I had a plan I started last summer to take a look at some of the mysteries of the show that I wanted to see answered.  Because of timing issues, I was never able to go into as much depth with I Want Some Freakin’ Answers as I had planned.  Sure, I wrote about a handful of questions, but there are a lot more.  And with the final season of the Kingdom’s favorite show starting up next Tuesday, there’s not really enough time to explore all of them thoroughly.  So I’m just going to go through the rest of my list, along with some comments:

Who built the Lamppost? And why doesn’t Widmore use it to find the island?

Hawking said a “very clever” person built the DHARMA Lamppost station to  locate an island up until then only theorized to exist.  Is he tied into the survivors of Oceanic 815? And if the station can find the island in time and space (and assuming he knows of its existence), why doesn’t Widmore take over the station?  Did the U.S. Army use the Lamppost? or was it just through dumb luck that they found the island?

How does Daniel’s journal end up in the Hydra station?

Daniel Faraday was given a notebook by his mother after graduating college.  He told Sawyer that the journal contained all the information he learned about the DHARMA initiative.  The journal traveled with Daniel through time as the island skipped along like a record.  When Daniel was killed by his mother in 1977, Jack and Sayid referenced the journal to enact his plan to reset history.  In 2007, when Caesar is going through Ben’s office on Hydra island, he finds pages from the journal in a desk drawer.  How did it get there?

What happened to the Arrow Station?

The tail section survivors found the abandoned Arrow Station (designed as a defensive location) in their first weeks on the island in 2004.  When they got there, it was abandoned.  There was still electricity and a box, containing a hollowed-out bible, film strip and a glass eye.  Did the eye belong to Mikhail?  Who cut the Swan Orientation Film and hid it there?

Who did Locke hear/see during his first visit to Jacob’s cabin?

I’ve already written about the inhabitants of Jacob’s cabin.  But who was reaching out to Locke? Was it the Man In Black making a first move at trying to take over Locke’s life, or was it the island looking for help?

Was the Pearl used for anything worthwhile, or did DHARMA just stick people there to mess with them?

The workers at the Pearl were told they were doing important work.  But their subjects were the ones doing the important work, while the notebooks that were the fruits of their diligent efforts went through a system of tubes to a pile in the middle of the island.  Did DHARMA do anything with those notebooks?  Was there any purpose to the observation station?  And (I’ve asked this before too) why didn’t Dr. Chang use his real name?

What’s the deal with the whispers?

The earliest proof of other inhabitants of the island were through whispers heard at random times.  These whispers are actually dialogue, many times relating to the scene at hand.  The only proof we have that they’re tied to the others is when a teenage Ben tells Rousseau that if she wants to live, when she hears whispers to “run the other way.”

How did Ben get back into DHARMA?

Sawyer and Juliet took young Ben to Richard to be healed.  Richard warned that letting the Island heal Ben would mean Ben’s “innocence will be gone.”  We see Ben spending time with the Others, and he even raises Alex, at the same time while DHARMA folk are inhabiting the island before the purge.  How did Ben return from the Others’ camp and how did he manage to spend so much time among the Others while still living in DHARMAville?

Will we ever find out about what happened between Ben and Henry Gale?

The story of the poor Minnesotan balloonist who crashed on the island has fascinated me since Season 2.  It’s not really integral, but it would be interesting to find out what happened between Ben and the man whose identity he stole.

How did the pallet drop happen?

In season 2, the survivors find a pallet loaded with DHARMA supplies in the middle of the jungle.  This happened during a lockdown at the Swan station, leading one to think that the two are related.  If DHARMA’s been out of business since the ’90s, how did the pallet drop happen?

Why didn’t the Others take over the Swan station?

You wipe out DHARMA and take over their facilities.  But there’s one place left on the island, that’s probably the most dangerous, and you let a guy man it all by himself as he slowly goes crazy.  Why not take it over too, and have a few people working on shifts to push the button and save the world?

What was with the DHARMA Door?

Another Season 2 mystery…when Michael was looking for Waaalt, the Others took him to a seaside camp with a mysterious door.  That led nowhere.  What was the reason for the door?  Not to mention the whole decoy village…

Why do the Others have childbirth issues?

From sometime after Alex’s birth (and maybe even before) to the birth of Aaron, things don’t go too well for pregnant women on the island.  What caused the island to “reject” pregnant mothers and their babies? And why did the Others think they could fix their problems?

Why put an escape hatch in the medical station?

