Lost in Thought - "Cabin Fever"

Time for some more random "Lost" thoughts. I've already left a few comments around to some various early posts (Jopinionated, Dube's World, and Newscoma), but I wanted to expound on a few things here separately.

• I think Richard Alpert, Charles Widmore, Magnus/Alvar Hanso, Abbadon, and others are long, long, long ago survivors of the original wreck of the Black Rock slave ship. Hanso was the captain, Alpert and Widmore probably crew, and Abbadon possibly one of the slaves (that sounds like racial profiling, but it seems doubtful a slave ship would have a black crewer, and Abbadon has an odd accent implying a non-American). They all survived to present day and have struggled between themselves for control of the island all along. Hanso survived to found the Dharma Initiative, while Alpert apparently later began Mittelos Labs. Widmore searched out the diary of his former captain to find the secrets of the island. Abbadon works with Widmore at Oceanic and along with Alpert have been separately meddling in Locke's (and probably others') lives since they were born.
  
  There are likely other immortal survivors of the Black Rock that we have already met and don't realize their true identities yet. Possible candidates are Sun's father Paik, Christian Shepherd, Marvin Candle (the oriental guy from all the training films) and other people associated with the Dharma Initiative and Hanso Foundation like the DeGroots and Thomas Mittlewerk.
  
  
• I think the stuff in the little vial that young Locke was given as an option to claim as "his" was that ashy stuff that, significantly this time, did not surround Jacob's cabin. At least nobody called attention to it. Which is news in itself, because they always seem to have great fun noticing the ring of ash around the cabin. To purposefully not show it seems significant.
  
  
• Oh, one more thing about Alpert and Abbadon. It's also possible they are time-traveling back to interfere/influence Locke when he was a youngster. I don't think that's likely, but it's a possibility since time manipulation is clearly a part of the show.
  
  
• When mercenary dude Keamy pulled out the "Secondary Protocol" from the safe, he seemed to say something about finding out what Ben would do next. My immediate thought was it was information from the future about Ben's moves. Which would certainly put an entirely new, but not unprecedented spin on things. However...if you know what Ben's going to do, why not exploit that knowledge immediately? That line just sounded odd to me.
  
  
• The scene between Hurley and Ben sharing a candy bar was absolutely, crystal perfect. Possibly the small throw-away scene of the entire series thus far.
  
  
• Watching Keany and the Captain interact kind of reminded me of those Star Trek episodes where Kirk would be ferrying a science team, or a stuffy ambassador, or a squad of soldiers, or whoever to some planet and Starfleet would say, "Ok, Colonel Soandso is in charge of the mission and has authority in this matter", and Kirk would say, "he may be in charge of the mission, but I'm in command of this ship", and Colonel Soandso or Ambassador Whatever would say, "Dude, I give the orders around here," and Kirk would say, "As if" and Dr. Whatsit would say, "I don't think you know who you're dealing with here, Captain - I'll have your commission for this" and Kirk would say, "Stuff it nimrod, I'm James T Kirk and I'm the best chance your team/squad/delegation has to succeed so shut the crap up and let me be in charge" and usually the guy would back down, bowing and scraping to the great CAPTAIN KIRK but on "Lost" Keamy just shoots him.
  
  
• I wonder if we started looking back in old photographs of famous people, you'll start seeing Richard Alpert or Abbadon in the background? Kind of like Forrest Gump.
  
  But seriously, I wonder how many more Losties did Alpert and Abbadon "visit" when they were young? Maybe not to test like Locke, but at least to keep tabs on and steer in the (to them) right directions...
  
  
• I half-expected Zathras to come in behind Alpert, peer strangely at Locke, and say, "Not the One...no, no, not the One. No one ever listens to poor Zathras..."
  
  
• The Fate of Claire: A lot of people have made a big deal about Claire possibly being already dead. Either she was killed when her house blew up and has been the walking dead ever since (which would explain ghostbuster Miles' strange interest in her, how she could wander off with Christian and leave Aaron behind, and hang out in the cabin with him). But I still have to think about Desmond's vision to Charlie - he saw Claire getting on a helicopter and assumedly leaving the island. So far, with some variation in details, Desmond's visions have come true. So I think eventually we have to see Claire getting onto a helicopter at some point. And she probably can't do that if she's a zombie, right?
  
  
• Oh yeah! Add Desmond's creepy old visionquest lady Ms. Hawking to the list of possible Black Rock immortals.
  
  
• What were the items Alpert showed to young Locke, and expected him to "claim" one of them as his own? Let's go over them:
  
  
  
  • Knife - Locke's job just before getting on Flight 815 was a knife salesman. He had a large pack of various throwing knives with him on the flight, which he used a great deal early on hunting boar. I actually called him choosing the knife when it first appeared, and was right.
    
  • Book ("Book of Laws") - When Eko and Locke first met at the Swan Hatch, I think Eko mentioned something about "The Book of Laws"
    
  • Baseball glove - I have no idea. Amazingly, there's no real baseball metaphors or callbacks in the show at all that I can think of. Maybe it represents father/son bonding, which is totally a theme but as for the glove itself I have no idea.
    
  • Comic Book - There was a comic book on the plane that Walt found, but it was a much more contemporary Green Lantern. This looked like an old 1950's/1960's era pulpish horror or adventure comic. The teaser said something about "what was the secret of the mysterious hidden land?" which could be a callback to the island. I don't know if it's a real comic, or one the art department whipped up.
    
  • Compass - Didn't Locke or Sayid have a compass in Season 1?
    
  • Vial of ashes - as above, I think this is the ash that forms the circle of protection around Jacob's cabin
    
  
  
  
• More thoughts as they come to me...