While it may have worked on Sawyer, it worked for all of no seconds on me, since pacemakers aren't installed with needles. They're installed with open heart surgery. It's also a relatively major surgery and a fairly specialized device. I bought that the Others have some cool stuff we didn't know about, but for them either to have a pacemaker or to have a doctor capable of installing one was unlikely. Also, Ben has seemed to be a very calculating individual, though not a cruel one. It would take a devastatingly cruel person to install a pacemaker in someone that would shut off if it hit 140. If you've ever worked out, you probably know how fast you get to 140. That's pretty low. When I run I'm usually at 170-180.

It was interesting to watch Sawyer get played, though. We have not seen him so vulnerable before, and the Kate/Sawyer interaction when get got in/out of the cage was just delightful. So even though I didn't buy the trick, I'm happy with out they worked it. And I readily concede that, had I been in his place, I would've bought it, too.

The tumor and the failed attempt to save Cole's life are definitely an interesting twist. I really have a hard time buying the Other's repeated assertions that they're not violent and aren't killers and that the Losties started the war by killing Cole. They kidnapped people in the night. Did things to a pregnant woman against her will. They are armed and threaten violence. They seem to be very good at getting inside heads, and at the same time they fail to recognize that the way they've acted would make all but the stupidest or most committed pacifist respond hostilely, if only out of self defense.

I WANT to believe that the Others know something or some truth or have some great philosophy that will "save" the Losties. I really do. But...they definitely do not have as tight a grip on themselves and the islands as they think they do.

Desmond's clairvoyance continues to be tantalizing. Guess we'll have to see where it goes. Overall, another really solid episode.

I loved the episode.

A few observations...as Frosstbyte mentioned, it does seem that Desmond is seeing the future...I wonder if this is going to cause problems among the other survivors. It seemed as if Charlie was startled after the lightning struck..and not because of the strike either.

If Sawyer and Kate are really on another island, then that really wouldn't explain the polar bears...unless the Others are lying...or had them shipped over...which wouldn't make any sense (to me, anyway). And if Desmond was right about John "saving" the kidnappees...how in hell is he going to get to the other island?

BTW, Frosst...I don't know if it was just me, but when Sawyer removed his dressing, it looked like it was covering a cut...was it just smeared blood, or did they really cut him to make him think that they inserted the pacemaker?

Polar bears can swim. I don't have a problem with that part.

The real puzzle is: some time between Seasons 2 and 3, Kate, Jack and Sawyer traveled between two different islands. How did they do that without knowing it? They didn't take the boat--Michael and Walt chugged off in that sucker, leaving the Others and the captured Losties on foot. So how'd they walk to the second island?

The answer is obvious: the Hydra station connects the two islands. Still, you'd think they would have gotten suspicious, walking through a long tunnel.

I don't remember Des saying that Locke was going to save them. I think he said that Locke said he was going to save them. In his speech.

I totally agree. I'm getting pretty tired of the "you just have to trust us, we know what's best for you... but stay in this cage/cell while we decide how much to tell you" attitude the Others are taking. If the Others really wanted to help the Lost, they would be doing so already.

I think this was the best episode of the (albeit early) season. The flashback was excellent - as a matter of fact this season they've all been good. Some of the flashbacks last season weren't as intriguing as these ones have been.

The only disappointment I had was that we didn't see any of Sayid, Sun or Jin. But I guess that's to be expected with so many more storylines.

-Tamerlain

Good call on that. Now I'm trying to figure out what else might be on this separate island that we've encountered in the past...

Something else that bugged me was Kate's and Sawyer's ignorance to the fact that they were being watched. First off, it's obviously way too conveinant for them to be left alone in those cages within earshot of each other. Secondly, how else would Ben have known Sawyer's plan to shock him ahead of time? So it seemed prettly clear they're being watched, and probably listened in on. Yet Kate still does her escape attempt thing, and they discuss things openly, as if it's all in private.

And with Desmond's clairvoyance, I'm wondering if the writers are using this as a way to explore the same ideas they were using with Walt's abilities. I think Walt (and Michael) were written out because the actor playing Walt was growing up too fast for the role, so he had to go... but they had plenty of unfinished business as to what was going on with his strange powers...

