A SAINT AND A SINNER

Of all the secondary characters in LOST, Helen Norwood would probably be nominated as the most important to the underlying mythology themes of the series. She was a saint compared to all the sinners.

Helen was Locke's girlfriend for a period during his life before the plane crash, whom he had intended to marry. (In the sideways world, they were engaged to be married in October, 2004) After Locke returned to the mainland in an attempt to bring back the O6 survivors, it was revealed that she had died of a brain aneurysm in 2006. 

Locke's relationship with Helen was a bitter triumph of self-destruction. Helen had the patience of a saint. She kept giving Locke chance after chance, but Locke refused to let go of his past. Locke's anger, frustration and revenge for how he perceived his life going so wrong clouded his judgment that the best thing about his life was right in front of him: Helen, who unconditionally loved him before and after his horrible disability.

Locke and Helen met at an anger-management support group of which they were both members. After his outburst at the group about their whining, Helen approached Locke outside and told him that she appreciated his candor and shared his frustrations. She also flirted by telling him that she liked bald men - despite Locke not being bald she said that she was prepared to wait. 

Their friendship moved to the bedroom fairly quickly and continued to blossom. During a meal at a restaurant, Helen gave Locke a key to her flat as a six-month anniversary present. She told him that she'd followed him and discovered that he was sneaking out at night to lurk outside his father's   house. The gift of the key was given on the condition that he stopped going there, to which Locke agreed.

Despite his promise to stop, Locke continued to spend long periods in his car waiting outside Cooper's house. Helen followed him again and shunted her car into the back of his, stormed over to his window and snatched his keys from the ignition. She threw the keys over the security gates in the drive and implored him to give up on his obsession and take a "leap of faith" with her. Shortly after, Locke moved in with Helen. Locke eventually started making plans to propose to Helen over a romantic picnic. Unfortunately on the morning of the picnic Helen spotted Cooper's obituary in the newspaper and that the funeral was scheduled for that day. Helen accompanied Locke to the funeral to support him. Some days after the funeral, Cooper revealed to Locke that he was still alive and convinced him to participate in a criminal financial scheme in exchange for a share of the money. Locke's suspicious behavior and a run in with gang members searching for Cooper led Helen to follow him again. She turned up at the motel, where Locke was meeting Cooper to hand over the money. She demanded of Cooper: "Are you him?", slapped him and berated him for his treatment of Locke before leaving to go back to her car. Locke caught up with her in the parking lot outside and pleaded for forgiveness, went down on one knee and proposed. Helen shook her head and drove off.

But Helen was with Locke in the sideways afterlife. Things seemed different. Cooper was in a nursing home, unable to speak or function, but Helen took care of him as well as Locke. She was not demanding but supportive. Helen was the embodiment of a good partner: kind, charming, witty, loyal, trusting, helpful, and nonjudgmental. 

Helen was the best thing in Locke's life, but he failed to realize it.  In all relationships, there are fleeting moments where a couple becomes a couple, connects as a couple, and lasts as a couple. There are few if any second chances at romance with a person spurned during a first encounter. Locke had several chances to make things right but he failed over and over. 

Helen deserved better. Much better. She was like a guardian angel who gave Locke a glimpse of what he life "could have been" if not for Locke's delusional self-torment issues.

Helen also deserved a better ending in the series. We are told she died after breaking up with Locke. She died alone. She did not meet Locke in the sideways church to share or rekindle their affection for eternity. So, despite doing nothing wrong, Helen's soul is apparently trapped in a purgatory of Locke's own creation. That's a sad fate for a character who did nothing wrong to deserve such treatment.

It is almost a reverse life lesson. Locke, whose bad behavior and choices, hurt so many other lives but he was rewarded with eternal life with his island friends. Meanwhile, Helen, who took care of people, was kind and loyal to a fault, gets nothing for being of high moral character.

GUILT & SHAME

One of the undercurrents in LOST was the troubled back stories of the main characters. One of the most pulp fiction background relationships was between Boone and his stepsister, Shannon.

In the category, the Rich have hard lives, this relationship had a creepy guilt and shame dynamic.

Boone Carlyle was Shannon's stepbrother. Before Flight 815,  he had been used by Shannon for money and as a result of this, his love for her was revealed and they had a one-night stand.

Boone Carlyle was the son of Sabrina Carlyle, and stepson of Adam Rutherford, a man who was killed in the auto accident in which Jack "saved" Sarah. When Sabrina and Adam  married when Boone was ten, and Shannon, who was two years his junior, became his step-sister. His parents frequently left him with a nanny when he was young, and Boone, angry at being left alone, called her to his room repeatedly without cause. During one of these calls, when Boone was six, the nanny fell and broke her neck.  This may be the impetus of Boone's character trait of helping Shannon throughout her life; guilt.

