Bill’s Lost Site

Coming from the Fuselage …

Henry Gale is an interesting name in a couple of ways.

First, Gale is used to describe the blowing of wind at a relatively high rate. Out of all the ways Henry could have ended up on the island he came via a balloon that was pushed off course, most likely through an unexpected gale of wind.

Second, the name Henry Gale will be familiar with the fans of the Wizard of Oz. That would be Dorothy’s uncle’s name. Of course Dorothy is taken up in a tornado (again wind) and is taken to this magical land (similar to our island?). Oz is special in that people can develop character and do things they never before dreamed of doing (Locke and his hunting). Oz could also ruin people through trials to test their courage, strength, etc. Most importantly, Oz was a controlled environment. The Wizard pulled all of the strings.

Sound familiar … I think so.

Not a pilot by any stretch of the imigination but I did a little research on ADF Beacons.

ADF stands for Automatic Direction Finder. Once activated they send out a signal that others can pick up on and navigate to. This type of equipment is very common on boats and on planes. It would be logical that Henry would carry something like this on his plane. That would also bolster his story about why he stayed on the beach so long. If he really used an ADF beacon then there is some hope that it might get picked up by a receiver.

We all wondered what would happen when the timer reaches 0. I’m not sure that we got an answer but here is what we do know.

Locke missed deadline and the timer did hit 0. Locke continues to try to enter the code after the fact. We don’t know if the system accepted the code after it hit 0 or if what happened would have happened anyway - even if Locke didn’t enter the code.

Once the timer expired you could definitely hear that something was happening. To me it sounded like a door was opening. I envisioned a missle silo that is opening up prior to an attack. However, since I have neither seen or heard a real missle silo as it prepares to attack I would not count myself an expert on the subject.

Anyway, at the same time the numbers are replaced with symbols or pictures. The first picture to appear is on the far right side. The image is clearly a bird. However, the other images that appear are less clear. One looks like it could be a rocket or missle, another looks like an arrow. The 4th one we just barely see and didn’t really look like anything to me. We never see what the 5th number turns into. I have a new post on the subject with pictures. Click HERE for that post.

For 12 seconds we wait between when the timer hits 0 and when it resets. At the end of the 12 seconds it sounds like whatever opened or was engaged is shutting down. Once the timer resets everything returns to normal.

What it all means I have no idea. However, it was very interesting … and it will be worth watching out for to see if anything has changed or was triggered by allowing the timer to drop to 0.

*** UPDATE *** I have added a new post about whispers being heard while Sayid “interrogates” Henry. Great stuff. Click HERE to go to the post.

Here is the information that Sayid was able to extract from Henry. Keep in mind that I think Henry is full of it so trust nothing he says but here goes:

Name: Henry Gale
Lived in: Minnesota
Wife’s Name: Jennifer Murphy (Maiden Name)
Crash Date: 4 months ago - maybe longer
Location: North side of the island? That is where the cave was that they lived in.
Equipment: Emergency Transmitter - an ADF Beacon (click HERE to learn about this)
Wife’s Status: Dead
How Did She Die: She was sick. She developed a fever and 2 days later she became delirious
Balloon Description: 140’ High., 60’ Wide, 550,000 cubic feet of Helium and 100,000 cubic feet of Hot Air (click HERE to read about hot air balloons)
Business: Sold – owned Mining operation – mined non-metallic minerals
Rich: Was rich … no longer though

Couple of other thoughts. First, I think he is definitely an Other. While being interrogated he appeared to be less afraid than a man should. Sayid had pliers out and was ready to break/rip fingers off and yet the man was calm. He then started to probe Sayid about who he lost on the island. He was in control of the situation.

Second, the man asked no questions about the group. He wasn’t curious at all? Stuck on a deserted island for 4 months and you finally meet people. You don’t have anything to ask? He doesn’t need to. He already knows more about them than they can imagine.

Third, why did he run. I know that Danielle is loopy an all but seriously. Sayid cuts you down and appears to be a good guy. Sayid has the gun. Why run – why not find out what is happening. To me the escape and Danielle’s shot seem to be a set-up.

But then again I could be wrong.

I am not a big fan of the idea that people just happen to end up on this island. I think the folks here are all supposed to be here. I also doubt that anyone crashed on this island.

If we assume that the guy caught in Danielle’s net is an “Other” then we have some problems. Was he really caught? If so, why was he walking alone? Why did nobody come to rescue him? Why was he dressed nicely - he had shoes and looked presentable. The “Others” - the ones that we weren’t supposed to see have all been ragged looking and barefoot.

So, I think you can make one of three conclusions - either he was sent in to infiltrate the group pretending to be a survivor of a balloon accident and was caught by Danielle. Option 2 - he really is a survivor of a balloon accident and was caught by Danielle. Option 3 - the whole thing is a con. By having Danielle “capture” the guy and turn him over she wins trust with the group. Trust that could prove to be valuable down the road.

Things are improving. Loved the episode. Here is what stood out:

1. Sayid’s flashback is from Desert Storm (appx 1991)

2. Where did Sayid learn perfect English? Nobody else in the room spoke any English. My guess is that Sayid’s family is wealthy … more on that later.

3. Danielle went to get Sayid to tell him about the captured Other. She mentioned that she was going to get Sayid in his tent at night. Yet, she is milling around the camp many, many hours before nightfall.

4. Related to #3 - is Danielle in on this? Was the capture a set-up? Click HERE for my thoughts on this.

5. I am not a frog expert but I am willing to guess that the frog is very specific to a certain region of the world. That might help us understand that we are talking about somewhere in the South Pacific or possibly an island off the coast of Africa.

6. How could Sawyer be surprised that Jin doesn’t like him any more? Is Sawyer really that dense?

7. Salad dressing is good for 7 years. It would stand to reason that Dharma was planning on repleneshing the hatch at least every 7 years. Maybe not though.

8. Our captured buddy - where was he walking through the jungle for 2 days? What was he hoping to do? Also, his clothes sure looked neat. He had an undershirt and then a nicer shirt over that. Maybe he found another hatch with a working Neptune Washer/Dryer set-up.

9. The man’s name is Henry Gale from Minnesota. Click here for more details that were extracted from the confession.

10. Danielle is a really good shot. To take the guy down while he was running - to hit him in a place that wouldn’t kill him but seriously disable him - wow. Not bad for a scientist.

11. Why didn’t the American interrogate Sayid’s commanding officer?

12. Sayid’s father was “a great hero”. Again - I bet this translates to wealth or opportunities which led to Sayid being trained in English.

13. Man Sawyer is a jerk. Why not give Hurley the frog. It’s not like I’m from PETA or anything but seriously - let the thing live.

14. The numbers went down to 0. Click here for my thoughts on that.

15. The soldier that is dropping off Sayid looks at a picture of what is presumably his daughter. Low and behold - it is a picture of Kate.

— BONUS —

Normally I don’t write about the previews for the next episode … but this one looked good and there were a couple of images that flashed that caught my eye.

1. We see doors in Claire’s flashback with the words “Escape Hatch”. What in the world has an escape hatch.
2. The Dharma logo is associated with the medical logo - the snake around the staff. Is Dharma’s fundamental research related to medicinal studies? Or is just this particular hatch?
3. It shows Claire on a table with a long needle being poked in her very pregnant tummy. Claire is awake during this and looks to be very calm.

I found some great screen caps from the preview. You can clearly see each of the items I highlighted above. Click HERE to view the pictures. Thanks to the blog The Tail Section for the pics.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

*** Update *** Click HERE for a transcript of whispers in this episode.