Just saw the finale last night! Whew. Catching up from approximately forever ago:

So we don't really have any idea where Ethan came from? Because he's young enough to only be offspring or a more recent wreck. And I thought it funny that they didn't mention anything to Danielle about Ethan's death.

Yeah, I was wondering about this as well. What, if any, was the connection between Danielle and Ethan? Were they working together to take Claire's baby, and if so, does that mean Rousseau was/is in cahoots with the Others? Or were they both trying to take the baby for different reasons, and at different times? (My memory of that episode is fuzzy.) Was Ethan one of the Others? Was he taken as a child from an earlier wreck and brought up among them?

I agree that the people on the boat who took Walt must be the Others, but as someone (DebetEsse?) said upthread, they probably aren't the masterminds of the operation; I don't get the sinister, soon-my-electro-ray-will-destroy-Metropolis kind of evil genius vibe from them that I think the Keeper of the Island has to have. I don't think they have much to do with the hatch or the InvisoMechasaur, for example.

Okay, so the Black Rock was sailing from Mozambique with slaves aboard? To where, and how did it end up in the South Pacific? Seems like if it was headed from Mozambique to South America, even to the western coast, it would be faster to go west rather than east, right? That's the only place I can think of where a ship from Mozambique that ended up somewhere between Australia and the Americas would have been bound.

ita wrote:

As for slavery -- they posited it went out of Mozambique, and was therefore not part of the standard American slave trade. I don't know anything about the style of ship, but that is more important than the dates of slavery's end in this neck of the world. Plus -- the slaves were for mining, and that's TOTALLY roomy for a Middle Passage hold.

I don't know much about the history of the slave trade--what's the route of the Middle Passage? And why is the style of ship significant, or the fact that they were intended to be miners?

Also, damn, but Oceanic Airlines has the roomiest, most comfortable airplanes I've ever seen. I especially liked the bit with the airline employees carrying Locke down the vast, wide aisle and setting him down swiftly and easily in his amply-sized seat.

Oh, and from the Salon review:

Once upon a time, a month ago, these people were strangers, the [airplane] scenes seem to be telling us -- and they were nicer to each other then.

Funny, but I got the exact opposite feeling from those scenes, apart from small touches like the Walt/Hurley moment. (And I love that the mystery of who brought the polar bear comic book has finally been solved! Makes sense that it was Hurley.) Anyway, I thought the general tone of the flashbacks was "look at what jerks these people were"; I definitely thought that by contrast, several of them seemed much happier--or at least nicer--on the island (i.e. Walt and Michael, Sun and Jin, Shannon and Sayid, and Charlie).

A couple things that bugged me: I thought the Bob Marley bit between Sawyer and Michael was kind of silly, especially because Michael was all, "Wait a minute, you know Bob Marley?" and dude, who does not know Bob Marley? Also, I thought Claire's scenes felt flat, which was a little surprising, since I generally think she's been a decent actress on the show. But then again, her scenes were written to be as maudlin as possible, so maybe the blame isn't hers alone.

The good parts: I laughed out loud when Arzt blowed up real good. So long, annoying redshirt. Hurley's flashback was probably my favorite part of the episode. I even cheered when he gave the gate agent that big hug. I want Hurley to be my friend (except for the part where that means I'm likely to die in a hideous accident). Also, DDK on the boat, with the curly hair and the sun-bronzed skin and the wind in his face, was one of the hottest things I've ever (continued...)

( continues...) seen. HMOG.

edit: heh, I wondered if this post would go over.

I don't know much about the history of the slave trade--what's the route of the Middle Passage?

The Middle Passage. Note Mozambique on the east coast.

And why is the style of ship significant,

For dating it -- I'm assuming that if you know ships, it's like a car model or airplane style.

or the fact that they were intended to be miners?

Reinforcing that the American slave trade probably doesn't have anything to do with this vessel.

I was thinking that the slavers were looking to unload their cargo somewhere around Indonesia or thereabouts, but I could be wrong.

As for Bob Marley, I thought that Michael was just surprised that a seeming redneck like Sawyer would be that familiar with reggae. I'm not a redneck, and I couldn't quote you anything from that style except for "I Shot the Sheriff," and that's the Clapton version.

Redemption Song is not one of the very popular Marley tunes, as far as my experience goes -- not among non-Jamaicans. Was Sawyer singing lyrics too?

Yup.

Redemption Song is not one of the very popular Marley tunes, as far as my experience goes -- not among non-Jamaicans.

Huh. I wouldn't have thought it all that out there, myself.

Yeah, that'd make me look twice too.

Redemption Song is not one of the very popular Marley tunes, as far as my experience goes -- not among non-Jamaicans.

It's one of the songs that, in my experience, every single person who ever picked up a guitar learns the opening riff to. So it seems to me as if every one knows it. But I might just hang with a Reggae loving crowd.

I had never heard the song before. The one brief time when I tried to learn to play guitar, Bob Marley was not among my practice pieces. (If he had been, I might have stuck with it, though.)

The Middle Passage. Note Mozambique on the east coast.

Okay, thanks. So all the Middle Passage routes are westward from Africa to the Americas. I think I misread your comment as saying that the ship was travelling a Middle Passage route, when in fact you were saying the opposite. I'm still wondering why a ship would have gone east from Mozambique and ended up east of Australia in the South Pacific, but I'll just wave my hands and mutter about being blown wildly off-course, and let it go.

For dating it -- I'm assuming that if you know ships, it's like a car model or airplane style.

Gotcha. I can honestly say that never would have occurred to me! Signed, knows not a damn thing about car or airplane models.

Re: "Redemption Song", my experience has been -t's; seems like everyone knows that song. On the other hand, I went to a hippie college and then travelled the hippie backpacker route (and now live in a hippie-esque college town where bumper stickers that read "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds" are abundant), so my sample population might not be so broadly representative.