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[Illuminati]

And why would a power station be equipped with massive gas canisters and a means to release over an entire island?

Well they do science experiments on the island and I think that is probably the same gas Ben used to kill off Dharma, which is why the girl said he had used it before.

 

[KGKK]

... Uh, guys? That wasn't her ghost.

Where the fuck did she come from? How the hell did she disappear so fast? She came and left with the whispers too. So yes, it could be her ghost.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

And why do you people think Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch were telling the truth? Why would Ben gas the entire fucking island, especially when he's on it? And why would a power station be equipped with massive gas canisters and a means to release over an entire island? Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch weren't headed there to kill off everyone, but they weren't there to thwart some evil plan of Ben's either.

If they are there to "go to war" with Ben, eliminating the gas as a threat makes perfect sense.

 

[traveler]

I wonder if one could call Widmore an economist... Do we know anything about what he does?

Edit: Guys, be careful not to refute theories based on knowledge from spoilers. If you can prove something wrong based purely on what we've seen in the show, fine. Go ahead.

 

[Stoney Mason]

- The Annoying Redheaded Bitch didn't get shot in the face.
- Widmore wants to find the island just so he can charge people to visit it and turn it into a pseudo amusement park? That's fucking lame.
- Love triangle garbage.

I still don't get the red head hate.
I don't think we can trust Ben on exactly why Widmore is there at this stage.
A love triangle is normally where one character is torn between two other characters that he/she loves or has strong feelings for. That doesn't really define the relationship between Ben, Juliet, and Jack which at this stage you could argue we are building towards a revenge triangle.

 

[probune]

Um, no. Sorry. I can TEASE all I want. It doesn't give anything away. Others TEASE things as well. There's nothing wrong with that.

I'd prefer not to be teased with spoilers like that, since I'm a recovering spoiler addict...

Where the fuck did she come from? How the hell did she disappear so fast? She came and left with the whispers too. So yes, it could be her ghost.

It resembles the way the Others used to show up circa season 1. Remember, Ethan just appeared out of thin air a couple of times there, and I think it was right after some whispers as well.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Where the fuck did she come from? How the hell did she disappear so fast? She came and left with the whispers too. So yes, it could be her ghost.

Did she disappear fast? I really didn't even notice.

 

[Calcaneus]

Did she disappear fast? I really didn't even notice.

Yeah, she was there and then she was gone.

 

[Spire]

A love triangle is normally where one character is torn between two other characters that he/she loves or has strong feelings for. That doesn't really define the relationship between Ben, Juliet, and Jack which at this stage you could argue we are building towards a revenge triangle.

Oh, well in that case I loved it! Brilliant! Sensational! Best episode of the decade!

 

[Stoney Mason]

Oh, well in that case I loved it! Brilliant! Sensational! Best episode of the decade!

Yeah, I think you miss the point I was going for there but whatever.

 

[a Master Ninja]

- Widmore wants to find the island just so he can charge people to visit it and turn it into a pseudo amusement park? That's fucking lame.

You're taking that metaphor literally. He wants to control and exploit the island's powers. Dharma wanted to do it to save humanity (change the variables, lol), does Widmore want to pick up where they left off or just make a profit? And just like before the natives (with "converted" others like Ben) won't give up anything without a fight. What I want to find out about is the natives. Richard, the temple, four toes, etc.

 

[fallengorn]

Well I'm wondering does Ben want to get out just so he can escape or have free reign to cause havoc or does he want to get out to start a revolution against Locke and somehow get the rest of them on his side.

Well It's obvious that he's dismantling a thorn in his side (Locke) by inserting FUD within his camp but I doubt the rest of them are going to follow Ben.

The thought did occur to me, as Ben was showing Locke the footage, that Ben's going to use him as a puppet/decoy for Widmore to go after. That could be a long term goal.

 

[traveler]

You're taking that metaphor literally. He wants to control and exploit the island's powers. Dharma wanted to do it to save humanity (change the variables, lol), does Widmore want to pick up where they left off or just make a profit? And just like before natives don't won't give up anything without a fight.