By the time he had turned 20, Boone was living in New York. After flying back to Los Angeles for Adam Rutherford's  funeral, Boone comforted Shanno by giving his underage stepsister some alcohol to mollify her grief. He told Shannon she could live with him in New York if it would help get her career as a dance instructor started. After Shannon got the job, Boone was then offered a job by his mother. He accepted the job as the Chief Operating Officer of the wedding clothing subsidiary and he had to move from New York. Shannon had asked him to ask his mother for some money, but he came back empty handed. He that said his mother knew why he asked for the money. Boone then offered Shannon some of his own money to get her started in New York without him, but she refused because she wanted to prove herself. Shannon would fail in her attempts (feeble at best) to be self-sufficient and independent. She was daddy's little girl, who got anything she wanted from him, but when he was gone she was mad that her life had been so disrupted by his death. She would be seeking out other men to take care of her. She polished a devious streak to get what she wanted from men.

Although he would not openly admit it to anyone, Boone was in love with Shannon and he would do anything to help her out of her jams.  He paid men to end Shannon's abusive relationships. Shannon would take advantage of Boone's feelings. He received a phone call from Shannon pleading for him to come and help her with her boyfriend, Bryan,  in Sydney. Boone flew to Australia and, although she initially denied there was anything wrong, Shannon showed him a bruise on her forehead discreetly, as Bryan kicked Boone out of their house. He went to the police station to file a report but the Detective was unwilling to help because Boone and Shannon were not blood related, and joked, they were not the "dating police." Boone decided to take matters into his own hands.

He tried to bribe Bryan to leave Shannon. He took the money, but when Boone came to pick up Shannon, Bryan was still there - - - willing to share the loot with Shannon. In other words, Boone was conned into giving Shannon $50,000. There was a fight, and Boone lost.  Later that night, Shannon appeared at Boone's hotel room and told him that Byran had left her, taking all the money. They had drinks, and the alone Shannon seduced Boone. Afterward, Boone felt confused and dejected when Shannon suggested that they return to LA and act if nothing happened that night.

Throughout his time on the Island, Boone would spend a lot of his time with Shannon before finally getting over his love for her and letting her go. He later became Locke's apprentice when the two discovered the Hatch and they formed a close friendship.  Unable to open the Hatch, they followed a dream Locke had and found a small plane sitting on a cliff. Boone climbed up into the plane but suffered severe injuries when the plane fell to the ground. Despite Jack's  best attempts to save him, Boone realized he was going to die and told Jack to let him go. After Boone's death, Locke described him as a "sacrifice the Island demanded."

Shannon's time on the island was not one of personal growth. She kept to her spoiled trust fund persona, rarely helping out. Boone's death did affect her deeply, but it may have been slightly more shame on how she treated him that deep affection. For Shannon, being totally alone, began to seek out company of someone to support her. That person was Sayid, but their relationship was very brief, as Shannon was killed accidently by Ana Lucia.  Sayid's grief over Shannon's death was much more than Shannon had when Boone perished.

So despite the close relationship between Boone and Shannon, they were not "together" in the after life reunion. For little apparent reason, Sayid was reunited with Shannon (and not Nadia). And Boone, like his friend Locke, had no one to sit next to during the final church sequence. Why Boone, who only tried to help his step sister throughout her life, was punished with a lonely eternity, is one of those major downers in the story. And Shannon, who used men to support her, and had little moral principles in doing so, was rewarded in the after life. Life is not fair.

MATCH GAME

The Seven Deadly Sins are supposed to be a window into one's soul, a case study in one's true fault(s) that holds back a person from becoming complete and moral.

Time to try to match the LOST characters to their Deadly Sins.

LUST:  There was plenty of carnal knowledge on the show, from hook-ups to emotional manipulation. The character that had the most loin fever was probably KATE, who was the attention getter who when she wanted something, she went out and got it.

GLUTTONY. It is easy to point to HURLEY as the main choice. He had an issue when he was put in charge of the pantry-food drop supplies. He was uncomfortable with the responsibility since food was his alternative to dealing with his pain (abandonment issues, loneliness, etc.)

GREED. There are many characters who wanted wealth, fame, power and control. Ben and Widmore are prime examples of ruthless behavior. But at the same time, but at a more reserved level, Sun was very greedy in her personal expectations and inheritance while Jin was also looking to break away from his poor fisherman caste to become wealthy. An intense, selfish desire for something defines greed. On a non-material basis, MIB may have been the most greedy, since his sole being as a smoke monster was to escape his island prison, at any cost, including centuries of human lives.

SLOTH. Who was in the camp that lived off the work of other people? SHANNON was the prime example of a rich, spoiled girl who did not have any tangible skill sets for independence, let alone survival. First, she relied solely on Boone to help her through her problems. Then, after Boone was gone, she hooked up briefly with Sayid. She never took it upon herself to take charge of her own situation.

ENVY. Jealousy is a deep dagger in the heart of man. There were many characters who were biting their lip, looking from the outside at the close bonds, friendships and adventures of the other cast members. Arzt was one guy who talked big in camp, but got himself blown up on his only real mission. Frogert was a guy in camp who was constantly complaining that he was not getting the respect he deserved (as a red shirt).