Another interesting thing I noted:

The island seems to heal people...Rose's cancer, Locke's legs, Jin's fertility problem (as far as know)...so I just find it interesting that an Other has a tumor. Does it only help people who are new to the island? Or perhaps the survivor's island is the only one that heals, and the other doesn't? Maybe the electromagnetic ...thing...going on with the button had something to do with it, but the tumor would have had to grow awful fast if that was the case.

Clarification for my last post: In respect to Desmond's clairvoyance about Locke helping, I was also thinking about Locke's hallucination with Boone, and Boone telling him he can't help Jack, Kate, and Sawyer...yet....and kind of melded the two ideas into one. I should have been more specific and clear :)

I also thought it was interesting that Juliette is a fertility doctor. That seems like something that would be difficult to study if you spent your entire life on that island, as Ben (I think) said he did.

If she really is a fertility doctor, to me that would suggest that she was placed there for some sort of specific reason - i.e. fertility. That priority may end up being an interesting clue. I wonder if there is an OB/GYN somewhere?

If the Others are some sort of research outpost, it is awfully strange to staff it with a fertility doctor and no other doctors.

I also doubt the Alcatraz references were meaningless.

Bingo.

Though my earlier prediction of an all out Lord of the Flies scenario is a bit far fetched, I do think we're seeing the first cracks in the Others' compact. They're doing a miserable job containing the Lost, and as Ben's tumour may prove, they're not doing a great job tapping into the Island's powers either. Add in a strengthening Jack, a siege by Locke, maybe some surprise outside force, and its bye, bye to the Others' dominance.

I can't wait to see what their breakdown exposes.

Given the apparent restorative powers of the Island, I'm not surprised that the Others have no trauma Doctors or serious emergency equipment. Death and illness must be rare indeed. Moreover, you can imagine how the Island's effects on fetal and childhood development are of interest.

Of course, it speaks to the Others' collective arrogance, as much as the Island effect.

My wild prediction for the week? Ben's tumour is another Con!!

Comrades, we have a fallen lostie. Let us all remember our good Nigerian drug smuggling-priest friend, Mr. Eko. He will be missed on the island. Eko fought bravely on nuermous occassions against the black smoke mist monster, but after being mauled by a polar bear, he did not have the strength to fight back against a large smoke mist fist of fury.
--
In other news, Juliette seems to like Jack and now we know Benjamin has a large tumor on his spine. The mini season finale looks quite exciting.

He faced the smoke monster last season... I guess between the explosion and wrestling the bear, he must not have had the wherewithal for a smoke monster staredown!

In the previews when it said someone was going to die, I assumed it was going to be one of the new couple they introduced recently. But as of late, Eko's character had been kind of stagnating, so when he died I wasn't that disappointed.

If I were Jack I wouldn't be trusting Juliette's secret message...

Yeah, the Ben/Juliette/Jack triad is getting VERY interesting. Next week should be a killer episode. I'm very eager to see what happens.

This is doublethink. "oh well our plan is busted - will you save my life?"

The plan is Juliette's. If Jack agrees to do it - they will know not to operate. If he says he can't do it, they will operate.

Really? Hunh! You think the whole thing is a game they're running on Jack? What do you think they're trying to get from him? How does tempting him to deliberately botch a surgery and kill Ben help them? I don't quite see it.

The only tangible thing we've seen to make me think otherwise is the opening moments of the season--Juliette in the mirror, Juliette at the book club.

That's a very good theory Mondak! That is probably the only way to ensure that if Jack does indeed agree to do the surgery, that he isn't going to kill Ben on purpose.

Also, a thought that keeps occurring to me, is that why are the Others and the Lost even fighting? I am aware this situation is analogous to many modern day conflicts, in which we are led to believe that our enemies are drastically different than ourselves, when in reality we share many of the same perspectives.

Of course at this point, the Lost have killed multiple Others, so that may throw a monkey wrench in any peace talks. But really, all we have seen the Others do in term of unprovoked violence, is that one early mole that was in anna lucia's group who broke the neck of that one irritating survivor. All the other deaths (Boone, Boone's sister, Eko, the two others that eko killed, the peace corp mole, anna lucia, the blond chick, the high school science teacher, the wife of sawyer's prison boss) have been committed by either the Lost or the Island. Though I'm sure I probably forgot some deaths, but if the Others had just been up front with the Lost many of these deaths could have been prevented. Can't we all just get along?

there's also the children they abducted from Anna Lucia's group right after they got there. and they abducted Claire when she was pregnant. they've done nothing to make anyone believe that they're benevolent. it's getting pretty absurd, actually. the show kinda wants us to believe that the Others have good intentions underneath everything, but it'll take a ton of 'splainin to cover everything they've done. a little honesty would go a long way... but i guess that's where the drama and mystery comes from, at the cost of making sense.

