The S.S. Not Penny's Boat

Two weeks ago, I talked about the Others at the Temple. Then last week Maggie discussed the beach-dwelling Losties. Today, in Part Three of our four-part series leading up to the Season 4 premiere, we’ll examine our new friends (or foes): The S.S. Not Penny’s Boat (a.k.a. The Freighter).
The Focus Factor
In order to give focus to a show with a million different twists, turns and plot lines, the creators of LOST usually key on one central issue each season. And in an attempt to again justify my procurement of a minor in history in college, we’ll start by examining the lessons of the past. Previous seasons have focused on the following:

• Survival of the Fittest (Season 1). The introductory season didn’t delve too far into the supernatural, opting rather to try to make some sense of how 40+ people could survive a crash of that magnitude. It also served as an exposition with which to introduce elements of the rest of the series, such as the caves, the hatch, the possibility of the Others, the monster, etc.
• The Hatch (Season 2). Just as Locke and Boone literally scratched the surface of the hatch in Season 1, the happenings of the hatch figuratively scratched the surface of greater Island mysteries in LOST’s sophomore season. Most of the main events happened in a hatch: the refuge of the tailies, the discovery of the Orientation film, Desmond, Ben’s (or “Henry Gale’s”) captivity, etc. Using the hatch as a setting, the writers introduced us to most of what we would learn in Season 3 (Dharma Initiative, Others, other hatches, experimentation).
• The Others (Season 3). We learn more about who these people are, what they’re doing here, and how they’re related to the Dharma Initiative. Using the capture of Jack, Kate and Sawyer as a periscope into the Others’ world, we saw how they worked within their infrastructure and got insight into their methodology. Of course, we still have much to learn.

So where does that lead us? Well…
Season 1 took place on the Island and introduced us to a hatch
Season 2 took place in the hatch and introduced us to Others
Season 3 took place with the Others and introduced us to… the freighter!


Season 4: The S.S. Not Penny’s Boat
If recent promos are any indication, Season 4 will tell the story of the mysterious freighter that Jack made contact with in Season 3’s finale, “Through the Looking Glass.” Little is known about the freighter crew, but since when has ignorance stopped us here at The Dharma Blog? Onward!

What we know about the freighter crew has been relayed by Naomi. While her story is still something of a mystery, she did give us some clues as to what we might expect.

Naomi Lesson #1...the boat.
What We Know: It’s not Penny’s boat
What We Don’t Know: Whose boat it is and what they’re doing here.
What it Might Mean: Everything. Chances are, Season 4 hinges on the very question of who’s in control of this boat and what its purpose is.

We do have one solid guess as to that that purpose is. But it requires believing Benjamin Linus, so we’ll proceed with caution. Remember this scene from Through the Looking Glass:

BEN: The woman you're traveling with. The one who parachuted onto the Island from that helicopter. She's not who she says she is.

JACK: She's not, huh?

BEN: No she's not.

JACK: Then who is she?

BEN: She's a representative of some people who've been trying to find this Island, Jack. She's one of the bad guys.

The most interesting part of this exchange, for me, is “some people who’ve been trying to find this Island.” That makes me believe that whatever Team Ben Linus is doing on the Island is big. It’s big enough to be hunted by a ruthless group of mercenaries who would seemingly sacrifice one of their own (Naomi) for a chance to get to it. If Ben’s telling the truth, and he just may be, then it’s possible that the S.S. Not Penny’s Boat is using the Losties. By promising them rescue, they can use them to further infiltrate the Island and tap into its secrets.

The Island is the home of something. The Fountain of Youth, perhaps (more on that later). My guess is, we’re going to learn about that something via Minkowski’s crew. And that something is, I believe, is whatever it is that the Island is capable of. That's the point of the whole show. If I keep going on here, I pass the point of no return and this becomes a really long post, so I'll move on... for now.

Naomi Lesson #2...the man.
What We Know: Minkowski
What We Don’t Know: Minkowski
What it Might Mean: Here’s what we know about Minkowski:

• His name is Minkowski
• He is on a freighter (probably)
• He was on the other end of the satellite phone that Jack used at the end of Season 3
  
• He will be played by Fisher Stevens

And in the great tradition of John Locke, Rousseau, Desmond David Hume and countless others, Minkowski has been very intentionally named. Hermann Minkowski was a mathematician made famous by his contributions to Einstein’s “special relativity” theory. Minkowski devised a four-dimensional space theory, consisting of three dimensions of time and one dimension of space, each operating in conjunction with one another. It is here I admit that I lifted most of that from Wikipedia and I have no clue how to interpret it. So I won’t try. Just keep it in mind, it might clue us in to some of the character’s motives and actions this season.

There’s one more thing we know about Minkowski: in the new promos for Season 4, we see this exchange with he and Jack:

Minkowski: Rescuing your people? I can’t really say it was our primary objective.