WRATH. Extreme anger at one's own situation and the fate that life imposed upon someone clearly reflects the inner demons of LOCKE. As often as he lashed out at others, including his crazy mother and his con man father, Locke was more angry at his own failed decisions and illusions of grandeur to stop and see the good things in his life, such as Helen. And once he lost her, he had lost any chance of happiness. That is why he was bitter to the end, on and off the island.

PRIDE. This sin is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements. There are several characters whose world revolved around their own accomplishments. Sawyer believed solely in himself; he knew he could con anyone, including another con man. Arrogance may be the twin brother of pride. Likewise, JACK was self-absorbed with the title of "miracle spine surgeon" by taking impossible cases and defying all medical science to have them walk again. He could do no wrong. Which such a background of being "right," it was only at the end when he admitted that Locke was right about the island.

LIFE

If one does not enjoy the world that they live in, it is a sinful waste of a life.


When we talk life, we tend to talk about accomplishments, relationships, and material wealth. If there is a scale to weigh one's life, one would hope the positives outweigh the negatives.

Life can be viewed as a series of obstacles or opportunities, depending on one's frame of mind.

Life can also be viewed as a series of trials and failures, and the resiliency after a set back or defeat.

Life could be a hard jungle to navigate, depending on how adaptive a person can be to adversity and change.

Life can be an adventure or a prison, depending on one embraces things outside one's comfort zone.

Life can be both good and bad, at the same time.

Life can be both rewarding and frustrating, at the same time.

One of the earliest childhood cartoons were those Charlie Brown specials. Charlie Brown was a typical kid who seemingly did not catch a lot of breaks. He was a klutz, not a good athlete, and his follies were humorous to his friends. But he kept going forward despite his set backs.

It takes time for children to grow into adults, and to integrate their childhood experiences and life lessons into a lesson plan to orchestrate their lives.

And it takes a long time for a person to realize that in this world, we are all Charlie Brown.

WHAT KATE DID

If there was an episode that could peel away the layers of LOST, it may be "What Kate Did."

"What Kate Did" is the ninth episode of Season 2. Kate begins to believe that she is going mad after she sees the black horse from her past and hearing her father when speaking to Sawyer.

A 24-year-old Kate is sitting on her porch, playing with a lighter, when her father, Wayne, arrives inebriated. As Kate helps him to bed, he complains and makes advances toward her. Kate soon leaves. As Kate rides away from the house on a motorbike, the house explodes.

She rides to a diner where her mother, Diane, works.  Kate confronts Diane about an injury caused by Wayne and then presents her with a homeowners' insurance policy, telling Diane she'll be taken care of. Despite worried pleas from her mother to explain what she did, Kate leaves, fighting back tears. Later, we would learn that her mother rejected all Kate had done.

After Kate is arrested by the FBI agent, a black horse appears before the car, causing the car to hit a pole. With Agent Mars momentarily stunned by the opening of the driver's airbag, Kate grabs the handcuff keys and tries to unlock the handcuffs, but the marshal revives. After a short fight, Kate kicks Mars out of the car. She reverses the slightly damaged car and turns on the headlights and drives away. To her surprise, the lights show the black horse standing next to the road quietly looking at her for a few seconds before leaving into the darkness.

Kate travels to a recruiting station to visit her stepfather. She tells Sam she recently discovered he was her stepfather and Wayne was her biological father. Sam says he had known all along, but hid the truth because he knew Kate would kill Wayne if she ever found out. He informs Kate that he must call the authorities, but gives her a one-hour head start.

So we learned what Kate did: she committed murder, insurance fraud, and resisted all arrests. She is a very bad and dangerous person.

On the island, a distraught Sayid digs Shannon's grave while Jack tends to the injured Sawyer in the Swan bunks. who mutters, "Where is she?" which Jack assumes refers to Kate. Sawyer whispers, "I love her" twice, stunning Jack into silence. While collecting fruit,  Kate is shocked to see the black horse from her past standing in the undergrowth. She returns to the Swan to attend to Sawyer and computer  so Jack can attend Shannon's funeral.  At the funeral, Sayid tries to say a few words, but, overcome by emotion, can only declare that he loved her before walking away. Jack, Locke and the other survivors continue the improvised ceremony by each pouring a handful of sand into the grave.

As Kate tends to Sawyer, he begins to mumble, and as she leans in to hear better, he grabs her by the neck and says, "You killed me. Why did you kill me?" Kate is shocked by the statement, and flees her post. Jack and Locke return to the Swan to find the computer alarm blaring, Sawyer on the floor, and Kate nowhere to be seen. With only 23 seconds to go, Locke hastily enters the Numbers, resetting the clock to 108.

Jack tracks Kate down and accosts her for leaving the Swan. Kate shouts, "I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as you. I'm sorry that I'm not as good!" She tries to run away, but Jack grabs her forearm and pulls her back. With emotions reaching a fever pitch, Jack pulls Kate close and holds her. Without warning, Kate kisses Jack passionately and, seemingly shocked by her actions, runs off into the jungle. Jack calls after her, but she does not turn around and he does not follow.