This is developing into, at least what I think is, one of the cooler aspects of the show- the cyclical nature of the islands inhabitants. First, it was the original natives usurping the Dharma Initiative as rulers of the island, then it was the castaways fighting against the "Others," (i.e. the original natives and Ben) and now we have the castaways gearing up for a fight against these new dudes.

 

[Higgy]

Worst episode of the season for me. Boring info that I had pretty much figured out already. Total filler episode. Oh well they all can't be winners. Always next week.

 

[Spire]

If they are there to "go to war" with Ben, eliminating the gas as a threat makes perfect sense.

Not really, since if the gas threat they talked about were real, Ben would have died.

If Ben was actually trying to poison the entire island, he wouldn't have sent Juliet to do it, she's not someone Ben can really trust right now. I think it was simply a test, a way for Juliet to redeem herself in the eyes of Ben and Ben kind of knew she wouldn't go through with it.

 

[Orin GA]

What did ben say about the rabbit locke gave him?

 

[Stoney Mason]

What did ben say about the rabbit locke gave him?

Something about did it have a number on it. I took it as a joke or at least humour from the writers. I.e. experimented on rabbit.

 

[Zoe]

What did ben say about the rabbit locke gave him?

"Did it have a number on it" or something like that.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Not really, since if the gas threat they talked about were real, Ben would have died.

If Ben was actually trying to poison the entire island, he wouldn't have sent Juliet to do it, she's not someone Ben can really trust right now. I think it was simply a test, a way for Juliet to redeem herself in the eyes of Ben and Ben kind of knew she wouldn't go through with it.

I don't get what you are talking about here...

 

[Spire]

You're taking that metaphor literally. He wants to control and exploit the island's powers. Dharma wanted to do it to save humanity (change the variables, lol), does Widmore want to pick up where they left off or just make a profit? And just like before the natives (with "converted" others like Ben) won't give up anything without a fight. What I want to find out about is the natives. Richard, the temple, four toes, etc.

I understand his motivations and they're not unreasonable, I just thought that whole bit about people flocking to see the virgin mary was poorly written and lame. It came off sounding like his only goal was to control and monetize the island and that's fairly dull. The evil, greedy corporate bigwig is not an interesting character type.

 

[Spire]

I don't get what you are talking about here...

Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch said that they narrowly prevented Ben from releasing gas across the entire island. I don't buy that story.

 

[beelzebozo]

I understand his motivations and they're not unreasonable, I just thought that whole bit about people flocking to see the virgin mary was poorly written and lame. It came off sounding like his only goal was to control and monetize the island and that's fairly dull. The evil, greedy corporate bigwig is not an interesting character type.

i felt this way as well, but then realized that could be ben just playing on locke's own feelings about the island, his recovery, and his hope to be special in terms of his destiny. he's done it before.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch said that they narrowly prevented Ben from releasing gas across the entire island. I don't buy that story.

I didn't take it as that. I took it as they were destroying what was there so Ben wouldn't have a chance to use it as a weapon on them. Perhaps I missed something.

 

[Illuminati]

If you guys remember it was either last season or the one before that, that viral video message to Julia I thought they said that Widmore foundation was in cahoots with Dharma or the Degrutes. I can't remember. It was that weird ass video with the really bad picture and guy speaking in a pretty deep inaudible voice. I will see if I can find it.

 

[woodchuck]

I didn't take it as that. I took it as they were destroying what was there so Ben wouldn't have a chance to use it as a weapon on them. Perhaps I missed something.

thats how i understood it

 

[Sean]

And why do you people think Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch were telling the truth? Why would Ben gas the entire fucking island, especially when he's on it? And why would a power station be equipped with massive gas canisters and a means to release over an entire island? Faraday and Annoying Redheaded Bitch weren't headed there to kill off everyone, but they weren't there to thwart some evil plan of Ben's either.

Watch "The Man Behind the Curtain" again, it was one of the later episodes of season 3. Ben has already gassed a huge amount of people before including his own father.

Ben having a way to gas the entire island fits his character IMO. We know he leaves the island a lot too so he wouldn't necessarily have to be on the island as it happened either.

 

[Spire]

I didn't take it as that. I took it as they were destroying what was there so Ben wouldn't have a chance to use it as a weapon on them. Perhaps I missed something.

