I like your ending with Faith built atop of Knowledge. I think that was the key difference between Jack and John. Jack questioned things which helped him understand and to have faith island. John blindly followed the signs he got from the island. After Boone’s death he decided that his death was the sacrifice the island wanted. After causing the death of a friend who believed in him, he should have been more cautious and talked to others about what he was seeing to try and make the right decision. When John blew up the Flame and the Sub, he was right that people should not leave the island to prevent others from coming…but he should have spoke to people first before he made that decision for everyone. Ben was right when he told Locke that the Sub was good for people’s morale since it gave them the belief they could leave the island if they no longer wanted to be there. The Flame was a critical station since it allowed the Others to know what was going on in the world and if there was a threat to the island.
There's a great quote about him that Terry O'Quinn said in the clip show before the Series Finale, that Locke was not a man of faith but a man in search of faith. He wanted to be able to believe in something so badly, in order to begin healing, that it made him an irresistible mark for manipulative people and/or forces.
Christian’s appearance in “Something Nice Back Home” is actually Christian’s spirit, guiding Jack back to The Island. That appearance is not the smoke monster. It’s his real ghost, only in that one episode. All other appearances on the island, after his death, is the monster.
So, thanks for watching & commenting, first of all. I looked at it as Christian's spirit for a long time, and I understand that is the common interpretation, BUT there are more Easter eggs and clues suggesting that it was the Monster appearing off-Island, through Jack's 'infected' mind. Character episodes were broken in the writers' room a few at a time, meaning that Something Nice Back Home was written with the plots of 316 and The Lighthouse in mind. 316 is when Hawking refers to Locke as a Substitute (for Christian) and the Lighthouse is about Jack learning of his Candidacy/purpose on the Island to stop the Monster. An interesting detail about off-Island Christian is that Jack is lured out to the lobby by a beeping SMOKE alarm. The second detail about this is that Christian is dressed the same as he was in White Rabbit (later explicitly confirmed as the Monster). A third reason is the sinister nature of this appearance, especially considering comments Damon Lindelof made in 2020 about Walt also being the Monster and the scary nature of any ambiguous apparitions. Is the sinister nature of appearances a more important uniting factor than later-developed 'rules' of the Monster's imprisonment (at the time of season 4 it was still the abandoned Cabin angle)? Is the reason they must return also because they have brought a small piece of the Monster with them into the outside world? If they all drank from cave water, and were all infected, did they risk spreading it beyond the Island? Is Michael's presence on the Freighter the source of the cabin fever (Smoky was Walt on the computer, and Libby, always the one guilting Michael, pushing him to make his initial mistakes then guiltily return to help Ben sabotage the freighter/trigger the loophole)? I have (hopefully) lots more videos to come on each character. I know a canon has formed around the show but I'm hoping to somehow shake it up.
@@gibby525Damon and Carleton also said “trust the story, not the storytellers”. Any theory must be consistent with what actually aired, whether or not it agrees with something the show runners said at some point in time (when the story wasn’t completely fleshed out or some outside force made them deviate from what they may have planned). According to show canon, the monster cannot leave the Island, so Christian in Jack’s waiting room simply cannot be Smokey. The smoke alarm is an obvious red herring, not an Easter egg. The writers loved to throw in misdirection (the whole flash-sideways started as a misdirection). I would also argue that it’s quite a stretch to say that because he was dressed the same as he was when he led Jack to the caves, and there is “proof” that it was Smokey. We know that Smokey lies to everyone in order to manipulate them: he lied to Richard, lied to Locke, lied to Claire, lied to Sayid, etc. It’s extremely hard to believe that the only time he actually told the truth when trying to manipulate someone was to Jack. I would actually go a step further (although it’s not a popular theory) and say that every time we see Christian in a suit, it’s his ghost, while every time he’s seen in in that old button-down shirt, it’s Smokey. To put it shortly, the times we know for sure it’s Christian, he’s wearing the suit; when we know for sure it’s Smokey, he’s wearing the button-down shirt. The appearances and interactions of Christian in the different outfits are qualitatively different. “Suit Christian” only appears to Jack, never speaks with him, appears at a distance, and no one else can see him. “Shirt Christian”, on the other hand, can be seen by everyone, appears in their midst, talks with and touches people. This clear difference points to two different entities.
