The No Suicide/No Death-By-Smokie Rule

[Xanderman]

Apparently the candidates can't commit suicide, nor can they be killed by Smokie, because "the island" won't allow it. So Smokie had to get them to kill each other. However, since MIB put the bomb there to begin with and activated it, doesn't HE still get ultimate credit for the kills? Just because Sawyer failed to deactivate the bomb, does it mean it automatically becomes his fault? That said, if they're going by the logic that there was no actual danger because MIB can't harm them, then Sawyer not letting the bomb tick down on its own I suppose can be considered as interfering with what MIB did. It's still a fine line though. I mean Sawyer sped up the clock, sure, but it was already ticking down before that thanks to MIB. Very thin line here, but they sort of do cover themselves here I guess.

Why did Sayid take off with the bomb? As long as Sawyer was next to the bomb, nothing would happen, right? Because candidates can't kill themselves. Once Sawyer messed with the bomb, the bomb became "his", not MIB's. Why didn't Jack speak up or say anything? He already learned with Richard that they couldn't kill themselves. So there still was no real danger, but by the way the scene was handled, they made it seem like whatever Sawyer did qualified as "killing each other". The flaw with this reasoning, however, is that Sawyer would be killing himself too, and that's a no-no. Bit of a plothole I think.

So anyway, Sawyer's interference is basically the equivalent of MIB getting Linus to kill Jacob--it's a loophole to get around the rules. This implies that the island, whatever it is, can be "tricked", meaning it's not necessarily a sentient lifeform or intelligence. But perhaps rather an AI or computer that has been "pre-programmed" (or perhaps just some sort of instinctual being). The mysterious blond kid who told MIB "you know the rules, you can't kill him", recognized that MIB still had the blame for Jacob's death, but apparently the island couldn't see or understand that, which is how it was able to happen.

[McFly]

He needed anyone of them to make a free willed choice.. Remember everything done on the island is by choice, and they've hinted strongly on that this year.. So if Sawyer listened to Jack, then the bomb wouldn't have gone off. Like Michael and the gun, Alpert and Jack with the dynamite.. So yes it was ticking down, but like the dynamite it would have been a dud.. But Sawyer pulling the wires was the loophole, like u said, that the MIB needed to have the bomb actually detonate, killing candidates.. JMO..

[Xanderman]

The free willed choice thing is a bit problematic however I think and hasn't exactly been handled perfectly. A decision isn't truly "free" (to me) if it is the result of manipulation or threats or false or incomplete information (or made under duress, crazy situations, etc). For example, Linus was manipulated and "pushed" into killing Jacob, he didn't decide to do it all on his own afterall. And also, Jacob seemed to say exactly the wrong thing at the worst possible moment to Linus. He wasn't as neutral as he could have been. And as I've said before, being annoyingly vague and unclear and speaking in riddles right to the bitter end (as Jacob was) would set anyone off in such a situation, given everything Linus had been through in his life.

And here, in this episode, Sawyer didn't know for sure that the bomb wouldn't go off. What if Jack didn't say anything and Sawyer still tried pulling the wires out? Would the bomb not do anything then and be a dud? And if it blew up because Sawyer unknowingly messed with something that wasn't going to harm them anyway, it's still MIB doing the killing to me. But because Jack happened to figure it out, and Sawyer "chose" not to believe him, again is that really something he can be faulted with? He's listened to Jack before in the past and Juliet died. Plus what Jack was saying sounded like crazy talk (although by this point nothing should seem that crazy to Sawyer given he's traveled through time, among other craziness). So this is all definitely kind of flawed to me and a bit plothole-ish. And also as I've said, if Sayid didn't run off with the bomb, technically the bomb shouldn't have gone off either way since in one case it was MIB doing the killing, and then it became Sawyer indirectly--and as a candidate, Sawyer can't kill himself. Jack should have known this of course, but apparently it was his "choice" to be a moron about it and say nothing. lol

Here's what Jack should have obviously done, and he really SHOULD have known to do as well:
(but didn't because it obviously wouldn't work for the story direction they wanted to go)

- After saying that MIB couldn't kill them, he should have added that he couldn't kill himself either. HE should have been the one to start yanking all the wires out, ALL OF THEM, in no particular order (just go nuts with dismantling the bomb). Hell he should have found something to SMASH the damn thing. Or he could have done what Sayid did, which is to grab the bomb himself and run off. Then start yanking the wires, smashing it etc, and if it went off, then only he would have died and sacrificed himself instead of Sayid. But as we and Jack know, Jack wouldn't have died and the bomb would have been beaten, because Jack can't kill himself, and neither can MIB. Duh, Jack. Duh. heh