And hopefully Jack is smart enough to realize the "double think" plan... then there's nothing to prevent him from telling Juliette that he won't do it, then he could actually kill Ben on his own. That is, if this whole surgery thing isn't a ruse itself. Blah, who knows. The others must be doing all this for more than just creating a convoluted way to get Jack to operate on Ben.

Oh, and I'll miss Eko. I liked him.

Well, they kidnapped the "tailes" children, They Kidnapped Claire. One of the others said they were going to kill Claire after the delivered her baby. They very nearly killed Charlie. And they shot Sawyer. So they are in no way all "candy and roses", and for all of their pseudo-psychology, they should know that the very nature of violence is escelation.


Edited to add- Guess I shouldn't take so long to post next time. :)

They kidnapped the kids, but we don't know what happened to them. Maybe they didn't want to expose the children to their social experiment and are giving them twinkies and lolli-pops in a bunker somewhere.

And Sawyer was about to pull a gun on the Others in the boat, so they must have seen shooting sawyer as an act of self defense.

Uh oh, I've become an "Others" advocate !! :eek:

It doesnt look like we'll see anything before the end of the fall season, but I would like to see what became of Michael and Walt.

Well, let's see. Eko's death was kind of disappointing, I liked his character. Juliet is turning out to be quite a bit more manipulative than we first thought. I wouldn't trust her or Ben, so what does Jack do now...

There's no way he would agree to do the surgery and then botch it. Besides the hippocratic oath, he's not that kind of person.

Juliet obviously wants control over the group from Ben, for what reason and to what end we don't know. It's pretty safe to assume that Ben did something to her in the past - he must have been off the island when hell, women and scorning were discussed.

Who was the eye-patch guy!?

-Tamerlain

I disagree. Jack's motivated by a need to fix things, to apply justice, to have things be "right". It could well be that a planet without Ben might seem to Jack like a "fix".

There's no doubt that for Jack a planet without Ben would be a "fix" but I still don't think he would kill Ben if he agrees to help him. If he was stupid enough to not see that Juliet has a hidden agenda, then perhaps I could see him killing Ben, but Jack won't be easily manipulated. Not to mention the fact that he isn't a cold blooded killer. He could have left Sawyer to die after he was shot - which undoubtedly would have made his life on the island easier - but he didn't.

-Tamerlain

So who's left from the tail section? Bernard?

I too think Juliette is playing Jack, and I really like Mondak's theory.

My initial thought was that Juliette is making a Power play against Ben, using Jack as a tool, and planning to discard him when she's accomplished her goal.

My reasoning? I'm thinking back to Sawyer's observation that Juliette is definately cold hearted.

Yep. The Last Tailey.

So what's the over-under on him? 3 weeks?

Nah! Bernard!? No, he's here to stay. He and Rose are so sweet! And he hardly takes any risks at all--I mean, building a giant SOS sign? How likely is it he'll get killed doing that? Much less risky than, say, blowing open hatch doors and wrestling polar bears, or walking innocently into living rooms where co-opted Michaels are killing Anna Lucias....

Well, I gotta say, at this point, it seems like the tailies were kind of a lame plot device and generally a waste. Every important, interesting one was killed off so freaking fast, and with so many unanswered questions. Libby makes her bizarre appearance in the asylum, Sawyer and Anna Lucia hook up and Ecko doesn't really get to do much of anything except for get killed by the black smoke. There was a lot of potential for future plots with all of these characters, and they've all been wiped out, so what was the point of it all?

Lots of time was spent with these characters. We got flashbacks for them, we spent time watching them and for what? AL and Libby's deaths provoked the assault on the Others, so I guess that was important, but in having them die there went a lot of the conflict that had been present in Season 2 between the Losties. Where did Ecko's death get us? How did that resolve the character? It all seemed a relatively unpolished attempt to get rid of a character, and I can't quite figure out why they did it.

Jack's in a pickle. That's about all there is to it. I'm inclined to agree that he won't kill Ben in a botched surgery. Jack isn't a killer, and it would fly in the face of literally everything that being a doctor stands for. At heart, Jack is still a doctor, and I have a very hard time believing he'd betray that core value.