Later, in the jungle, Jack is cutting wood when Hurley approaches, making small talk, eventually leading into the topic of Sawyer. Hurley asks Jack if he is mad at Sawyer, which Jack denies. But Hurley says Jack is cutting wood which Sawyer used to do. Hurley tells Jack about "transference," a medical term he heard at the mental institution, to explain what Jack is doing, but Jack is flippant at the remark.

Sayid goes to Shannon’s grave to place his prayer beads on her cross; he discovers Kate sitting there. She apologizes for missing the funeral and says she thinks she's going crazy. When asked if he believes in ghosts, Sayid says he saw Walt in the jungle just before Shannon was shot and asks if that makes him crazy too. 

Kate returns to the Swan and relieves Sun, who has been tending to Sawyer. Kate asks Sawyer if he can hear her, first saying "Sawyer?" then "Wayne" Sawyer stirs and mumbles inaudibly. Kate, believing that Wayne's ghost has possessed Sawyer's body, confesses aloud that she killed him after finding out he was her biological father. It was too much for her to bear to know that the man who she hated would always be a part of her. Furthermore, whenever she had feelings for Sawyer she couldn't help remembering Wayne.  Following Kate's confession, Sawyer awakes as his normal self, and his comments reveal he has heard the whole conversation. Kate is embarrassed but relieved.

Sawyer believes that they had been rescued, seeing the kitchen, beds, and such in the hatch. Kate shows Sawyer around the Swan, before taking him outside to prove they have not been rescued. The two talk until something catches Sawyer's eye; Kate turns to see what he is looking at and sees the black horse standing nearby. Kate asks Sawyer if he sees it and Sawyer says he can. Kate approaches and pets the horse before it walks back into the jungle. Back at the beach, Jack approaches Ana Lucia, who is sitting carving a stake with her hunting knife. Jack offers her one of three miniature bottles of Tequila, recalling their first meeting at the airport. They commiserate, smile, and share a moment together.

The other important aspect of the episode is Locke and his deepening ties to the Swan station.
Locke shows the orientation film to Michael and Eko and says he has set up two-person shifts every six hours to enter the Numbers into the computer.  When Locke asks Eko what he thinks, Eko leaves without saying a word.

Locke demonstrates to Michael that the keyboard only works when the alarm sounds - Michael asks to inspect the equipment and Locke hesitantly agrees, but only if he doesn't break it. Eko calls Locke aside and, after leading in with a story about Josiah and the book found during Josiah's rule, reveals a hollowed-out Bible which contains a small reel of film. The book was found by the tail-section survivors in a Dharma station they inhabited on the other side of the Island. Locke unrolls part of the reel and recognizes Dr. Candle, the narrator from the original film. Locke discovers that the film found in the bible was cut from the original Swan orientation film; Eko and Locke splice the film back into the main film reel. Locke marvels at the odds of them finding the missing piece, but Eko advises him not to "mistake coincidence for fate." This statement will be the core to Locke's later downfall.

Locke and Mr. Eko watch the missing section of the film, in which Dr. Candle expands on his warning that the computer is to be used only to enter the code. He explains that while the isolation of Station 3 may tempt one to use the computer to communicate with the outside world, such action would compromise the integrity of the project and may lead to another "incident."  At the same time, as Michael examines the computer equipment, he hears a beeping from the terminal and goes to inspect. He notices there are still 51 minutes remaining on the timer and the text "Hello?" is shown on the screen. Unlike Locke's attempt earlier, Michael is able to enter text and types "Hello?" A moment later, "Who is this?" appears and Michael responds, "This is Michael. Who is this?" After a few seconds, "Dad?" appears on the screen. Michael is stunned. 

"What Kate Did" brought to the forefront various conflicts.
The Other Others, the Tailies, had joined the beach survivors with deadly consequences.
Sawyer was shot and not doing well, but Jack did not want to deal with him because of the conflicting emotions with Kate's apparent relationship with Sawyer.
Kate was conflicted - - - she breaks down to Jack that she could never be as perfect or good as he is; and later she would make a similar confession to a sleeping/medicated Sawyer. Kate appears to know that she has been terribly bad, and she breaks down to realize that she will never be good. She has judged herself harshly, but cannot choose between a good man or a bad man.

When he comes to, he asks if they had been "saved," and Kate says no. Sawyer, with his long hair parted in the middle, looks like a painting of the Savior, but all he can say is "damn."

We learn that Kate blew up her biological father, Wayne, in order to allegedly save her mother the abuse of a drunken spouse. But Kate grew up thinking Wayne was her stepfather. When she was told that her first dad, Sam,  left her because her mother was in love with Wayne, Kate could not accept it.  And her real stepfather, Sam,  a military man who knew Sayid in Iraq, told her that he had to call the authorities.

