OK, it’s wrong how much I love this show.  I keep wondering how they are going to top themselves week after week but they just keep doing it.  I don’t think that another show will ever be as captivating to me.  I’m glad they won’t drag it on forever but dang it, I’ll miss it when it’s gone.

1.   I almost forgot about how much I hated Keemy.  Seeing him in the recap tonight reminded me just how evil he was.

2.   I thought it was kind of funny how Charles was riding the horse with his long, flowing hair.  Looked kind of Midevil.

3.  Jacob didn’t want Ben to live and neither did the island.  Richard forced that hand.  It seems like Ben was thrust into the leader role but he wasn’t really meant for it, Locke was.  So Ben didn’t really have a rivalry with Widmore, it’s more with Locke because Locke was born to be the leader.  But, Widmore and Ben both wanted the leadership role thus creating the rivalry.  And we’ve seen what Ben does to those who challenge or get in the way of what he wants (Juliet).

4.  OK, if you are loving the new Locke raise your hand.  He’s had a rebirth, literally.  I was loving all the straight talk and no “BS” John Locke.  This guy’s not the pushover softie anymore.

5.   Hm, what is in the big silver mystery crate on the beach that Ilana and gang are trying to open?  I think there are guns but they said it “needed moved” so maybe some homing devices so outsiders can find them?

6.  Interesting that Ben is trying to tell Cesar that Locke wasn’t on the plane but he’s not going for it.  Ben is switching roles now and he’s the survivor and Locke is the Other.

7.Remember that Jack’s tattoo says something along the lines of “He walks amongst us, but is not one of us.”  I was reminded of that when Widmore tells Young Ben that just because he lives with the DI doesn’t mean he’s one of them.
8.  Widmore ordered Ben to kill Danielle.  But how could they have not known that she had a child?  It’s interesting that Ben has such a soft spot for the children.  He also lowers his gun when he’s about to kill Penny and little Charlie comes out from the boat.  But the scene where Ben steals Alex was just horrible.  And we still don’t know what all the smoke signals were about when Danielle stole baby Aaron and tried to trade him for Alex.

9. Ben mentions that Danielle should run when she hears the whispers.  But I don’t necessarily think he controls them.  Need to stew on that one a bit.

10.  Locke calling Ben’s bluff about the smoke monster, just awesome.  What we’ve been waiting for for awhile.  Some straight talking.

11.  Ben knows about Ilana and Cesar not being “just” passengers.  I’m not convinced that Cesar and Ilana are necessarily working together though either.  So many new elements to consider.

12.  Why would Widmore think that Danielle was a threat to the island or was he just being a bully?

13.  Did Ben think that instead of killing Danielle he was doing her a favor by stealing Alex?  Seems pretty messed up.  Almost seems like Kate’s excuse for taking Aaron, to protect him, but in reality she wanted the baby.

14.  Ben doesn’t remember the rest of the O6 in DI, even though he was there.  Ben looks pretty shocked to hear that Sun has been talking to Christian.  We don’t know the connection yet with Ben and Christian.  Will be very interesting to see how this all fits.

15.   So cute when Ben was swinging Alex.  Almost made me forget that he’s a kidnapper.  But I do believe that she is the one person that he truly ever loved.

16. Has Ben been controlling when Smokey comes out to play?  Looks that way.  But before Ben was in control someone else had to be calling it’s moves.

17.  Ben’s wigs were really awful.  Too much in special effects and nothing left for hair pieces?

18.  I like how Ben tells Sun he can’t control what comes out of the woods and then John walks out.  Funny.  But what was our buddy Locke doing out in the woods?  And, he can’t control Locke anymore.
19.   Ben has killed many, many people.  The only one he thinks he must atone for is Alex.

20.   We assume that Ben doesn’t kill Penny but I don’t know that for sure.  The last we see Ben is in the water.  I only hope that it’s true.

21.  “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”  A riddle, like the snowman riddle Desmond has when they first go into the hatch.

22.  I loved this epi but the flashes of Alex in the smoke monster were a wee bit cheesy.  Again, seems like the budget must have been a little thin this week.  But the meaning was still there so I’ll forgive them.  It was all just so Wizard of Oz like when Dorothy is being swirled around in the tornado on her way to Oz.
23.  Alex comes to Ben like Yemi came to Eko.  Only Eko turned against him and was killed whereas Ben does not.

24.  Has the smoke monster given Ben back the innocence it took away from him as a child?  I can’t wait to see!

Should the Losties really be going back and course correcting?  What if their purpose is to go back and change something?  I appreciated that Jack refused to help Ben.  Sure, it violates the Hippocratic Oath, but I appreciate that he’s operating more on faith now and doesn’t have to control and fix everything.

1.  Are we so sure that Claire’s mom is on the up-and-up?  After all, she was meeting with Ben’s lawyer.  And, just a few short months ago was in a coma and now miraculously, and conveniently, she’s up, walking around and meeting with shady lawyers.   I’m going to hold judgment on her until we see a little more.  I still think that Aaron is going to show up on the island and maybe she’ll be the one to bring him.
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2.  Jin says that Sayid is headed North. Everybody heads north in this show.  When Michael went looking for Walt remember which way he went (North)?  Remember Eko’s stick… “Lift up your eyes and look North.”
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3.   I want to know if Hurley is still seeing his dead friends now that he’s back on the island?  Any more chess with Mr Eko?