Chances are, if there’s an emergency, people would be fleeing to a medical facility.  Seemingly, not so in the case of the Staff, DHARMA’s medical station, which has a built-in escape hatch.  Why would an underground facility need an escape hatch? How would it work?

What did the Others do off-island?

When we were first introduced to Richard Alpert, he was recruiting Juliet to work for Mittelos Bioscience, a front company.  Throughout Season 3, we learned that the Others controlled other companies, and even used the excuse that Bonnie and Greta were doing off-island work in Canada.  In Season 5, we meet Jill, a Los Angeles butcher who works for Ben.  What are all these Others doing off-island?  Is this how Ben/Widmore accumulated their wealth?  Does this have something to do with how the Others were able to develop files on all of the Oceanic 815 survivors?

Why is Desmond special?

Faraday says it himself- Desmond Hume is special.  The rules of space-time don’t apply to him.  For some reason, his destiny was to end up on the island and not be affected by the shifts in space-time.

Why is Hurley blessed?

Sure, Hurley thinks he has a few screws loose, but as Jacob said, he gets to talk to people he’s lost.  He also has a connection to the island.  And he can’t get rid of those damn numbers.

Who put the numbers back on the radio?

Shortly before the controlled crash of Ajira Flight 316, we heard the numbers transmission (the same transmission heard a few episodes earlier) being read by a voice sounding suspiciously like Hurley.  Rousseau turned off this transmission in 1988 before recording and broadcasting her distress signal.  The distress signal was turned off in 2004.  Yet in 2007, as Lapidus tries bringing the plane down safely, the numbers are back on the air.

What happened to the rest of the Statue?

As Sayid said when we first saw the four-toed foot, he didn’t know what freaked him out more, the fact that it was a foot with only four toes, or what could have happened to cause the destruction of the rest of the statue.  We know the statue is whole in the mid-nineteenth century.  So something happened in the last 150 years to blow it up real good.  Hopefully we’ll see this demolition this season.

Why did Locke see a white light?

Locke described his early encounter with the monster as “beautiful” and as a white light.  Most other people who have encountered the monster think Locke got off easy, as some have seen smoke, others have seen visions of their past and others weren’t long to live.  Is Locke special? Or was this just the man in black’s way of getting to know his latest pawn?

Did DHARMA spin the wheel and move the island?

When we first meet Charlotte, she’s at a desert in Tunisia, picking through polar bear bones.  The polar bear was wearing a DHARMA collar.  We know that location is the exit point for those who have spun the wheel.  It’s also implied that Widmore at some point in the past spun the wheel.  So has the island been moved before we saw Ben move it in Season Four?  Did the island’s inhabitants also experience catastrophic events?

And of course….

What’s the Smoke Monster?

Why doesn’t Richard ever age?

Are the dead people on the island really dead? Spirits? The Smoke Monster in disguise?

How did Locke figure into Jacob’s plans if he was being used by the Man in Black?

I’m sure the obsessive fanboy in me has a hundred other questions.  I’d just like a few of these answered.  Is there anything I left out?

Ben Linus: And now you have a choice. Because if you stop and if you think, I can show you things. Things I know you want to see very badly. Let me put it so you’ll understand. Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don’t you, John? What if I told you that somewhere on this island, there’s a very large box… and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it, when you opened that box, there it would be. What would you say about that, John?

-The Man from Tallahassee

A bedridden Ben Linus used the above analogy to illustrate to a desperate John Locke just how special a place the Lost island was.  Sure, we viewers have seen people on the island cured of terminal illness and paralysis.  Others (literally) are ageless.  Viewers (and John Locke, from experience) know the island is a place where wonderful things happen, but in the above analogy, Ben hints that the island’s magic isn’t random, and that individuals can have the island make their dreams come true.  A few episodes later (in The Brig), Ben admits the box is a metaphor.

So the subject of this edition of I Want Some Freakin’ Answers is Ben’s magical mystery box, a topic only brought up twice during the series, but which may be the driving force behind some of the mysteries of the Island.

The only other time the box is mentioned is during the fourth season finale, There’s No Place Like Home, when Locke asks Ben whether The Orchid station is “the Box.”  Ben dismisses Locke’s question, later saying that the purpose of the Orchid is the same as all the other DHARMA stations- to conduct “silly experiments.”

So viewers (and Locke) are left with Ben’s metaphor promising a device which could grant one’s heart’s desire.  We’ve never seen it, but have had plenty of evidence of its existence, kind of similar to the way Hawking describing the way DHARMA first found the island.