I like your ending with Faith built atop of Knowledge. I think that was the key difference between Jack and John. Jack questioned things which helped him understand and to have faith island. John blindly followed the signs he got from the island. After Boone’s death he decided that his death was the sacrifice the island wanted. After causing the death of a friend who believed in him, he should have been more cautious and talked to others about what he was seeing to try and make the right decision. When John blew up the Flame and the Sub, he was right that people should not leave the island to prevent others from coming…but he should have spoke to people first before he made that decision for everyone. Ben was right when he told Locke that the Sub was good for people’s morale since it gave them the belief they could leave the island if they no longer wanted to be there. The Flame was a critical station since it allowed the Others to know what was going on in the world and if there was a threat to the island.
There's a great quote about him that Terry O'Quinn said in the clip show before the Series Finale, that Locke was not a man of faith but a man in search of faith. He wanted to be able to believe in something so badly, in order to begin healing, that it made him an irresistible mark for manipulative people and/or forces.
Christian’s appearance in “Something Nice Back Home” is actually Christian’s spirit, guiding Jack back to The Island.
That appearance is not the smoke monster. It’s his real ghost, only in that one episode.
All other appearances on the island, after his death, is the monster.
So, thanks for watching & commenting, first of all. I looked at it as Christian's spirit for a long time, and I understand that is the common interpretation, BUT there are more Easter eggs and clues suggesting that it was the Monster appearing off-Island, through Jack's 'infected' mind. Character episodes were broken in the writers' room a few at a time, meaning that Something Nice Back Home was written with the plots of 316 and The Lighthouse in mind. 316 is when Hawking refers to Locke as a Substitute (for Christian) and the Lighthouse is about Jack learning of his Candidacy/purpose on the Island to stop the Monster. An interesting detail about off-Island Christian is that Jack is lured out to the lobby by a beeping SMOKE alarm. The second detail about this is that Christian is dressed the same as he was in White Rabbit (later explicitly confirmed as the Monster). A third reason is the sinister nature of this appearance, especially considering comments Damon Lindelof made in 2020 about Walt also being the Monster and the scary nature of any ambiguous apparitions. Is the sinister nature of appearances a more important uniting factor than later-developed 'rules' of the Monster's imprisonment (at the time of season 4 it was still the abandoned Cabin angle)? Is the reason they must return also because they have brought a small piece of the Monster with them into the outside world? If they all drank from cave water, and were all infected, did they risk spreading it beyond the Island? Is Michael's presence on the Freighter the source of the cabin fever (Smoky was Walt on the computer, and Libby, always the one guilting Michael, pushing him to make his initial mistakes then guiltily return to help Ben sabotage the freighter/trigger the loophole)? I have (hopefully) lots more videos to come on each character. I know a canon has formed around the show but I'm hoping to somehow shake it up.
@@gibby525Damon and Carleton also said “trust the story, not the storytellers”. Any theory must be consistent with what actually aired, whether or not it agrees with something the show runners said at some point in time (when the story wasn’t completely fleshed out or some outside force made them deviate from what they may have planned). According to show canon, the monster cannot leave the Island, so Christian in Jack’s waiting room simply cannot be Smokey.
The smoke alarm is an obvious red herring, not an Easter egg. The writers loved to throw in misdirection (the whole flash-sideways started as a misdirection). I would also argue that it’s quite a stretch to say that because he was dressed the same as he was when he led Jack to the caves, and there is “proof” that it was Smokey. We know that Smokey lies to everyone in order to manipulate them: he lied to Richard, lied to Locke, lied to Claire, lied to Sayid, etc. It’s extremely hard to believe that the only time he actually told the truth when trying to manipulate someone was to Jack.
I would actually go a step further (although it’s not a popular theory) and say that every time we see Christian in a suit, it’s his ghost, while every time he’s seen in in that old button-down shirt, it’s Smokey. To put it shortly, the times we know for sure it’s Christian, he’s wearing the suit; when we know for sure it’s Smokey, he’s wearing the button-down shirt. The appearances and interactions of Christian in the different outfits are qualitatively different. “Suit Christian” only appears to Jack, never speaks with him, appears at a distance, and no one else can see him. “Shirt Christian”, on the other hand, can be seen by everyone, appears in their midst, talks with and touches people. This clear difference points to two different entities.