4. Kate is using Cassidy as her confessional.  She tells her about the crash, the survivors and even that Aaron is not her son.  Is it fair that she puts all of this on Cassidy?  I don’t want to believe that this will come back to haunt her but on the show you never know what kinds of connections people have.  Heck, for all we know Cassidy is a Widmore.

5.   Listen to Jack, new man of faith, “Did you ever think that the island wants to fix things itself?”  Poignant moment or Jack making excuses?  I like to think that Jack is going to let whatever happened, happen.

6.  I don’t think that it’s such a far stretch that Juliet is now “doctoring” Ben and that none of the DI is questioning it.  According the conversation between Roger and Kate, when you get to the island you just get “stuck” in a job until they deem you worthy of a better position.  So Juliet was working on cars and they had a doctor so they really didn’t need her to step up until now.  If I was Roger and it was my kid who had been shot, I still would have been asking questions about her qualifications to be able to operate on my child.  I’d also be insisting that they pull the doctor out of the Looking Glass and get him up on land to help my kid.
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7. Hurley’s question to Miles about why Ben doesn’t remember getting shot by Sayid as a kid is answered by Richard.  His memory of the event will be gone.  Not all of his memory, just of that event.  However, I think that someone must tell Ben about it because Ben is convinced that Sayid is a cold blooded killer and I think that is because he knows that Sayid is capable of shooting even a kid for the greater good.

8. Yet another example of no one asking questions.  Why doesn’t Kate ask Juliet why she thinks that the Others can help Ben?  Wouldn’t you wonder if they had a surgeon or a doctor or what her thoughts were?  I guess you wouldn’t think to ask if it might be a mystical temple with healing powers, but you would want to know something.  It’s season five with only one season to go, I want answers!

9.  There is just no way it’s a coincidence that the woman with Aaron looks just like Claire.  Ben probably has someone following Kate just looking for opportunities like this to mess with Kate and the others.
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10. So Cassidy sure is working hard to convince Kate that Sawyer is a bad guy.  Kate must not have told her everything because Sawyer didn’t necessarily break her heart, she left him.  Yes, he was a real jerk acting so excited when he found out she wasn’t pregnant, but he did want to be with her and he was upset when she left him in Otherville.  I remember Kate mockingly asking Sawyer if she was supposed to stay there and play house with him.  So Cassidy has her own motives and wants kate to hate him as much as she does.

11.  Uh oh, Claire’s mom is in a red shirt.  You know what that means…
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12.  Kate is done running.  As much as it hurt her, she stopped.  She did the right thing by giving Aaron to his grandmother.  She is even going back to the island to find Claire which had to be incredibly hard for her.  Now maybe we can move forward with the evolution of Kate from being “lost” to somewhere good and I hope that in the end it doesn’t mean Jack or Sawyer (sorry guys, I think this chick needs to move on from the island after she finds Claire).

13.  I think that part of her insistence to help young Ben also has to do with her feelings of protecting the children.  That she would do anything to protect them.

14.  If Richard doesn’t answer to Ellie and Widmore, then who does he answer to?

15.  The Temple, circa 1977.  Why does Ben and the Others in “current” time go there to hide from the Freigther gang?   Why does Smokey live there?  What are the healing powers?  Does any of it have to do with the “Dark Territory” that Danielle had mentioned?
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16.  I think that Locke’s welcome to Ben to the Land of the Living was meant to be an ironic statement and didn’t have anything more behind it.  And, might I add, I missed Locke!!!!
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17.  Ben’s judgment day is next week.  That could mean lots of things but one thing is for sure, it’s bound to be a great episode and hopefully full on answers.

18.  Hopefully we’ll get some Desmond next week too.

Spot on writers!  Ben would survive.  It happened once and happened again.

I love the new and improved Jack.  Won’t save Ben, puts a shirt on when Juliet walks in on him nude, and listens to Sawyer? Jack the new man of faith.

Kate scored a few points tonight for doing the right thing with Aaron.   She’s on the right track.  We’ll see if she can keep it up or will go back to whiney.

1.  What is the creepy relationship with Roger and Kate?   Ew!

2.  What a cute baby they have for Aaron.

3.  Cassidy is back.  She was a reality check after seeing the softer side of Sawyer.  Yeah, he was a pretty creepy guy back home and did some pretty terrible things.  Guess I wanted to forget who he was but she made some good points – like why Sawyer really jumped out of the helicopter.

4.  Why does Kate trust Cassidy so much?  She told her the whole truth and Cassidy doesn’t seem very surprised by the story.  They left them behind on some crazy island and this doesn’t surprise her.  Is it just me or is Cassidy suspicious?

