• The name of the station is in reference to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia. In the book, a lamp post marks the passage between Narnia and our world. The Lamp Post serves a similar function with regard to the Island.
• The lamp post in Narnia was explained in Book One of the The Chronicles of Narnia, "The Magician's Nephew". In that story, which is a prequel to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and features the creation of Narnia, a young boy named Digory discovers a "place between worlds" that allows him to visit other versions of reality by jumping through pools. He awakens Jadis, who then comes back to London and wreaks havoc, eventually tearing a bar off a lamp post before she's sent back to Narnia. When she gets there, children in tow, Narnia has yet to be made; Aslan is in the process of doing so, and she attacks him with the bar. He ignores the attack, and she throws the bar away, where it plants itself in the ground and begins "growing" into a second lamp post. Both the "jumping into pools" and using the lamp post as the lone connection to the outside world seem related to Narnia.
• Also in that story, Digory's Uncle Andrew tricks Digory's friend Polly into traveling to the place between worlds by having her touch a yellow ring; this is similar to how Ben got Sun to come on the trip.

By her phrasing, Hawking indicates that she wasn't/isn't part of Dharma. Yes, I know she was an Other, but one doesn't preclude the other.

I don't buy Hawking's explanation - she's either outright lying (no!, that couldn't be) or leaving out crucial aspects. What I think she glossed over is exactly where (or when) the Island is between the predictable "windows". It's got to be somewhere.

Eloise: "Well, this fellow presumed, and correctly, as it turned out, that the Island was always moving. Why do you think you were never rescued? Now while the movements of the Island seem random, this man and his team created a series of equations which tell us, with a high degree of probability, where it is going to be at a certain point... in time" - but not in Space? Is that why they got time skipped out of Flight 316?

The island seems to be behaving like a quantum mechanical particle - Fuselage Forum

proxy (plural proxies)

1. : An agent or substitute authorized to act for another person.
2. : The authority to act for another, especially when written.
3. : (software) An interface for a service, especially for one that is remote, resource-intensive, or otherwise difficult to use directly.
4. : (sciences) A measurement of one physical quantity that is used as an indicator of the value of another

How does Ben know how to find her? He looked damned surprised to see Desmond.

A different take on "Good vs Evil" - Fuselage Forum

Ben: "Who cares?"

Maybe people who aren't psychopaths? This is more evidence that Ben is not one of the good guys. Though the rest of the O6 (minus Hugo) are quite willing to sacrifice innocent passengers too if it means getting back to the Island.

The actual song used is "Excelsior Lady" by The Donkeys

This was a strange episode, even for Lost. What seemed to be a big, complicated problem - returning the O6 to the Island - got wrapped up in record time. A lot of story happened off-camera and a lot of necessary details seemed to just drop out of the sky.

This episode sets up a lot of flashbacks to fill in the gaps:

• What happened to Kate and Aaron.
• How Ben got beaten and soaked.
• What happened to Desmond and Penny.
• What changed Hurley's mind.
• How Sayid ends up in custody.
• Who is Caesar and who is he working for.
• Is Illana just a Federal Marshal.

The "coincidence machine" was working overtime. Jack needs something of his father's - Grandpa Ray has his shoes, improbably packed in his getaway bag. Jack has no problems flying Locke's body to Guam. Hawking only explains to Jack about Locke being Christian's proxy (that we know of), yet all the O6 and some of the passengers and crew find themselves unconsciously playing roles from Flight 815. Locke's suicide note keeps finding it's way into Jack's hands. The marina where Ben has the O6 meet is probably the same one Desmond and Penny are at. I have to wonder if this phenomena is related to Ben's metaphor of the "magic box" or is it "course correction? I'm really looking forward to how TPTB explain this, assuming they do.

It it just me, or did the O6 seem strangely passive?

"For all that faith often seems to get the upper hand on science in that particular great debate on the show, it sure does seem to be for suckers, doesn't it? People making appeals to faith on Lost all seem to be manipulating others or are being manipulated by others (and sometimes Others). Ben and Hawking trying to buck up Jack's courage to get him back to the Island, Locke trying to convince Jack of his "destiny" of staying on the Island, Locke seeming more and more like the Island's dupe as time goes on, and so forth.

Most of the people who keep asking for faith from others - Ben, Hawking, the Island via Christian - seem to have empirical data to work from and don't exactly need faith. The faith is for those who don't have "need to know." The fate of the faithful on this show is certainly looking like it's to be used and then discarded...usually involving death. We the audience don't need any convincing that there are miracles to be had on the Island. We've seen them. Actual gnosis kind of eliminates the need for faith, don't you think? If you have direct knowledge of the supernatural, you don't need to have faith that it exists.