Jack: Then what is?

This is followed by Locke saying, “Whatever they came for, it isn’t us.” So obviously, these people aren’t who Jack thinks they are. Thanks to the late great bass player, we are at least led to believe that these people were not sent by Penny. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.

Naomi Lesson #3... the bombshell.
What We Do Know: Everyone on Oceanic 815 died.
What We Don’t Know: Did they really?
What it Might Mean: Naomi’s bombshell proclamation that the passengers of Oceanic 815 had been found dead at the bottom of the ocean off of Bali certainly took us aback last season. Initially, I dismissed it as a misunderstanding or something. But the more I think about it, the more suspicious I become. Could Naomi's declaration have been a carefully planned deception by the freighter folk? Perhaps their greater purpose is somehow served by this lie.

Obviously, she’s not really telling the truth, as our Oceanic 815’ers are very much alive and we have been assured by the creators that they are not in Purgatory or hell, despite what John Locke’s dad might tell you. But let’s assume for a moment that Naomi thought she was telling the truth. And this, friends, is where shit gets crazy...

Theory Time.
All along, I have carried around a conspiracy theory about a conglomerate consisting of Widmore Industries (headed by Penny’s dad), Paik Industries (run by Sun’s dad) and some combination of The Dharma Initiative and its sugar daddy, Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation. Something makes me think that the players in these organizations make up something of an ultra-powerful secret society. Perhaps they call themselves the Electromagnetic Oaks Country Club (we’ll call it the EOCC for short).

Why this Island?
With the Island’s ability to grant life (Locke, Rose) as easy as it takes it away (Prego Chicks, Eko, my social life), perhaps Ben’s crew is in need of new bodies. Richard Alpert’s agelessness seems to suggest a Fountain of Youth, while the Curse of the Bump seems to suggest a defect in said fountain that prevents new life from forming and punishes would-be mothers for conceiving it.

The Ploy.
This is my Charlie Stephan Crackpot Theory of the Week: could the EOCC be using the Losties to unlock the potential and/or solve the curse of The Island? Here's why I think they might be.

• They’d obviously have to bring the Losties to the Island.
• It’s not a stretch to believe that they could fabricate the plane crash in order to get search and rescue crews and nosy family members of their back.
• Furthermore, if the ongoing clash between the Losties and Team Linus is jeopardizing the mission of the EOCC, then maybe they sent in some hired guns (the S.S. Not Penny's Boat) to make like Bo Pelini and Restore the Order.

I'm Not Alone in my Suspicions
If you’re a true LOST nerd (Hi, Maggie!) you’ve followed the new online alternate reality game: Find 815. In it, a distraught lover of a deceased 815 flight attendant is searching for answers. The results of this game may affect this theory greatly, and I’m not familiar enough with Find 815’s goings-on to use it yet, so I’ll hold off. But just the mere suggestion that a man is doubting the story he’s been fed about Oceanic 815 (perhaps fed from the supple bosom of the EOCC) raises my suspicious sensors. They are now “strong to quite strong.”

The Freighter's Greater Purpose
Whatever that purpose it is, I think it's being served by the lie that Oceanic 815 was found and everyone was dead. In the same way that Ben leads The Others with more knowledge about the Island than individual members are privy to (see: Jacob), perhaps the freighter crew knows more about the EOCC’s initiatives than some of its lower-level scouts (read: Naomi). Naomi may not have known it, but she may been planting a necessary piece of misinformation on the Island when she told Hurley what she did.

Huh?
In summary...

• The EOCC is trying to protect/cure/solve/discover the Island’s mystery.
• It got Oceanic 815 to deliver necessary people to the Island to help the EOCC accomplish this.
• The survivors of the crash clashed with the Island’s inhabitants, who are somewhat aware and fearful of the EOCC.
• Using data obtained by Penny Widmore’s Arctic listening station project (Season 2 finale), the EOCC found an approximate coordinate for the Island and commissioned a freighter to find it.
• Naomi was sent by the freighter to establish contact with the Island so that the freighter could find it.
• She was given a picture of Desmond and Penny and told to tell Desmond that she was sent by Penny (hence the picture) in order to convince Desmond and the other Losties that she was there on a rescue mission.
• Now, the EOCC-commissioned freighter is coming to the Island under the guise of rescuers, with the intent of carrying out the EOCC’s mission.

Okay, I’ll cease further speculation lest my delicate theory be torn apart as if it were Eko in the grips of a Smoke Monster. Too soon?



Whew. Man, being a crazy person is tiring. If you've made it all the way down here, thanks for reading. Also, I'd love to hear your comments on my new theory. Actually, if you could shoot some holes in it, that'd be great. I could use the sleep.

Namaste.
.charlie