Word is, they did it because Adawale requested to be written out of the show. It's not entirely clear why, but the blogosphere notes that both of his parents died within the last six months, and he may be wanting to spend more time with his family.

Evidently it was a surprise to the producers, but they did their best with it--and actually used it to resurrect one of the show's original boogeymen, the smoke monster. New theory: Smokey uses hallucinations to lure in its prey?

They were all drugged, remember? They were unconscious when The Others brought them to the island ...

See this is popular as ever. Although i lost interest quite a few episodes ago. Like 24 thought it was brilliant to start with , then made another series then another.

.. Oh yeah.

Well then, I think Hydra connects the two islands because that'd be cool!

Incidentally, anybody remember the line that an unnamed Other used to tell Benjamin about Colleen's being shot? It was a throw-away line with a BIG tip-off in it. I was just reminded of it the other day. Anyone?

Finally watched this one last night. I though Jack is totally getting played by both Julliette and Ben. He is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. They both know what buttons to push on him, and I think he's torn, but trusts Ben less. Jack will do it, just because it's his nature to "fix" things.

Ben stated to Jack, in one of their various conversations, the reason he gets along with Juliette is because she looks similar to his ex wife. Now, I am not sure where Jack stands at this point, but he is screwed either way, like Frosstbyte stated in the third paragraph. If Ben dies during surgery, then the others will kill Jack, but if Ben survives, he will still be their hostage.

I think the smoke mist monster is not a hallucination, but morphs into whatever the person is thinking about during that event. For example, when Eko was thinking about his brother, the smoke monster used this energy and formed into Yemmy.

Dammit... I just copied over the tape...

Please indulge?

Oh, dude. It was a total throwaway line--so much so that I missed it until I was reminded of it last week, and thought "oh... YEAH!"

Colleen and her team have gone to the beach, she's been shot by Sun.

A woman comes running up to Ben and says:

"The sub is back. We have a problem."

The sub is back...

Oh yes... the sub.

My kid sister freaked out on that one.

I was expecting a sweet mini season finale, but it was a decent episode. I just thought it was strange that the others didn't find it odd when they found Kate snuggling with Sawyer in the early morning. You would think they would know they were being watched from Sawyer's plan of shocking Ben, which failed. Sawyer almost was owned, but Jack took over the situation by cutting an area within Ben's neck.

Even though I have to wait three months, I still want to find out what happened to Desmond and what Locke will see in the North.

I was wondering the same thing, perhaps the other's island that Sawyer and Kate are on? Assuming there is even one...

I guess I can wait 2 months for 16 straight episodes..

I imagine they'll see the other island. Unless this is the start of a completely new storyline, I think they're being led towards Jack and co's rescue.

Looking across the water towards the prison island, I wonder if they'll give us a view of the mysterious construction project. An airstrip?

One question:

Was the girl with the sling-shot Rousseau's Daughter or a different disgruntled Other?

That was Alex Rousseau.

This week's episode really put this whole season so far into perspective for me. Remember when EVERY episode had as much going on as this one? When EVERY episode ended with the sort of cliffhanger this one had?

I've been willing to play along with this season even though it hasn't really, IMO, been bringing the goods. This episode, I realized while watching it, is the exception that proves the rule.

They're going to really have to pick up the pace in the second "chunk" of the season if they want to keep me. I love Lost, and I have for two years, and I'm sure I'll tivo it and watch it for as long as it's on, but you know... my heart may not be in it.

I'm ready for less Hostages and Others, and more of the Losties that seem to have been forgotten.

Good ploy by Jack - I was convinced he wanted off the island because he saw Kate with Sawyer and was ready to leave them to fend for themselves.

The Others killed Alex's boyfriend apparently? That's going to be interesting. Pretty good bet that she'll end up with Kate and Sawyer once they start running.

I'm disappointed that the season is over for 2 months, but I'm pretty excited for the next 18 episodes.

-Tamerlain

I think I'm not liking this season very much... I don't like the surgery storyline, it doesn't make much sense. I initially thought the tumor x-rays were faked, and this was all just some game Ben was playing. But now it turns out that it's real... so are we to believe that this was the best plan Ben could come up with to get Jack to perform surgery? That is *really* hard to swallow. And are we to assume that the plan began with Ben being held hostage by the Losties during last season? Seriously? All this, when all he probably had to do was just ask? That's a bit much. And I still don't understand why Jack and co. are so complacent in all this... you'd think they would realize how much sense this doesn't make.

