truffula
11-23-06, 04:04 AM
An Analysis of Danielle Rousseau
*transcripts were taken from Spooky's transcripts except for the French Transmission translation which came from Lostpedia*
Now lets analyze what we know, piece by piece through all the lies and inconsistencies from this woman:
DANIELLE: You just happened to hear my distress call? I know what you are.
Danielle knows that the transmission can/should only be able to be recieved by the Hanso Foundation. I don't think she' knows about the contents of the crate in the Arrow bunker (the transciever). The "I know what you are" implies that she thinks he's a member of THF, not DHARMA, but THF. She changed the transmission in hopes that the Foundation would come to her aid, but after several years, I think she gave up hope and realized that the Foundation didn't care about her, and was her enemy like Ben and the Others. More indication of this here:
SAYID: Rousseau.
DANIELLE:How do you know my name?
Before Sayid can answer, she's already suspicious of how he knows her name. Perhaps she knows of the Others liking for the making of Lists. This fuels her notion that he's a Hanso mole.
SAYID: What is this place? Those batteries -- they wouldn't be able to produce enough power to transmit your distress call all these years.
DANIELLE: It broadcasts from somewhere else. But they control it now.
SAYID: They?
DANIELLE: You. And the others like you.
Another indication that she was a member of DHARMA. The radio tower was set up to transmit the core factors of the Valenzetti equation, controlled by DHARMA. But once DHARMA realized they were being used by THF for whatever means, there was an "incident" a split in groups (I detail this in my Others vs OTHERS thread), thus "they" control it now. And the following statement "You and the others like you" - meaning THF moles. Another thing, if THEY controlled it now, don't you think they would've gotten rid of her distress call?
SAYID: I didn't know you were alive.
DANIELLE: Still lying.
She's really convinced that he's a Hanso Operative, and that he knew she was still alive (Hanso probably kept accurate records of who was sent to HIS Island). She knows they "watch"/gather intelligence from outside the Island (we've seen their ability to do this with Jack's file and the knowledge of Sayid being Iraqi and Sun's full name)
DANIELLE: It's a music box, but it's broken. It has been for a long time. It was a gift from my love for our anniversary.
SAYID: You mean Alex?
DANIELLE: Robert. This was such a comfort to me in the first few years here.
This is a test. She's not an idiot. She could've fixed that music box if she wanted to. She wanted to gauge Sayid's ability as well as his personality. Also, dropping a name "Robert", allegedly her husband who she later killed.
And now the biggest lie of them all. The "Story". They're good at this. Remember Ben's quote to Ethan and Goodwin as he sent them to the crash sites of flight 815 "Make up a story", not to mention Ben's "my name is Henry Gale and I'm from Minnesota" story. Also in TLE, the Hanso Foundation is very good at coming up with "cover stories" as they trick innocent villagers into being unwilling test subjects for their worldwide virus "So when you go in, you have to keep up the story. You know it by heart. Don't waiver".
DANIELLE: We were part of a science team.
SAYID: A science team armed with rifles? Was Robert on the team?
DANIELLE: Yes.
SAYID: And Alex, was he, too?
DANIELLE:Our vessel was 3 days out of Tahiti when our instruments malfunctioned. It was night, a storm, the sounds. The ship slammed into rocks, ran aground, the hull breached beyond repair. So, we made camp, dug out this temporary shelter. Temporary. Nearly 2 months we survived here, 2 months before --
First off, if I had some dude calling my daughter a "HE", I would've made that correction immediately. I guess that's just part of the writers keeping us in suspense. Nevertheless....here comes one of the BIGGEST incinsistancies in Danielle's story:
- "The ship slammed into rocks and ran aground" WHERE? If the Black Rock can survive all this time, surely a ship like the one Rousseau's team was on would've been visible at some point? I mean, Kelvin was able to salvage Desmond's small sailboat, it sure sounds like Rousseau's ship was a little bit larger than that (for an alleged team of 6 people). So I say - THERE WAS NO SHIP. She was ALREADY THERE as a member of DHARMA. Perhaps it was even her pregnancy that caused Ben and crew to pay closer attention to her. They seem to want the children with NO MOTHER (according to Alex, they were gonna kill Claire once they had Aaron)
- "Nearly 2 months we survived here" - so she was 7 months pregnant when they "arrived" and they "took" Alex within a week of her birth.
SAYID: Your distress signal? The message I heard, you said, "It killed them all."
DANIELLE: We were coming back from the Black Rock. It was them. They were the carriers.
SAYID: Who were the carriers?
DANIELLE: The others.
SAYID: What others? What is the Black Rock? Have you seen other people on this island?
DANIELLE: No, but I hear them. Out there, in the jungle. They whisper. You think I'm insane.
SAYID: I think you've been alone for too long.
This whole thing here is one big LIE. Not to mention she dodges some questions too. Lets start with "we were coming from the Black Rock" - she knows of this place, and I strongly believe that the overhead map that we call "Rousseau's Map" is actually MAGNUS HANSO's Map that she took from the Black Rock and made additional notations on.
Now there was much debate as to the translation of Danielle's "distress transmission", in French, both "he" and "it" could be put in as part of the translation. In Danielle's quote above, she refers to "IT" - "it was THEM". The "carriers" if she means sickness, is a LIE; however, they could be the carriers of something else, like a superhuman gene (I know I know, I want this to tie into HEROES so bad :p)
And the dodged questions "What Others?" "What is the Black Rock?" - she doesn't want to give up that information so readily. She knows who the "others" are, and she sure as hell knows what the Black Rock is. Even a quick "the Black Rock is a massive slave ship in the middle of the jungle" would bring forth too many questions for her to deal with, so she remains silent. I'm not sure she knows the extent of the history of the Black Rock, only that its there and that Magnus Hanso was involved. It could even be the revelation of what the Black Rock means to the Island (in terms of Hanso's objectives vs DHARMA's objectives) that caused the split. Danielle's transmission says that they were coming from the Black Rock when they came for her and her team. This is probably where Montan lost his arm. Some sort of battle between factions.
The BIGGEST LIE OF THEM ALL: "Have you seen other people on this Island?" - "NO, but I hear them whisper". What a bunch of LIES!!! She's seen other people on the Island for sure. Especially cause I consider her a former DHARMA scientist. She knows Ben, probably Juliet too; hell, the reason Ben and Juliet aren't "on the same page" could be because of Ben's ousting of Rousseau and DHARMA. When she captured Ben, she KNEW him, and what he was capable of doing in the lying department. They're all very good at deception in one way or the other. The shanty town, the hillbilly clothes/fake beard, the pacemaker, Rousseau's explanation of how she got to the Island, etc. You get my point.
But within this LIE there is some truth - the WHISPERS. She's trying to help him, but not directly. She's playing both sides I think. She very well could've explained the ENTIRE situation to Sayid in this first encounter, but then we wouldn't have alot of show left if they answered all this right away. :p I think the WHISPERS are part of the "good guys" not Ben's crew, and have been trying to help the Losties in what little capacity they can for now.
[They hear sounds outside and Danielle picks up a rifle and heads to the hatch.]
SAYID: Where are you going?
DANIELLE:If we're lucky, it's one of the bears.
"One of the bears" she says. She knows there are more than one. Another indication she was aware of DHARMA's projects. I even suspect SHE was the one who let the bears loose in the first place; once she found out what was REALLY going on. Perhaps part of her escape plan to release the bears to create an extra distraction for those trying to find her.
DANIELLE:The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him.
SAYID: But you loved him.
DANIELLE: He was sick.
SAYID: Sick?
DANIELLE: It took them, one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost.
