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Discharge effects

• Desmond is naked because the fail-safe teleports organic matter away from the Hatch. Charlie, Locke and Eko were wearing cotton clothes, Desmond's were synthetic.
• The EM field keeps the Island in a state of slow-time, where days pass at a slower rate. When the implosion occurs, time rushes forward to catch up to real time, which could also possibly explain the purple sky (if the Island were to be thrust into real time, all of the days and nights blurring together might cause a blue or purple sky). By inoculating himself with the vaccine, Desmond is rendered immune to this effect, and can therefore move around at a much quicker pace than normal, allowing him to perform various activities while everyone else experiences the Island time sped up.
• Desmond's role as prophet is reinforced in this episode by his "wandering naked in the wilderness", and his wearing of Hurley's shirt which fits him like a robe.
• Desmond, Locke and Charlie represent the three monkeys, 'See No Evil', 'Hear No Evil' and 'Speak No Evil'. Desmond is seeing, which is why Hurley was so repulsed by his naked figure. Charlie was hearing, which is why he was deaf for a bit. Locke is obviously speaking, hence his inability to talk for a while.

For theories on the discharge not related to this episode, see Discharge/Theories.

Locke's vision

Locke has a vision with numerous themes.

• The vision is a mix of symbols: Departure part(upper floor) in the waiting area represents Death, passing to the plane represents joining the Others, the area is the Island. The Island can only be escaped via death (upper floor) or by joining the Others (the plane).
• In Locke's vision, while he's riding to the top of the escalator, a chain noise can be heard in the background; the same sound was emitted by the "Monster" when it dragged Locke through the jungle. It is likely that the sound foretells the role of the monster in the death of Mr Eko.
• "Bringing the family back together" refers to the Shephards, i.e. Jack, Claire, Christian, Aaron and presumably Jacob.

The commune

Locke spent time in a commune.

• Libby was at the commune, and was referred to as "Lizzy". Eddie and Locke have a discussion about a girl named "Lizzy" that is "too granola" for Eddie, and half Locke's age.
  • Libby was closer to ten years younger than Locke, and they would have recognised each other on the Island.

Locke's Flashback ... also Flashforward?

There are some continuity problems with this flashback versus Locke's other flashbacks:

• Locke remains angry with Anthony Cooper between Deus_Ex_Machina and Orientation, he's with Helen between Orientation and Lockdown, and he should remain depressed after Lockdown as he is in The_Man_From_Tallahassee. Yet he seems relatively at peace during most of this episode. There doesn't seem to be an obvious place to put this flashback. (Although it is written up as occurring between Lockdown and The_Man_From_Tallahassee, there's no proof it belongs there).
  • He was starting to recover from his depression because he was happy there and felt like he had found a family. After he disappointed this new family and had fallen from Mike and Jan's good will, he started being depressed again.
• Locke is shown carrying a lot of guns and insisting he's a hunter. Yet all previous flashbacks fail to show him as a outdoorsman. He went hunting for the first time with Anthony Cooper (which should have negative connotations for him.) He doesn't get the walkabout idea from Abaddon until later. Even then, he prefers knives to guns.
  • In "Cabin Fever" it is revealed that he's always been fascinated by knives and that he has seen himself as a hero and a hunter since he was a teenager.
• Locke is shown driving a VW bug in all his other flashbacks, yet here he's driving a pick-up truck.
  • It could be the commune's truck.
• The picture on Locke's driver's license shows him as bald, though he's never bald in any of the other flashbacks. Plus, his birthdate is listed as 10 years before his actual birthdate.
  • The bald picture could be a continuity error, especially if the close-up of the license was done in post-production, but that would seems to be a pretty sloppy mistake.
• The people at the commune refer to Locke as "special", but nothing about Locke (prior to falling out an 8th-story window and surviving) could be described as "special", at least in the positive sense they seem to give it.

The Locke in this episode is actually post-island Locke, who has been thrown back in time ten years (like Ben went forward one year) and is living on the commune to avoid detection. He was bald for the license photo, but has been growing his hair back. He changed his birthdate to correspond better with his actual age. After his island experiences, with he increased capability and confidence, he could be described as "special" and a "hunter" and would be more at peace with himself (especially if he has left the island at Jacob's order), but he still has some demons to overcome.

• Then why is he calling himself Locke and not Jeremy Bentham?
  • Locke is calling himself "Locke" because he is not trying to contact the Oceanic Six or anyone that has left the island.