Because of this, I’m led to believe the whole island is the Box.  One just has to know how to use it.

We find out through the course of the series that there are unique pockets of energy housed on the island.  DHARMA, a group of scientists, created a number of stations to try and harness this energy.  I argued a while back that DHARMA messed up by trying to turn the island’s magic into science.  I still think they did.  But this energy is there for a reason.  It healed Rose’s cancer.  It let Locke walk again.  Perhaps because these people believed it could happen, or in Rose’s case, had someone believe on their behalf, their wishes came true.

In The Man from Tallahassee, Ben showed Locke what “came out of” the Box when he used it: Locke’s father.  It’s probably more accurate to say the resources of the Others enabled Locke’s father to get to the island, but it’s that magic (along with appropriated DHARMA technology) that enabled the Others to travel the world and acquire detailed files on visitors to their Island.

I have no doubt that in this upcoming season, we’ll find out more about the powers of the island.  And then finally, we’ll have some freakin’ answers related to Ben’s analogy. Either way, I’m sure there’s much more in the Island’s box than this one:

He was the bassist for Foghat.

He was also the Russian President for two seasons of 24.

And as an accomplished voice actor, he’s been a part of shows like The Critic and nearly every Star Wars video game until a few years ago.

Yet it’s Nick Jameson‘s role as Australian psychic Richard Malkin that interests Lost fans.  He’s only appeared in two flashback episodes, and is potentially responsible for two characters getting on Flight 815, which brought them to the mysterious Island.

Or maybe not.

Claire visits Malkin, who appears spooked by some vision of Claire’s baby.  After finding out that Claire intends to put her baby up for adoption, Malkin later implores Claire that she must not allow the “baby to be raised by another.”  However, he later changes his tune, saying he knows of an acceptable couple in Los Angeles, but she has only one option for transportation: Oceanic 815.  In fact, he’s quite adamant about it:

MALKIN: It has to be this flight. It can’t be any other. They’re already scheduled to meet you when you arrive. Flight 815. Flight 815.

We next meet Malkin in Season 2, during Eko’s flashback episode “?,” when his daughter has a near-death experience.  Malkin tells Eko the near-death experience was  mistake and that he’s a fraud as a psychic.  Only, we later find out that Malkin’s daughter did experience something supernatural.

(And yes, there’s a deleted scene where Malkin admits to Eko that he was paid by the Los Angeles couple to convince Claire to give them her baby.  But since it was deleted, it never happened).

So the question remains: is Richard Malkin for real or a fraud?

It would tie in well to Lost’s mythology if Malkin was able to see the future.  Claire and Aaron are important players in the whole story.  It’s hinted at the end of Raised by Another that Claire suspects Malkin knew all along that Flight 815 would crash and she would survive. This would ensure that Claire and no one else raised the baby.

But Malkin’s encounter with Eko (and the deleted scene) are evidence that Claire’s being on 815 was coincidental and he was perpetrating a ruse.

I’d like to think that Malkin was an important player.  The biggest piece of evidence is his insistence on Flight 815.   It’s likely though, that this mystery won’t be answered.  There are other, bigger mysteries, and this might not fit in to the time left to tell the Lost story.

Still, as long as there isn’t a Foghat reunion going on this winter, maybe Malkin will reappear on Lost one last time.

This is the third entry in a series titled “I Want Some Freakin’ Answers.”  From time to time, I’ll talk about some of the things we’ve seen over the past five seasons of Lost that I’d like answered.  I’m not going to deal with topics we know will get answered (like the smoke monster), but rather those things that no one but die-hard Lost fans would care about.  It’s very likely that not everything will be answered, and even possible that some may be passed off as continuity errors, but Lost wouldn’t have obsessive fans if people didn’t care about the little things, right?

Some of the inhabitants of Lost Island see dead people.

These dead people are more than just mere visions of the departed–they have actual interactions with the main characters.  Some are apparitions of the Smoke Monster, passing judgment.  Others we’re not sure about yet.  But one has appeared to a variety of people in different times and ways–Christian Shepard, father of Jack.

As first seen as a hallucination to a water-deprived Jack Shepard. Christian has appeared to other island inhabitants, and in the case of John Locke, has given instructions, claiming to speak for the mysterious Jacob.  But Christian’s advice led Locke to play right into the game plan devised by Jacob’s adversary, leading to the question “who is Christian (Jacob’s self-proclaimed number two) really working for?

