The Head Case, The Ghostbuster, The Anthropologist and The Drunk

By Chris Kirkman

Whew, quite the episode. Director Stephen Williams deserves some massive kudos for packing a lot of punch into the 40-minute format. We witnessed first-person chaos, some undersea ephoria and more globe-spanning action than you usually get in half a season. And all this from an episode that was previewed as nothing but our protagonists standing around spouting soliloquys.

What was most impressive about this episode was its scope. Usually, we barely see beyond the bubble of the island, maybe once or twice a season and then only in the finales and premieres, but here we have a second episode that takes us from California to Tunisia to the Bahamas.

And now we need to take a look at all that globetrotting. There's not quite as much to review and theorize upon as in the premiere, but this episode opens up the question arcs that will plague us for much of this season. Let's get to it, shall we?

DHARMA: THE WORLDWIDE INITIATIVE
Charlotte's flashback barely lasts for more than four minutes, but it opens up a whole new can of worms for us Lost enthusiasts. For the first time we got confirmation to what many of us have been speculating since season two: Was the Dharma Initiative even more far-reaching than the island? We can now definitively state yes. After seeing Charlotte and her interpreter dig up a polar bear in Tunisia, we know that the little hippie program that the DeGroots supposedly dreamed up had a few more stations than just in the South Pacific. Exactly what were they up to in the desert? As of now, that's purely speculation, but one thing that deserves a closer look is the Earth's collection of ley lines.

For the uninitiated, ley lines are a metaphysical collection of mapped coordinates that span the globe and intersect at random intervals. These intersections are often referred to as places of power and mystery. Many believe that the Salisbury Plains of England are positioned above one of those intersections, and it is here that the Druids long ago built Stonehenge. Contemporary scholars and anthropologists have written off Stonehenge as an ancient calendar, but those with a little more imagination have never quite given up the idea that Stonehenge was a place of enigmatic energy that factored into the druids' arcane rituals. The Great Pyramids of Giza are another such ancient site that supposedly rests upon one of these great ley lines.

Ley lines were first given their name by an archaeologist by the name of Alfred Watkins in 1921, although their existence had been rumored for centuries. The basis of his theory of these lines was an ancient belief in a geodesic structure of the modern world. Many ancient civilizations often employed mathematically precise straight points between two locations on any created map, with many overlapping intersects. Later, when a full map of the known world began to take shape, the lines were extended on a global scale, with vertices naturally falling upon some of the more famous and regarded locales from the ancient world. Quite a few skeptics of the ley lines concept concede that it's mostly human nature to plot straight lines between locations, but quite a few admit to the more-than-coincidental placement of many of these so-called ley lines on modern maps.

For a closer look at the current, broad view of major ley lines, I have created a map based on the Becker-Hagens geodesic distribution maps that are accepted as canon by many ley line enthusiasts. Within each of the distinct geodesic areas, many subpatches of ley convergences can be extrapolated. In other words, the main divides of the earth can be further broken down into other lines that connect to a point, creating minor points of power. I wouldn't waste too many brain cells trying to figure out this puzzle, as the main grid map will work fairly well for our purposes.

If you'll refer to our main map, the main vertices are signified by circles, with secondary vertices marked by squares. The vertices are all coded by number in the main Becker-Hagens map, and I've taken the liberty of highlighting our favorite numbers from Lost on the map I created. Whether these might correspond with Dharma locations is anyone's guess - I doubt highly the Lost writers took a close look at this kind of map before setting up the mythology. However, it's a fascinating scenario, nonetheless. The circled areas in yellow are three of the locations that many have speculated to be the location of the island. One, of course, corresponds with one of the fabled numbers. For those that might be a bit curious, and even know what I'm talking about, the number four on the map corresponds to the location of the great Tunguska blast of 1908. For the uninitiated, Google it. It's worth it.