But it was with the recovering Sawyer, Kate's horse appears in the jungle. She goes over to it and pets it. The horse is calm. Sawyer also sees the horse from Kate's memory. Collective illusion?

Locke has saved Eko from the polar bear who dragged an injured Eko away from an encounter with the smoke monster. Eko tells Locke the story of the book that rebuilt the ruined temple. It was not gold but the word of God. In the bible he found, Eko gives Locke a piece of film which is spliced in the orientation film. It is Dr. Chang telling the Hatch operators not to use the computer terminal for anything but inputting the Numbers, otherwise another "incident" could occur. But Michael goes by the computer terminal - -  which beeps "Hello?" He answers the question, then the shocking response from the other end was "Dad?" Walt had been captured by the Others - - - and this sets Michael on his frenzy quest to get Walt back.

Kate killed her father. Killing one's father or parent was the key to leadership on the island. It showed you could cast away your own family for something greater. Perhaps that is why Kate was a candidate, and actually the true leader who brought down MIB in the End.

It is the recall of the story, especially the formation of the horse, that binds what Kate did and what Kate will do in the future.  If she is only striving to prove that she could be good, she would have to personally defeat the bad or evil that threatens the greater good. 

The episode puts into the LOST cabinet of major clues: life and death, good and bad people, crazy, illusions, transference behavior, coincidence not fate, false salvation and the unknown (like the Numbers or "the incident.") If you add all those elements together, you may get the real premise of the show.

It still comes down to the improbabilities of island situation, whether it truly real or not. Consider the fact that Hurley brings to light psychology to a medical doctor. It that an odd coincidence or was that Hurley or his mind generating the island story line?

Or is Hurley or his mind merely an enabler for other character's imagination release? This episode is clearly the centerpiece of the original framework of how the series was supposed to focus in on the Kate character (with Jack's death in the early pilot script). If Kate was going to be the center of the show universe, this episode brought possible criminal psychological issues to the forefront of the female lead character.

Every young person considers personal fantasies and indulges in flights of fancy to relieve boredom or anxiety. However, such natural, transitory digression isn’t severe enough to warrant identification with specific, categorical terminology. Some  psychological affectations  refer to mental statuses that noticeably affect an individual’s social behavior: anti-social interaction; bipolar personality shifts;  psychotic anti-social tendencies; self-delusions and fantastic aspirations to influence their behavior to a degree that evokes social stigmata and even potential harm. Depending on the nature and extent of a person's fantasies, they may change from merely harmless, to momentary distractions, to dangerous behavior.  If Kate firmly and intractably believes that she is right and everyone around her is wrong that she unwittingly digs herself continually deeper into her own dissatisfaction. Her effort to psychologically appease herself and escape from distasteful reality actually counter-productively reinforces the very situation that she’s desperate to alter. Kate is adverse to open and beneficial discussion of mental health issues so she merely relegates her responses to any psychological impairment as a slap, slur or a joke. Instead of growing out of their childhood issues, many individuals are ignored, ridiculed, or just accepted as idiosyncratic instead of needing psychological counseling to become stable in their own mental health.

Daydreams are entirely ordinary and harmless. However, someone that allows daydreams, fantasies, and exaggerated unrealistic self-identification to become so compulsive and consuming that the behavior affects and obstructs positive social interactions and hinders productive maturation, or even places the individual in potentially harmful circumstances.

Whether Kate truly did all those bad things, or she has convinced herself that she did so in some psychological madness, her world including the island would be wrapped up in those inner conflicts. It ties back to the old theory that the island events are the collective dream of a group of mental patients and/or institutionalized criminals, possibly a test subject group for Dharma scientists.

This notion is reinforced in the episode where Hurley brings up the subject of "transference" to Jack snaps back whether Hurley is analyzing him but Hurley says that is what was said at the mental institution. The transference concept has been a long running theory of the show: that the characters are not whom they seem to be - - - either in personality, or reality. Jack may not really be a doctor, he just imagines himself as one. In turn, Kate is not a murderer but a confused child trapped in her own nightmare world with a set of vivid imaginary friends and foes.

This episode was the tipping point for the entire series. It raised the key factors and confirmed them through other characters. It shows that like her or hate her, Kate was a central figure in the series. And perhaps that is why Kate winds up with her Jack in the end, because that is the fairy tale ending that most young girls dream about.

DOWN UNDER

If one looks to a nexus point of the series, it is Australia.

Australia was a British penal colony. It was founded in order for the British to send the dregs of their society as far away as possible from their aristocratic society. Out of sight, out of mind. At the time, most of the prisoners would have died from the harsh voyage, disease or hunger. But that was the plan, to rid the criminals and their costs from the general, law abiding population.

Australia has been called The Land Down Under. It is a reference to its continental position on the planet in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also a clue to the harsh climate for most of the land mass and the tough conditions for the original settlers who thought they were sent to Hell.

 The LOST characters all converged in Australia.