Destroying? If anything, they preserved that station. The pressure gauge they were watching was about to hit critical levels and they stopped it and released the pressure.

 

[Illuminati]

HERE is the viral video from like a year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9jWbAeHYI

The video says the Widmores are in cahoots with the Hanso foundation or it implies they are one in the same. I am guessing Widmore is coming back to reclaim what Ben took from them and nothing more.

 

[polyh3dron]

Same shit they pulled when they introduced Tommy as the White Ranger.

Good times.

Yep, same thing happened with the reveal of Claire's dad in Heroes.

 

[beelzebozo]

Destroying? If anything, they preserved that station. The pressure gauge they were watching was about to hit critical levels and they stopped it and released the pressure.

faraday said he was rendering the gas inert. through what means i'm not sure, but for reference:

An inert gas is any gas that is not reactive under normal circumstances.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Destroying? If anything, they preserved that station. The pressure gauge they were watching was about to hit critical levels and they stopped it and released the pressure.

I don't think that was just happening and they arrived in a nick of time to stop it. However it was explained I took it as what they were doing was causing that. Or creating the risk of it. It needed to be done though to render the gas harmless.

 

[GilloD]

Yep, same thing happened with the reveal of Claire's dad in Heroes.

It's not so much about the reveal as the thrill of confirming your theory. Word of mouth, water cooler, yadda yadda.

 

[Spire]

Watch "The Man Behind the Curtain" again, it was one of the later episodes of season 3. Ben has already gassed a huge amount of people before including his own father.

Ben having a way to gas the entire island fits his character IMO. We know he leaves the island a lot too so he wouldn't necessarily have to be there to do that either...

I know that, but Ben had a gas mask on when he gassed his father. In this episode, when the supposed gas was about to be released, Ben was walking around in the open air at the Dharma camp. He would have died had this supposed gas been released. He also would have killed Juliet (who we've discovered he's fanatical about) and possibly the surviving Others.

 

[polyh3dron]

HERE is the viral video from like a year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9jWbAeHYI

The video says the Widmores are in cahoots with the Hanso foundation or it implies they are one in the same. I am guess they are coming back to reclaim what Ben took from them.

This makes perfect sense actually. How does the Hanso foundation tie in with Abaddon though?

 

[Stoney Mason]

He would have died had this supposed gas been released. He also would have killed Juliet (who we've discovered he's fanatical about) and possibly the surviving Others.

They don't know what is going on with Ben 100%. The red headed chick saw he was held captive but they don't know if that is a permanent status or not. They also may not know he theoretically wouldn't want to gas Juliet because he is fixated on her. They basically wanted to permanently remove that weapon capability from his hands whether he was able to use it in a day, a week, or a month. As long as it exists, it is a danger.


It's basically like us versus Saddam Hussein (if he actually had WMD's)

 

[Illuminati]

This makes perfect sense actually. How does the Hanso foundation tie in with Abaddon though?

I am not sure what you mean by Abaddon though? Isn't that the bad guy in Guild Wars nightfall, lol.

Although that video from last year and what happened tonight pretty much confirms that Widmore is probably the head of the Dharma initiative. Only Dharma could know about the island, magnetic fields, the gas, the layout of the island, who Ben is, etc. The only weird thing is that they had question marks on the map, which I thought was strange because if they really are Dharma then you would think they know the entire island.

 

[gray_fox224]

Anyone's HD signal getting choppy?

 

[Spire]

They don't know what is going on with Ben 100%. The red headed chick saw he was held captive but they don't know if that is a permanent status or not. They also may not know he theoretically wouldn't want to gas Juliet because he is fixated on her. They basically wanted to permanently remove that weapon from his hands whether he was able to use it in a day, a week, or a month. As long as it exists, it is a danger.

They made a pretty big point of showing us that something was about to go off (their rush to get there, the gas masks and suits, the pressure gauge), which would mean Ben was planning to kill himself and everyone else.

Personally, I think that station has a system similiar to the Swan's and one of the reasons Faraday and the others were sent to the island is to start those electromagnetic charge releases again, in the wake of the Swan's destruction.