And most of all, this storyline isn't very "Lost" like... where's the mystery and mystical feel to it all? The surgery storyline isn't making any more sense than the more mystical ones did, but you could forgive the mystical ones because they at least provided a cool atmosphere for the show.

Also, were Kate and Sawyer actually doing anything productive with the breaking of the rocks and stuff? I got the impression it was all just busy work. But now we're to believe they're building something "big?" But they have no idea what it is... hmph.


And the "sub"... is that something that's been referenced to before? I forget.

Strictly speaking as Lost fans, are any of you watching and enjoying Daybreak, its midseason replacement? I sure am.

I'm not looking to start a Daybreak discussion here, but am curious as to whether ABC's scheduling gamble is paying off with you. Are they keeping your attention on Wednesday nights, or have you found something else to do?

Not me. The previews for Daybreak weren't interesting to me, and it looked like it was going to hold a pale candle next to Heroes, so I never started with it.

Well..I'm not much into lost this season, its gotten way too...um...well, its getting even more odd and far fetched then lost used to be. too many others, with houses and guns and stuff and things and more stuff. It's gotten to the point where I'm half expecting to see William B. Davis lurking in the shadows smoking a cigarette at the end of every episode.
Anyone catch that reference without Google? I've met him in person too, nice guy.
As for Daybreak, I'm watching it. seems interesting so far, at least something changed, that was un-expected...

Last night there was a "Lost Moment" promo on during a commercial break for Daybreak. It went as follows:

Jack wakes up during the daytime in an outside Polar Bear cage. It's may be a different one from Kate and Sawer's because during the ensuing footage you don't see a second cage across, only forest.

There's about 15 Others standing around outside the cage and they're all clean scrubbed and well dressed; as if from a Lands End catalogue shoot. None of the main Others are there and I presume these ones are from the village.

Jack angrily confronts them and demands to know why they are here. A woman calmly states that they are here to "watch". Jack then recognizes her as a stewardess from the plane(!!) named Cindy. He asks her how she got here what is she doing, and she replies enigmatically that it's not that simple. >Snap to Black.

I can't wait until Feb. 7th :)

What in the philadelphia flying fuck ever happened to Claire's back story??? She was pregnant and went to see a psychic who totally freaked out at her unborn baby.

What in the philadelphia flying fuck ever happened to a lot of back stories. We know more about characters who are dead and/or gone (Michael, Ana Lucia, Eko) than we do about the vast majority of the characters that kept me interested through the first and second seasons.

The short answer is those characters didn't have as good major plot hooks and, presumably, didn't have the same amount of audience interest as the people we seem to be seeing week after week. One of the first season's greatest assets was the balance between all of the characters. This season in particular seems to have sent that idea packing.

http://duggmirror.com/television/LOS..._be_Cut_Short/

(Sorry for the dugmirror link, the original is hopelessly digg'ed right now)

Rumor is ABC is begging LOST to come back on the air earlier than advertised to make up for the gaping black hole in their lineup where Daybreak used to be.

I've watched this since season 1. I'm just about done with this show, it has more story lines that the fucking wwf and none of them make a lick of sense. I've been trying all years to follow it, and my wife loves it, but I just cant stay interested

The actors on Lost appear to be having bad luck. Josh Holloway was robbed at gun point while at his house (back in May?); Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were pulled over for DUI's, and now Evagenline Lilly's house was destroyed by afire.

Who is next?

i wouldn't exactly call DUI's bad luck...that's just stupidity on there part!

This is a horrible idea. The ONLY good thing about this season was the promise of an uninterrupted string of new shows in the Spring. If they start earlier, there will just be more stupid gaps to deal with.

Not necessarily. They could shift the whole "second season" forward a few weeks and have the finale a couple weeks ahead of the rest of the season.

Yay! It's back on Wednesday!

This break has been too long and I think they're going to have lost a lot of viewers because of it. As big a viewer as I am, I had to be reminded when it was returning. The whole break just spoke of bad planning to me.

I just barely remembered that it was coming back on Wednesday; has anyone seen any commercials reminding viewers it is coming back? It could be that I don't watch much TV, but I don't recall seeing anything announcing the big return.

Hooray, Lost has returned!