SAYID: You killed them.
DANIELLE: What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't.
[Sayid throws the rifle down.]
SAYID: I'm not sick.
DANIELLE:I know.
Okay, big question here - WHAT took them? There is NO SICKNESS. That is a cover story. The only explanations I can think of is either she's talkin about Smokie, or they drugged up Danielle on whatever it was they drugged up Claire with so she wouldn't remember (the icky stuff in the canteen). Though Rousseau was alot more suspicious at this point so they probably increased the dosage compared to what they gave Claire.
"What would've happened if we were rescued?" - Hanso would be exposed, and this is a very wealthy and powerful man with many global connections namely Paik and Widmore (Paik confirmed in TLE, Widmore is pure speculation on my behalf). He's kept his "Island project" a secret for so long, he'll be damned if he's gonna let this French woman screw it all up for him. Danielle still believes there is a "sickness", she bought into their story in every way. She's gonna need proof otherwise before she changes her opinion on this one.
And how would she know Sayid wasn't "sick"? Because she's not on the psychotropic drugs that the Hanso foundation produces that would make her hallucinate and be easily coerced into the belief of some "sickness". But the mental impact of those drugs has convinced her that there IS a "sickness".
DANIELLE:Your people -- the one's you're determined to get back to -- watch them, watch them closely.
Correct she was on this one. And this advice paid off. Sayid was the one to notice Michael's odd behaviour and suggest to Jack that he had been compromised. She knows about the Others capabilities to infiltrate and obtain information. I really hope that Danielle and EyePatchGuy are in cahoots and are good guys. That would be so cool. :)
Now, in her brief conversation with Hurely in "Numbers" she does the same routine, alot of lies with a little truth buried in there if you know where to look:
HURLEY: Look, I came here to find -- [he reaches for his pocket; Danielle aims her rifle] oh, easy, easy, easy. I'm just getting your notes. Please, tell me why you wrote this. What do these numbers mean? Please.
DANIELLE: I don't know.
HURLEY: What? You don't know? Okay, that thing in the woods, maybe it's a monster, maybe it's a pissed off giraffe, I don't know. The fact that no one is even looking for us, yeah, that's weird, but I just go along with it because I'm along for the ride, good old fun time Hurley. Well guess what? Now, I want some friggin' answers.
DANIELLE [lowering her rifle]: Our ship picked up a transmission -- a voice repeating those numbers. We changed course to investigate. After we shipwrecked my team continued to search for the transmission source. It was weeks before we found the radio tower.
HURLEY: There's a radio tower on this island?
DANIELLE: Yes, up by the Black Rock. Some of us continued to search for the meaning of those numbers while we waited for rescue. But then the sickness came. When my team was gone, I went back up to the tower and changed the transmission.
HURLEY: The distress signal we heard?
DANIELLE: Yes.
HURLEY: But the numbers -- did you ever find out anything about them? Do you know where they got their power?
DANIELLE: Power?
HURLEY: They bring bad stuff to everyone around you. They're cursed. You know that, right? The numbers, they're cursed.
DANIELLE: Numbers are what brought me here. As it appears they brought you. Since that time I've lost everything, everyone I cared about. So yes, I suppose you're right. They are cursed.
This right here is one of the biggest tips to the reveal of the Numbers meaning in TLE.
Danielle doesn't know what the numbers mean - they can't figure out how to change any of the variables. Then she lies. Continues the story about her ship picking up a transmission that only Hanso can recieve. I suspect what Lenny and Sam heard at their listening post was Rousseau and crew attempting to figure out how to change the transmission. It took them a while; they probably had some resistance - Danielle's transmission was recorded at the radio tower itself where she'd locked herself in saying "they are outside". So the broadcast was now able to be heard by others outside of THF if they knew where to look or were (un)lucky to stumble upon them, until Danielle successfully changed the transmission.
Now she starts to give away more than she should have : (the location of the radio tower) "up by the Black Rock"..."some of us continued to search for the meaning of those numbers (the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation) - then the "incident" occurred. Somehow Ben/Jacob and crew figured out that eventually through whatever it was they were doing, that Rousseau and crew were going to figure out that they'd been duped.
"But then the sickness came" - they began to drug her (much like Ethan did to Claire in her sleep). And in a very short time, she killed them all....did the Others dirty work. "We're not killers" says Ben (in I forget what episode). They manipulate.
And this here SCREAMS of the Valenzetti Equation:
HURLEY: But the numbers -- did you ever find out anything about them? Do you know where they got their power?
DANIELLE: Power?
HURLEY: They bring bad stuff to everyone around you. They're cursed. You know that, right? The numbers, they're cursed.
DANIELLE: Numbers are what brought me here. As it appears they brought you. Since that time I've lost everything, everyone I cared about. So yes, I suppose you're right. They are cursed.
"The Numbers are what brought me here" - TRUTH - but not as you said. You were brought there to change one of those Numbers, Danielle. It's time to end the lie. And of course they're CURSED!!! They are the core factors in an equation that predicts the end of humanity!!
So after this, she disappears until Exodus, where she tries to help the Others plan in an effort to rejoin them or at least be reuinited with her daughter.
DANIELLE: Our ship went aground on this island 16 years ago. There were 6 of us -- my team, 6. At that time I was already 7 months pregnant. I delivered the infant myself. The baby and I were together for only 1 week when I saw black smoke -- a pillar of black smoke 5 kilometers inland. That night they came -- they came and took her -- Alex. They took my baby. And now, they're coming again. They're coming for all of you.
Again, LIES. Here is where the timeline just doesn't add up.
7 out of 9 months pregnant, yet she delivered the baby herself?? From her previous story to Sayid, it took "THEM" weeks to find the source of the transmission, and even after that the remaining members were trying to figure out the Numbers. Sorry, Danielle, you blew this cover story. Also, "THEY" came and took her....um....I thought you said you didn't see anyone else on this Island?? Again, this whole shipwreck story is a great big LIE.
The Hanso Foundation and DHARMA were recruiting the worlds greatest minds for this project - altering the Valenzetti Equation - in the Orientation film, Alvar states that "after your induction counseling and training, you and your colleagues will be shipped to a Top Secret facility" - so she technically isnt lying about being "shipped" there, just the "shipwrecked" part is a bunch of bull.
Oh, and "5 kilometers inland" - gee, you're pretty good a gauging distance. We see more examples of this in the future...
Then she comes to warn them about the "Others" coming for them ALL!! Whoah, what a scare tactic!
JACK: How many of them are there?
DANIELLE: I told you all I know.
SAYID: There has to be more you tell us. How did you know?
DANIELLE: You have a bigger problem. I can vanish into the jungle, but I'm just one person. You have 40 people. Where will you hide them?
Yeah, yeah, yeah,....run, hide, or die. Nice ultimatum. "I told you all I know" - LIE. And then she dodges the question again, but also leads them to the discovery of whats inside the Swan "Where will you hide them?" she says. After that they show her the dug up Swan Hatch. She wants them to know about DHARMA and their history. She wants them on HER side when she eventually tries to rescue her daughter. And what's next? Of course, she shows them how to open the door to the Swan with the Dynamite. She could've just shown them the front door, but its all part of the psychological challenge (I assume some aspect that DHARMA was studying about the human condition, oh yes, that's the word - HEURISTICS).
Now they show Danielle the dug up Swan Hatch:
[We see Danielle, Jack, Hurley, Locke and Sayid at the hatch.]
HURLEY: Dude. Whoa.
DANIELLE: What is this?
JACK: We were hoping you could tell us.
HURLEY: Uh, question -- how do we know we can all, like, fit in there?