5.   Now Roger is becoming a concerned father?  I’m wondering what would have happened if Jack would have saved Ben.  What a twist!  Ben may have ended up being a relatively normal guy but because of Jack’s refusal to help he actually contributed to Ben becoming Crazy Ben.  Wow!  And Kate is directly responsible for Ben going to Crazy Town by begging Juliet and Sawyer to help save him.  I love it!

6.   I’m very glad that Jack had the conversation with Kate that he already saved Ben once because Kate begged him.  Is Jack on to something that maybe The Island wants to fix itself.  The Island has the ability to heal and to supposedly prevent people from dying (think Michael in the car crash) so it does pick and chose who lives and dies.

7.  Why would the doctor be in the Looking Glass station for a week?  Seems like he/she would have more use on the mainland.

8. Kate understands what Roger is talking about when he says that a boy needs his mother.  She lets Claire’s mom watch Aaron while she goes back to the island to get Clarie.  Good, noble cause.

9.  I think Hurley is wrong.  I think Ben *does* remember that Sayid is the guy that shot him as a kid.  That is why Ben was so insistent that Sayid was a killer and was confident he would kill to protect his friends.  After all, Sayid would shoot a 12 year old boy to protect his friends, why not dozens of perfect strangers?  Or, Ben doesn’t remember being shot as Richard says if they take him he won’t remember the incident.
10. Juliet knows the Hostiles/Others can help save Ben but she must know what the consequences will be.  She knows this by living with them all of those years.  I would hope that Sawyer will come back and ask Juliet what it all means, but it seems like Hurley and Jack are the only ones asking questions lately.

11.  Ah, the cog in the wheel – the scene at the dock seems to be the cog and all the spikes (stories) of the Losties spread out from there.

12.  I would guess that Ben paid the blonde lady who looked *just* like Claire to take Aaron off by the hand to freak out Kate.  Way too much of a coincidence.

13.  All right, so Ellie and Charles are making the calls for the Hostiles.  Mrs Hawking and Widmore.  Ben must really pull a number on Widmore when he’s older to get Mrs Hawking on his side.  But what on earth must they have to do to Ben to save him.  I’m going to guess it’s something affiliated with the smoke monster considering they are in the Temple and we know who lives there!  Why does he lose his innocence?
14.  I say Ellie and Charles because the guy working with Richard asks him if he should ask them first before they take Ben.

15.  Yes!  Locke is back!  I was missing him.  Now we need to bring back Daniel and Desmond too.  Ben looks genuinely surprised to see Locke.
16.  Clever editing?  they make it look like Ben is talking to the young Danielle.  But he doesn’t look like young Ben.  But maybe it is, maybe we’ll see the scene where Ben takes Alex from her.

One of the things that I love about Lost is that you have to think.  I appreciate that the “powers that be” give us credit for being intelligent and give us information without full explanation.  For instance, at first blush I assumed that this week’s title came from Sawyer’s line to Sayid about Oldham.  But after watching the episode back several times (for this blog, not because I’m obsessed…. ok, yes I am obsessed) I started to realize the duplicity of it’s meaning.  Sayid is to the past what Ben is to the present in so far as he has to kill for what he believes is right for the greater good.

Initial thoughts and comments are here.

1. Isn’t it horrifying cute that Young Ben brings Sayid a chicken sandwich immediately after we see a scene of Sayid killing a chicken with his bare hands as a boy?

2.  I still can’t get over the fact that Ben was living among the DI and Sawyer didn’t mention anything or make a big deal about it.  When Jack showed up wouldn’t you totally be like, “You won’t believe who is here!  But you can’t say anything when you see him.”  I know that Sawyer says that he had no choice, but to not even mention it?
3.  Young Ben is already quite the little sneak.  He keeps coming to Sayid and just starts chatting about Richard.  And, Ben knows that the cameras only have pictures, no sound.  Ben also knows how to break out a prisoner.  So, as much as Sayid may be an influence on the killer in Ben, it seems like Young Ben was already well on his way to being the conniving man he becomes.  Plus, Ben was already working with the Hostiles when Sayid shows up so he’s not quite the innocent we may want to think he is as a young boy.

4.  I was thinking about the O6 and how they had to live a lie back home.  There was no freedom for them because they had to live with the weight of knowing they left all the others behind.  But, things weren’t so easy for those back on the island as they also had to live a lie.  They couldn’t tell the truth either and at least for Juliet, had settled into a life they thought was it for them. So I can understand why Sawyer wanted Sayid to lie and join the *Dharma Party* because their life really wasn’t all that bad for them there in 1977.  It seems a heck of a lot better there than it was for Sawyer back home but they weren’t totally free from guilt either.

5.   I really hate feeling this way, but I just cannot stand where they have taken Kate’s character.  Right now I wish they could have left her behind.  But, I am hoping that there is something positive to come for her and that she can stop crying and whining and go back to being strong and independent.  I know that next week is Kate-centric so here’s the chance.