Christian and Jack Shepard, father and son, are in many ways responsible for the state of each other’s life.  It’s hinted that Christian wasn’t the best father throughout Jack’s childhood.  During Jack’s adulthood, it’s much of the same, as Jack has to break free of his father’s shadow after choosing to follow in his father’s footsteps as a spinal surgeon.  Eventually, Jack’s career overshadows Christian’s, and he breaks free of his father’s influence.

Christian, on the other hand, is a recovering alcoholic, who tries to advise his son, but doesn’t always do so in a fatherly way.  Eventually, Christian is driven back to drinking by Jack, after Jack suspects his father of having an affair with his wife.  Christian hits the bottle again, leading to a failed operation on a pregnant woman.  When the patient dies, Jack (rightly) rats out Christian, who loses his medical license and decides to take a drinking tour of Australia (while trying to visit his secret daughter).  In Australia, accompanied by Ana-Lucia, Christian bumps into Sawyer and eventually dies of alcohol poisoning.

Jack travels to Australia to claim the body back home, but books a flight on Oceanic 815 and they both end up on the island.  Still, Jack retains bitterness and a need to fix everything-behaviors detrimental to his well-being.

Just as Christian shaped Jack during his formative years, Jack’s actions (accusing his father of having an affair with his wife, turning him into the hospital board) are the reason Christian goes to Australia.

In the early days of their time on the island, Jack saw Christian a few times while the 815 survivors were still getting acquainted with the island.  As previously mentioned, Christian helped lead Jack to finding water in the caves.  But Jack found more than water–he also found his father’s coffin, which was empty.

At first, Christian only appeared to Jack, until Season 4, when Hurley and Michael both saw him, Hurley seeing him in Jacob’s cabin and Michael having a weird encounter seconds before the freighter blows up.  Also meeting Christian (or the ghost of) in season 4 was Locke, who met him in Jacob’s cabin.

While trying to find a way to save the island from Keamy and the rest of Widmore’s goons, Locke, Ben and Hurley search for Jacob’s cabin, looking for answers.  Because of his cancer and Alex’s death, Ben felt he fell out of favor with Jacob and let Locke be the one to speak with Jacob.  However, Jacob wasn’t in the cabin, and Christian (who was there with Claire) claimed he was authorized to speak on Jacob’s behalf.  Christian told Locke to move the island, an act that Ben was familiar with.

Because exile from the island was the result of moving the island (done by turning the wheel at the bottom of the Orchid), Ben claimed he had to do the deed, as that exile was his punishment from Jacob.  Ben turned the wheel, but because he either turned it incorrectly, or wasn’t supposed to have turned it in the first place, bad things happened.  Locke ended up back at the Orchid, this time with a broken leg, where Christian appeared again, berating him for letting Ben turn the wheel,  confirming the fact that Locke has to die to save his friends and being of little help as Locke has to push (although I still say pull) the wheel, gimpy leg and all.

Christian also appears to Sun and Frank during their 2007 return to the island, telling them they have a long journey to find their friends (who ended up in 1977) and to just wait for the path to appear.

At first glance, it looks like Christian is doing the work of Jacob.  But there are several other factors which make me think that he’s actually working for Jacob’s adversary (or is the adversary in disguise).

First off, Ben confirmed in “The Incident” that he never met Jacob.  Still, Ben took Locke to a cabin, that, according to Illana during her visit, had been empty for some time.  The people/spirits Locke communicated with while in the cabin may not have been Jacob, but rather, Jacob’s enemy.

Additionally, Jacob’s adversary has a game plan of using Locke (and his body) to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob. Locke has to die for the adversary to use his body, an idea that the adversary (as Locke) implants in Locke through Richard Alpert during one of the island’s time shifts.  However, when Locke tells Christian (still claiming to speak for Jacob) that he was told he’d have to die to save his friends, rather than telling Locke that’s not true, Christian coldly replies “Well, I suppose that’s why they call it sacrifice.”

Locke is crucial in the adversary’s plan. But it’s possible he’s also important in Jacob’s.  There are many reasons Locke can be seen as special, from regaining his ability to walk to being touched by Jacob after his accident, an argument can be made that Jacob and/or the Island needs Locke.  If that were the case, and Christian worked for Jacob, why would he send Locke to his death without batting an eye?

Even though I think Christian is “working for” the adversary, there is some evidence leading me to doubt this.  Christian can be seen as a positive force working on behalf of the island.  First, in his appearances to Jack, he leads his son to water, necessary for the survival of the marooned 815 passengers.  Secondly, when he appears to Michael (even though Michael doesn’t know who Christian is), Christian confirms Michael is doing the Island’s work.  Lastly, in the final Missing Piece aired prior to season four, Christian appears to Vincent minutes after the 815 crash, concerned about his son’s well-being and urges Vincent to wake Jack up, saying Jack has work to do.

