Lost Update - Who Will Save Your Soul

Lost Update - Season V - 04/08/2009

Who will save your soul when it comes to the flowers now
Who will save your soul after all the lies that you told, boy
Who will save your soul if you wont save your own?

They're coming to get you Barbara! Welcome to Zombie Island. First we have Christian Sheppard waltzing around the island handing out advice to whoever wants to hear it, who by the way is dead. Ben sees his daughter Alex under the temple. She gives Ben instructions. And oh BTW, Alex is dead. Her instructions to Ben were to follow exactly what John Locke tells him to do. Yes, you guessed it. John Locke is dead. Lost has turned into The Night of The Living Dead. George Romero would be so proud.

Before we shamble along any further in this black and white horror movie, let's check in on my theory and how in hell it ties in to tonight's episode.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory...
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

I have been touting my virtual reality experiment for 5 plus years now and tonight, I take the theory to another level. As I have stated countless times, the castaways are being studied, experimented on without their knowledge, from an unseen outside force. I contend that an alien influence is overseeing the experiments. But what experiments exactly are going on here. Tonight, I will enlighten you.

 I present to you the famed reknown Physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov researched Classical Conditioning. You know the experiment, where he used a dog and trained him to salivate every time a bell rung. Over a period of time, the dogs became conditioned knowing that when they heard the bell, they would be fed immediately.

What's this got to do with Lost? EVERYTHING!
Let's compare Pavlov's dog to a member of Lost. Let's pick Desmond. Desmond was down in the hatch for years and every 108 minutes he had to push the button to stop the end of the world from coming. When the counter got close an alarm would sound, (Insert bell here) and this sound would excite Desmond to push the button. Desmond's reward was to stay alive and save the world. He was conditioned to think this and to act every 108 minutes. This is but one of many experiments being conducted in a controlled environment, a virtual reality controlled environment.

For tonight's episode, we are going to explore Psychologist Stanley Milgram and his study on Obedience To Authority. Milgram's experiment used two subjects, one becoming the student and one becoming the teacher. The assignment was for the teacher to ask the student a series of questions. For every wrong answer, the student would be given a small shock from the teacher and the shock would increase with intensity at every wrong answer. The focus was to study how effective punishment was for learning particular behaviors. Before the experiment began, both the teacher and student were hooked up to the device that emitted the electric shock and given a sample 45 volt jolt.

Midway through the experiment, the teacher became concerned noting that the student was in obvious pain from the shock. The teacher balked from throwing th switch on the next wrong answer until the administrator demanded that the experiment continue and demanded that the teacher throw the switch. After a few more incorrect answers, the teacher again balks. The administrator tells the teacher that he, not the teacher or student, assumes all liability for the results of the study and for the safety of the student if he is hesitant to continue administering shocks to the student. The teacher continued until the experiment was concluded.

Tonight's episode focused on Ben being judged by the smoke monster, (Hence the lyrics by Jewel, Who will save your soul) and of John Locke coming back and taking control. Please note that several times during the episode, John had to coax Ben into continuing his journey to be judged. As Ben got closer, he balked, and John had to reinforce the determination for Ben to complete his journey to be judged.

Continuing, after Ben fell through the floor, he came face to face with the smoke monster, and afterward, his daughter Alex appeared to him and told Ben to listen and do exactly what John Locke tells you to do or she will kill Ben.

This my friends was Stanley Milgram's study on Obedience To Authority.

Next week, we will explore yet another classic psychological experiment conducted on the castaways.

Tidbits From Tonight's Episode:

* Jacob wanted it done. (Richard said to Widmore)
* I believe you call it the monster. I came back to be judged. (Ben to Locke)
* Charles Widmore, seems to be the leader, Ben replaces him by force, the beginning of the feud.
* Who is Jacob. Perhaps the Old man in the cave.
* Ben always lies. Even when he's telling the truth!
* Every time you hear whispers, run.
* Ben kills Caesar with shotgun in front of Locke. He tells Locke, You're welcome.
* Ben finds Sun and Lapeidus in his old cottage,waiting for Locke because the dead guy Christian told them so.
* BEN: Dead is dead. You don't get to come back from that.
* Ben goes to shoot Penny, shoots Desmond, son is Charlie.
* Locke leads Ben to the temple to be judged by the smoke monster. * Ben is afraid to go underground.
* What lies in the shadow of the statue.
* Ben meets the smoke monster, sees his life with Alex, sees the good and bad, Alex hating him, Ben condemning her to death. Smoke monster does not kill Ben.
* Alex appears, roughs up Ben a bit. Tells him to follow exactly what John Locke tells him to do.

Until next week, Get Lost!

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LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL