Static Zombie

The survivors were already rounding up the guns and preparing to raid the Others' camp. Killing Ana Lucia and wounding himself to make it look like Henry did it makes no sense-- Jack and the gang didn't need any additional prodding or motivation. Michael's not a cold-blooded killer, no matter how far Walt's abduction may have pushed him. The only explanation that gets within whiffing distance of sense is that he didn't tell Jack what really happened in the jungle, that he was captured by the Others who directly threatened to kill Walt unless Michael followed their orders. I can't think of any other circumstance under which Michael would shoot Ana Lucia in cold blood.

That would be bad enough. But having Libby walk in at just that moment-- I mean, really? Right at that moment? That's lazy writing. There was no reason for her to be there at all, let alone at just the right time to spook Michael into shooting her.

Tell me about the rabbits, George.

i assumed that he actually was working for the others of his own volition. that he had effectively joined them to be with walt.

That's the hypothesis I'm going on, too, that he's an Other now, whether to be with Walt or due to brainwashing or mind control or Something Else.

As for Libby and her unbelievably bad timing, remember, she said she was gonna go back to the bunker to get blankets and drinks for her picnic with...Hurley. The Numbers are bad.

So I dunno if I'm ready to send Fonzie on Final Approach yet, but I think it's something they can definitely write their way out of.

I didn't recall Libby saying she was going back to the hatch to get the blankets, but OK. Still, it needed an establishing scene of her rooting around in a supply closet or something-- as it was, it just seemed gratuitous.

And there's no way I believe that Michael would shoot them unless he was under extreme duress, which rules out joining the Others in a "Hey, I'm one of YOU now" way.

In the "deleted scene" shown on Good Morning America this morning, Hurley and Libby are talking on the beach. Hurley mentions that there are a bunch of records in the hatch, and then Libby excuses herself. The implication being that she's headed for the hatch, for perhaps some other reason than just to get blankets.

Is it a huge and tremendously unfortunate coincidence that Libby happens to be in just the wrong place at just the wrong time? Sure. Let's go ahead and add it to the list of all the other huge coincidences that surround these people. It'll fit in very neatly right there at the bottom of page 108.

As for Michael—this has been telegraphed from a long ways off. Something on the island made Rousseau's crewmates "sick"; we don't know whether they went crazy, joined the Others voluntarily or did something else strange and dangerous, but we've had reason to expect betrayal within the castaways since last season. Then we saw Dr. Candle specifically warn not to use the Apple ][ for communication, lest "another incident" occur. Michael uses the computer to talk to "Walt," then heads off into the woods alone and comes back wild-eyed and demanding an army. I think we're starting to get an idea of what "another incident" would look like.

So what's Michael up to? My guess is that the Others captured him and made a deal: He releases Henry and sends the most bellicose of the castaways, along with all their weapons, into a trap... a trap which Michael will now not be accompanying them into, conveniently enough, thanks to his brand-new gunshot wound. Once all the dangerous castaways have been culled, the rest get absorbed into the Others, where they will be materially much better off. Michael gets to live with Walt in peace, or maybe the Others even promised to let him and Walt leave on that motorboat they've got.

Michael is no pacifist, remember. He threatened to kill Locke just for talking to Walt; sure, maybe he didn't mean that literally, but we have no idea what Michael is capable of under pressure. Would he be willing to kill Ana Lucia in cold blood? Well, she's a callous, unstable, trigger-happy murderess who's killed Shannon and two Others, nearly killed Sawyer and beaten and threatened Michael and other castaways who knows how many times. Trading her life for Walt's is an easy call. I have more questions about his gunning down Libby, even in the heat of the moment, than I do about his willingness to ice Ana Lucia.

I could see a few ways for this to go:

- Michael is being mind-controlled in some way (brainwashing, drugs, bizarre Hanso "science")

- They have Walt and are threatening to kill or torture him if Michael doesn't rescue Henry and kill Ana Lucia.

- Michael has gone off the deep end (because of the sickness the French woman talked about)

- Michael has gone off the deep end because of his obsession with getting Walt back.

If they wrote it well I could buy into any of the above, though some sound more plausible than others.

And the overall potential theme of Purgatory works for Ana Lucia. Having faced her demons and standing down by NOT killing the person who tried to kill her, she's redeemed herself. IE.. we can kill her off now cause she's cleared purgatory!

Can't make it apply to Libby though. Don't really know her backstory enough to know if she recently redeemed herself.

This didn't seem far-fetched to me at all. Michael has shown he's not the brightest bulb in the drawer, but he is passionate about being with Walt. The Others could have told him, we'll only let you join us (and hang out with Walt) if you free this Henry guy and make it look like he did it so the castaways will follow him into a trap.

Don't forget they could have another reason for wanting the more militant castaways far away with all their guns. They might need to get into the hatch again. It'd be a perfect time for a raid.

As for Libby, I've heard she took a job on another TV show, so they had to write her out somehow... (Okay, she's an idiot for wanting to leave Lost, but still.)

No, you all have it wrong. Both actresses were stopped for DUI's in Hawaii, and Michelle Rodriguez just got out of jail for it. The producers were said to be looking for any good moment to write her off. My theory was that the other cast members had better watch out for brushes with the law, but my wife suggested the two of them went on a bender after finding out they were getting written off.

I don't think you choose to leave Lost. I think they write you off.

I'm kinda along the lines of "the Others made him do it to get Walt back," but then again the huge problem with that is, Walt is too important to them. Too important to threaten to kill him (unless Michael is really gullible) and too important to just give back for one throwaway Other. And furthermore, it's an additional stretch that Michael had to kill Anna Lucia to get Henry out - couldn't he just have held her at gunpoint while Henry escaped, or knocked her out when she wasn't looking, or something?

I suppose there's some chance Libby might not be dead, but it's doubtful. Which is sad, since they barely got into her story at all - it feels really incomplete (meaning the writers indicated we would get to see her story, then killed her before fulfilling that. Indian givers.)

Now that his "motivation" has been revealed, what do you think? I for one am neither impressed nor convinced.

To elaborate, while it does fit with the "willing to do whatever it takes to get Walt back" idea, which I buy, I still don't understand why the only way he could do that is killing two fellow castaways and shooting himself. He could have just gone in the room with Henry, faked a struggle and shot himself, then let Henry go with the gun; then told the "They have Walt in spot X" story he ended up telling anyways. I guess shooting Libby is what gets Hurley on board, but he obivously didn't plan that so it still doesn't make sense. To me there's still a difference between "desperate father willing to do whatever it takes to get his son back" and "cold blooded killer willing to kill his close friends if it has some small chance of helping him get his son back."