LOCKE: No handle on the outside, means there must be another way in -- another entrance means space.
SAYID: This is a mistake. We don't know anything about these others. We're reacting with no information, no intelligence. This hatch might even be theirs. Black smoke on the horizon doesn't mean they're...
DANIELLE: It means they're coming.
JACK: Yeah, we got that.
LOCKE: You booby-trapped your shelter with explosives. You have any more?
DANIELLE: Dynamite, by the Black Rock, in the dark territory.
HURLEY: Well, that's 3 reasons to go right there.
DANIELLE: If we're to make it back by sunset we have to leave within the hour.
"What is this?" - yeah right. Nice try. And she's really quick to cut off Sayid about the significance of the black smoke of the horizon. Again, she demonstrated her knowledge of distance on the Island by saying that to make it to the Black Rock and back to the Swan before sunset they'd have to leave soon - so she KNOWS about BOTH locations. Oh, and this whole "Dark Territory" is just a scare tactic to keep the Losties from exploring that region and finding things that could hinder her plan to get back at Ben/THF for taking her child/kicking her out
[They come to a piece of black fabric hanging from a branch.]
DANIELLE: Le Territoire Fonce.
JACK: The Dark Territory.
DANIELLE: The Black Rock is not far. This is where it all began -- where my team got infected -- where Montan lost his arm. We must move quickly.
This is where THF said we're taking them out. Replace the word "infected" with "attacked" and that fits alot better. So what, we're to believe that this location where Montan loses his arm began the spreading of this "infection"? All of a sudden his arm was so infected that it had to be cut off? I highly doubt that. The Black Rock seems to be a protected object if it's located in this "Dark Territory"....the only reason it was unguarded was because they WANTED them to see it, to get the dynamite to get into the Hatch. Just like they WANTED Sayid to find the decoy village. They have a MASTER PLAN.
[We hear the sounds of the monster and see Arzt running around. Danielle runs into a bamboo stand.]
DANIELLE[motioning to Kate and Jack]: Here, in here.
HURLEY: Dude, we've got to book.
LOCKE: Wait. It's headed the other way.
[The rain stops.]
DANIELLE: We're safe now.
KATE: What was that thing?
DANIELLE: It's a security system.
JACK: Security system? What does that mean?
DANIELLE: It's purpose it that of any security systems -- to protect something.
KATE: Protect what?
DANIELLE: The island.
First sign that she knows what she's dealing with - she motions to Jack and Kate as if she knows a safe place or way to hide from Smokie. Then she identifies it as a Security System that protects the Island. How does she know so much about it? Because as a former member of THF/DHARMA (pre-split) she's well aware of what it is and what it does. I believe Ben's group has no control over Smokie anymore. Perhaps at one point, when they created it they did (and for all we know, Rousseau (a scientist) could've had a hand in its design); and the "release" or loss of control of Smokie is another event linked to this "incident" mentioned by Dr. Candle in the Swan Orientation film, which could be the result of the split between DHARMA and Hanso.
Now we get to some of the good stuff :D Aka - Ben's "capture" by Danielle.
SAYID: What are you doing here, Danielle?
DANIELLE: Looking for you.
Not looking for "one of you" (she's met Locke and Jack too), no, she wants Sayid in specific to be the one who sees "Henry" all trapped in her net first. She's had a chance to evaluate Sayid to a more fuller extent than the other Losties, and if I'm right, and Ben's "capture" was all a big plan....
SAYID: Where are we going? You said you were looking for me -- what was your plan -- to hide in the woods hoping I would pass you by?
DANIELLE: I was going to wait until dark and find you at your tent.
SAYID: Why? [he stops]
DANIELLE: We need to keep moving.
SAYID: Not until you tell me where we're moving to.
DANIELLE: Trust me.
SAYID: The last time we met you arrived to warn us the Others were coming which they weren't. In fact, it was a diversion to kidnap Claire's baby. So pardon me for not trusting you.
DANIELLE: This place I'm taking you to -- there's something that will help you -- something important. As for trust, take this. [she offers her rifle which Sayid takes] If I'm lying it's yours to use.
More proof she was coming for Sayid in specific as she says she was hoping to wait til dark to get him.
Yes, I believe Rousseau set the fire. She was once one of them so she knows some of their tricks, like how to not leave tracks or "disappear into the jungle" without a trace. She didn't just set the fire to scare the Losties into thinking the Others were coming for Aaron, she was also signaling to Ben and crew that the raft with Walt on it was going to set sail and now was their chance to get him. She's desperate to be reunited with her daughter. At that point, she demonstrated to Ben that she was willing, in a way, to cooperate with them again. So perhaps they met with her and made a "deal" with her. Unfortunately I don't think they'll live up to their end of the deal. I speculate that Ben (or a representative for Ben) told Danielle that if she followed instructions that they would let her back into the fold and reunite her with her daughter. Much like the "deal" that Miss Klugh/Ben struck with Michael. Do you REALLY think that they just LET Michael and Walt just LEAVE? I seriously doubt that. Regardless of what Michael did, Walt knows too much about what's going on, and if that were to get out....well....it would be bad news for THF.
Then she says that "there's something that will help you, something important" - okay, its Ben, the "leader" of the Others (as we assume for the time being until we find out who Jacob is). How is having Ben going to help them? She knows he's not gonna talk, she's trying to convince Sayid that this guy is a bad guy/an Other, when really the plan is for Ben to get in and get up close and personal with some of the Losties, namely Jack and Locke. He's willing to take the beatdown from Sayid to get the info he wants to eventually convince Jack to do the surgery, as well as "work" Locke as well - I'm convinced they want Locke too, but he's gonna be a little harder to get seeing as the OtherOTHERS/Havid givers/controllers of Smokie/the WHISPERS/ANTI-HANSO remnants of the original DHARMA are already helping him see the truth. If he wanted to merely observe, he could've easily done so from the Pearl (or elsewhere for all we know), no, he wanted to get hands on. Rousseau shooting him with the arrow was part of the deal too (imagine this scenario: BEN "okay okay I took your daughter and cast you out, you can shoot me with an arrow when I try to run away. Remember its gotta look believable though." - Ben knows she's a good shot otherwise she wouldn't have let her do it - just picture Locke teaching Walt to throw the knife "see it before it happens, in your minds eye" - Danielle did this as she precisely hit Ben as to not critically wound or kill him.
Now Sayid encounters Ben trapped in Danielle's net:
BEN: Help me!
DANIELLE: Don't believe a word he says.
BEN: Hey!
DANIELLE: He's one of them.
BEN: I have no idea what she's talking about. She's crazy.
SAYID: How long has he been up there?
BEN: Since last night. Please, just cut me down. My name is Henry Gale. I'm from Minnesota. Please.
DANIELLE: He's lying.
SAYID [pulling out his knife]: I'm going to cut him down.
DANIELLE: Don't.
BEN: Thank you.
DANIELLE: You're making a serious mistake.
SAYID [after cutting him down]: It's okay; it's okay. You're alright. Hold on. Take it easy.
[Danielle prepares her cross bow. "Gale" sees her.]
BEN [running]: No.
SAYID: Wait. Danielle, don't!
[Danielle shoots Gale in the shoulder. Sayid runs to him.]
SAYID: You could have killed him.
DANIELLE: If I wanted to kill him, I would have killed him.
SAYID: You shot this man with no provocation.
DANIELLE: He is one of them. Tie him up. You should take him to your doctor. He's no good to you dead.
SAYID [tying him up]: And then what?
DANIELLE: You talk to him, Sayid. As I recall that is what you do. But know this -- he will lie -- a long time. He will lie.
