I don't think the bomb either went off or caused the incident. The drilling caused the Incident which was was already happening when the Lostaways brought the bomb to the site. I think *it* is what flashed the Lostaways from 1977 back to 2007. The bomb was the fail safe mechanism that Des set off in 2004.

Oooh, I like that theory, Cindy! Not sure about your last sentence, though. Wouldn't a nuclear explosion have done more physical damage? Maybe the fail safe was just a recreation of the incident.

Agree that it's what pushed them back into the present. Interesting thought about the bomb not going off and Desmond setting it off in the failsafe.

OK, so if the bomb doesn't go off/expel its energy until Desmond, what's the cause of the failed pregnancies on the island?

(& damn. I was enjoying thinking I was right.)

Oooh, I like that theory, Cindy! Not sure about your last sentence, though. Wouldn't a nuclear explosion have done more physical damage? Maybe the fail safe was just a recreation of the incident.

Remember back when they first found the hatch, Jack and Sayid went down into some sort of corridor and Sayid estimated how thick the solid concrete walls were? Plus, the hatch had blast doors, and whatnot. I think the 1977 Dharma Initiative people found the bomb and being scientists, engineers and whatnot, knew how much concrete to put around it to minimize the damage.

OK, so if the bomb doesn't go off/expel its energy until Desmond, what's the cause of the failed pregnancies on the island?

The bomb had a leak in it as far as the 1950s. That's one of the reasons Daniel told young Eloise that it had to be encased in concrete, but the 1950s others just hid it in the tunnels. I'm sure some of the poison leached into the ground and water.

I really felt like this stuff was all addressed last season.

I really felt like this stuff was all addressed last season.

I missed a lot of this - or it went over my head - and I've seen every episode at least twice. I need to rewatch again, then. Sigh.

Nice to hear I was only half-wrong, then - in that the bomb was to some extent responsible for all their troubles. Less nice to hear I may have been the last person to realise this.

The pregnancy stuff could have been due to the bomb, but it doesn't explain the magical healing properties of the island.

I do think there was something mystical about the island and therefore explains the pregnancy stuff. Perhaps the fact that the island isn't quite fixed in time or space has a negative impact on fetuses. I would believe that.

Maybe Mr. Black Smoke (or his presence) messes with pregnant mothers' bodies in such a way that makes pregnancy problematic.

Perhaps the fact that the island isn't quite fixed in time or space has a negative impact on fetuses. I would believe that.

This was what I was wondering earlier, when we heard that the light in the cave is the source of life, death and rebirth. But there was no obvious link made between that and the birth problems - whereas it was a bit more clearly the origin of the ghosts, like Michael.

I have an easier time believing that the mystical properties of the island were responsible for the healings than I do for the pregnancy issues. Not sure why.

I really felt like this stuff was all addressed last season.

Sorry. In re-reading, I realize how bitchy that comes off, and I'm totally bitchy right now, but not at all with you (in fact, it has nothing to do with Buffistas or TV or anything; it's real life, which is what I came to the board to forget). I didn't mean to sound the way I sounded. I love you, Nae.

Less nice to hear I may have been the last person to realise this.

You're not at all. Even my own editorial staff is like, "What was up with the gestation problems?" I see it everywhere. Sometimes, it makes me think I took an answer that wasn't really there.

The island definitely had healing properties. Locke, Rose, and so many of the people who were injured over the years healed extra quickly. That was even acknowledged by characters (I know Richard, at least, acknowledged it with Locke in season 5).

I don't think the Island's mystical properties caused the pregnancy problems. I do think that the super high sperm count found in Island males may have been a result of the Island's mojo trying to circumvent the gestation problems caused by the leaky hydrogen bomb.

but don't you think the leaky hydrogen bomb should have canceled out the healing properties?

I don't -- at least I don't think it has to, because the Island's powers were never explained in a scientific way. Some of the Island's effects could be observed scientifically (rapid healing of wounds, particularly), but it's not like we ever had a sound understanding of what and how much it could do. The Island's mystical properties seemed to keep people on it/keep people alive until it was "done" with them.