6.  I’m sure it’s not there, but when Sayid first *senses* Ben behind him then he turns around, I swear you can hear the rattling noise that you hear sometimes when Smokey is sneaking around.  Go back and listen!  Watching this scene back also has new meaning now that I know Sayid shoots Young Ben.
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7. My first question is, how does Oldham get power out in the middle of the jungle?  He’s playing a record in this tent.  My second thought was that it looked a lot like the tent that Locke built when he was going on his magic carpet ride to find out what the island wanted from him.  Lastly, Oldham is not nearly the bad a$$ that Sayid is unless there is more to come from this guy.  A drug laced sugar cube, really?  That’s the best he’s got?
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8. I’m still curious to know what the side affects of the sugar cube are going to be for Sayid.  I know that Boone was chased by Smokey and saw Shannon die from his trip.  Wonder what Sayid might see?
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9.  Sayid is drinking McCutcheon Scotch (with his pinkie up I might add).  This is the same scotch that Desmond bottled, that Widmore said Des wasn’t good enough to drink, and the scotch that Charlie used to get Des drunk.
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10.  Why doe Amy want to kill Sayid so much?  I understand that she’d be mad at the Hostiles, but to just kill him?  Maybe there is more to her that we haven’t considered yet.

11.   Why does Radzinski want to call Ann Arbor?  The DeGroots are there but why would they have any say in this? In a psychology class I took, we learned about an experiment at Stanford University where they took groups of students and made some of them prisoners and some of them guards.  You can read the whole thing here but long story short, the students became so enmeshed in their roles that they had to end the experiment early.  Could that be what’s going on here?  They all could have started from the same place, just split them into two groups and see what happens – one group civil, the other living in the wild.

12.  Why do they have to kill Sayid?  Why can’t they just wait for Richard and send him back?  Maybe the DI isn’t as peaceful as they seem.

13.   New job for Jack!  Firefighter!
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14.  Ben has to know when he sees Sayid on the flight that Sayid is on his way *back* to shoot him.  Back to the island and back in time, I mean.  Ben is so insistent on all of them going back that each one has a chain of events that they each must set in motion.  I don’t think that they are going to save anyone.  For instance, Sayid shoots Ben, he’s not saving his life, he’s just there to keep the record playing on the right song, so to speak.  I’m very interested to see what the role of each of the others will be, including why Ben gets to or *has* to go back to the island.
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15.  When Ben is saved, which he will be, no one saw him in the jungle so it will be easy for him to say Sayid kidnapped then shot him to escape.  But, Ben has to hear the conversation between Sayid and Jin so he also knows that there is more going on here then just Sayid being a Hostile.  Will the other Losties know that Sayid shot him for the greater good?
16.   I hope next week that Sawyer is going to ask Kate if she did the favor him that he had asked her in the helicopter.  Sounds like his daughter will be appearing next week so I’m guessing he will.

17.   Who will end up saving Ben?  My money is on Juliet.  Although, Jack does end up feeling guilty and helping others and he took an oath as a doctor.  But, I could see it being Juliet and that is why Ben is so enamored with her as an adult.

18.   I also think that however the O6 end up returning to present time, that is going to be the big *incident* that has been referred to.  My guess is that Sayid is going to end up running into Daniel.  He will tell him the story.  Dan is going to figure out how to get them back to the present but it will involve something drastic.  But I do hope that we get to see how Radzinski ends up being quarantined down in the hatch and how the numbers came to be.

Up until the end of this episode, I thought this one was a sweeper…. sweeping up all the little crumbs of Sayid’s past and how he came back to the island.  But still another home run for the writers and producers.

1.  The opening scene of Sayid and his brother reminded me of Eko and Yemi.  And we also get to see yet another with daddy issues.

2.   So Ben has been living there with DI and Sawyer and the others didn’t notice?  How?  Maybe they did know but then why wouldn’t they tell Jack, Kate and Hurley that he was there?

3.  Ben hands Sayid a book about using plants to really *see* things… like Oldham used on Sayid so he could see his purpose on the island?  And if this really was Sayid’s purpose will he die now?  Click here to read about the book.  It also reminded me of the wacky paste Locke used to use when he went on his magic carpet rides or sent Boone off into hallucinations.

4.   Ben sending Sayid to kill various people who were supposedly out to hurt his friends reminds me of when Sawyer was sent to kill Duckett in Season One when he thought it was the real Sawyer.  The guy who turned out to be just some guy who owed Hibbs money.  Ben has sent Sayid after these guys for some reason but it’s doubtful it had anything to do with the Losties.

5.   Ben shows up and says to Sayid that Locke was killed by the same people who are watching Hurley which is true since it was BEN that killed him.

6.   Cute, Hurley working in the kitchen.  I would think those jokes get old for Jorge Garcia.  I would have like to have seen Hurley maybe working in the entertainment hall or something more cerebral than the kitchen.

7.   If Oldham is DI’s torturer, wouldn’t he have had something more torturous then a sugar cube?  And what are side effects of the medicine?  Could Sayid have imagined the whole killing Ben episode?

8. Ben’s dad is a real jerk.  He should have killed the dad and spared Ben.

9.   I like getting back to flash backs and flash forwards.  I have come to expect the jumping around rather than a linear story.

10.  The lady who played Ilana has a very terrible accent.  I don’t know if she was trying to hide a real accent to pretend to have an accent, but either way it really took me out of the story.  The fake accent was too distracting.