"Don't believe a word he says, he's one of them" - she says this with such certainty as if she knows Ben. Okay, I admit the "striking a deal" bit I mentioned before is a bit of a stretch, but I'm just goin with the flow here :p Point being this again proves that she lied to Sayid in the first place when she said "No, I've never seen other people on this Island". Bull. You seem to be pretty sure about Ben being an "other", Danielle. You also seem to know he's good at lying, like the lies he told them/DHARMA and the "story" of the sickness that he used to get Danielle to kill her team and surrender her baby.
"You should take him to your Doctor, he's no good to you dead" - yeah that and I imagine it would've begun an all out attack on the Losties headed by Pickett had Ben died at the hands of Danielle there. Like she said, if she wanted him dead, she could've done the deed. So now she's lived up to her end of the bargain and got Ben back to the Swan to check up on things and evaluate Jack and Locke. But like I said, she's playing both sides of the coin here, so next she hints at Aaron being sick so that Claire would attempt to remember what happened to her.
CLAIRE: You spent all that time with her when you went out to the Black Rock. You must have talked about something.
KATE: Just about her ship crashing here -- her and her research team getting stranded.
CLAIRE: What happened to them?
KATE: They died.
CLAIRE: How?
KATE: Tracks are gone -- trail ends here.
CLAIRE: Kate, how did they die?
KATE: She killed them.
CLAIRE: What? Why, why would...
DANIELLE [appearing]: Because they were infected. You believe me now, don't you?
CLAIRE: I want you to take me back there.
DANIELLE: Back?
CLAIRE: To where I scratched you.
KATE: Claire.
CLAIRE: No, okay, she knows I remember! I remember a lot of it now. I remember the room, the medicine, a teenage girl. Okay, so don't lie to me and make out you don't know what I'm talking about. My baby is sick and you're going to take me back there to get what he needs. Right now!
DANIELLE: It's not far from here.
Everyone is buying into her shipwrecked story, and until she can prove otherwise, she's still spreading the Others "panic story" about this "sickness". She intentionally left tracks for them to find her. She knows what Claire is going to want to see, and she also knows the location of the Staff, as I suspect she's been in there before but too drugged up to remember. Perhaps she's hoping that if Claire can regain memory of what they did to her, than she might be able to as well, but alas she does not.
[We see Kate, Danielle, and Claire walking through the jungle. Danielle stops.]
CLAIRE: Why are we stopping here?
DANIELLE: This is where you scratched me.
CLAIRE: But there's nothing here.
DANIELLE: Where do we go next?
CLAIRE: Why are you asking me that? You need to tell me where to go.
DANIELLE: Where is this room?!
CLAIRE: How can you be saying that? You grabbed me, that's why I scratched you -- because you were taking me back to them.
DANIELLE: Is that what you think? You said you remembered! That's why I brought you here. You lied! [she grabs Claire]
KATE [pointing her gun]: Hey, get your hands off of her!
[Claire walks off, and Danielle approaches Kate until the barrel of the gun is up against her chest.]
DANIELLE: Go ahead, please. Do it.
Danielle wants proof that Claire remembers more. She's hopeful that if Claire can coherently remember then there is a possibility she might remember as well. Danielle knows where the Staff is, that's why she stops Kate from interfering as Claire discovers it; and remote chance of Claire remembering details (it kinda pays off a little as Claire tells Danielle about the teenage girl (Alex) who helped her escape.
CLAIRE [walking]: I know this is it.
KATE: Claire!
DANIELLE: Leave her alone.
KATE: Excuse me!
DANIELLE: Let her look.
KATE: Look for what? Claire! Claire!
Also, she's a good judge of character. From her experiences with Kate so far, she assesed that she's not the killing type and pulls the "go ahead, shoot me now" bit knowing full well Kate won't shoot her.
Now that all of her dialogue has been analyzed, lets go back and look at her little "distress transmission":
"If anybody can hear this, they are dead. Please help us! I'll try to go as far as the Black Rock (http://www.losttv-forum.com/wiki/Black_Rock). It [or He] killed them. It [or He] killed them all. It [or He] is outside. It [or He] is outside and Brennan took the keys. Please help us. They are dead. They are all dead. Help us. They are dead."
Like George Carlin ripped apart the airline safety lecture, I will do the same here.
Lets start at the beginning - "If anybody can hear this" - as a member/former member of DHARMA, Danielle is aware that the transmissions from the radio tower can only be recieved by the Hanso Foundation. I mentioned before that her team (what was left of it) had to do something to alter the transmission signal so that it could be recieved outside THF. They succeeded because "if anybody can hear this" means she has hopes that someone besides THF will hear her transmission.
The next two things she says conflict with each other - "they are dead. Please help us" - now, later she adds "they are ALL dead". My question is this - who is this "US" she refers to? "Please help US" implies that she's not alone. But if THEY are ALL DEAD, how is there still an "US"?
"I'll try to go as far as the Black Rock" - now this sounds like she's giving her location away. Who knows where the Black Rock is? Whoever drew the Blast Door Map sure does. Also, THF knows, as Magnus' arrival on the Island (somehow) on the Black Rock is IMO what began the legacy of the Hanso's on the Island. There has to be someone else who knows the location of the Black Rock that she was hoping would hear this transmission. Could it be Eye-Patch Guy?
Now I'll look at this both ways, the "HE" translation and the "IT" translation, for the next part.
Lets start with "HE" - "He killed them, he killed them all. He is outside." Well we know of one guy who has the killing attitude - Pickett. But Ben has professed "we're not murderers". So who did the killing if we're talking about a "HE" here? Someone also had to kill the REAL Henry Gale too, buried him as well. So if Ben's group isn't doing the killing, who is? Answer - Ben is LYING AGAIN about the killings. Ethan was in Ben's crew, he killed Scott and tried to hang Charlie. Okay, Ben may not have killed Henry directly, but he and his crew aren't above a little murder if they deem it necessary.
Now for the "IT" version - "It killed them, it killed them all. It is outside." The first thing that comes to mind is Smokie. But now another question I have is who was it that was killed here? From what Danielle said, SHE killed her team because they were sick, so who does that leave? Unless of course Danielle was LYING about her team, and there were more than 6 of them, and NO shipwreck. She was a member of a much larger community of DHARMA scientists - that's who was killed. This was THF's final attempt to wipe out the opposition (those DHARMA scientists who realized they were duped and the whole project was a scam to get them to further the "Hanso Initiative" (whatever that might end up being)). This also begs the question - who, if anyone, is controlling Smokie now? If it is what "killed them all" then at that point it was under THF's control in a sense, but now, it seems to be helping the Losties in a way (appearing to Jack and leading him to water, helping Locke find the Pearl, etc) very similar to what I think Danielle is kinda doing. She's just not telling them the whole story....yet.
This final part I've been itching to get at this whole time - "It/He is outside. Brennan took the keys" - we've covered the He/It outside, it's BRENNAN/Brandon/Brendon and the KEYS that I want to discuss here. Goin on the belief that Danielle was a member of DHARMA, I believe the KEYS she's referring to are the DHARMA FAILSAFE KEYS for the stations (at least the Swan).
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/truffula/Random%20Pics/FAILSAFEKEY.jpg
Brennan failed because THF/Ben's crew were able to regain the keys and reinstate the projects, only with their guidelines, not those originally intended by DHARMA. Radzinsky was probably one of the first "new" recruits/test subjects.
In closing, I believe I have proven that Danielle Rousseau is a liar who knows alot more than she's telling, and was/is a member of the DHARMA Initiative.
By all means we have many weeks to kill here.....please....
