Watch Ep 307's Secret Clue on Video

Episode 307 - "The Cost of Living" Secret Clue

Welcome back to the Lost Secret Clue, where we dig deeper to find the clues and secrets you might've missed to fuel your theories! This week's episode, 'Not In Portland', presented us with a strange room that may very well hold the key to the island's mysteries, as well as several subtle clues and hints to fuel our theories. We learnt of Juliet's meek background, Alex's position within the Others, the return of Karl, a strange new science company and the ominous Room 23.

A ton of information regarding Juliet was revealed, most important that of her profession before being convinced to join Mittelos Bioscience (more on them later). She was an expert in pre-natal abnormalities and pregnancy in adverse conditions, received attention for successfully impregnating a male mouse and was asked to lead a research team studying the deterioration of a 26 year old woman’s womb, among other projects. Considering how interested we know the Others are in children, should it come as any surprise that one of their higher ranking members is an expert in the field? If you need proof that Juliet's knowledge has been useful, look no further than the vial of medicine Ethan injected into Claire in her flashback last year – the vials Juliet was stealing to administer to her sister Rachel were marked TEST SUBJECT A4993-E3 Rx Only – to see that her research must have moved ahead past the testing stage. Did you also notice Rachel used a Widmore pregnancy test to confirm her pregnancy, and that the bus that killed her ex-husband Edmond Burke had a large poster for Apollo candy bars on the side?

Alex played a pivotal role in this episode, assisting Kate and Sawyer in their daring escape and then using them to help her liberate her boyfriend Karl, the young guy who had been caged next to Sawyer. The most shocking moment revolving Alex was definitely when Aldo, the Other on guard at Room 23, blurted that he needed to check with her father, Ben. Does this mean Alexandra Rousseau believes herself to be Alex Linus?

Aldo gave us another fascinating clue, one that ties together so many of the subtle hints that emerged – he was reading Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time'. Time, and the flowing nature of it, seemed to be the key topic of this episode. Juliet gave the exact length of time she's been on the island – 3 years, 2 months and 28 days – which means she would've arrived very, very close to the same time Desmond did. If you anagram Mittelos, the company that approached Juliet with beautiful fake imagery of "Portland", you get the key - LOST TIME...

Room 23, however, gives us the meat of our time theories. Inside we found Karl strapped to a chair, wearing LED-glasses and being drip-fed, presumably, with enough drugs to keep him awake for days without killing him. The brainwashing video he was being forced to watch held some amazing clues and imagery, much of which would've felt somewhat familiar to anyone who followed last year's Lost Experience. The standard shot of Alvar Hanso standing at the window was included, though his face was scratched out. The mysterious Jacob was mentioned, and his leadership/supreme position was further implied. Dharma Initiative co-founder Gerald Degroot could be seen as Sawyer carried Karl out of the room, complete with the words ANOTHER WAY. In fact, several Buddhist and Christian messages were projected:

- Plant a good seed and you will joyfully gather fruit.
- EVERYTHING CHANGES.
- We are the causes of our own suffering.
- God loves you as He loved Jacob.
- THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE.

It was the audio where we found our biggest clue - when the drum and bass music is reversed, you can hear a woman repeating that "Only fools are enslaved by time and space..." The Others seem to be of a scientific background and are able to move effortlessly around the island and, before the hatch implosion, to come and go from the island as they please. They have eyes and ears everywhere, and the information they possess, both current and regarding our Losties' pasts, is truly staggering. They are trapped too, now that control of the electromagnetic field has been relinquished back to the island, but ponder this - were the Others able to know everything because they knew how to manipulate time and space, essentially making themselves immortal and omnipotent?