11.   When Sayid was high on the sugar cube and started laughing, I started to think this is the only time I’ve seen him happy and laughing the whole show.  It was kind of nice to see a different side of him.

12.  I wonder if the DI talks amongst themselves.  If so, would Horrace tell Pierre Chang about what Sayid says about being from the future?  Remember that Pierre believes in time travel (when they are excavating the donkey wheel)?

13.   Ilana appears to be working for Ben, but if Widmore knows they have to go back to the island she could be working for him as well.  We’ve never established who Elsa was working for when she tried to shoot him.

14. If Sayid killing little Ben was real….. then Sayid has just changed the past.  Could be why next week is called “Whatever Happened, Happened,” that was Dan’s response when Sawyer asked him about helping Amy and changing the past.  Or, Ben knew that Sayid was going to kill him and that is why he understood Locke’s sacrifice.  Or, little Ben doesn’t die and either Jack or Juliet is going to have to help save him.

15.  Even though we know why Sayid knocked out Jin, I would think Jin is going to see it as a betrayal.  But I hope they find a way back together at some point.

16.  And from the  sounds of next week, Ben does live and the title makes me think that Daniel will reappear, which is good, I missed him!  The big question will be… is he still wearing the tie?  And, Clementine is in next week’s episode???  That is Sawyer’s daughter!

I liked tonight’s episode but to me it felt like a device to just get us from point A to point B.  Not a lot really happened, but it got us on track for big things to come.  No big surprise that Ben came to Sayid (well, to Sayid it was a surprise) but I’m sure there are really big things to come in that story line.

1.  Why didn’t Sun flash with the other Losties?  I suspect Ben had something to do with that but not sure how he did it yet.

2.  Having Sun in the future and Jin in the past is the perfect way to set them up to do whatever it takes to reunite.  We’ve seen the kinds of things that Jin did when he worked for Sun’s father so it doesn’t seem above him to do bad things when needed.  I’m assuming that Ben and Co. set it up that way because they will need Sun and Jin’s help to reunite all of the Losties.  Like players in a chess game.

3. We can see Sawyer start losing control when Jin takes off to look for Sun and the plane crash.  He seems to have done a good job regaining control of his life as part of the DI, now these 3 show up and start shaking the foundation.

4.  Back a few seasons ago I thought it was going to be Locke’s group versus Jack’s group.  Now I’m wondering if it’s going to end up being Sawyer versus Jack.  Sawyer considers DI his people now and I don’t think he’ll leave easily knowing about the purge.

5.  Interesting to see Radzinksy building the hatch.  Will need to get a screen cap of that.   I’m also very curious how he ends up *trapped* in the hatch.  I’m guessing his fate along with the “quarantine” signs on the hatch doors go along with the *incident* which probably involves the Losties and how they return to current time.

6.  Ben had no intention of going back to the big island.  He totally set up Sun.

7.   Ha!  Jack was tapping on his watch.  They said way back in Season One that watches didn’t work on the island so I wondered why everyone was wearing them.

8.  Jack was looking pretty fine in that tight blue shirt.

9.  And why was Frank still wearing his tie?  He’s just been through a horrific plane crash and he still wears a tie?  What’s up with these people?

10.  Speaking of ties…. will be very interested to see where Daniel has taken off to.  I’m sure they will need him in order to reunite with the present Losties.

11. Jack is a janitor.  Cute that Sawyer set that job up for him.

12.  Locke hasn’t shown up yet on the beach.  It must take some time to wake up the dead.
13. If Sun and Frank are in current time then why is Otherville in such bad shape?  When they left they had still been living there and everything was in good order. However, I remember the first time we saw Otherville and it appeared to be in the the middle of a large crater surrounded by jungle.  *This* Otherville may be something like Jacob’s cabin that appears and disappears.

14.  Sounded like Old Smokey in the trees before Sun and Frank hit the barracks, too.
15.  Why did Radzinsky care so much that a hostile saw the plans for the hatch and where they were building it?

16.  The Whispers are back! And was that not the creepiest image of Christian when he first appeared in the door?

17.   Wow, Sawyer really gives it to Jack straight about how Jack just reacted rather than thinking.  It seemed pretty mean but I can’t say that Sawyer was wrong.  Now, we just have to hope that Jack doesn’t go and mess up whatever Sawyer has planned.

18.  A friend of mine asked a good question – how is it that a newbie on the island gets to bring a prisoner a sandwich?  Ben could not have been there before because Sawyer would have known.  And I want to know how Juliet didn’t notice Ben’s name on the list from the sub.

19. Vincent, where is he??  And Rose and Bernard- do we assume they are dead?

Check it out, from Watch With Kristen:

WHAT’S TO COME

Lost is moving again—going back even further into the past to explore a terrible incident that changed the course of the Island (and its people) forever. When Lost returns in two weeks, the charming and talented young actor Sterling Beaumon (the kid’s 14 and he’s recording an album) reprises his role as “young Ben” for what will be a four-episode character arc.