Discuss On. :D
Peace,
Truff
*transcripts were taken from Spooky's transcripts except for the French Transmission translation which came from Lostpedia*
Now lets analyze what we know, piece by piece through all the lies and inconsistencies from this woman:
DANIELLE: You just happened to hear my distress call? I know what you are.
Danielle knows that the transmission can/should only be able to be recieved by the Hanso Foundation. I don't think she' knows about the contents of the crate in the Arrow bunker (the transciever). The "I know what you are" implies that she thinks he's a member of THF, not DHARMA, but THF. She changed the transmission in hopes that the Foundation would come to her aid, but after several years, I think she gave up hope and realized that the Foundation didn't care about her, and was her enemy like Ben and the Others. More indication of this here:
SAYID: Rousseau.
DANIELLE:How do you know my name?
Before Sayid can answer, she's already suspicious of how he knows her name. Perhaps she knows of the Others liking for the making of Lists. This fuels her notion that he's a Hanso mole.
SAYID: What is this place? Those batteries -- they wouldn't be able to produce enough power to transmit your distress call all these years.
DANIELLE: It broadcasts from somewhere else. But they control it now.
SAYID: They?
DANIELLE: You. And the others like you.
Another indication that she was a member of DHARMA. The radio tower was set up to transmit the core factors of the Valenzetti equation, controlled by DHARMA. But once DHARMA realized they were being used by THF for whatever means, there was an "incident" a split in groups (I detail this in my Others vs OTHERS thread), thus "they" control it now. And the following statement "You and the others like you" - meaning THF moles. Another thing, if THEY controlled it now, don't you think they would've gotten rid of her distress call?
SAYID: I didn't know you were alive.
DANIELLE: Still lying.
She's really convinced that he's a Hanso Operative, and that he knew she was still alive (Hanso probably kept accurate records of who was sent to HIS Island). She knows they "watch"/gather intelligence from outside the Island (we've seen their ability to do this with Jack's file and the knowledge of Sayid being Iraqi and Sun's full name)
DANIELLE: It's a music box, but it's broken. It has been for a long time. It was a gift from my love for our anniversary.
SAYID: You mean Alex?
DANIELLE: Robert. This was such a comfort to me in the first few years here.
This is a test. She's not an idiot. She could've fixed that music box if she wanted to. She wanted to gauge Sayid's ability as well as his personality. Also, dropping a name "Robert", allegedly her husband who she later killed.
And now the biggest lie of them all. The "Story". They're good at this. Remember Ben's quote to Ethan and Goodwin as he sent them to the crash sites of flight 815 "Make up a story", not to mention Ben's "my name is Henry Gale and I'm from Minnesota" story. Also in TLE, the Hanso Foundation is very good at coming up with "cover stories" as they trick innocent villagers into being unwilling test subjects for their worldwide virus "So when you go in, you have to keep up the story. You know it by heart. Don't waiver".
DANIELLE: We were part of a science team.
SAYID: A science team armed with rifles? Was Robert on the team?
DANIELLE: Yes.
SAYID: And Alex, was he, too?
DANIELLE:Our vessel was 3 days out of Tahiti when our instruments malfunctioned. It was night, a storm, the sounds. The ship slammed into rocks, ran aground, the hull breached beyond repair. So, we made camp, dug out this temporary shelter. Temporary. Nearly 2 months we survived here, 2 months before --
First off, if I had some dude calling my daughter a "HE", I would've made that correction immediately. I guess that's just part of the writers keeping us in suspense. Nevertheless....here comes one of the BIGGEST incinsistancies in Danielle's story:
- "The ship slammed into rocks and ran aground" WHERE? If the Black Rock can survive all this time, surely a ship like the one Rousseau's team was on would've been visible at some point? I mean, Kelvin was able to salvage Desmond's small sailboat, it sure sounds like Rousseau's ship was a little bit larger than that (for an alleged team of 6 people). So I say - THERE WAS NO SHIP. She was ALREADY THERE as a member of DHARMA. Perhaps it was even her pregnancy that caused Ben and crew to pay closer attention to her. They seem to want the children with NO MOTHER (according to Alex, they were gonna kill Claire once they had Aaron)
- "Nearly 2 months we survived here" - so she was 7 months pregnant when they "arrived" and they "took" Alex within a week of her birth.
SAYID: Your distress signal? The message I heard, you said, "It killed them all."
DANIELLE: We were coming back from the Black Rock. It was them. They were the carriers.
SAYID: Who were the carriers?
DANIELLE: The others.
SAYID: What others? What is the Black Rock? Have you seen other people on this island?
DANIELLE: No, but I hear them. Out there, in the jungle. They whisper. You think I'm insane.
SAYID: I think you've been alone for too long.
This whole thing here is one big LIE. Not to mention she dodges some questions too. Lets start with "we were coming from the Black Rock" - she knows of this place, and I strongly believe that the overhead map that we call "Rousseau's Map" is actually MAGNUS HANSO's Map that she took from the Black Rock and made additional notations on.
Now there was much debate as to the translation of Danielle's "distress transmission", in French, both "he" and "it" could be put in as part of the translation. In Danielle's quote above, she refers to "IT" - "it was THEM". The "carriers" if she means sickness, is a LIE; however, they could be the carriers of something else, like a superhuman gene (I know I know, I want this to tie into HEROES so bad :p)
And the dodged questions "What Others?" "What is the Black Rock?" - she doesn't want to give up that information so readily. She knows who the "others" are, and she sure as hell knows what the Black Rock is. Even a quick "the Black Rock is a massive slave ship in the middle of the jungle" would bring forth too many questions for her to deal with, so she remains silent. I'm not sure she knows the extent of the history of the Black Rock, only that its there and that Magnus Hanso was involved. It could even be the revelation of what the Black Rock means to the Island (in terms of Hanso's objectives vs DHARMA's objectives) that caused the split. Danielle's transmission says that they were coming from the Black Rock when they came for her and her team. This is probably where Montan lost his arm. Some sort of battle between factions.
The BIGGEST LIE OF THEM ALL: "Have you seen other people on this Island?" - "NO, but I hear them whisper". What a bunch of LIES!!! She's seen other people on the Island for sure. Especially cause I consider her a former DHARMA scientist. She knows Ben, probably Juliet too; hell, the reason Ben and Juliet aren't "on the same page" could be because of Ben's ousting of Rousseau and DHARMA. When she captured Ben, she KNEW him, and what he was capable of doing in the lying department. They're all very good at deception in one way or the other. The shanty town, the hillbilly clothes/fake beard, the pacemaker, Rousseau's explanation of how she got to the Island, etc. You get my point.
But within this LIE there is some truth - the WHISPERS. She's trying to help him, but not directly. She's playing both sides I think. She very well could've explained the ENTIRE situation to Sayid in this first encounter, but then we wouldn't have alot of show left if they answered all this right away. :p I think the WHISPERS are part of the "good guys" not Ben's crew, and have been trying to help the Losties in what little capacity they can for now.
[They hear sounds outside and Danielle picks up a rifle and heads to the hatch.]
SAYID: Where are you going?
DANIELLE:If we're lucky, it's one of the bears.
"One of the bears" she says. She knows there are more than one. Another indication she was aware of DHARMA's projects. I even suspect SHE was the one who let the bears loose in the first place; once she found out what was REALLY going on. Perhaps part of her escape plan to release the bears to create an extra distraction for those trying to find her.
DANIELLE:The firing pin has been removed. Robert didn't notice it was missing, either -- when I shot him.
SAYID: But you loved him.
DANIELLE: He was sick.
SAYID: Sick?
DANIELLE: It took them, one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost.
SAYID: You killed them.
