I don't really care about Walt, but I would like to hear your thoughts on Christian. I had it figured in season three there were two Christians, and it played out well while watching (especially regarding Michael on the freighter). But who was in the bottom of the well, which was millenia in the past? Hell, for all I…

They could be two different entities and not realize it. MIB's body was left behind after being thrown into the cave. Maybe the Smoke Monster is a collection of dead souls under the delusion they were…once…a…man…

I assume Jacob gave him that power and tasked him with protecting the Temple.
My problem with this is that it renders the ash as symbolic. How does that affect the ash surrounding Jacob's superposition cabin?
And for that matter, who did the ash keep trapped in the cabin? The show implied Smokey, but that makes no…

Because confession = submission to the will of The Island (as interpreted by Jacob). If Jacob basically hears you say "Fuck all this noise, I'm my own man," he's probably assuming you don't want the job.
Plus, Eko straight up murdered people, and refused to feel remorse at the end. The Island could do nothing for him.

Because Jacob is always watching.

OR the rules are in play because the characters believe it to be true.
Maybe it's like the Hellmouth, making someone invisible because they believe they are invisible. It's magic as quantum mechanics (aka Marvin Candle's Negatively Charged Exotic Matter.
We know Darlton are Buffy fans, so the Hellmouth idea is in play…

Jacob did say Free Will is a factor in candidacy. Eko chose to back up his choices rather than submit to the will of the Island.
Smokey's m.o. is rather satanic. He tried to convince Hurley to off himself, he attempted to lure Richard into murder by dangling Isabella's soul in front of him, he offered to bring back…

I read that comment!

I felt the actors did a great job implying the personal growth and the bond they shared. They took what could have been a disastrous narrative trick and made it work.

There's a cut flashback scene where Jack tries to save a child in the street (CPR I guess?) and fails, and Christian tells him to let it go. An on-(hydra) island cut scene would have had Jack seeing the ghost child while in his cell. The scenes were cut and the ep slightly rejiggered due to the too overt supernatural…

"Maybe it’s just me, but “The Cost Of Living” really does end up feeling like the first episode on this rewatch that feels the most changed by our understanding of the Man in Black and the island as a whole. I still don’t know if I have a clear grasp—if I’m being completely honest with you—on the Man in Black’s…

Thanks for the clarification, Arex. Reading things like this post reminds me I'm among my people. Also glad to hear Iris didn't die after I stopped reading, circa 2001.
I knew about the Tornado Twins dying, although whichever issue referenced it referred less to the grimdark torture and more in line with them dying…

No, you were pretty close I think. She was "dead" for quite a while until the writers decided she just got sucked to the future. There may have been a thing where it was implied she got sucked forward because she was from there, or belonged there or something (one of the pseudoscience things in the Flash comic is that…

He needs to run slower so I can keep up.

Your grandma is Selena Gomez?

Did she die in the comics? I thought her soul got sucked forward in time by her family, then returned to the present many years later with the most annoying grandchild ever.

Yeah I really disliked Randy. It felt like Nelson was doing a poor imitation of Kenneth. I know Nelson basically epitomized the modern day Dumb Hick, but he usually did it with some nuance, and this had none.

Darlton always stated in the podcast that dreams are given by the Island, a separate character from Jacob and Smokey.
The trouble with interpreting an ever-shifting series is trying to understand all the events in binary terms (Jacob or Smokey?) as well as the idea each of those two characters had a consistent…

Eko's MIGHT be crucial in decoding the Rules (specifically regarding the nature of killing a Candidate, as well as the Smoke Monster's ability to change form). Plus, was dusty Yemi the Smoke Monster? Does Smokey steal the body, or just transform? Or was it post-Sickness zombie Yemi?
If it doesn't function as a…

2,4,5,1,3,6. Sorrynotsorry