Sterling tells us exclusively that the story is “very major, and it’s going to change Ben forever.” Sterling, as per usual for Lost cast members, is sworn to secrecy about exactly what happens, but he says this very major thing “involves himself and yes, it is a trauma…Before the change Ben’s a nice, good kid…and then one second will change his life forever.”

According to Sterling, over the course of this arc, “Ben will [come to] know everything about every little bit about the Island. We’re not going to learn more about the past with Dharma, we’re going to learn more about the past of the Island.” Say it with me people: Holler!

Thanks everyone for your excellent comments.  I’m writing my initial thoughts around 11:00 at night which is late for me since I have to get up early for work the next day (no, sadly my work does not revolve around Lost).  So thanks again to everyone for your thoughts, comments, and additions to my blog every week, especially the initial late night thoughts.

1.  We know from past dialog that there is going to be an “incident” that changes things on the island (like fertility presumably).  I originally thought that Jughead was going to start to leak, but I’m now wondering if the Losties have to do some crazy donkey wheel turning event to propel themselves back into the present time.  My guess is that it’s before the big DI purge as by leaving that will give the Losties a whole new sense of guilt for not staying to help.  I’m also guessing that Daniel is going to have to convince them that they can’t change the past and therefore the Losties cannot interfere with the purge.  I can see this being especially hard for Sawyer as he is their head of security and from the looks of things he really cares about these people (like begging Juliet to help Amy deliver the baby).

2.  I think that the O6 had to come back because each has a specific role that they will play and they must be there for the course of events to happen.  Course correction.  Do we know what that is yet?  I don’t think so.  In an interview awhile back Darlton said we wouldn’t find out until late Season 5 into Season 6 why they had to come back.  In the meantime, I’ll sit back and enjoy watching Sawyer’s evolution (go home Kate!  He’s doing great!)

3.  It must have been very strange for whoever found the rope just sticking out of the ground.  Could this have possibly been what lead someone to dig the well, find the cavern and eventually to digging the Orchid Station?
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4.  The giant statue is holding a giant Ankh.  Coincidence?  It’s the same symbol that was on Paul’s necklace
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5.  I’ll tell you why I think the turning of the donkey wheel caused the statue to crash.  After the flash Miles says that “that one was more like an earthquake.”  Unless anyone has a better explanation, I’m thinking that an earthquake would be a reasonable explanation for a statue going down.

6.   For any doubters, the spelling for this episode is “LaFleur.”  I’ve heard some chatter about this and maybe there are alternatives, but for us this is the correct spelling.
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7.  I’m curious how they buried the bodies of the hostiles so quickly.  They don’t have shovels.  The logistics of it doesn’t make sense.

8.  I think Mr Friendly may have been trying to call a truce with the Losties back in Season Two where they meet up with Locke and company out in the woods.  Mr Friendly says that it’s their island and they allow them to stay there (I remember thinking at the time that they should just let them go home then…).  Part of the problem with that truce is that the Losties refused to stay put and were always traipsing around the island.

9. OK so the “Internest” says that the mothers always give birth on the mainland.  The possibilities are that there have been problems giving birth or that these peace loving hippies have enough common sense to get their people proper health care.  Either way, it’s a good thing for Amy that Juliet was there.

10.  I wonder if who the baby is even matters.  But, if it does then I think it would have to be one of the male characters in his 30’s.  That would be Jack, Sawyer, Ben or Desmond.  It’s not Ben because we were witness to his birth.  My guess would be either Jack or more likely Desmond since we know he is “special.”  Plus, we really know nothing about Desmond’s parents.

11.  I can also see why Richard would specifically recruit Juliet back to the island as she may be the last person who delivered a baby on the island.

12.  Look how cute Sawyer looks when he’s all happy and stuff.  Yes!  I like this version!
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13.  OK, so Sawyer does say that they were looking for the Black Rock, not on it.  But has Horace really not heard of the boat?  He seems to know later on when he brings back the dynamite.

14.  How can the little girl Daniel sees be Charlotte?  They are in 1974 and it was said earlier on that she was born in 1979.  The only reason I can think of is that in her mother’s effort to cover their tracks and change her identity post-island was to also change her DOB so that no one would know that it was her.
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15.  I’m thinking that Sawyer’s revelations to Richard about who he was and talking about Locke is what turns Richard around and has him send for Locke (remember the “science camp” that they tried to recruit “high school Locke” to go to?).  If Locke “failed” the test when he was a young boy Richard may have been doubting that Locke was special.  Then along comes Sawyer and restores his faith in Locke.
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16. Looks like things have also changed for Juliet.  When we first met her she was burning muffins that she tried to make for the book club.  Now she’s making Sawyer a big meal.
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17.  Didn’t Patchy say that he was one of the last remaining DI?  He even still wore the jumper.  We haven’t seen him yet.  Will be curious if they bring him into the story.

18.   I wonder where Jin called Sawyer from?  He only had a walkie and no cell phones.
19.  I’m thinking that Sawyer will have to say that Jack and co. are his long lost ship mates.   Hurely might be hard to explain as he kind of sticks out.  And where the heck are Rose and Bernard… and Vincent!

Yes!  A whole episode around Sawyer.  It’s about time!  He’s been hanging in the background long enough!