What is more fascinating given the events of the last episode is the intersection of a medium-grade leyline around the vicinity of Medenine, Tunisia. It's marked by the red dot on the map. Have a look-see.

What does all this mean? Maybe nothing, but as soon as Charlotte found that polar bear and the Hydra collar in Tunisia, my mind started spinning down the ley line route, as it has in the past. And before I take my leave of the subject for this analysis, I thought I'd just throw in one last image that might relate to the topic at hand (and also fill my quota for the obligatory, weekly reference to the hatch):

That geodesic dome that sparked something in most of our subconcious minds doesn't seem so pedestrian now, does it?

OCEANIC AIRLINES; TAKING US PLACES WE NEVER WANTED TO GO
Last week, we started speculating that Oceanic was more than just an airline. With the mysterious appearance of Oceanic "lawyer" Matthew Abaddon trying to put Hurley in a more refined nut hatch, we suddenly got the feeling that the airline that went out of business because flight 815 went down was far more sinister than previously expected.

What came as a shock to me this week was with Frank Lapitas' exchange with the NTSB. When he realized that the underwater footage showing Seth Norris' bloated body was a sham, he called the hotline and asked to speak to a supervisor. The female voice on the other end of the line was a little taken aback to his request, but he eventually spoke to an even more enigmatic voice that questioned Frank's connection to flight 815. We can only assume that Frank's inside information got him a one-way ticket to the island since he was the pilot that was scheduled to fly 815 on the day of its fateful crash.

The question this raises is simple: If Frank called an NTSB hotline, does that mean that the NTSB was actually in on the subterfuge? The only way that could be true is if the inner circle of the American government is somehow tied to the missions of the Dharma Initiative. This seems like a very unlikely scenario, at least to me. More likely, however, is that the Oceanic team, or whomever is responsible for the crash and the coverup, was privy to Frank's conversation and brought him into the fold.

In the end, does this mean that Oceanic is part of the organization ultimately responsible for the Dharma Initiative? Not necessarily, but with two episodes into the fourth season, we already have an agent claiming to be a lawyer for the corporation, an obvious coverup of the crash and a flash forward that has awarded the Oceanic Six (or Jack, at least) with a golden ticket to travel anywhere they want, anytime they'd like, supposedly just to keep their traps shut.

Mysterious, indeed.

Before I leave the subject of the Oceanic hotline, I'd like to just throw all of you a bone. The hotline number flashed on Frank's TV screen is a real, operational number, and, if dialed, will take you to a pretty cool pre-recorded message from Oceanic Airlines. The message isn't going to contain any mind-blowing revelations, but it's a fun diversion, nonetheless. If any of you want to try it out, the number is: 1-888-548-0034

THAT'S URSA MARITIMUS TO YOU, BUB
What's with all the polar bear research? You've got me. We know for sure that Dharma has been trying to genetically engineer polar bears for warm-weather climates, as well as messing around with some sharks for unknown reasons on the island. The only advantages I can discern from research on polar bears are a) they are some of the fiercest hunters on the face of the planet and b) their hair is completely unique, as in it is colorless and adapts to the color of the light in which they are subjected. That doesn't really tell me much. If any of you have some advanced polar bear theories, I'd be more than happy to listen.

WHO YA GONNA CALL?
I don't have much to say about Miles' spiritual activity, except that you should probably expect many, many more Ghostbusters quotes out of me in the coming week. Well, if he doesn't get shot by one of the survivors or eaten by Ol' Smokey, naturally.

There are many, many more questions out there to ponder: Why are the "rescuers" after Ben? Why does Oceanic or whomever is out to procure Ben need a team comprised of a physicist head-case, a medium, an anthropologist and a drunk pilot? When are Jack and Juliet going to hook up? How sick will I be when that actually happens? For now, though, I think we've covered enough ground.

Before the next episode, I urge you to delve deep into that well of conspiracy, mystery and love of everything polar bear, and let me know what thoughts you've thunk.

Until then, Namaste.