Plus, judging from the artwork in the cabin (as long as it’s Jacob’s cabin), we can see that Jacob is fond of dogs.

Either way, even though Christian Shepard is dead, he’s important to both the Island and several of its inhabitants.  I’m not the only one confused by his appearances.  Izikavazo over at Not Confused Just Lost also ponders the question, but believes Christian is on the side of evil.  Me?  I’m not sure.

As we know, people who die on (or off) the Island don’t really disappear.  Hopefully, in the show’s upcoming final season, we’ll see more of Christian and get some freakin’ answers as to whom he’s working for.

Out of all the Lost cast members, life outside the show has been most unkind to Malcolm David Kelley, who played Walt Lloyd (a.k.a. WAAAALT! or “My boy”).  Originally playing a ten year old boy, Kelley started his growth spurt in the years following Season 1, as he was removed from the show’s main cast (in a surprisingly benign way) while making cameo appearances throughout the following season.

During Season 1, we got the impression that Walt was not quite normal.  Called “special” by several people, Walt was kidnapped by the Others after flashing some knife throwing and bird attracting skills.  In addition, Walt also hinted at having the abilities of precognition and astral projection–all leading up to the question behind this week’s I Want Some Freakin’ Answers — what is (or was) up with Walt?

Originally portrayed as Michael’s rebellious kid (or alternatively, the kid Michael was stuck with raising) after crashing on the island, Walt quickly became friends with Locke and Hurley.  Locke and Boone taught Walt how to throw a mean knife, and Hurley taught Walt all about gambling (although, Hurley lost a lot of money to Walt, so maybe Hugo was really teaching him how not to play backgammon).  ”Special,” a flashback episode devoted to Walt and Michael established that Walt was raised by his mother and an unwilling stepfather who was spooked by some weird things that happened whenever Walt was around.

More weirdness happened later in the first season, during a discussion between Walt and Locke.  Locke reached out to touch Walt, who got implored Locke “Don’t open it, Mr. Locke. Don’t open that thing.”  Spooked by his encounter with Locke and a chilling vision of things to come, Walt willingly left the island with his father on the raft, only to be kidnapped by the Others.

Even though he was in the care of the Others, Walt appeared to Shannon twice, speaking backwards (much like another little man from another place), warning of doom shortly before Shannon’s death.  Walt (or more likely, the Others) communicated to Michael through the Swan’s computer, who was slowly losing his sanity.  The trick worked, sending Michael off the deep end and giving the Others their bargaining chip in Ben’s plan to get Jack to do the spinal surgery which would save Ben’s life.

In a Missing Piece produced between the third and fourth seasons, we learned that the Others were just as scared of Walt’s powers as his step father was.  We didn’t learn anything of the powers or what benefit they would serve to the Island, but we learned that he was one scary kid.

After being captured by the Others, Michael is asked several questions about Walt, including “has Walt ever been somewhere he wasn’t meant to be?”  Partially because he was an absent father for most of Walt’s life, Michael is unable to answer these questions, but is able to bargain for his and Walt’s freedom, as well as a safe way off the island.  In a brief meeting, Walt tells Michael the others aren’t who they seem to be and that he spends his time taking tests.

Finally, Michael turns in Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley (in addition to killing Ana Lucia and Libby) and at the end of Season Two, sets off for civilization.  Here, Walt and Michael’s paths diverge.  Michael agrees to help the Others by posing as a spy on Widmore’s ship.  On the other hand, Walt goes back to school (but not before appearing to a near-death Locke on the island and urging him to finish up his work), and meets Jeremy Bentham/John Locke and travels to visit Hurley.

It would be nice in the final season to find out what was going on with Walt.  Why did the Others want him?  How did they know that he was special?  Did he have other gifts than killing birds and appearing in places he wasn’t supposed to be?  What did the Others get out of him?  And why was he so fearful about the hatch.

There are a lot of loose ends in regard to Walt.  And because he’s appeared on the show sparingly since the end of Season One, I don’t have many guesses as to how and if he fits in in the overall scheme of things.  If they were to bring him back, at least Walt would reach Malcolm David Kelley’s real-life age, so if they were to bring him back, now would be an appropriate time.