• Did Widmore use the Lamp Post to locate the Island?

  We don't know how Widmore got the general location to send the freighter.

  Why can't Widmore find the island? - Fuselage Forum
• What is the "regular" means of getting on and off the Island? Is it just knowing where it is and sailing/flying in or out on the correct bearing? And why couldn't the O6 go back that way?

"The question is: WHEN, in island time, did 815 crash? What year was it, on-island, that first day? Furthermore, WHEN have they been during seasons 1-4? Did any of the flashes that happened during those first 4 seasons (like the purple flash from the failsafe key turn) involve a time jump? Elloise stated the island moves. Does it also move in time when it moves?

The "when's" in the Lost storyline may be critical to understanding the show better as we head forward. It's now a given that time travel is a part of the whole. But how big a part?

• Hurley - Jack: Comforts passenger next to him

  Charlie: Guitar case (What's in it and can he play?)

• Sayid - Kate: In custody of marshal
• Sun - Sayid: "he sat with his hands in his lap the whole flight, never said a word", travelling to reunite with a loved one
• Kate - Sun: Reluctant traveler

  Claire: Possibly pregnant

• Lapidus - Jin: Flying on business?
• Ben - Hugo: Almost misses flight

  Sawyer: In a recent fight, con man, murderer

  Locke: Injured limb

  Bernard: Gets up and walks around on flight, not in seat for the big finale

• Caesar - Rose: Comforted by the person seated next to them

"Sources confirm that Team Darlton is looking to introduce two new characters this season - and they're both as mysterious as they are lethal. They're also coming in as recurring players with an option to become series regulars in season 6.

First up is Caesar, a dangerous, physical and extremely intelligent male between the ages of 35 and 45. Although his intentions are unclear, this much is certain: He's as skillful at charming people as he is at killing them. He also has a dark past, but, c'mon, that much was a given. (Utility Fog: He also seems very polite, which is nice.)

The other newbie is Ilanna , a European female in her late 20s to early 30s who possesses great intelligence, but who's also dangerous as all get out. She's alluring and apparently used to getting her own way."

"It's not enough to just want to go back to the island - I think the island has to want you back as well. Jack's trans-Pacific flights always failed because he never had faith that they'd work in the first place. Hawking asks him to take this leap of faith, and for Jack that leap is to put his father's shoes on Locke's feet. For Hurley it was listening to those inner voices/visions, realizing that he's NOT crazy, and denying the big lie. For Sun it was believing that Jin is alive. For Kate it was giving up Aaron. And maybe for Ben, it's *not* knowing everything and letting someone else take the reins for once. He all but asks Jack what Eloise said to him in the church, but later on he leaves Jack in peace to read Locke's suicide note. Ben's always been omniscient, manipulative, controlling... but now he must let go and let things play out the way they're supposed to. That's his penance for returning to the island.

Hawking tells Jack they must recreate as many 'circumstances' as possible in parallel with the original flight. But in essence, it's not so much a physical scavenger hunt to scare up random objects that the island needs to get them back. Bringing these items is no more than a demonstration of faith; much the same way Locke had to show the island that he believed way, way back in S1. Remember when he didn't believe? The island took his legs. Yet every time he restored that faith Locke came back stronger and better than ever. Belief is everything in LOST. And belief seems to manifest itself into reality, time and time again, all throughout the show.

And speaking of Locke, his own act of faith was dying so that he could return to the island. Back in S2, Locke explains to Eko that Boone was "the sacrifice that the island demanded". Now he himself is this very sacrifice, acting as "proxy" (Hawking's word) in parallel to Christian Shephard's corpse from flight 815. What happens when Locke returns to the island is going to be very big and probably just as weird."

"And in much the same vein, the lesson of this episode was that those who believe, those who have faith, are the heroes we should admire. The story seems to have taken a firm stand against the concept of rational scientific analysis and logic, which I do believe is a first for a story that has been aggressively hyped as a Science Fiction genre show. Instead, it seems that we in the audience are being admonished, much like Thomas was, to "Stop thinking how ridiculous it is". In other words, sit down, shut up and just enjoy the ride.

And I think this is good advice. The story probably will never make sense, but it doesn't have to make sense any more than Alice in Wonderland made sense or The Wizard of Oz made sense. It's a fantasy, a fun one, with clues and puzzles and anagrams and self referential jabberwocky galore. The fun of it is surfing through all the cultural bric-a-brac and watching the loose ends of past seasons resurface as threads of a crazy quilt that's constantly darting off into new patterns. It wasn't an accident that our ubiquitous White Rabbit showed up this episode to remind us that white rabbits don't just run down holes into Wonderland, they also serve the strictly utilitarian purpose of disappearing at rec center magic shows."