Minkowski

[TheGoodPeople]

The last time we heard from Minkowski was on the phone about 2 days ago, right? does it make sense that he would go from communications officer to strapped to a bed in a manner of hours. is time wrong on the boat too. I'm still trying to figure out this whole episode. i thought id post this so the east coasters could think about it by the time i wake up tomorrow.

maybe there is no real time difference on the island but time slows down when you are trying to enter or exit the island.

[Maxor127]

Wish I had an answer.  I'm wondering the same thing.  Surprised he died so soon too.  He was the most recognizable new actor to me besides Fahey and Faraday.

[WhatThe]

Maybe Minkowski had been doing the time/consciousness traveling for awhile, but had just recently been having the convulsions and nose bleeds and such, so they took him to the medical room and eventually had to strap him down for his own good (or so they believed)?

[Sweet Old Lady]

Minkowski didn't have someone to tell him about the need for a constant.  Maybe that's why he died, like Eloise.

[ericd543]

Maybe he's not dead, like Patchy. ;-)

[TheGoodPeople]

Yeeeaaaahhhh......   

[lostfromthestart]

He's dead.

[cablecopulate]

I always got the feeling he was kind of a head honcho on the boat. Then we meet him and he's just the communications officer. If that's the case, why did they want to talk to him when they'd call the boat? If all he was going to do was connect them to who they needed, why did it matter who answered? For that matter, why did it matter not to put him on speakerphone. But if they did need him, why him?

[Jugdish]

In the episode they said it happened to him two days ago. Remember that they could not get in touch with him. That is because he was in the sick ward. They explained it very clearly.

[casino]

I always got the feeling he was kind of a head honcho on the boat. Then we meet him and he's just the communications officer. If that's the case, why did they want to talk to him when they'd call the boat? If all he was going to do was connect them to who they needed, why did it matter who answered? For that matter, why did it matter not to put him on speakerphone. But if they did need him, why him?

I don't think they wanted anyone to talk to him because they thought he might be going crazy.  He probably wasn't dangerous enough at the time for them to pull him off his job, but I think he was probably being quirky enough that they didn't want him talking to the Losties.  It probably went from "trust him" to "watch him and don't let him answer the phone" to "strap him down."

[cablecopulate]

The people on the boat knew he was going loopy, the people on the island had no idea. So why would Frank say not to put Minkowski on speakerphone? I realize they are supersecretive, but what importance did Minkowski have, if he was basically the ship operator? It was like when they called the boat, he was who they ultimately needed to talk to. Almost like he was the man in charge. But he wasn't.

[Shivy]

I think he asked to be taken off speaker phone cause he wanted to tell Dan what was happening to him.

Also, Q- why can Mikowski recognize what's going on in his present and other life but Desmond can't?  Minkowski knew what he was, why he was there, etc. and also knew were his mind was going.  This is very different from what Desmond was going through. 

[casino]

The last time we heard from Minkowski was on the phone about 2 days ago, right? does it make sense that he would go from communications officer to strapped to a bed in a manner of hours. is time wrong on the boat too. I'm still trying to figure out this whole episode. i thought id post this so the east coasters could think about it by the time i wake up tomorrow.

maybe there is no real time difference on the island but time slows down when you are trying to enter or exit the island.

I think the last part you said is dead on.  Time on the Island is the same as time off the Island, but when you travel back and forth things get crazy.  So, you leave the Island at dawn, and it's supposed to take you 30 minutes to get to the ship that is 40 miles away. you only feel like you are in the air for 30 minutes and the helicopter only burns 30 minutes worth of fuel and you only travel 40 miles, but somehow you arrive in the middle of the next day.

As for Minowski, he said that the things seemed to get worse exponentially, and Desmond wasn't even on the ship for a day before things speeded up and his nose started bleeding, so it's not hard to believe Minowski went from perfectly fine to strapped down to dead in two days.

[casino]

I think he asked to be taken off speaker phone cause he wanted to tell Dan what was happening to him.

Also, Q- why can Mikowski recognize what's going on in his present and other life but Desmond can't?  Minkowski knew what he was, why he was there, etc. and also knew were his mind was going.  This is very different from what Desmond was going through. 

Because future Minowski is travelling back to past Minowski, and we are seeing future Minowski.  Future Minowski started out on the freighter...let's say that's his "home base", so when we see him he knows where he is.  Desmond's case is the opposite.  Past Desmond is flashing into future Desmond, and past Desmond has never been on the freighter or met Sayid or whatnot.  His "home base" is in 1996, so he knows what is going on when he is there but not on the freighter.
 

[Roger Workman]

Hi, I've lurked for a couple years, but finally think I have something to share...

I think it might be possible that Minkowski's death, or at least how he died due to the brain aneurysm/collapse, may have been the exact ailment that Rousseau refers to as "the sickness".  I remember on an old podcast it was said that the sickness makes people "go crazy".  Perhaps Rousseau's crew, a science expedition, was subjected to radiation in some form or another on their voyage, then received the affects of the sickness once they crashed.  Rousseau would have been extra careful not to receive large amounts of radiation because she was seven months pregnant at the time. 

So if this theory is correct it explains why no other survivors have contracted the sickness (I guess they were all radiation free).  Also, it shows that these brain anomalies can happen both ways.  If you're irradiated and go to the island you will receive the affects on the island, and if you get irradiated on the island (like Desmond), and leave you will get the affects.