My first thoughts when they were showing the scenes from last week is that now Daniel has a heartbreak just like Hurley did.  Not sure that means anything, it was just sad to see how much Daniel cared for Charlotte.

1.  Interesting that Juliet keeps calling Sawyer “James.”  Old habits die hard I guess.

2.   A brief glimpse of the statue.  We still don’t know what it is, but now we know how it broke.

3.  Nice pot brownies they were eating.  Guess it’s just a peaceful community, huh?

4.   So they are keeping the bears in the cages.  If they stay in the 70’s we’ll get to see what that’s all about… finally.

5.  If Horace finds the dynamite then he has to have found The Black Rock.  Sawyer’s story was that their ship was the Black Rock.  Not that Horace would remember with all the brownies and alcohol.

6.   I really like Horace as the leader.  He’s so kind to everyone.  Unfortunately, as in real life, the really great leaders don’t always make it when someone like Ben with his personalitity is around.

7.  New theory!!!  What if Richard and Jacob are arch enemies like Ben and Widmore?  Maybe, Richard was a corpse like Christian (and now Locke) and was on the Black Rock when it crashed.  The island somehow brings him back to “life” and that is how Richard understands the process.  Anyway, somehow Richard and Jacob are enemies and that is why Jacob must be kept in the shack.  Richard is truly the mastermind behind all of it.   This would explain why Richard is so “old,” why Jacob is trapped in the cabin and why ultimately Richard seems to be there for all the important events.  Thank goodness that Nestor Carbonell’s other show bombed because he seems pretty central to the plot here.

8.   Nice to see that stuffy Saywer of the past still has a sense of humor.  He tells Amy that Horace’s actions are going to be on the coconut telegraph.  I remember him saying something similar to Hurley about the coconut internet.

9.  So what are we thinking about past Sawyer/LaFleur?  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sawyer and Juliet together.  Was looking forward to him breaking the Kate habit.  But the whole look doesn’t do much for me.  The glasses and the limp 70’s hairstyle.  However, the kinder, gentler Sawyer is extremely appealing to me.  I kind of like the hippie Sawyer’s personality.

10.  Poor Daniel.  He’s so out of it that there are gun shots and he just stands there while everyone else ducks.

11.  It doesn’t look like 1974 or the preceeding 3 years have been so bad to them.  Ben originally says that some terrible things have happened over the 3 years back on the island, but truth be told, it looks like they have really moved forward and became comfortable in their lives on the island.

12.  I want to see a Miles episode.  He has the crazy talent for talking to dead people and I’d like to see it in use!

13.   Seems like we know now how Patchy survived being shocked by the sonic fence.  It just knocks you out.  Nothing too special about him after all.  OK, well maybe he’s still special but it’s not as tricky as we thought.

14.  The Truce.  DI and Hostiles.  Richard finds a way around that with Ben doesn’t he?

15.   Doesn’t look like Jughead has started to leak yet.  Like Sawyer said to Juliet, whatever makes them not be able to have babies hasn’t happened yet.  Ooo! Lightbulb!  What if Juliet figures out what *is* causing the women to miscarry by being back in time then chooses to stay when they return to present time because she can help them now.  Juliet and Sawyer can stay back and restart the DI.

16.  The Losties know about Ben’s purge of DI so will they warn them or do they have to stay quiet so as not to change the course of events?

17.   Did we ever hear what Amy named the baby?  Please tell me it’s not Charlie again.

18.   They are playing on the same record now, just not the song they want to be on.  I like the parallel between all the record players we’ve seen and their 70’s music.

19.   Dan sees “little girl” Charlotte.  Gave me goosebumps.

20.   Guess it used to be a heck of a lot easier to come and go from the island when Horace was in charge.

21.   The alarms in the compound that sound are identical to those on the second island where Jack, Kate and Sawyer were held captive.  Will we see their purpose while they are back in time?

22.   Richard sure does make it through that fence easily.  Maybe because he’s “special?”  He says that it keeps other things out… like Old Smokey perhaps?  Or Other Others?

23. Remember Ben’s secret room in his house where he went to get his passports and some underground tunnel?  I would guess Juliet knows about it.  Could it come to play now?

24.   Richard doesn’t seem very surprised when Sawyer tells him the story about Locke, the bomb, etc…  Perhaps he was expecting them?

25.   Oh Lord, now Kate has to come back and mess up their peace and tranquility.

26.  I loved this episode.  But everything was just too sweet for Lost, something really bad is for sure going to happen.  I love how Sawyer has found his place and seems so at peace with it.  I could have seen an ending for the show in this manner and I hope for Locke that they help him to finally find his place, too.

Watching the episode back, I wonder how much of the “life” we saw of Jeremy Bentham.  There has to be more we haven’t seen yet.  Maybe Locke in whatever form he’s in now, travels back to the mainland because I can’t believe that the chinsy little visits he paid the O6 (well, four at least) were enough to get them back to the island.  Especially seeing how distraught Jack was with the obituary.  And wanting to jump off of the bridge after seeing Locke just for that brief moment in the hospital?