And hopefully, we’d find out whether Walt got that $83,000 Hurley owed him.

The big mystery around the end of Lost’s first season was what was in the hatch.  We later found it was a station built to study the unique electromagnetic properties of the island by a group calling themselves the DHARMA Initiative.  Aside from the weird swan-specific symbols scattered around the station and on it’s boxes of food products, our (not to mention the Lostaway’s) first introduction to the Initiative came through the Swan Station orientation film, way back in Season Two’s aptly titled third episode “Orientation.”

Hosted by a man calling himself Doctor Marvin Candle, who only has the use of one arm, the film gives us some background about the Initiative, as well as details as to the function of the Swan.

After that, the Lostaways find different DHARMA stations, some of which have their own orientation films/videos, and while they’re hosted by the same person, he doesn’t always go by the name “Marvin Candle” and in some cases, has two functioning arms.

In “?,” Locke and Mr. Eko find the Pearl Station, where they find an old school video cassette tape of an orientation video.  Copy-written 1980, the gentleman hosting the Pearl video goes by the name Mark Wickmund and can use both arms.

In Season three, we see clips in the computer video for the Flame and the “Welcome to the Island” flick, but don’t catch the presenter’s name.

We don’t see any more DHARMA films presentations until the end of Season Four, when Ben has Locke view the Orchid‘s video. Again hosted by the same gentleman, but this time under the name Edgar Halliwax.  ”Edgar” even has a custom Orchid-station Parka which Ben appropriates for his trip to spin the wheel.

Finally, in Season Five, we actually meet the man in a setting outside of the orientation films.  Everyone in the Initiative knows him as Dr. Pierre Chang, and he can use both his hands.  Throughout the season, we find out Pierre is a bigwig with the DI, is a scientist and acts periodically in DHARMA films. He has a son named Miles, and much to [future] Miles’ consternation, he likes country music.   We also see Pierre shooting the film for the Arrow Station, where he again calls himself Marvin Candle.  In Season Five’s finale episode, The Incident, Pierre loses his left hand in an accident while trying to shut the drill at the Swan site down.

So we know this about the man of mystery: His name is Pierre and he lost his left arm in a construction accident in 1977.  He shot the films for the Pearl, the Orchid, the Arrow and “Welcome to the Island” before 1977 (when he lost both his hands).  However, the years for the Pearl and Orchid videos are after 1977, so either the DI fudged the copyright dates, or that’s a continuity error on the part of the Lost creative team.

The thing about Pierre that I’d like some freakin’ answers to is what’s with all the different names?  Through the video for the Pearl, we learn that DHARMA is involved in studying psychology- though the answer to who’s the subject of the mind games – the observers or the observed, is up in the air.  And these fake names all being somewhat related (Candle, Halliwax, Wickmund) make it seem as if the whole situation is more than a continuity error.

The DHARMA members who are the audience of these films/videos are being lied to for some reason.  As seen in the episode Namaste, a large number of the DHARMA people know Pierre Chang (and one of my favorite moments of the episode is when Jack meets the man he knew as Marvin Candle, 27 years from that moment).  So who’s he fooling?

My guess?  There’s still more of DHARMA’s story to tell.  After the incident, the Initiative implemented some heightened security protocols–changing how people dealt/communicated with each other, in some cases, even cutting off communication between stations.  So giving people in each of its stations a unique frame of reference would serve to that advantage.  And with what little we’ve seen of the functions of the Pearl Station (they were being watched too, the notebooks that were the “fruit of their diligent work” went nowhere), the Initiative wasn’t above lying to its employees/test subjects.

One of the few things we know about the DI in the time period between the Incident and Desmond’s arrival is that Stu Radzinsky worked in the Swan.

And why not?  He had some science background, was a high-ranking member and even had a hand in designing the Swan.  But as Kelvin told Desmond, he also killed himself in that very station.

Here’s what I think:  Because of the incident, operators at the Swan (and other DI stations) were locked down- the Quarantine hoax was put in effect to keep workers confined to their stations.

Stu (who may have been punished for the incident with his tour of duty in the Swan) knew the truth.  To keep himself sane, and to pass along his knowledge of the DI, he started the blast door map before finally losing it (or his conscience got to him) and ending up as a spot on the ceiling.

As this extrapolation of Stu’s saga shows, there’s more of the DI’s story to tell.  As part of that story, I’d like some freakin’ answers as to why Dr. Pierre Chang’s IMDB credits can include the roles of Dr. Marvin Candle, Edgar Halliwax and Mark Wickmund.