Ana Lucia came with Christian Shephard as his bodyguard after she murdered Jason McCormick and quit the LAPD. She had a grave sinful secret that she kept with her. She was told by her mother to return home and own up to what she did, but in the series she never came home because of the crash.

Arzt was meeting with his internet "girlfriend" but after his alleged girlfriend ditched him in a restaurant, he was returning home, depressed by the entire situation.

Bernard brought his terminally ill wife Rose to see Isaac, a faith healer near Uluru (Ayer's Rock), on their honeymoon. Bernard was looking for a miracle cure. This trick upset Rose greatly, for she had accepted her fate and she wanted Bernard to do the same. Bernard's plan put a uncomfortable wedge in their marital relationship.

Boone went to Sydney to "rescue" Shannon from her boyfriend. Boone and Shannon had an inferred sinful past coupled with the fact that Shannon was an indifferent spoiled brat who was suddenly left on her own. Boone went to help heal their strained relationship, but never had a chance to work it out.

Charlie was visiting his brother, Liam, in hopes of reuniting their band, Drive Shaft.However, he found his brother content, happy and sober with his new family; a family that Charlie dreamed about but never could have because of his addiction.

Cindy, as a flight attendant for Oceanic Airlines, worked in LA and Sydney as part of her route assignment. Viewers thought that she may have been an Other planted on the Flight since she quickly assimilated into the Other culture.

Claire lived in Sydney. She was going to travel to Los Angeles to give birth and supposedly deliver her baby to adoptive parents connected with Richard Malkin. She was giving up her child because her boyfriend dumped her because he could not handle the responsibility of fatherhood, that she caused her mother's coma state from an auto accident, and that she could not stand her biological father, Christian, who showed up in her life after the car accident.

Eko was investigating the miracle of Charlotte Malkin as a fake priest. He finished investigation and he returning with fake passport as the start of a new wave of criminal dealings.

Edward Mars working as a U.S. marshal, looking for fugitive Kate (which makes no sense since he has no jurisdiction in Australia). But he arrested Kate and he was traveling back with her.

Emma and Zack were two children on the flight who were traveling back to LA to meet their mother. We can only speculate that they may have been children of divorced parents and this was a custody transfer, not unlike Walt to Michael.

Gary Troup was an author on a promotional tour for his novel, Bad Twin; It was believed that he was traveling home with his fiancee, Cindy (the flight attendant) according to the non-canon Lost Experience.

Hurley was following a lead her got from Leonard Simms about The Numbers. He went looking for Sam Toomey, the man Lenny heard the Numbers from. Hurley found out from Sam;s widow that Sam was dead and that confirmed that the Numbers were a curse. Hurley was returning home for his mother's birthday.

Jack, after  his mother, Margo begged him, went to Sydney to find for his father, Christian, and to bring him back home. Jack found his father dead from presumed alcohol poisoning which put Jack's mental state into an unstable mode as he had issues bringing his body home.

Jin was on an errand for Sun's father, delivering  Rolex watches to the criminal bosses, Keamy, in Sydney and LA.

Kate fled the U.S. to avoid criminal prosecution to work on a rural farm owned by Ray Mullen, who would later turn her in for the reward. She was on the flight bound to LA to face justice for her crimes.

Libby is another great unknown. We do no know why she was in Australia, or why she was on Flight 815. She just appeared as a survivor from the Tail Section, even though we would later learn that she was a former mental patient with Hurley at Santa Rosa.

Locke, who was confined to a wheelchair, tried to force his way on a vacation "Walkabout" in the Outback. When he was refused passage by the agent, due to his disability, an angry and frustrated Locke had to return to LA.

Michael, on request from Brian Porter, his ex-wife's widower and adoptive father of Walt, went to pick up Walt, after his mother's death, so he could live with him. Porter was freaked out by Walt's special abilities. Walt had strong abandonment issues from all his so-called parents.

Nikki was an actress who had a role in a TV show. Paulo was her lover, aiding her in the con of her director paramour. They stole the director's cache of diamonds and were fleeing to the U.S. to start a new life together.

Rose thought she was on her belated honeymoon with Bernard, but became upset when she found out that it was a trick for her to see a faith healer.


Sawyer was tracking down a lead on Anthony Cooper, the man who "killed" his family. Using the information from a fellow con man, Hibbs, he found the man he thought was Sawyer and killed him. But that was a mistake, a con; it was hit job for Hibbs. Distraught and drunk, Sawyer got into a bar fight which led to his expulsion.

Sayid was recruited by CIA agents Alyssa Cole and Robbie Hewitt to infiltrate a terrorist cell in Sydney by turn his old friend turned terrorist, Essam Tasir, in exchange for information on his love, Nadia. Sayid could not go through with the plan, but his friend died anyway. He stayed an extra day in Sydney to bury his friend, then he was going to LA to search for Nadia.

Scott had won a sales prize at work: two week Australian vacation, all expenses paid.He was returning home on Flight 815.

Shannon was living in Sydney with her abusive boyfriend. Having lost her meal ticket, she was going to con Boone into giving her money and a new place back in the U.S.

