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The Widmores

• Charles Widmore, or maybe Widmore Labs, supports the experiments run on the Island by the DHARMA Initiative. Charles sponsored the race around the world so as to get Desmond to end up on the Island, maybe to get Desmond permanently away from Penelope (or, the race around the world might be a scam, a trap to get sailors to end up on the Island to become part of the experiments). Penelope, knowing this, and knowing that the experiments involve electromagnetic disturbances, has people (at least the two Portuguese-speaking men at the final scene) on the look-out for electromagnetic disturbances which may help her find Desmond.
  • Widmore hired Libby to have a "chance" encounter with Desmond where she promised him her late husband's boat, eventually leading to Desmond getting stuck on the island.

The listening station

• The Portuguese-speaking men are near the South Pole. While the North Pole tends to collect most of the electrically charged particles flowing around the earth (and would thus make for a perfect spot to monitor the earth's magnetic field and electrical/ionic behavior), this episode takes place during November (September 22 plus 65 days), a time when the Arctic experiences darkness all day. The last scene of this episode, however, starts with an establishing shot of a snowstorm seen by daylight. It is also possible that the Portuguese-speaking men are on a high-altitude location, and/or on the northern hemisphere south of the Arctic Circle.
• The listening station is in the Alps, as the photographer in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" slyly said 'no, not the alps.' Perhaps this is a clue from the writers.
• This scene was actually Lost's first flash-forward. While presented as occurring straight after the sky turned purple, it actually occurred moments before Penny picked up the phone to Charlie, about a month later. The flashing text on the monitor was an incoming phone signal. The sky turning purple merely prompted Penny to buy/build the station in the first place as she found this out some other way.

The statue and the Island's History

• The four-toed Colossus statue may have been originally built by an ancient civilization - possibly very different from any other known civilization. So different in fact, that they may have followed a different evolutionary path altogether...perhaps fueled by the electromagnetic source on the Island?
• In keeping with the idea of Egypt (the mysterious hieroglyphics on the timer), the four toed statue could be that of the Egyptian god "Bes", half lion half dwarf. This could be possible considering lions only have four toes on their hind legs (the statue appearing to be standing). "Bes" just happens to be the protector of pregnant women, newborn babies and family, a somewhat re-occurring theme throughout Lost.
• Part of the DHARMA Initiative's work was to create the fiction of an ancient civilization, and they created the foot as a false remnant of the statue.

The Island

• Charles Widmore has a significant role in the activities on the Island. The Island is a modern day Philadelphia Experiment. Desmond said it was like being in a snowglobe. No one can get out of this magnetic field unless they know where the porthole is and no one from the outside can see the Island. This is why they don't care if Michael and Walt leave. If they told anyone, they would never be able to find it, unless it was during a system failure. In its invisible state, it is a very convenient place to run top secret experiments. Penelope caught wind of Desmond being there, but could not get the location out of her father.
  • Alternatively, the inability to get away from the Island is impaired by the fact that all compasses would be inaccurate due to the magnetic field, rather than the space around the Island being impenetrable. Even if this is the case, when Desmond sailed "due west," he could have used the sun as a navigational aid thus overcoming any compass difficulties.

The DHARMA Initiative

• The pneumatic tube dumping on a clearing rather than sending the reports to some headquarters strongly implies that the people in the Pearl are the subjects of the psychological experiment, not the members of the Swan.
  • It could also be that reports were dumped there for later easy pickup, but the post got deserted.

Electromagnetism

• The discharge observed during the fail-safe activation was part of the failsafe mechanism itself.
• The sound and light experienced by everyone on the Island was caused by the buildup and terminated by the discharge; in fact, the character of it - the rising note, the hum - would suggest it really being so.
• The Island moved when Desmond turned the fail-safe key.