I really enjoyed this new episode. I'm glad that Sawyer and Kate are free, yet look forward to Jack's interaction with the newly subdued Others. Now that Ben has been cured and their hierarchy has been shaken, I believe they will return to being secretive, rather than adversarial for the time being. I hope to gain more insight into their operations through Jack even as the show returns focus to the other Losties back on the main island.

I also liked the implication of Juliet's predicament, that the Others are as much prisoners on the island as the Lost.

Oh yes. Juliet's Ex husband getting hit by the bus was awesome. Did you note that their corporation was "Mittleso" or something. I think the Hanso Foundation is no more. Ooh, these Mittlewerk guys are dangerous.

I hate the new time change because I get up so early.

I enjoyed the episode, but I'm really starting to wonder if any of the old questions are going to be answered before new ones are introduced. I'm hoping that with the escape of Kate and Sawyer, the series will start focusing more on some of the other characters.

All around, what a great show! Ben has a daughter, Sawyer beat the dude up, then he dies... I don't have any predictions yet though. Waiting to see what unfolds.

Okay, but Ben's daughter is also Rousseau's daughter.

Did Ben come to the Island with Rousseau?

Did Ben adopt Alex when they took her from Rousseau?

That was the biggest nagging question I had too. Presumably Alex wouldn't know who her mother is, so it's plausible that Ben just told her he was her father and that her mother died somehow. To what end... put it up on the to-be-answered board I guess.

I also have a feeling that we'll be able to trust Juliette a little bit more, since she's just as trapped as Jack.

-Tamerlain

I think Ben is her dad in the sense that he raised her but he isn't her biological dad. Didn't Rousseae say she killed all the other team including her husband? In that case either Rousseau is a liar, is crazy, or Ben isn't the dad.

One thing that I was wondering is who was the picture of the 26 year old womb that looked like it was 70. At first I thought Rousseau but then realized that Julliet said she has only been on the island for 3 years making it unlikely that it would be Rousseau since her daughter must be at least 16. So that means it might be one of the other others.

Also why does the cooperation want a fertility doctor on the island so much.

Because after Humanity's downfall, reproductive science and technology will become very important.

My $.02 based on my theory of the corp's mandate.

Ah a fork in the road. Jack can now take over as savior of the "Others" rather than savior of the Losties. Meanwhile, Kate will yet again work on her guilt issues by deciding to try and save Jack.

Not that I don't want to sleep with Kate or anything, but I have had enough of her. They have done very little of the intriguing character development stuff that makes the show so good. Instead it is more of the "will Kate frak Jack or Sawyer" yarn. Gimme a half pound of self loathing from Desmond or Locke any day. . .

I'll still tune in though . . . maybe they can tell us about who Zeke is or something. . .

Well put, Mondak. So much of what made season 1 juicy has kind of drifted away, unfortunately. I suppose it's a natural outgrowth of putting Jack. Sawyer and Kate with the Others, but there's been SO little time spent with a lot of the less "stereotypical heroes" who gave the other seasons so much flavor. I'm hoping we'll get back to Locke, Desmond, Hurley and the rest of the gang sooner rather than later, because watching the two hunky guys fight over the beautiful girl, as you said, has kind of run its course.

I do not recall them ever explicitly stating that the chick was Rousseau's daughter. I think that is what we were lead to believe, but it was never "officially" stated. I could be wrong.

Well... The age is right. The name is right. She bears a striking resemblance.

I suppose we could get Alex in front of Rousseau and Rousseau could say, "That's not my Alex." But I doubt that very much.

well I suppose we will find that out tomorrow. . . she may not even know. Then again, Rousseau could be batshit crazy as well.

I don't think there's much question about that.

I found that lady in Desmond's flashback to be quite creepy.

Desmond protecting Charlie both those times was an interesting twist. And I take it we're supposed to believe that Desmond has lived his life up to this point twice, or did his flashbacks end after he got clubbed in the head with the cricket bat?

I definitely like where things are going with the other characters on the main island. Even though Desmond's abilities is another question to be answered, it will always been in the forefront with every scene he's in with Charlie, so it won't be as bad as some of the other unanswered questions.

-Tamerlain

So...I missed it last night, and due to the fact that my computer is practically run by hamsters on a wheel...I can't watch the episodes they put on the website. Anyone care to update me on what happened in last nights episode?