Sun was going to ditch Jin in the airport in order to runaway from her marriage and her father to start a new life, but at the last moment she  changed her mind and accompanying Jin to L.A. on Flight 815.

Vincent was Brian Porter's dog. He was given to Walt; they traveling to U.S. to live with him and Michael.

Walt lived in Sydney with his mother, Susan Lloyd, and adoptive father, Brian Porter. When his mother passed away, Brian freaked out with the responsibility of raising Walt so he got Michael to take him (which legally made no sense.)

Most every character in the series converged in Sydney with deep, dark, haunting secrets, sins and personal issues that could overcome the collective psyche of an entire plane of passengers on their long voyage home. There is a thought that there is a power of positive thinking. If so, then there would also be a power of negative thinking. So many characters on the plane had negative thoughts, fears, and mental issues  - - - could that psychic power brought down Flight 815 into a spiritual dream world of the Island? Or were these negative thoughts and sins the mere sorting device that teleported the "survivors" into the bowels of Hell for punishment or purification or redemption to find a path to the sideways church after life?

WHAT WAS WITHIN

What lies behind us & what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

What lied inside the main characters of LOST is a matter of speculation. There were conflicting motivations and apparent psychological issues which cloud a clear reading of how each character's actions were based upon their past principles or morals.

In the episode “The Cost of Living,”  Juliet wheels a TV up to the aquarium where Jack is being held prisoner and tells him she’s going to show him a movie: To Kill a Mockingbird. She then tells Jack the reasons why he needs to save Ben;  he is a great man and will die if Jack doesn’t operate.  But on the TV screen is not the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, but Juliet holding signs telling Jack that Ben is a dangerous liar and asking him to botch the surgery and kill Ben.

The conflicting simultaneous messages confuse Jack. As a doctor, he pledged an oath to do no harm to a patient. But his patient is a man who has kidnapped and imprisoned Jack and his friends. A fellow doctor is asking Jack to kill the patient on the operating table because he is an evil liar and a dangerous man. This creates a serious moral dilemma in Jack.

In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus tells his son Jem that it is a sin to kill mockingbirds because they are themselves harmless and innocent creatures. Throughout the book, symbolic ‘mockingbirds’ – innocent people --- destroyed (or almost destroyed) by evil created by the deep South prejudice and racial tensions between whites and blacks in a small community. The book reminds the reader that everyone carries within themselves both good and evil.  The tension created by the small town trial based up upbringing, environmental and lack of understanding.

 There were immediate tensions between the 815 survivors and the Others, which resulted from a lack of mutual understanding, ignorance or fear. The 815ers could not trust the Others, whose first actions were to spy on them, then attempt to kidnap or harm the survivors. The Others continually told Jack's people that they "were the good guys," but they are the ones who destroyed Michael's raft and kidnapped Walt.

Jack knew he could not trust any of the Others. Juliet had been using a good cop-bad cop routine on him. Jack refused to cooperate. He was separated from Sawyer and Kate on purpose. During this time, Jack's will power to be a calm intellectual leader began to turn to anger and revenge. Whether that was Ben's plan, to bring the bad side of Jack to the surface in order to manipulate it, is unclear.

Jack, like Atticus, is a professional man who must decide to take on an unpopular case. When Atticus chose to defend a black man – and really defend him – he made a very unpopular decision that turned many of his own peopleand friends  against him, but his belief in the constitution and the equality of all men gave him no choice but to do the right thing, despite this being a dangerous decision for him and his children. Will Jack follow the path of Atticus Finch and save the life of the man who is holding him prisoner, or will Jack betray his Hippocratic oath and kill Ben for Juliet?  

Jack decides the only way to resolve these contrary conflicts is to make a deal. He makes a deal with Ben that Jack will do the surgery in exchange Sawyer, Kate and Jack's freedom. 

Jack's prognosis is that Ben's death is certain without surgery done "yesterday."  Ben assents to immediate surgery, but Jack scoffs and explains that he's not going to do it - because he doesn't trust the Others to keep their end of the bargain to free Jack, Kate and Sawyer. He shouts angrily at Juliet. Ben says he is disappointed in Jack's decision but with a wry smile on his face, Jack replies "At least you won't have to be disappointed for very long."

Later, Kate is brought to the aquarium. Jack and Kate ask if each other are okay, and Jack asks after Sawyer. Kate explains that they're being kept in outdoor cages and made to haul rocks for "something big." When Jack asks if Kate has been hurt, Kate starts to cry. Jack begins to reassure her that things will be OK, but Kate blurts out that he has to do the operation.

