losties are destined to bring to a conclusion. (“It only ends once. Everything else is progress.”) If Jacob and Smokey are both Aaron than that means this is only a stopgap and the two of them will continue to be locked in that same battle with someone else taking Jacob’s place. (Jack, Hurley, Ben, someone else?) I know that’s where the whole ‘candidate’ stuff appears to be going though. Maybe it’s a case of ‘eternal vigilance’? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/132 "2010-05-06T00:43:03Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > I’m not sure how I feel about that. Since the end of season 5 I’ve been operating under the idea that Jacob and Smokey have been locked in a philosophical battle that our Losties are destined to bring to a conclusion. (“It only ends once. Everything else is progress.”) If Jacob and Smokey are both Aaron than that means this is only a stopgap and the two of them will continue to be locked in that same battle with someone else taking Jacob’s place. (Jack, Hurley, Ben, someone else?) Still, Jacob and Smokey have been on the island for hundreds of years. Something is going to need to launch Aaron/Jacob/GoateeJacob back in time if this theory holds. Silly queston - do we have a middle name for Aaron Littleton? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/133 "2010-05-06T00:59:00Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Still, Jacob and Smokey have been on the island for hundreds of years. Something is going to need to launch Aaron/Jacob/GoateeJacob back in time if this theory holds. I’ve thought about that, and given that time travel has become an integral part of the show since season 4, it seems entirely plausible. At this point, I’m looking out heavily for anyone who looks even slightly like Smokey in either the ATL or the original TL. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/134 "2010-05-06T02:04:32Z")
Based on this week’s show, I get the feeling that all of the island Losties are going to end up dead, leaving the alt-timeline Losties to get on with their lives back in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/135 "2010-05-06T02:28:45Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Yes, he grabbed the watch before he even walked into the plane. Maybe it was just a really nice watch? I mean, if you’re going to snap someone’s neck, you might as well rob them as well. 😃 (Actually, the sarcastic comment that came to mind at that scene: “Good idea, Locke! Now they’ll think it was just a random mugging. They’ll never suspect it was you.”) ---
**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 6, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/136 "2010-05-06T02:37:28Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Still doesn’t make sense to me how some people seemed to be able to come and go as they pleased (Richard Alpert comes to mind), yet pregnant women in danger of dying… not so much. Because Ben is a fanatical control freak with a thing for Juliet? Best explanation I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/137 "2010-05-06T04:18:47Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Yeah, I’ve been thinking all along that this whole “fly the jet off the island” thing is a red herring. If Frank Lapidus couldn’t get that thing off the ground again, I doubt anyone else could. Except for the pilot Smokey killed in season 1. Maybe Smokey now has all of the experiences and knowledge of that pilot. ---
**Author:** ![maikai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@maikai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maikai)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/138 "2010-05-06T04:59:26Z")
Is it possible that the Island was done with the Others and prevented the women from having children so that the Others would die out eventually? ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/139 "2010-05-06T08:39:32Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Am I the only one who’s starting to think that Widmore is working with Smokey instead of actually trying to stop him? > > Remember the agreement between Sawyer and Widmore on the sub when Widmore asks “How do I know I can trust you?” and Sawyer says “Same way I know I can trust you.” Sawyer was obviously planning to double-cross Widmore but Widmore may have been planning to double-cross the Candidates as well. Kate getting shot by Widmore’s people may have just been part of the plan. Here’s one more reason to suspect that Widmore and MIB are working together: Naomi (who worked for Abadon who worked for Widmore) and Bram (who worked for Ilana who worked for Jacob), both tried to recruit Miles. That would seem to indicate that Widmore and Jacob are at odds with each other. We know that MIB and Jacob are enemies - so that might mean that Widmore and MIB are aligned. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306/140 "2010-05-06T12:23:09Z")
Just wanted to make a post I’ve been anticipating for a year and a half, ever since I began with Season 1 in Feb. 2009. Just watched 6X14 online and . . . I’M FINALLY CAUGHT UP! I’M WITH YOU NOW! I CAN OPEN THESE THREADS WITH NO FEAR OF SPOILERS! Except Sun and Jin are dead. That made me angry. And there’s less than a month left. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-14-the-candidate/538306.md?page=8)