UPDATED: More Unresolved Mysteries and Questions for Season 5

A year ago, before the Season 5 premiere, I posted the five major questions (from a Yahoo! Canada article) that may be answered at the end of Season 5. I've been meaning to update it with the answers we got during Season 5, but it keeps slipping my mind. Now, two days before the Season 6 premiere, I am answering the questions, if I can.

1. What happened to the Island?
2. How does Locke become Jeremy Bentham?
3. What's going on with Widmore and Ben?
4. Who the heck is Jacob?
5. What happened to Claire, Jin, and Michael?

What happened to the Island?

In the season-4 finale, "Other" boss Ben (Michael Emerson) turned a frozen wheel and - poof! - made the island disappear, along with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and other "Lost"-aways; the Oceanic Six fled on a helicopter. Ben - landing in North Africa - aimed to protect the island from arch-nemesis Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who seeks to control it. The show has been exploring the space-time continuum, and that theme will be heightened this season in the search for the island.

As we learned in the first five episodes of Season 5 ("Because You Left," "The Lie," "Jughead," "The Little Prince," and "This Place is Death"), the frozen donkey wheel somehow slipped off its axis. This sent Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, Miles, Daniel, Charlotte, Rose, Bernard, Vincent, Neil Frogurt, and the other survivors to different yet important moments in the past and future - i.e. the dislodged donkey wheel sent the castaways into time travel. They came back in time - 1954, 1988, and select moments after the crash - and went forward in time - most notably, in 2007 or 2008, where they found an Ajira Airlines water bottle and a group of still-unknown people shooting at them in the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately, the frequent jumps in time messed with their heads and they started having nosebleeds, headaches, and dizziness. Charlotte was the first one to be affected by temporal displacement and the first - and only - one who died. Miles, Juliet, and Sawyer - in this order - were also affected. When Locke went down the well near The Orchid, he met Christian Shephard, who told him that he was supposed to move the Island, not Ben. He turned the frozen donkey wheel and was sent to the Tunisian desert. Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Daniel, and Jin (who had rejoined his friends after being saved by Danielle Rousseau and her science team) realized that their nosebleeds, headaches, and dizziness had disappeared. They ended up in 1974, during the DHARMA Initiative's heydays.

How does Locke become Jeremy Bentham?

The cliffhanger revealed that Locke was "Jeremy Bentham." Under that alias, he apparently died after visiting Jack and some others who left the island with troubling news: They need go back. While visiting Locke's casket, a cryptic Ben tells Jack they must rally his fellow crash survivors - and return with Locke's lifeless body. Lucky for Jack, Ben always has a secret plan. Emerson tells New York magazine his bug-eyed alter ego will "carry on what seems to be his calling or his life's work or his war, whatever it is - I'm not sure exactly what it is." But it includes orchestrating a survivors' reunion. 

We learned in 5x07 ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham") that when Locke landed in Tunisia, with his leg injured when we went down the well, he found cameras all over the place. When Ben landed there in Season 4, there were no cameras. Later on, we find out that Charles Widmore put them there. Widmore gave him a new passport with a new identity: Jeremy Bentham. With Matthew Abaddon as his chauffeur, Bentham visited Sayid, Hurley, Kate, and Jack, who all refused to come back to the Island. He also visited Walt, but he didn't mention anything about returning to the Island, as well as Michael's fate. He promised Jin that he would not let Sun come back to the Island, and he kept his word. His failure to convince the Oceanic 6 made him want to take his life. But just before he succeeded, Ben barged in his hotel room and persuaded him not to commit suicide. After Locke told him about Jin, who was alive, and Eloise Hawking, who knew how to return to the Island, Ben strangled Locke to death.

When Ajira Airlines Flight 316 crashed on the Hydra Island, the survivors found Locke, alive and in a nice suit. When Caesar, the leader of the Ajira 316 survivors, and Ilana asked him why they never saw him on the plane, he said he didn't remember being on the plane. He did remember dying, and upon seeing an injured Ben, and that Ben murdered him.