Startled, Jack glances at the spy camera, and then asks how the Others have persuaded Kate to urge him to do the surgery - what they offered her, what they did to her to manipulate her. Kate replies, "Nothing," Jack demands, "Then what are you doing here?" Unable to contain her emotions, Kate answers that they've threatened to kill Sawyer.  Jack looks up at the camera before turning away in frustration and anger. Kate apologizes and insists that "she" (Juliet) promised that they would let them go if Jack did the operation soon. Jack asks Kate, rhetorically, "And you believe them?" to which Kate answers, "I have to." Kate tries to plead with Jack, but he tells her, "We're done here." Kate pursues the point, but Jack looks up at the camera and says (to Ben), "Hey! We're done here!" then turns away from Kate. In the monitoring room, Ben, troubled, tells Juliet angrily to take Kate away.

At this point, Jack feels that he is losing control of his life. Ben is pressing him to do something he does not want to do. Juliet's hard luck story may or may not be the truth. Kate's choice of Sawyer's life over Jack's relationship angers Jack. It is furthered to rage when he spies Sawyer and Kate cozy in the bear cages.

This rage changes his mind. Instead of refusing further to do surgery on Ben, Jack agrees. He tells Ben that when he's done, he needs to get "the hell off this island."

During the operation, Jack's moral compass drifts. He decides to re-take matters in his own hands by  purposely cuts a small incision in Ben's kidney sac, creating a crisis only he can solve. Jack has turned the cards on Ben, who lies helpless on the table bleeding to death. This action by Jack actually saves Sawyer, who was just about to be killed by Pickett. Tom's call on the walkie comes through ordering Pickett to give the walkie to Kate or else the "doctor's gonna kill Ben."  Danny reluctantly gives Kate the walkie-talkie. Jack tells Kate she has an hour head start, and asks her if she remembers the story he told her on the beach the day of the crash. Kate says she remembers. Jack directs her to call him on the radio when she is safe and to tell him the story. Kate is distressed and hesitates, looking from Sawyer to the walkie and says, "I can't leave without you!" Jack responds by yelling "Kate, dammit, RUN!"

So Jack had to make an immoral action for a greater purpose of freeing Kate and Sawyer from the Others. He bought them time to escape, but at the cost of his own freedom. This plot twist did earn Jack a certain amount of respect from Juliet, who would use their mutual dislike for Ben to gain an alliance. An alliance which would cause a wedge between Jack and the rest of the beach camp upon his return. In some respects, Jack's relationship with Juliet would lead to Juliet's demise during the Incident, a forever cemented the rift between Sawyer and Jack.

Jack was willing to compromise friendships and principles for a higher purpose. It was also a turning point where Jack learned he had the power to take a life in order to save other lives.  This may have been what Christian told Jack that he could never be a leader because he could not make "life and death decisions."

ANYTHING CAN HAVE A THEORY

Having been around the television to entertain small children for decades, the internet story struck me as quite odd. There is a story about odd fan theories about the hidden aspect of many television shows, including one on Spongebob Square Pants. If you don't have young children to sit, Spongebob is the most popular cartoon for the pre-school crowd. It is a simple show about a simple fry cook sponge in a strange underwater town. Pretty harmless.

However, the theory goes that each of the major characters represents one the Seven Deadly Sins:
Patrick: Sloth; Squidward: Wrath; Mr. Krabs: Greed; Sandy: Pride; Plankton: Envy; Gary: Gluttony; and Spongebob: Lust.

That's a lot to digest in a kid's cartoon. It may be echo of LOST fans theory upon theory to find the hidden meaning in our favorite show. But it seems that one character quirk could lead to the conclusion that something dark is hidden in plain sight.

Can this be applied to LOST? Of course.

The main characters had so many deadly sin traits that many could qualify for more than one.

First, you have to narrow down the seven main or most important characters. Here is where one gets into trouble. Do you consider late arrivals like Jacob and Flocke to be main characters? Or do you have to be a character introduced in the pilot to qualify (which rules out Ben)?

Second, the debate would center on which character would "best" represent that dark trait.

Sloth, the reluctance to do any work or effort. Nominees: Shannon, Frogert, Jacob, Walt

Wrath, extreme anger. Nominees: Ben, Widmore, Smoke Monster, Keamy, Locke, Sayid, Ana Lucia, Michael

Greed, an intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food. Nominees: Ben, Widmore, Sawyer, Hurley, Jin, Charlie, Desmond, Locke

Pride, a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements. Nominees: Jack, Horace, Dr. Chang, Christian, Eloise, Ben

Envy, a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck. Nominees: Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Jack, Locke, Charlie, Ben, Claire

Gluttony, habitual greed or excess in eating. Nominees: Hurley, Charlie

Lust, very strong sexual desire; or  a passionate desire for something. Nominees: Sawyer, Kate

Third, if you narrowed it down to the last "candidates" standing on the island:

Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate, Ben, Desmond, Claire.

Jack: pride, envy
Hurley: gluttony, greed
Sawyer: greed, envy, lust
Kate: envy, lust
Ben: wrath, envy, pride
Desmond: greed
Claire: envy

It does not clearly work out. Sloth is missing. Envy is all over the place.

So the LOST cast is more than just a simple representation of the Seven Deadly Sins, even though those elements are clearly weaved into the various story lines and character motivations.