 

[Stoney Mason]

They made a pretty big point of showing us that something was about to go off (their rush to get there, the gas masks and suits, the pressure gauge), which would mean Ben was planning to kill himself and everyone else.

Personally, I think that station has a system similiar to the Swan's and one of the reasons Faraday and the others were sent to the island is to start those electromagnetic charge releases again, in the wake of the Swan's destruction.

Any thing is possible of course although I think you are reading too much into the urgency thing. Or at least maybe ignoring the other possibility which seems as likely or more so with the current information we have.

 

[dead souls]

Worst episode of the season for me. Boring info that I had pretty much figured out already. Total filler episode. Oh well they all can't be winners. Always next week.

I agree. The flashback was hideous and boring. Total letdown after a decent episode last week. Juliet is such a boring character.

I wonder how many more seasons we're going to have to watch Locke act like a fool and get mainpulated by Ben. Locke should have wised up by now. Poor Terry O'Quinn, I'd complain to the writers too.

 

[DarK SouL]

I understand his motivations and they're not unreasonable, I just thought that whole bit about people flocking to see the virgin mary was poorly written and lame. It came off sounding like his only goal was to control and monetize the island and that's fairly dull. The evil, greedy corporate bigwig is not an interesting character type.

Remember who is telling the story and how manipulative he is. Its obvious that he is not telling the full story.

 

[Blader]

Something about did it have a number on it. I took it as a joke or at least humour from the writers. I.e. experimented on rabbit.

I think it was a nod to an S3 episode, where Ben had a pet rabbit with a number painted on it.

 

[Matt]

I know that, but Ben had a gas mask on when he gassed his father. In this episode, when the supposed gas was about to be released, Ben was walking around in the open air at the Dharma camp. He would have died had this supposed gas been released. He also would have killed Juliet (who we've discovered he's fanatical about) and possibly the surviving Others.

I think you may have just misunderstood this episode. Ben wasn't in the process of releasing the gas. The people from the boat knew that Ben had the ability to release the gas and kill everyone on the island (as he did before), so they wanted to eliminate that possibility. Ben sent Juliet to stop them. When she arrived at the Tempest, the redhead and Faraday were in the process of trying to render the gas inert (i.e., make it no longer dangerous). That process apparently caused the pressure in the gas tanks to rise, almost causing their inadvertent release. Which is why they were wearing the hazmat suits, just in case.

 

[Spire]

Remember who is telling the story and how manipulative he is. Its obvious that he is not telling the full story.

I agree and he was obviously lying at one point in the conversation ("That was my last bargaining chip.") but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Stoney Mason]

I think it was a nod to an S3 episode, where Ben had a pet rabbit with a number painted on it.

Lol if true. I don't remember that episode. The only rabbit part I remember was where he tricked Sawyer with the rabbit where the heart would explode. Was it that one?

 

[Blader]

Lol if true. I don't remember that episode. The only rabbit part I remember was where he tricked Sawyer with the rabbit where the heart would explode. Was it that one?

Yeah, that was it.

 

[woxel1]

 

[Spire]

I think you may have just misunderstood this episode. Ben wasn't in the process of releasing the gas. The people from the boat knew that Ben had the ability to release the gas and kill everyone on the island (as he did before), so they wanted to eliminate that possibility. Ben sent Juliet to stop them. When she arrived at the Tempest, the redhead and Faraday were in the process of trying to render the gas inert (i.e., make it no longer dangerous). That process apparently caused the pressure in the gas tanks to rise, almost causing their inadvertent release. Which is why they were wearing the hazmat suits, just in case.

Hmmm, that's possible. They could've done a much better job of explaining that though, the last part of your paragraph is just an assumption (but a reasonable one) and I'm not sure why the writers wouldn't have explained that.

 

[Sean]

Lol if true. I don't remember that episode. The only rabbit part I remember was where he tricked Sawyer with the rabbit where the heart would explode. Was it that one?

There is also this orientation video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI

 

[Spire]

Lol if true. I don't remember that episode. The only rabbit part I remember was where he tricked Sawyer with the rabbit where the heart would explode. Was it that one?

Yeah. And there were two numbered rabbits in the Orchid video.