Interesting prospect SPOILER ALERT

[GodlessM]

For those who have seen the most recent preview that has been
shown by ABC its for Cabin Fever. In that we see Horace Goodspeed
who says he has been dead for 12 years. We saw before that he died
when Ben gased the Dharma Initiative. So if it was only 12yrs ago then
this is what I want to discuss: since Alex was taken 16yrs ago, does
this mean it wasnt actually Ben who took her but the rest of
the Others before Ben's reign, is this an inconsistancy
in the show, or is there something bigger in this, like Horace actually
survived the purge and hid out on the island until the Others found him
and killed him?

[BomberDawg95]

I'm gonna say no, and that Ben (or maybe Richard) kidnapped her and Ben raised her as his own, claiming he found her in the jungle.

Goodspeed died with the rest of the Dharma Initiative during the Purge, that was shown. That puts the Purge at 1992, and Horace also says in the preview "He's been waiting for you for quite some time." Which I am sure is referencing Jacob.

[GodlessM]

Cept the day Ben killed Horace was the day he joined the Others so
if that was only 12yrs ago, then he didn't actually kidnap Alex, and
he only began raising her when he joined

[lost_in_iowa]

Maybe Ben had a love affair with Rousseau but since she was batty he took custody of Alex?

[Panda]

Maybe Ben had a love affair with Rousseau but since she was batty he took custody of Alex?

Well I was never sure about Rousseau. We never ever got a flash back of Rousseau that shows us her husband, other members of her crew, or her real past.
She claims that she ended up on the Island with a research team 16 years before. But we never got any info if they were part of the Dharma selected to join the rest of Dharma before the purge happened.
I always had the impression that Danielle had very good skills in surviving and she knew the Island very well. She always acted as if she doesn't know a lot about the others, or the Island, but that was never convincing to me.

Sometimes I have the impression that Danielle ended on the Island like Faraday, Naomi, Charlotte and Keamy etc...do now.
Sometimes I think that they had a mission to locate "the others" and stop them or kill them....to avoid what would happen 4 years later...the purge.

The team of Danielle failed to do so, and the purge did take place.
On her own she wouldn't be able to explore the Island and survive it. So maybe her team had a lot of info about the Island before they arrived.
Just like the freighter crew now.

I kept on thinking on this one.
Maybe she was a long time in the same position as Micheal.
I mean if they arrived before the purge....The others would do anything to make sure their plan would succeed.
So if Danielle and her crew arrived there to stop the others....it could be that the others stole Alex from Danielle to get her to do what the other ask.
So maybe she didn't kill her own crew to save them from their sickness, but she was promised that if she would kill of her own crew, that they would give Alex back. Of course they never gave Alex back. But she did long time whatever they asked. Maybe she even had a role in to make the purge succeed.

[lost_in_iowa]

Well I was never sure about Rousseau. We never ever got a flash back of Rousseau that shows us her husband, other members of her crew, or her real past.
She claims that she ended up on the Island with a research team 16 years before. But we never got any info if they were part of the Dharma selected to join the rest of Dharma before the purge happened.
I always had the impression that Danielle had very good skills in surviving and she knew the Island very well. She always acted as if she doesn't know a lot about the others, or the Island, but that was never convincing to me.

Sometimes I have the impression that Danielle ended on the Island like Faraday, Naomi, Charlotte and Keamy etc...do now.
Sometimes I think that they had a mission to locate "the others" and stop them or kill them....to avoid what would happen 4 years later...the purge.

The team of Danielle failed to do so, and the purge did take place.
On her own she wouldn't be able to explore the Island and survive it. So maybe her team had a lot of info about the Island before they arrived.
Just like the freighter crew now.

Someone mentioned in another thread that the actress playing DR asked to be written off the show! But, that does make for great press, doesn't it? That would give us the impression that her character never made a hill of beans to the storyline. BUT, that could be a ploy so we "forget" her part in the story for a while, similarly, like we have forgotten The Black Rock!

[notsolost42]

And I quote:

The Purge occurred on December 19, 1992 at 4 pm, the date of Ben's birthday.

Twelve years later would be 2004. If Ben kidnapped Alex 16 years prior he would have done so in 1988. Ben was on the island. Why is there an issue? I don't understand. He never said he kidnapped her when he was with the Others. He said he kidnapped her from a crazy French woman. This was true. She was most definitely nuts alot earlier in the show. I guess I just don't get your point.

[Workman]

Cept the day Ben killed Horace was the day he joined the Others so
if that was only 12yrs ago, then he didn't actually kidnap Alex, and
he only began raising her when he joined

Ben was 'with' the Others since he was young, he just lived with The Dharma Initiative. The purge probably took years of planning and manipulation (which Ben is quite good at). Or it took 2 days to plan because had to be on a precise date and time. Ben definitely had been influenced by the Others since he was a boy.

[Here'sLOCKEing at you,Kid]

We only need to pay attention when Ben's talking, folks.
He said he stole 1 week old Alex from an insane mother. That would put Ben at mid 20's in age, (assuming the 53 yrd old actor is playing the part of a man 10 yrs younger than he is.) He did not say anyone else raised her until she was 4. There's no reason to wonder how she survived the purge. If you were informed there was going to be a purge, wouldn't you send your child elsewhere for a while? Some of the Others perhaps did a little babysitting that day. Unimportant. He protected her, like any parent would do.

Because raising her was a rather odd thing to do to begin with, along with the fact that Ben took those kids from the tail section of 815 to "give them a better life", and that he had such a sad childhood himself, add to that, Richard spouting off one day that Ben's too preoccupied with the issue of pregnant women dying on the island, to me that would point to a good probability that somewhere before Alex, he and someone (possibly Annie?) were expecting a baby and when she died, it began Ben's quest in this regard. Seems perfectly logical. Some things just have not been addressed on the show. I see not the problem about time/dates...

[Panda]

We only need to pay attention when Ben's talking, folks.
He said he stole 1 week old Alex from an insane mother. That would put Ben at mid 20's in age, (assuming the 53 yrd old actor is playing the part of a man 10 yrs younger than he is.) He did not say anyone else raised her until she was 4. There's no reason to wonder how she survived the purge. If you were informed there was going to be a purge, wouldn't you send your child elsewhere for a while? Some of the Others perhaps did a little babysitting that day. Unimportant. He protected her, like any parent would do.

Because raising her was a rather odd thing to do to begin with, along with the fact that Ben took those kids from the tail section of 815 to "give them a better life", and that he had such a sad childhood himself, add to that, Richard spouting off one day that Ben's too preoccupied with the issue of pregnant women dying on the island, to me that would point to a good probability that somewhere before Alex, he and someone (possibly Annie?) were expecting a baby and when she died, it began Ben's quest in this regard. Seems perfectly logical. Some things just have not been addressed on the show. I see not the problem about time/dates...

Would the grown up Annie be a look alike of Juliet?
He wants Juliet to be his....to replace Annie?

[lost_in_iowa]

Would the grown up Annie be a look alike of Juliet?
He wants Juliet to be his....to replace Annie?

There could be possibilities of so many things.
I've wondered if Connie from season 3, killed by Sun, was Annie. That may have been the beginning of Ben's revolt.

There's got to be name changes on this show so we don't really know what is going on. I've also wondered if Alex is really Danielle as in Season 3 after Karl wakes up, he is saying "Danny" which I didn't catch until last night! There could be cloning, mind travelling or just plain confusion! I'm still LOST in LOST.