What's going on with Widmore and Ben?

Widmore is the wealthy industrialist who staged the fake plane crash of Oceanic 815 and ordered a team of mercenaries on a mission to find the island and kill everyone on it. Widmore and Ben appear to have a deep-seeded rivalry, deepened further after Widmore's agents murdered Ben's daughter in cold blood. Off the island, Ben recruited Oceanic Six survivor Sayid (Naveen Andrews) as an assassin; he also dropped by Widmore's home in the wee hours, vowing to kill his daughter as revenge. Whatever game they're playing, it has rules - and Ben says Widmore has broken them. One possible rule: Widmore and Ben cannot kill each other. That would be a very Harry Potter/Voldemort-esque plot twist. 

As I mentioned above, Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, Miles, Daniel, and Charlotte travelled to 1954. Per episode 5x03 ("Jughead"), they met an ageless Richard Alpert, a young Eloise Hawking, and a young Charles Widmore. In 1954, Widmore was 17 and already arrogant and hot-headed. He claimed that Locke couldn't have known the Island as much as he did.(By the way, I guessed in my original post that Widmore "is either a descendant of Magnus Hanso or one of the original Hostiles," and boy, was I partly right! Hehe...)

Forty-year-old Widmore wasn't too happy when Richard healed young Ben (whom Sayid shot in order to change the future) in The Temple without checking with him. Richard told him that Jacob wanted him to do it. He visited young Ben and tried to befriend him.

Around 11 years after, Widmore instructed Ben and a teenage Ethan to exterminate Danielle Rousseau. Ben didn't know that the French woman had a child. His heart seemed to soften and he spared Rousseau even as he took the child. He did warn her that he'd kill her if she ever came after him. He also told her to run the other way if she ever heard whispers (which fuels theories that the Others or the Hostiles have something to do with the Whispers). Widmore, who was 50ish or 60ish at the time, was mad that Ben failed to kill Rousseau. He also wanted Ben to kill baby Alex. Ben refused and asked Widmore if killing the baby was what Jacob wanted. Ben offered the child to Widmore and told him to kill her, but Widmore left in a huff.

Several years after, Widmore was about to leave the Island forever, as he was exiled by Ben for breaking the rules. He often left the Island and had a daughter with an outsider (whose identity is still unknown or maybe unimportant). Even as Widmore was leaving, he still claimed that the Island was his and that Ben would never sacrifice Alex to protect the Island. Ben countered that the Island did not want Alex dead, Widmore did. Widmore's answer? "I hope you're right, Benjamin, because if you aren't, and it is the Island that wants her dead, she'll be dead. And one day, you'll be standing where I'm standing now. You'll be the one being banished, and then you'll finally realize that you cannot fight the inevitable. I'll be seeing you, boy." As we already know, Keamy shot Alex dead when Ben refused to come out of the house where he was hiding.

Widmore and Ben seem to fight over the Island; each claims that it is rightfully his. More than that, they seem to be fighting over whom Jacob chose to lead the Hostiles/Others. Widmore somehow took over from Eloise, who led the Hostiles in 1977. My guess is that Eloise left the Island either after the events in "The Incident" or when she gave birth to Daniel and never came back. Maybe even when Eloise was chosen as their leader, Widmore believed that he should have been chosen. I believe he wanted - and still wants - to exploit the Island's resources for his own purposes - e.g. to make him richer and more powerful. Ben, on the other hand, believed that Jacob chose him because of his unique ability to see and speak with his dead mother. He had done everything that Jacob asked him to do. Eventually, though, he used the Others and the DHARMA stations to cure the Island's fertility and pregnancy problems. So he also used the Island's resources for his own purposes.

I wonder if we'd learn more about Widmore and Ben's war in Season 6. Will it be addressed and culminated? Will we discover more similarities between the Widmore-Ben war and the Jacob-Flocke war, beyond the fact that they can't kill each other? Who will win: Widmore or Ben?