The episode expanded on Desmond, and his ability to "see the future". He talked about a flash back/time travel. Apparently, when he turned the key, he went back to his life before the island. He had fallen off a ladder and hit his head, so he didn't remember anything. The next day, he went to Penny's father to ask if he could marry her, and he said you are not worthy. When he walked out, he ran into Charlie playing his guitar for donations on the street, then it all started coming back to him. He talked to a friend about time travel, and asked if it were possible, then telling his friend about the soccer match on the tv, and someone that was going to walk through the door, but neither happened, and his friend was thinking he was mad. Desmond finally decided to buy a ring for Penny, when he got there, the woman told him that he wouldn't marry her, and all the things he had to do in the next three years, i.e. the island. He didn't believe her. He met Penny, and took a photo with her (the crumbled photo he carries), and just after that, he told her he couldn't do it. He then went to the Pub again, and his predictions came true, but when the guy came in to hurt the bar keep, he got hit instead. When he came to, he was back on the island, after the implosion of the hatch.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out.

The fun twist in this episode is the news that Spoiler: Charlie is fated to die and that the Universe will always "course correct". The latter of course is one of the themes of show.

I suspect that the former will not happen, causing events to correct in a suprising way oh, sometime around the season finale. I enjoyed this episode.

I don't think the former will get it either. There's too much of an unfinished story behind it anyways.

I also enjoyed the episode. I thought it told a lot about Desmond and satisfied most of the questions it presented.

This episode TOTALLY returned LOST to its roots. I was delighted with this episode from beginning to end.

Wasn't Penny (Penelope) the uber-rich girl at the end of season 2 who had guys at an Ice Station looking for somebody when they detected the electro-magnetic pulse? If so, Desmond must have told her about it before he left on the sailboat, so she knew what was going to happen and what to look for before it happened.

Head hurting now......

And wasn't the jeweler Debbie Reynolds? "Aba daba daba daba daba daba daba," said the chimpy to the monk.

And when Desmond was putting on his tie in the apartment, you could hear Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery playing in the background.

And didn't Penelope resemble Julia an awful lot?

Juicy as shit episode....

Yeah she is. That's interesting that he might have told her about the electromagnetic pulse. Maybe he's trying to orchestrate their reunion instead of trying to circumvent events that have to happen.

-Tamerlain

god DAMN, this is the Lost that I've been waiting for all season. An excellent episode. And I loved how the flashback worked... it was a good and creepy twist having Desmond be aware of his future on the island.

And, unfinished stories or not, I have a feeling Charlie's number may be up. Has any character's story been fully tidied up before they died?

I've been a fan since the first episode, but I just can't get into this Final Destination type twist they threw in there. I just can't / don't believe it.... Ok Ok, I know, there's a ghost / monster / dinosaur thing on the island, but that's part of the effect. This was a bit too cheesy in my eyes.

When (and why) did Kate become such a whiny little pest? Can we let her die instead of Charlie, please?

Yeah, Kate's character has really dropped off. She went from a smoldering ember that occasionally flared up to a standard damsel in distress. It's lame. Episodes that focus on Jack are also lame, since we've had 6 (?) flashbacks of him. I want Sun and Jin. I want Locke. Enough of hunky guys bickering over the weepy girl!

The Desmond episode looked so promising, and now this week back to this nonsense.

If comments in this thread are any indication the ratings for this show must really be dropping. That or everyone is busy discussing heroes instead.

Pretty much it the nail on the head. I still watch every week, but I haven't felt the need to discuss as much as I did for seasons 1 and 2.

-Tamerlain

I was a hardcore commenter for seasons 1 and 2, but my interest has totally dropped off since the big break. I can't seem to get back into it. Also, it isn't on until 11:00 here in this time zone, and I'm not staying up that late to watch it. I've seen the eps since the break and I have not found them to be exciting at all. In fact they've really helped to turn me off the show. That whole Desmond can see the future thing...I totally didn't buy it.

I actually know the point when this season died for me. When the black smoke killed Eko. That was it. After that I was all but done for. The writers have a lot of work to do to get me back onside.

Apparently ratings are climbing.

I think commentary is down because we're back into character development story lines with less of a focus on the enigmatic mythology.

I'm still enjoying it.