DANIELLE: What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't.
[Sayid throws the rifle down.]
SAYID: I'm not sick.
DANIELLE:I know.
Okay, big question here - WHAT took them? There is NO SICKNESS. That is a cover story. The only explanations I can think of is either she's talkin about Smokie, or they drugged up Danielle on whatever it was they drugged up Claire with so she wouldn't remember (the icky stuff in the canteen). Though Rousseau was alot more suspicious at this point so they probably increased the dosage compared to what they gave Claire.
"What would've happened if we were rescued?" - Hanso would be exposed, and this is a very wealthy and powerful man with many global connections namely Paik and Widmore (Paik confirmed in TLE, Widmore is pure speculation on my behalf). He's kept his "Island project" a secret for so long, he'll be damned if he's gonna let this French woman screw it all up for him. Danielle still believes there is a "sickness", she bought into their story in every way. She's gonna need proof otherwise before she changes her opinion on this one.
And how would she know Sayid wasn't "sick"? Because she's not on the psychotropic drugs that the Hanso foundation produces that would make her hallucinate and be easily coerced into the belief of some "sickness". But the mental impact of those drugs has convinced her that there IS a "sickness".
DANIELLE:Your people -- the one's you're determined to get back to -- watch them, watch them closely.
Correct she was on this one. And this advice paid off. Sayid was the one to notice Michael's odd behaviour and suggest to Jack that he had been compromised. She knows about the Others capabilities to infiltrate and obtain information. I really hope that Danielle and EyePatchGuy are in cahoots and are good guys. That would be so cool. :)
Now, in her brief conversation with Hurely in "Numbers" she does the same routine, alot of lies with a little truth buried in there if you know where to look:
HURLEY: Look, I came here to find -- [he reaches for his pocket; Danielle aims her rifle] oh, easy, easy, easy. I'm just getting your notes. Please, tell me why you wrote this. What do these numbers mean? Please.
DANIELLE: I don't know.
HURLEY: What? You don't know? Okay, that thing in the woods, maybe it's a monster, maybe it's a pissed off giraffe, I don't know. The fact that no one is even looking for us, yeah, that's weird, but I just go along with it because I'm along for the ride, good old fun time Hurley. Well guess what? Now, I want some friggin' answers.
DANIELLE [lowering her rifle]: Our ship picked up a transmission -- a voice repeating those numbers. We changed course to investigate. After we shipwrecked my team continued to search for the transmission source. It was weeks before we found the radio tower.
HURLEY: There's a radio tower on this island?
DANIELLE: Yes, up by the Black Rock. Some of us continued to search for the meaning of those numbers while we waited for rescue. But then the sickness came. When my team was gone, I went back up to the tower and changed the transmission.
HURLEY: The distress signal we heard?
DANIELLE: Yes.
HURLEY: But the numbers -- did you ever find out anything about them? Do you know where they got their power?
DANIELLE: Power?
HURLEY: They bring bad stuff to everyone around you. They're cursed. You know that, right? The numbers, they're cursed.
DANIELLE: Numbers are what brought me here. As it appears they brought you. Since that time I've lost everything, everyone I cared about. So yes, I suppose you're right. They are cursed.
This right here is one of the biggest tips to the reveal of the Numbers meaning in TLE.
Danielle doesn't know what the numbers mean - they can't figure out how to change any of the variables. Then she lies. Continues the story about her ship picking up a transmission that only Hanso can recieve. I suspect what Lenny and Sam heard at their listening post was Rousseau and crew attempting to figure out how to change the transmission. It took them a while; they probably had some resistance - Danielle's transmission was recorded at the radio tower itself where she'd locked herself in saying "they are outside". So the broadcast was now able to be heard by others outside of THF if they knew where to look or were (un)lucky to stumble upon them, until Danielle successfully changed the transmission.
Now she starts to give away more than she should have : (the location of the radio tower) "up by the Black Rock"..."some of us continued to search for the meaning of those numbers (the core factors of the Valenzetti Equation) - then the "incident" occurred. Somehow Ben/Jacob and crew figured out that eventually through whatever it was they were doing, that Rousseau and crew were going to figure out that they'd been duped.
"But then the sickness came" - they began to drug her (much like Ethan did to Claire in her sleep). And in a very short time, she killed them all....did the Others dirty work. "We're not killers" says Ben (in I forget what episode). They manipulate.
And this here SCREAMS of the Valenzetti Equation:
HURLEY: But the numbers -- did you ever find out anything about them? Do you know where they got their power?
DANIELLE: Power?
HURLEY: They bring bad stuff to everyone around you. They're cursed. You know that, right? The numbers, they're cursed.
DANIELLE: Numbers are what brought me here. As it appears they brought you. Since that time I've lost everything, everyone I cared about. So yes, I suppose you're right. They are cursed.
"The Numbers are what brought me here" - TRUTH - but not as you said. You were brought there to change one of those Numbers, Danielle. It's time to end the lie. And of course they're CURSED!!! They are the core factors in an equation that predicts the end of humanity!!
So after this, she disappears until Exodus, where she tries to help the Others plan in an effort to rejoin them or at least be reuinited with her daughter.
DANIELLE: Our ship went aground on this island 16 years ago. There were 6 of us -- my team, 6. At that time I was already 7 months pregnant. I delivered the infant myself. The baby and I were together for only 1 week when I saw black smoke -- a pillar of black smoke 5 kilometers inland. That night they came -- they came and took her -- Alex. They took my baby. And now, they're coming again. They're coming for all of you.
Again, LIES. Here is where the timeline just doesn't add up.
7 out of 9 months pregnant, yet she delivered the baby herself?? From her previous story to Sayid, it took "THEM" weeks to find the source of the transmission, and even after that the remaining members were trying to figure out the Numbers. Sorry, Danielle, you blew this cover story. Also, "THEY" came and took her....um....I thought you said you didn't see anyone else on this Island?? Again, this whole shipwreck story is a great big LIE.
The Hanso Foundation and DHARMA were recruiting the worlds greatest minds for this project - altering the Valenzetti Equation - in the Orientation film, Alvar states that "after your induction counseling and training, you and your colleagues will be shipped to a Top Secret facility" - so she technically isnt lying about being "shipped" there, just the "shipwrecked" part is a bunch of bull.
Oh, and "5 kilometers inland" - gee, you're pretty good a gauging distance. We see more examples of this in the future...
Then she comes to warn them about the "Others" coming for them ALL!! Whoah, what a scare tactic!
JACK: How many of them are there?
DANIELLE: I told you all I know.
SAYID: There has to be more you tell us. How did you know?
DANIELLE: You have a bigger problem. I can vanish into the jungle, but I'm just one person. You have 40 people. Where will you hide them?
Yeah, yeah, yeah,....run, hide, or die. Nice ultimatum. "I told you all I know" - LIE. And then she dodges the question again, but also leads them to the discovery of whats inside the Swan "Where will you hide them?" she says. After that they show her the dug up Swan Hatch. She wants them to know about DHARMA and their history. She wants them on HER side when she eventually tries to rescue her daughter. And what's next? Of course, she shows them how to open the door to the Swan with the Dynamite. She could've just shown them the front door, but its all part of the psychological challenge (I assume some aspect that DHARMA was studying about the human condition, oh yes, that's the word - HEURISTICS).
Now they show Danielle the dug up Swan Hatch:
[We see Danielle, Jack, Hurley, Locke and Sayid at the hatch.]
HURLEY: Dude. Whoa.
DANIELLE: What is this?
JACK: We were hoping you could tell us.
HURLEY: Uh, question -- how do we know we can all, like, fit in there?