Who the heck is Jacob?

We've never seen Jacob, though he seems to be the all-knowing island messiah. The shadowy character lives in a creaky cabin that moves around a lot, hates technology and has communicated to the Others through Ben. Last season, Ben brought Locke to the cabin; Locke could not see Jacob but heard him say, "Help me." After Widmore's men stormed the barracks, Ben and Locke visited Jacob again - this time, Jacob spoke to Locke through a representative, Jack's ghost-daddy Christian (John Terry), who said to move the island. Ben, sensing that he'd been replaced by Locke, did the deed and peaced out. As far as we can tell, Jacob has unknown powers, dead people for friends and a cabin fever that keeps him locked in. Online theories abound: Is Jacob an ancient supercomputer, a divine entity, a superhuman being? Expect the unexpected, and expect to see more of him this season. 

We saw Jacob throughout the Season 5 finale ("The Incident") and learned a little about him. He was ageless, just like Richard Alpert (who claimed that Jacob made him ageless). He lived at the base of the four-toed statue, which is a variation of Taweret in its entirety. He also knew about Ajira Flight 316. Was he omniscient or did Ms. Hawking tell him about this? Most importantly, we saw him interact and touch eight Oceanic 815 survivors at various points in time: Kate and Sawyer as children; Jack, Locke, Sun, and Jin before the crash; and Sayid and Hurley after the Oceanic 6 returned to the mainland. He also told them things that would prove important in their lives. Did his touch mark them, to be destined to end up in the Island? Did he choose them? Why? Did he also visit and touch the other survivors (e.g. Charlie, Boone, Shannon, Michael, Walt, Rose, Bernard, Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby, etc.)?

I think the most amazing revelation was that Jacob touched Locke, who seemed to have died on impact, right after his fall. Because of his touch, Locke gasped, as if he came back to life. Everyone was saying that it was a miracle he survived that fall. It's amazing to learn that Jacob's touch was the miracle.

We still don't know why he was ageless or why Flocke wanted him dead. We still don't know what he really is to the Island. Are we going to learn more about him in Season 6? I hope so.

What happened to Claire, Jin, and Michael?

Claire (Emilie de Ravin), who we recently learned is Jack's half-sister, seemed to survive a house fire - but then things got weird. She walked off in the jungle with her (un)dead father Christian. The next time we see them, she's in the shack with Jacob, acting creepy. As for Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), they presumably died on the freighter when it exploded. In an earlier flash-forward, Jin's wife, Sun, was shown at his memorial in Korea. Some bloggers speculate he'll turn up in early episodes, dead or alive, this season. If he perished in the blast, maybe we'll see him cavorting with Jacob, Christian and other ghost people.

I've already discussed Michael's fate in my original post, although rumour has it that Harold Perrineau will be back in Season 6. I just don't know to what capacity.

Jin, whom we thought was dead, turned out to be alive!!! (Told ya.) In 5x04 ("The LIttle Prince"), we learned that he jumped off the boat before it exploded and sank. He was in the water for an unknown number of days, until Danielle Rousseau and her team of scientists found him in 1988. They brought him back to the Island and asked him to lead them to the radio tower. Perhaps to find out about the Numbers being broadcast, by a voice that sounds so much like Hurley's? Danielle promised to help him go to the old beach camp after he led them to the radio tower. However, the group never arrived there as the Smoke Monster attacked them. It killed Nadine and dragged Montand into the crevice at the base of the wall surrounding The Temple. Yes, this was when Montand lost his arm. Suddenly, there was a white flash and loud buzzing, and Jin was transported to a point when Danielle had killed the rest of her team. Danielle threatened to kill him too, but Jin was transported to a point when he rejoined his fellow survivors. When they were stuck in 1974, he joined the DHARMA Initiative with Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Daniel. He also found Jack, Kate, and Hurley in 1977. We last saw him with Hurley and an injured Sayid.

We still don't know what happened to Claire. But I'm sure her story will be revisited and we'll learn what happened to her in Season 6.