Man Loche was stupid this episode. How could he have missed the implications of doing what he did.... Also why didn't the other 2 tell him about the explosives! ahh

That was a frustrating episode. I didn't think that any of Locke's behavior made sense for his character. First, he is leading the expedition. He knows where he is going and is in charge. This is consistent with the single-mindedness which has characterized him in past seasons. Then, they actually find some others and he suddenly turns into an idiot. None of them know who Patchy is. Yet, Locke fools around on Patchy's computer playing chess without a care in the world while his friends struggle with Patchy. Independent of Patchy, you would think that a man who was obsessed with the mystical powers of a prior computer might tread lightly when he finds a secret menu on another related computer.

I agree with you sapiens; I thought it was odd that Locke would get distracted so easily by a computer chess game, while Kate and Sayaid were having a discussion with patch man. Also, it is unfortunate about Ms. Klu because she was quite a mysterious character.

I thought overall, this show was good. Locke was a let down foresure, but what can you do. Sayaid was great, getting shot, and still kicking ass. Just goes to show that he has a 6th sense about things, and it is usually correct. I thought it funny how Russo (sp?) was back right before the explosion, when she wanted nothing to do with guy/house. Next week looks to be pretty awesome.

I really don't think it was that odd. Think about opening the hatch, or going on the tour with his wheelchair, he seems to get focused on one thing and that all that matters. Far as him being stupid I think naive is a better word to use think back to him giving his pop a kidney or the whole thing with eddie back on the ranch.

Plus Locke really doesnt want to get off the island, everyone should remember that.

I love Sayaid episodes and this one was really no exception. I'm not sure that Locke knew that the place was going to blow, but I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing in sending out a warning once they'd discovered that Patchy wasn't who he said he was. The man latches on to things and plays with them obsessively. He's exactly the kind of guy who would poke around on a strange computer under he figured out what it does. That's what he did in the hatch, that's absolutely in character with what he'd do here.

Locke has never been a big picture guy. He's always been a "oooh shiny and possibly important, let me play with it" type. I think Ample's closing thought is also really appropriate here. Though the island is becoming increasingly home to most of the losties, it has taken particular importance for Locke. If he can help himself stay there, even at their expense, I think he'll take it.

Kate continues to be lame, though. It was nice to see Sawyer really put in his place for once. I don't think he'll soon forget it. The camp could get tense later this season, I think.

I agree that it was in character for Locke to focus his attention on the computer, but I did find it odd that Sayid and Kate didn't mention the C4.

And Sayid continues to demonstrate why he is my favourite character - every episode with him as the focus has been good.

-Tamerlain

I thought last night's show was pretty kick ass! I never saw that Claire and Jack being sister/brother coming. I think though in a few weeks when its Jack's turn to have flashbacks we are going to see his dad in Australia meeting up with Claire one more time and she finds out about Jack somehow.

And that was really weird seeing Jack have such a great time playing football with the others. I hope he is just putting on a front and not switching teams

That was a great cliffhanger. Having Jack running towards the bushes as if in escape, only to turn around and do what he did was great storytelling.

Technically, I believe Jack and Claire are only Half-Siblings, though it's a great connection.

Here's a rhetorical question: What happens when they make a run for the security perimeter and don't have a tree handy to climb over?

I remember an episode where Jack's father drove to a dark house one rainy night and a girl answered the door and he ran away. I always thought the girl looked like Claire but I wasn't sure. I just assumed that maybe he was the father of Claire's devil-child until she answered the door that episode and didn't recognize him. Now it makes sense.

Do we face the possibility that one or more of the survivors is on the inside with the others and has been the whole time? Jack or Locke?

Last night's episode finally shows me that LOST hasn't completely lost it. Brilliant twists and turns. The new Claire/Jack connection is great. What's really great is, we could have seen it coming from the Anna Lucia episode "Two for the Road", where she's with Christian in Australia. But nobody ever guessed.

I would say that Sayeed and Kate's assault plan is not well thought out. In order to get back through the security perimeter, they'll need to either drag a tree a long way down that field, or actually disable the security system. Either way, they're not set up for a quick or stealthy escape.

MAN that moment at the end where it looks like Jack's making a run for it. Jesus that was well done.

Well, if I'm going out to left field, I might as well go all the way to the warning track. Perhaps Jack's father isn't really dead. Maybe he's the Magnificent One? He seems to be connected to at least five of the passengers. And Claire's baby would be his grandchild...

The Dharma stuff seems to be medically experimental and many of the cast (survivors and others) have medical connections.

They are going to cut down another tree and get over the security perimeter before the others get to the area.

Or, they just take another route.