LOCKE: No handle on the outside, means there must be another way in -- another entrance means space.
SAYID: This is a mistake. We don't know anything about these others. We're reacting with no information, no intelligence. This hatch might even be theirs. Black smoke on the horizon doesn't mean they're...
DANIELLE: It means they're coming.
JACK: Yeah, we got that.
LOCKE: You booby-trapped your shelter with explosives. You have any more?
DANIELLE: Dynamite, by the Black Rock, in the dark territory.
HURLEY: Well, that's 3 reasons to go right there.
DANIELLE: If we're to make it back by sunset we have to leave within the hour.
"What is this?" - yeah right. Nice try. And she's really quick to cut off Sayid about the significance of the black smoke of the horizon. Again, she demonstrated her knowledge of distance on the Island by saying that to make it to the Black Rock and back to the Swan before sunset they'd have to leave soon - so she KNOWS about BOTH locations. Oh, and this whole "Dark Territory" is just a scare tactic to keep the Losties from exploring that region and finding things that could hinder her plan to get back at Ben/THF for taking her child/kicking her out
[They come to a piece of black fabric hanging from a branch.]
DANIELLE: Le Territoire Fonce.
JACK: The Dark Territory.
DANIELLE: The Black Rock is not far. This is where it all began -- where my team got infected -- where Montan lost his arm. We must move quickly.
This is where THF said we're taking them out. Replace the word "infected" with "attacked" and that fits alot better. So what, we're to believe that this location where Montan loses his arm began the spreading of this "infection"? All of a sudden his arm was so infected that it had to be cut off? I highly doubt that. The Black Rock seems to be a protected object if it's located in this "Dark Territory"....the only reason it was unguarded was because they WANTED them to see it, to get the dynamite to get into the Hatch. Just like they WANTED Sayid to find the decoy village. They have a MASTER PLAN.
[We hear the sounds of the monster and see Arzt running around. Danielle runs into a bamboo stand.]
DANIELLE[motioning to Kate and Jack]: Here, in here.
HURLEY: Dude, we've got to book.
LOCKE: Wait. It's headed the other way.
[The rain stops.]
DANIELLE: We're safe now.
KATE: What was that thing?
DANIELLE: It's a security system.
JACK: Security system? What does that mean?
DANIELLE: It's purpose it that of any security systems -- to protect something.
KATE: Protect what?
DANIELLE: The island.
First sign that she knows what she's dealing with - she motions to Jack and Kate as if she knows a safe place or way to hide from Smokie. Then she identifies it as a Security System that protects the Island. How does she know so much about it? Because as a former member of THF/DHARMA (pre-split) she's well aware of what it is and what it does. I believe Ben's group has no control over Smokie anymore. Perhaps at one point, when they created it they did (and for all we know, Rousseau (a scientist) could've had a hand in its design); and the "release" or loss of control of Smokie is another event linked to this "incident" mentioned by Dr. Candle in the Swan Orientation film, which could be the result of the split between DHARMA and Hanso.
Now we get to some of the good stuff :D Aka - Ben's "capture" by Danielle.
SAYID: What are you doing here, Danielle?
DANIELLE: Looking for you.
Not looking for "one of you" (she's met Locke and Jack too), no, she wants Sayid in specific to be the one who sees "Henry" all trapped in her net first. She's had a chance to evaluate Sayid to a more fuller extent than the other Losties, and if I'm right, and Ben's "capture" was all a big plan....
SAYID: Where are we going? You said you were looking for me -- what was your plan -- to hide in the woods hoping I would pass you by?
DANIELLE: I was going to wait until dark and find you at your tent.
SAYID: Why? [he stops]
DANIELLE: We need to keep moving.
SAYID: Not until you tell me where we're moving to.
DANIELLE: Trust me.
SAYID: The last time we met you arrived to warn us the Others were coming which they weren't. In fact, it was a diversion to kidnap Claire's baby. So pardon me for not trusting you.
DANIELLE: This place I'm taking you to -- there's something that will help you -- something important. As for trust, take this. [she offers her rifle which Sayid takes] If I'm lying it's yours to use.
More proof she was coming for Sayid in specific as she says she was hoping to wait til dark to get him.
Yes, I believe Rousseau set the fire. She was once one of them so she knows some of their tricks, like how to not leave tracks or "disappear into the jungle" without a trace. She didn't just set the fire to scare the Losties into thinking the Others were coming for Aaron, she was also signaling to Ben and crew that the raft with Walt on it was going to set sail and now was their chance to get him. She's desperate to be reunited with her daughter. At that point, she demonstrated to Ben that she was willing, in a way, to cooperate with them again. So perhaps they met with her and made a "deal" with her. Unfortunately I don't think they'll live up to their end of the deal. I speculate that Ben (or a representative for Ben) told Danielle that if she followed instructions that they would let her back into the fold and reunite her with her daughter. Much like the "deal" that Miss Klugh/Ben struck with Michael. Do you REALLY think that they just LET Michael and Walt just LEAVE? I seriously doubt that. Regardless of what Michael did, Walt knows too much about what's going on, and if that were to get out....well....it would be bad news for THF.
Then she says that "there's something that will help you, something important" - okay, its Ben, the "leader" of the Others (as we assume for the time being until we find out who Jacob is). How is having Ben going to help them? She knows he's not gonna talk, she's trying to convince Sayid that this guy is a bad guy/an Other, when really the plan is for Ben to get in and get up close and personal with some of the Losties, namely Jack and Locke. He's willing to take the beatdown from Sayid to get the info he wants to eventually convince Jack to do the surgery, as well as "work" Locke as well - I'm convinced they want Locke too, but he's gonna be a little harder to get seeing as the OtherOTHERS/Havid givers/controllers of Smokie/the WHISPERS/ANTI-HANSO remnants of the original DHARMA are already helping him see the truth. If he wanted to merely observe, he could've easily done so from the Pearl (or elsewhere for all we know), no, he wanted to get hands on. Rousseau shooting him with the arrow was part of the deal too (imagine this scenario: BEN "okay okay I took your daughter and cast you out, you can shoot me with an arrow when I try to run away. Remember its gotta look believable though." - Ben knows she's a good shot otherwise she wouldn't have let her do it - just picture Locke teaching Walt to throw the knife "see it before it happens, in your minds eye" - Danielle did this as she precisely hit Ben as to not critically wound or kill him.
Now Sayid encounters Ben trapped in Danielle's net:
BEN: Help me!
DANIELLE: Don't believe a word he says.
BEN: Hey!
DANIELLE: He's one of them.
BEN: I have no idea what she's talking about. She's crazy.
SAYID: How long has he been up there?
BEN: Since last night. Please, just cut me down. My name is Henry Gale. I'm from Minnesota. Please.
DANIELLE: He's lying.
SAYID [pulling out his knife]: I'm going to cut him down.
DANIELLE: Don't.
BEN: Thank you.
DANIELLE: You're making a serious mistake.
SAYID [after cutting him down]: It's okay; it's okay. You're alright. Hold on. Take it easy.
[Danielle prepares her cross bow. "Gale" sees her.]
BEN [running]: No.
SAYID: Wait. Danielle, don't!
[Danielle shoots Gale in the shoulder. Sayid runs to him.]
SAYID: You could have killed him.
DANIELLE: If I wanted to kill him, I would have killed him.
SAYID: You shot this man with no provocation.
DANIELLE: He is one of them. Tie him up. You should take him to your doctor. He's no good to you dead.
SAYID [tying him up]: And then what?
DANIELLE: You talk to him, Sayid. As I recall that is what you do. But know this -- he will lie -- a long time. He will lie.