There are only 46 hours before the Season 6 premiere - the first hour of which has been screened last night at Sunset on the Beach (boohoo, I wasn't there!).

EXCITED YET?

Another Blog at Wordpress.com?

I have a Wordpress.com account, but I don't know what to do with it.

I don't even remember why I created the account - for DocAzt's website? for sheer fun? - but I'd like to use this account, besides commenting on EW.com posts. So I decided I would blog about... something. The thing is, I don't know what it should be. I have to make time to write this blog (hence the quiz results from Blogthings to fill my quota), so whatever I write about on this new blog has to be something I really love. So what should it be?

• Single life? I'm currently single and, though I'm not actively looking for The One, it doesn't mean I'm not contemplating life as part of a couple. I even joined eHarmony.ca for fun, but I haven't found anyone I like enough. Of course, there's also the emotional unavailability thing that I mentioned in my first post this year. But a lot of single people are already writing about their search for either The One or the One Right Now. What else could I possibly add to the mix?
• LOST or any other favourite TV show? Well, this may be LOST's final season, but that doesn't mean I can't write about it. Maybe I should write about the final season, to recap the Season 6 episodes? Perhaps, but I can just write about it here. What about Fringe, FlashForward, V, Glee, The Vampire Diaries, or any other TV show? It's not too late to start recapping episodes or whatever of these shows. But I can always do it here too.
• Fiction-writing? I can chronicle my fiction-writing or post some of my flash fiction or short stories. Readers would provide feedback and help with the writing or editing process. Unfortunately, publishers may consider these as published works, which means they may not publish the edited stories in magazines or short story collections (as if!). 
• Editing? I can also chronicle my freelance editing business. I can import the Recent Announcement section from my website and pull the RSS feeds from the Wordpress blog. I'm not sure if Wordpress and Google Sites are compatible with each other, though. Copying-and-pasting my previous announcements to the Wordpress blog is fine, but if Google Sites can't get the RSS feeds from Wordpress through a gadget it would be useless.

So, what do you think? Vote, comment, or both!

A Little Margarita Goes a Long Way...

This made me laugh my butt off:

You Are a Strawberry Margarita

You're so sweet it's a little overwhelming, and people are a little afraid of corrupting you... It's a little difficult to imagine you with a margarita. And you're truly a different person after you've kicked back a couple!

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

*Clears throat* For the record, people like to corrupt me. Mwahahahahahahaha...

Ever Talked in Your Sleep?

My Yahoo! Canada homepage featured the ABC News video about Adam Lennard, a British man whose American wife recorded his ramblings while asleep. They're so funny!!!

Then I went to his wife's blog and found some more hilarious ramblings. Check this out:

The American wife - Karen Slavick-Lennard - does warn that her husband's sleep-talking does not suit "very young eyes" and that parents should shield said very young eyes from seeing Adam's gibberish.

Click here for the blog and follow @SleepTalkinMan on Twitter for you daily dose of sleep talkin'!

I might have to get that Badgertastic shirt. Hehehehe...

A Complete Online OPM Store: Is That Even Possible?

In case y'all didn't know, I immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in February 2002. I brought my Original Pilipino Music (also known as OPM) and import cassette tapes, since compact discs in Manila are expensive to an 18-year-old unemployed university student and online music downloads were then way out of my radar, when I came here.

Anyway, I started friending (sorry, Lake Superior State University Word Banishment Committee) Filipino celebrities on Facebook last year. Roselle Nava, the singer known in the Philippines as the Sentimental Diva, is one of them. Before Kelly Clarkson came in my life, Roselle was my all-time favourite singer. I bought all her records and enjoyed lip-syncing to her songs, since I couldn't - still can't - sing like she can. Unfortunately, CDs are affordable here so my cassette tapes, especially my Roselle Nava tapes, are now collecting dust. (If someone can convert my cassette tapes into mp3s, that's great!) Roselle has released three albums since, including Forever Love Songs, released under mega-record company Viva Records.

