I'm just trying to take some polls on where we stand with a few character-based actions from last episode. There is a thread about Locke in GD so any in-depth discussion should go there.

I don't think he did it on purpose -- did he even know about the C4?? I doubt Kate/Sayid mentioned it esp. given that they came back upstairs into the Klugh/Mikhail mess.

Yeah, I don't think he did it on purpose either. Unless there was a peice they didn't show us of Candle saying it was ging to explode, there's no way he could have known. He probably just though that it'd relay the message to Dharma and they'd send for help or something.

I think he might have known something might happen - not exactly an explosion, but ...
I mean, he had already tried several of those commands, and none of them were able to go through to Dharma.

I'm on the fence between intent and stupidity.

Yes, stupidity is my second guess, Pen

I think he thought he was sending a message for help, and in turn a rescue party. Locke is actually very good about thinking outside the box (ironic considering his employer) but he's pretty sucky about thinking inside the box.

I think after "Par Avion" its less likely he blew the flame up on accident.

I was just reading a thread at LTV which gave a pretty good thought towards this idea.

What if it wasn't Locke who caused the explosion? Patchy knew that camera came on in The Cost of Living. Locke even noted that he'd be expecting them. So, Mikhail lets them know that the Losties will go looking for them and likely show up sooner or later, calls for someone to show up and rig the place with the C4.

So, between the Pearl viewing and the explosion, Klugh shows up and they rig the basement and put it on a timer. Could explain why she was in the basement rather than just taking off into the jungle and leaving him behind.

She went down to set a timer.

So, while it seems that Locke is the one who blew it up by entering 77, it could have in fact been a timer they set in an attempt to get rid of the Losties that showed up.

Whaddya think?

Too contrived. Locke even knew he was being watched at the Flame. He looked up at the camera and the red light was blinking, so he knew that someone could see him...if they were looking at their monitor at the time. I think it is more likley that Locke knew it was going to blow, since he knew of all the C4 in the place. He was sending them a message that he was coming to kick ass.

I believe he did this intentionally given how the rest of the season played out. Thoughts?