"Don't believe a word he says, he's one of them" - she says this with such certainty as if she knows Ben. Okay, I admit the "striking a deal" bit I mentioned before is a bit of a stretch, but I'm just goin with the flow here :p Point being this again proves that she lied to Sayid in the first place when she said "No, I've never seen other people on this Island". Bull. You seem to be pretty sure about Ben being an "other", Danielle. You also seem to know he's good at lying, like the lies he told them/DHARMA and the "story" of the sickness that he used to get Danielle to kill her team and surrender her baby.
"You should take him to your Doctor, he's no good to you dead" - yeah that and I imagine it would've begun an all out attack on the Losties headed by Pickett had Ben died at the hands of Danielle there. Like she said, if she wanted him dead, she could've done the deed. So now she's lived up to her end of the bargain and got Ben back to the Swan to check up on things and evaluate Jack and Locke. But like I said, she's playing both sides of the coin here, so next she hints at Aaron being sick so that Claire would attempt to remember what happened to her.
CLAIRE: You spent all that time with her when you went out to the Black Rock. You must have talked about something.
KATE: Just about her ship crashing here -- her and her research team getting stranded.
CLAIRE: What happened to them?
KATE: They died.
CLAIRE: How?
KATE: Tracks are gone -- trail ends here.
CLAIRE: Kate, how did they die?
KATE: She killed them.
CLAIRE: What? Why, why would...
DANIELLE [appearing]: Because they were infected. You believe me now, don't you?
CLAIRE: I want you to take me back there.
DANIELLE: Back?
CLAIRE: To where I scratched you.
KATE: Claire.
CLAIRE: No, okay, she knows I remember! I remember a lot of it now. I remember the room, the medicine, a teenage girl. Okay, so don't lie to me and make out you don't know what I'm talking about. My baby is sick and you're going to take me back there to get what he needs. Right now!
DANIELLE: It's not far from here.
Everyone is buying into her shipwrecked story, and until she can prove otherwise, she's still spreading the Others "panic story" about this "sickness". She intentionally left tracks for them to find her. She knows what Claire is going to want to see, and she also knows the location of the Staff, as I suspect she's been in there before but too drugged up to remember. Perhaps she's hoping that if Claire can regain memory of what they did to her, than she might be able to as well, but alas she does not.
[We see Kate, Danielle, and Claire walking through the jungle. Danielle stops.]
CLAIRE: Why are we stopping here?
DANIELLE: This is where you scratched me.
CLAIRE: But there's nothing here.
DANIELLE: Where do we go next?
CLAIRE: Why are you asking me that? You need to tell me where to go.
DANIELLE: Where is this room?!
CLAIRE: How can you be saying that? You grabbed me, that's why I scratched you -- because you were taking me back to them.
DANIELLE: Is that what you think? You said you remembered! That's why I brought you here. You lied! [she grabs Claire]
KATE [pointing her gun]: Hey, get your hands off of her!
[Claire walks off, and Danielle approaches Kate until the barrel of the gun is up against her chest.]
DANIELLE: Go ahead, please. Do it.
Danielle wants proof that Claire remembers more. She's hopeful that if Claire can coherently remember then there is a possibility she might remember as well. Danielle knows where the Staff is, that's why she stops Kate from interfering as Claire discovers it; and remote chance of Claire remembering details (it kinda pays off a little as Claire tells Danielle about the teenage girl (Alex) who helped her escape.
CLAIRE [walking]: I know this is it.
KATE: Claire!
DANIELLE: Leave her alone.
KATE: Excuse me!
DANIELLE: Let her look.
KATE: Look for what? Claire! Claire!
Also, she's a good judge of character. From her experiences with Kate so far, she assesed that she's not the killing type and pulls the "go ahead, shoot me now" bit knowing full well Kate won't shoot her.
Now that all of her dialogue has been analyzed, lets go back and look at her little "distress transmission":
"If anybody can hear this, they are dead. Please help us! I'll try to go as far as the Black Rock (http://www.losttv-forum.com/wiki/Black_Rock). It [or He] killed them. It [or He] killed them all. It [or He] is outside. It [or He] is outside and Brennan took the keys. Please help us. They are dead. They are all dead. Help us. They are dead."
Like George Carlin ripped apart the airline safety lecture, I will do the same here.
Lets start at the beginning - "If anybody can hear this" - as a member/former member of DHARMA, Danielle is aware that the transmissions from the radio tower can only be recieved by the Hanso Foundation. I mentioned before that her team (what was left of it) had to do something to alter the transmission signal so that it could be recieved outside THF. They succeeded because "if anybody can hear this" means she has hopes that someone besides THF will hear her transmission.
The next two things she says conflict with each other - "they are dead. Please help us" - now, later she adds "they are ALL dead". My question is this - who is this "US" she refers to? "Please help US" implies that she's not alone. But if THEY are ALL DEAD, how is there still an "US"?
"I'll try to go as far as the Black Rock" - now this sounds like she's giving her location away. Who knows where the Black Rock is? Whoever drew the Blast Door Map sure does. Also, THF knows, as Magnus' arrival on the Island (somehow) on the Black Rock is IMO what began the legacy of the Hanso's on the Island. There has to be someone else who knows the location of the Black Rock that she was hoping would hear this transmission. Could it be Eye-Patch Guy?
Now I'll look at this both ways, the "HE" translation and the "IT" translation, for the next part.
Lets start with "HE" - "He killed them, he killed them all. He is outside." Well we know of one guy who has the killing attitude - Pickett. But Ben has professed "we're not murderers". So who did the killing if we're talking about a "HE" here? Someone also had to kill the REAL Henry Gale too, buried him as well. So if Ben's group isn't doing the killing, who is? Answer - Ben is LYING AGAIN about the killings. Ethan was in Ben's crew, he killed Scott and tried to hang Charlie. Okay, Ben may not have killed Henry directly, but he and his crew aren't above a little murder if they deem it necessary.
Now for the "IT" version - "It killed them, it killed them all. It is outside." The first thing that comes to mind is Smokie. But now another question I have is who was it that was killed here? From what Danielle said, SHE killed her team because they were sick, so who does that leave? Unless of course Danielle was LYING about her team, and there were more than 6 of them, and NO shipwreck. She was a member of a much larger community of DHARMA scientists - that's who was killed. This was THF's final attempt to wipe out the opposition (those DHARMA scientists who realized they were duped and the whole project was a scam to get them to further the "Hanso Initiative" (whatever that might end up being)). This also begs the question - who, if anyone, is controlling Smokie now? If it is what "killed them all" then at that point it was under THF's control in a sense, but now, it seems to be helping the Losties in a way (appearing to Jack and leading him to water, helping Locke find the Pearl, etc) very similar to what I think Danielle is kinda doing. She's just not telling them the whole story....yet.
This final part I've been itching to get at this whole time - "It/He is outside. Brennan took the keys" - we've covered the He/It outside, it's BRENNAN/Brandon/Brendon and the KEYS that I want to discuss here. Goin on the belief that Danielle was a member of DHARMA, I believe the KEYS she's referring to are the DHARMA FAILSAFE KEYS for the stations (at least the Swan).
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e41/truffula/Random%20Pics/FAILSAFEKEY.jpg
Brennan failed because THF/Ben's crew were able to regain the keys and reinstate the projects, only with their guidelines, not those originally intended by DHARMA. Radzinsky was probably one of the first "new" recruits/test subjects.
In closing, I believe I have proven that Danielle Rousseau is a liar who knows alot more than she's telling, and was/is a member of the DHARMA Initiative.
By all means we have many weeks to kill here.....please....
Discuss On. :D
Peace,
Truff