Unfortunately, Roselle doesn't have an official website. Her only songs on the Canadian iTunes Store are those part of movie soundtracks. My eBay and Amazon.ca searches turned up nothing. So I tried Googling her name and found myself going through several online Filipino stores (e.g. Kabayan Central, ABS-CBN's Starry Starry Store, and Divisoria.com). There are also online music download sites, but most of them are free mp3 download sites that may or may not be legit. I usually pay for my music, unless I'm absolutely desperate for an album or a song. Anyway, only some of Roselle's albums are available on these sites. For example, her two recent studio albums, Bare and Forever Love Songs, are available on Kabayan Central; the cost for each CD is USD$12.99, excluding shipping and handling. On the other hand, her first four albums are available on one online music store (whose name and website I can't remember).

Will there ever be a complete online store - physical CD or digital music - for Filipino music? It's exhausting to search for a certain discography, especially when the artist has no official website and you're an ocean apart. It took me hours looking for a site where all Roselle Nava's music is available, and yet I didn't find one.

I can, of course, purchase a CD at a time, but shipping and handling fees may cost more than the CD itself and it takes at least two weeks for the CD to arrive. On the other hand, digital music downloads cost from zero (for free mp3s) to the physical CD's cost. But there are no shipping and handling fees and it only takes an hour or two to download an album.

I've tried iMesh before, but I had to quit it because I don't want to pay $8.95 a month when I don't even buy music from the site. By the way, it took iMesh a month and a few e-mails (one of which to convince me to stay with iMesh) to cancel my subscription. Although, I wonder if I can get Roselle's last three studio albums for free, now that my paid subscription is cancelled. Hmmm...

So, should I buy the CDs online? Or should I take a chance with these digital download sites, whether free or not?

What Kind of Girl Am I?

Why do you think I watch LOST, Fringe, FlashForward, V, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother? Hehehehehe...

You Are a Brainy Girl!

Whether you're an official student or a casual learner, you enjoy hitting the books. You know a little bit about everything, and you're always dying to know more. For a guy to win your heart, he's got to share some of your intellectual interests. A awesome book collection of his own doesn't hurt either!

What Kind of Girl Are You?

Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity

Glee and Julianna Margulies Triumph at Golden Globes

John Lithgow and Chloe Sevigny may have beaten Michael Emerson (LOST's Benjamin Linus) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson) and Jane Lynch (Glee's Sue Sylvester), respectively, but two upsets made me very, very, very happy.

Julianna Margulies, lead of my favourite Tuesday drama The Good Wife, beat Glenn Close (Damages), January Jones (Mad Men), Anna Paquin (True Blood) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama award. That is freaking awesome. Especially when she kissed George Clooney (who played her ER husband) on the way to the stage. Everyone was saying January Jones would win, but Julianna did. Congrats!!!

On the other hand, Glee - the little show that could - beat 30 Rock, Modern Family, Entourage, and The Office for the Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical award. Woo hoo!!! Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, and Jane Lynch may have lost in their individual categories, but their awesome show won the big award. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!

Other winners that made me smile are:

• Mo'Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
• Toni Collette (United States of Tara) - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical
• Michael Giacchino (Up) - Best Original Score - Motion Picture
• Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air) - Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
• Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
• Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

I would have loved to see The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Inglourious Basterds, or Precious win the Best Motion Picture - Drama award, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association shockingly chose Avatar. I'm sure it's awesome, but more awesome than the other films in the category? Really? Also, Kathryn Bigelow or Quentin Tarantino should have won Best Director - Motion Picture.

On the comedy side, I was hoping for (500) Days of Summer or Julie & Julia, but The Hangover won instead. Oh, well.

I wish that some Golden Globes nominees weren't lumped in their categories, as a comedic performance by a certain actor is a different animal from another actor's dramatic performance.

