.GqueB. said:
As I said, in retrospect (and because of some convenient writing) many of these things didnt really matter in the end. But Im just upset that they even brought them up in the first place. They created storylines around many of these events and people yet they failed to elaborate or explain a lot of it. Im sure many of these have answers that you are about to list for me but many of them just dont and Im sure Im forgetting many more.
And I know some will misunderstand my post so I'll just say this now. I dont WANT to know the answer to all these questions. Im just upset that so much of this show was disregarded.
First, I think part of the problem is that you're looking for meaning in things that never were intended to have much meaning. Some things just are. That's the way it is in every story. Second, in lots of stories there are elements thrown in purely as red herrings, things to misdirect you. I think it's unfair to get upset at Lost for that. Again, that's normal storytelling.
And even if you don't "want" the answers to the questions, if the answers are there and you just didn't pick up on them, then your opinion of the show won't be an informed one.
That said, here goes (note that these answers are off the top of my head and I may be misremembering some things):
1. Presumably it was a form of MiB before he changed to his mainstay form of Christian.
2. Not entirely clear. Probably tied to redemption. Or maybe it's tied to whether or not one feels like they've earned moving on. Michael might feel guilty enough that it traps him. I kind of am guessing that part of what Walt does in the epilogue is to forgive his dad for telling him that he killed Libby and Ana. Then, Walt and Michael in the afterlife wouldn't be in the church because they wanted to spend the time they didn't have in real life together. I'll grant you that that was pulled out of my ass, though.
3. Don't know. The cabin is one of the big unknowns of the series.
4. Same. Though it might have had something to do with the same reason they never saw the lighthouse until they needed to.
5. Simple. It wasn't the Man in Black.
6a. Ben didn't completely turn the wheel. It came loose from it's axis. Think what happens to a record player when you shake it.
6b. It was all part of MiB's plan. He needed Locke to leave and die so when they came back (like he knew would happen since he was around in the 70's) he could take Locke's form. Jacob maybe knew about it and allowed it. Part of Jacob's plan might have included dying. Who knows?
7. I believe I read somewhere that the original ending to Season 5 was supposed to be Richard on a hill overlooking the Incident site and seeing the bomb go off. They decided to end in the white flash instead. Even so, you were supposed to infer that Richard saw the explosion and assumed those near it died.
8. Two ways to answer this. One is that Eloise Hawking said if the original 815 flight weren't exactly duplicated, the results would be unpredictable. Unpredictable as in certain people might start hopping back 30 years. The other answer is that those people already existed in the past. In order to keep the timeline intact, they had to go there. It had already happened.
9. Claire went jungle crazy a la Rousseau after her baby was taken from her. It didn't help that MiB was filling her with lies and influencing her in negative ways. She probably contracted the same "sickness" as Sayid, which as I understand it is a "though disease" where the MiB convinces you to do whatever. That's why you shouldn't let him talk. He's too influential. Jacob is the same way, in a sense. He just doesn't try to convince everyone they're evil.
10. Because it does? This is one of those times where I think you're asking too much of the writers. Some things just are.
11. I have to say I don't remember that one.
12. Don't know. As I said in a previous post. Illana's back story would have been very nice.
13. The visions weren't inconsistent if you take into account that they might not all have been MiB. There were ghosts on the island after all. I've taken to assuming some of Christian's appearances may have actually been Christian.
14. He was disoriented and confused? You thought they'd revisit that?
15. MiB likes the feel of the ground beneath his feet, too, remember.
16. Why does it matter? I never thought the name changes were important. It just told me that Chang didn't want to use his real name.
17. Because he could. There was no "candidate-protection" for him. And it kept the Losties scared. Just like he wanted them.
18. He's the one who said he was a fraud. Why do you believe him? And it turned out that Claire needed Aaron's influence more than the other way around.
19. For all things Walt, I think you should reserve judgment until the epilogue comes out. That said, my guess is that Walt had some inkling that it was part of MiB's plan for them to get into the hatch and for all the rest of the things to take place. Walt was smart enough to not want that.
20. Because it was cooler that way? Again there doesn't have to be a reason. But I can give you a half-baked one. It made mechanical sounds as a way to show that Smokey was entirely void of humanity. He was little more than an angry machine.
21. Damage to the windpipe? Some things are just storytelling devices. They help move things along as they're supposed to.
22. She was unimportant beyond what they showed of her. Her influence on Ben was what mattered.
23. Either a change of story direction or Desmond lying to get Claire to do what he wanted her to do. Take your pick.
24. They brought it in through the tunnels. That's how they got it out, after all.
25. What about him? He was probably what Ben claimed he was (when he pretended to be Henry Gale). Then, unfortunately for him, he crashed on the island and died. He's also a literary reference to The Wizard of Oz.
26. The Incident was the massive release of the exotic energy. The bomb negated it for a time, saving the island. Presumably it allowed them time to build the "release valve."
27. Because she was a Smokey herself is the popular theory, one espoused by the actors who played Jacob and MiB.
28. Again, cabin stuff was not explained very well. That's a very legitimate beef that most people share.
29. Why not?
30. Yes, the energy seemed to have a positive effect on sperm count in males (e.g. Jin). Hence the Tawaret statue. She was the goddess of fertility. However, after the Incident, things changed and the energy started to negatively affect pregnant women. Their immune system would start attacking the baby.
31. Because coming toward the island on the wrong bearing makes your consciousness skip around and makes you go crazy especially if you'd been exposed to large amounts of EM radiation.
*lets out deep breath*