1.My money is on Widmore, that he sent Cesar to the island on the plane.  The guys works his way around that office very purposeful and finds the maps of the island.  He also seems to find the gun easily so I don’t think it’s a far stretch to assume he has specific orders of his purpose there.
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2.  Here are some screenshots of the Life Magazine Cesar leafs through, but I’m not convinced it’s not just a red herring.           Click to enlarge

3.Frank is pretty amazing that he could land the plane on the island without crashing.  It’s not like the put lights on the runway or anything.
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4.  I wonder if Locke noticed that he wasn’t wearing his own shoes?
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5.It’s odd to me that Locke doesn’t have any marks on his neck.  One would think he’d have bruising after being strangled with an extension cord.
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6.  Under the category of “don’t ask unless your prepared for the answer” is Ilana asking Locke to guess why he was dressed so nice.  And gotta love him for being honest.

7.   Not that it matters to the story line, but keeping with the theme is the shot of Locke’s eyes when he wakes up after turning the donkey wheel.
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8. I still think the scene of the Tunisian’s taking Locke from the desert, to the hospital and treating him resembles birth.  I can imagine that a baby must feel a similar fear.

9.  Here is a shot of the Tunisian license plate:
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10.  So Widmore says he was the leader of the Others until Ben has him exiled.  At what point would Ben have done this?  If it was before the purge then it would have been during the Dharma days and Widmore would have been very young.  Or it would have been after the purge which means that Widmore was not part of DI.  Or, he was part of DI and helped to orchestrate the purge and after that time is when Ben had him exiled.  I’m sure that there is a woman involved here too.  We have seen how possessive Ben is over women.

11.  Someone on the island must be reporting back to Widmore.  How else would he know that Ben tried to kill Locke?

12.  I also want to know why the island needs Locke to be the leader.  Widmore says that it has needed him for awhile.  So does this mean that Widmore doesn’t even want to go there?  If he was the leader before Ben had him exiled, then he’s saying he no longer wants to lead but to have Locke go back and do the job?  This isn’t adding up yet for me.

13.  I was expecting so much more from the Locke and Walt reunion.  Agreed, Walt isn’t surprised to see Locke.  They seemed to have such a bond on the island.  Now he just chats for 30 seconds and then takes off.  I have my fingers crossed that this relationship will transpire to much more back on the island.  Walt is special just like Locke so I would hope that the writers will give some sort of ending to Walt’s story.  I’d love to see Walt and Locke living like father and son.  They are both orphans.  And Walt didn’t even ask what ever happened to Vincent!  I would ask.  This was just a very fulfilling scene.
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14.  If Mr. Creepy Eyes helps people get to where they need to go, then where was he trying to help Hurley get to when he wanted to send him to his own private room?  Would they have sent him back to the island at that point?  I don’t think he approached the rest of the six so what makes Hurley special?

15.  If Helen died of a brain aneurysm, could it be the same kind of “aneurysm” that killed Charlotte or is it just a coincidence?  Out of all the ways she could have died, it had to be something suspiciously close to the after affects of time travel.  I would like to hope that Helen is actually alive, but somehow I suspect she is dead because it moves Locke even more back to the island, that he has absolutely nothing left back at home.
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16.  So maybe I can see why Jack was so upset if he really thinks that Locke killed himself.  Jack seems to transfer his own feelings of inferiority and loneliness onto Locke when he sees him in the hospital.  Jack tells Locke that he’s nothing special, that he’s nothing more than a lonely old man.  Jack probably thinks that he somehow lead Locke to kill himself.  Then he starts to wonder if Locke is right, that maybe he should go back to the island.  Jack was special in his own way on the island, too.  And, Jack promised not to leave anyone behind so I can see how the guilt starts to really sink in with Jack.

17.  Now I wonder if Ben had something to do with Christian’s death also.  Christian did hire Ana Lucia to be his body guard when he went to Australia.  Perhaps he had been told that he would have to die in order to go back to the island.

18.   I was trying to get a screen shot of the white board in Locke’s hospital room but in reading it, I happened to notice in the bottom of the screen that Locke’s foot looks like it only has four toes!  I know that the smallest piggy is hiding there, but what a funny coincidence to the mysterious four toed statue on the island.
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19.  Haha, I’m watching the next scene and here are the four toes again.  I think it’s just funny more than meaningful.
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20.  So I think that Ben was the doubting Thomas, not Jack.  Ben started to doubt that Locke had to die to save the island until he starts talking about Eloise then he knows that it’s true and that is why he changes his mind about Locke’s death and kills him.
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21.  Is it possible that the moment when Locke turned the donkey wheel, that was the exact moment that the plane was directly over the island?  That could be the flash that brought them back to the island.  That would also explain how Kate and the others end up back in time with the Losties on the island (except for Sun – but we have to have a big set up for when she reunites with Jin so her story can’t be easy).  Maybe this is also how it’s possible for Locke to still be alive.  His dead body didn’t come back to life in as much as his spirit or whatever from the donkey wheel body transfers to the corpse on the plane.  I know it’s a weak theory but I’m sure it could be *fleshed* out and work since it all happened at that exact moment.