1. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. No wonder it was so great! What else do they have to do except to WRITE MORE EPISODES! If you don’t know who these guys are then put your hand out in front of you - palm up - then bring your palm swiftly towards your forehead. Now, go to Google and type in either name. Come back and read on when done.

2. It’s a toss up for my favorite characters. I think that I like, as many of you do, Daniel because we lost our beloved Charlie and he takes up that kind of kooky place that was left. But…. Desmond and his passion and loyalty to Penny just begs to be adored. I’d have to take the clean shaven Desmond though. Not a big fan of sasquatch Desmond. Sorry Sawyer, your one liners and shirtless scenes just don’t do it anymore. (Well, I wouldn’t complain for a few more shirtless scenes).
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3. So far Sayid has had a good sense of who could and could not be trusted. He seems to “somewhat” trust Frank. I don’t know that he has total faith in him, but on the freighter at this point, Frank is his only ally. And to trade him the gun for the phone, that was interesting. Knowing Sayid, he probably pulled a slight of hand and somehow kept the gun.
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4. Daniel asks Jack if Desmond has recently been exposed to radiation or electromagnetism and Jack doesn’t respond. How on earth could Jack neglect to mention that tiny little event where the sky turned purple? He was on the pier so he saw it happen.

5. The alarm on the boat sounds remarkably like the alarm from the hatch. It makes sense that Desmond wouldn’t like the noise considering he spent 3 years down in that thing. At this moment he is the 1996 Desmond but I would still think the experience would be part of his psyche.
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6. I remember that there was a lot of talk in Season One about triangles and in Daniel’s book there was a triangle on one of his sketches. I don’t know if there is a relevance or clue to something in this, but we haven’t seen much reference to the triangles since then. I remember that people were wondering in Season One if it was a clue that the plane had even gone down in the Bermuda Triangle.
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7. I debated whether to mention this or not as I’m not coming up with a plausible connection - but what is plausible anyway huh? The dog here at the college appears to resemble the dog in the picture in Jacob’s shack. Could we have Vincent and mystery dog as time travelers somehow? If people are inhabiting their bodies then I am done with this show and I will storm the studios of ABC. But, I am going to trust that it’s just a coincidence.
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8. Daniel says that you can’t change the future. In this week’s podcast. Damon or Carlton (can’t remember which one) says that if the future were changeable, then the flash forwards that we have seen would be meaningless. They state that Mrs Hawkins (remember the lady from the last Desmond time travel experience?) explained it fully. That if you try to change the future, the fabric of time will swoop in and course correct. I’m going to go back and watch they episode. They say in that episode Mrs Hawkins explains what you need to know about trying to change time. They did say that destiny also plays a part and we will see more of how that works this season.

9. So what was the point, then, of Desmond traveling back and talking to Daniel? Technically, I know that 1996 Desmond was traveling forward to 2004 Desmond, but for the sake and ease of argument, I’m talking about traveling back. I still think, like I said initially, that this all has to do with course correcting. Desmond has to travel back to Daniel so his life and Daniel’s life will stay or go on the course needed to make all the island stuff happen. Not sure yet if this is going to somehow save the world or what, but the course needs to be followed.

10. Prolonged exposure to the electromagnetism is the key to the time travel. I would think, then, that anyone who was in the hatch pressing the button would be susceptible. Locke would be the most exposed since he was there when Desmond blew the hatch, but everyone on the island was exposed. And Rose probably had chemo back home for her brain tumor so she had extra exposure as well.

11. I really like the 1996 Desmond.
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13. Minkowski tells Desmond that calls were coming for him from Penny, but if he never answered them then how did he know it was for Desmond? I would think this answers the question whether or not Penny’s dad had anything to do with the freighter being there.

14. Ben’s constant is the island. It doesn’t have to be a person.

15. I’m glad that some of the unfinished mysteries are coming around again. I don’t think we know everything about the Black Rock yet, but I thought it was cool that here it is again and we at least know a little more about it now. Appears that it will be important to solving the mystery of the island.
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16. They are auctioning the journal of the ship’s first mate. Could this have been Jacob, perhaps?

17. For the record, Mrs. Hawkins is not in the audience at the auction.
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18. That *has* to be a picture of Francis Drake behind Desmond at the auction.
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19. Is it possible that Mr Widmore was also time traveling when he came to this auction? If Ben has figured out how to control it, surely Widmore has as well. It would also explain why he looked perplexed when he ran into Desmond. If he knows that Desmond is traveling as well that would explain why he left the water on - because he knew it could be a way to bring him back. It would also explain further why he would give Desmond Penny’s address - he knew that Desmond needed a constant and knew that Desmond cared for Penny. I still stand by my suspicion that Widmore is not the bad guy we assume he is.
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20. OK guys please explain why someone of Mr. Widmore’s class would invite Desmond for a walk then take him into the bathroom? Unless it is something with the water, I don’t get that at all.

21. I don’t remember this, but apparently in Danielle’s recording that looped, she mentioned something about Brandon or Brannon having “the keys.” Now we see that there was a crew member on the freighter named Brandon. Related? Here is a link to a thread about this.

22. I think that time travel explains how Walt has appeared to various people over the past 3 seasons and how Charlie came to Hurley the beginning of this season. Charlie from the past was somehow shown and convinced that he had to go to Hurley and tell him to go back to the island. Charlie tells Hurley that he is dead but that he’s still there. How else would that be possible? This also explains how the other guy in the asylum saw Charlie. And knowing that Hurley was his best friend on the island and that he sacrifices himself to save Claire, of course he is going to go to Hurley to convince him to go back to the island because “they need you.”