Thank God for hotties Matthew Fox (whose Jack Shephard was totally out-bearded by William Hurt and Jon Hamm), Matt Damon (who sadly lost his two categories), Matthew Morrison, Joshua Jackson, and George Clooney!

Lastly, LOST'd be better recognized next year or else... (Hehehehe.) And, oh, Jim Parsons, John Noble, and Jane Lynch.

Michael Emerson Way Back in High School

Who wants to see Michael Emerson's high school pictures? Raise your hands if you do!

I just had to smile when I saw DarkUFO's tweet:

So I clicked on the link and I was transported to a blog run by Ryan and Maria - a couple, I think. Apparently, Maria's father went to high school with Michael Emerson! In Iowa! She scanned the relevant yearbook photos and posted them.

I love the part where she said Michael hated being in the debate team and preferred the thespian club. Eating an entire tube of toothpaste to get out of a competition? Oh, my gosh.

Everyone, click on the link below to check out Michael Emerson's high school pics!

Ryan and Maria - "Bet They Don't Call You 'Squirrelly' Now"

Enjoy!

Defence! Defence!

Oh, this is very interesting...

Your Defense Mechanism is Sublimation

Compared to most people, you handle your problems very well. You're good at channeling negative energy into positive energy. You know how to change your perspective. You turn bad events into opportunities. You find strength in dealing with your problems. You are inspired and productive. Some may describe you as a "tortured genius" - but you're not that tortured.

What's Your Defense Mechanism?

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Felice Anno Nuovo!!!

Goodbye, 2009!

While 2008 was a year of healing and 2010 is a year of hope, 2009 was a difficult year. It was difficult for everyone affected by the recession, but it was especially difficult for me.

I started seriously looking for my own place, even without enough money. I didn't - still don't - have much support from my family because they don't think I'm mature enough to live on my own. I lost one unit I liked because my brother took forever to definitely refuse to help me. Every time I mention the words "condo" or "condo hunt," my mom and my sister wig out. It is painful that other people support me in this matter, while my own family doesn't.

Then the government of British Columbia announced that it is harmonizing the Goods & Service Tax (GST, at 5%) with the Provincial Sales Tax (PST, at 7%), thus creating the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST, at 12%). It is effective starting July 1, 2010. The HST announcement led to a surge in real estate sales, reducing the inventory and turning the real estate market into a seller's market - which means, it's not helping me at all. The government is insisting that HST is good for the economy, but more British Columbians disagree with it than those who accept it. For more information about the HST opposition, please go to this site.

Also, the recession's effect on the construction industry affected my work days and my salary. To prevent more layoffs, my employer entered us in the Work Share Program and cut our working days by one or two days. Employment Insurance is paying us for those days, but it does reduce the money I put into savings, part of which is for the condo hunting.

The above may not match other people's difficult experiences this year (e.g. the Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana victims in the Philippines, among others), but these were very difficult and painful for me. This is just half of all the pain I experienced in 2009, at least those I can talk about without getting chewed out.

These difficulties did teach me/remind me of a few things:

• God has control and sovereignty in my life. I can't impose my will on His.
• Everything happens for a reason and that God answers prayers in His time.
• God does not give me trials that are beyond me. He has gone through everything He makes me go through.

In 2010:

• I will have a better quiet, devotional time. I usually do it in the morning, before I leave for work, but I feel it's not enough.
• I will register for more editing or writing courses to develop my skills. I'm not sure about the SFU Certificate in Editing program anymore, because it will cost me at least $4,000.
• I will write more - and edit more.
• I will change my sleeping habits for the better. The more sleep, the better.
  
• I will improve my time-management skills.
• I will spend less and save more. Except, of course, if it relates to LOST. *Wink wink*
• I will fix that emotional unavailability thing.
• I will make other necessary changes in my life. *Wink wink*

Lord, I thank You for all the obvious blessings and blessings-in-disguise You bestowed upon me in 2009. *Sigh* More of the same for 2010? Hmmm...

Goodbye, 2009! Hello, 2010!

Felice Anno Nuovo!!!