Lost

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Superb episode, I'm lovin' all the new Richard music. And I guess the 4-letter word that describes the Island is indeed "cork." I don't really like the actor that plays the MIB though, he works best in little snippets.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I noticed it ran long as well. I usually flip over and catch the last of Biggest Loser. It was an ok episode but it had one really touching moment late.

[Red 75]

I noticed it ran long as well. I usually flip over and catch the last of Biggest Loser. It was an ok episode but it had one really touching moment late.

You kidding? That was one of the best episodes of the series ever!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It really was. The slowed smashing of the wine bottle with the quick cut to LOST was perfect.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

It was a very good episode, but it was nowhere near being one of the best episodes of the whole series. Not in my opinion, at least. I bet I could think of a dozen episodes I like better without even straining my brain.

There weren't anywhere near as many "answers" as one might have expected. Instead, they pulled the old X-Files trick of hinting at answers while bringing up about half a dozen new questions. Same old same old; this was about the point at which it began to grow tiresome on The X-Files, and it's starting to grow tiresome on Lost, too. For a lot of people, it's well past that point.

As for Titus Welliver, I don't know what you're smoking, Koray; he's great. He did a fine job in this episode of matching the sort of speech patterns Terry O'Quinn has been using as the MiB. And he even looks a little like O'Quinn, if you squint.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

We know Richard's purpose, we know why he doesn't age (but to be fair he already told us), we know how the Black Rock crashed on the Island, we know what happened to the Statue. We got more info about these two entities, how you need to stab them in the chest, and can't let them speak to you before you do it. We now pretty much know that MIB is the evil one, when all throughout the season it has been ambiguous who was good or bad. We know the Island's purpose/function.

This episode revealed a ton of answers.

I thought Welliver felt to much like he was reading a script. His delivery was poor, although I will admit his speech patterns somewhat resembled that of Locke's. I didn't like how they reused "It's good to see you out of those chains" line again, and at the worst possible moment too: DIRECTLY after he's out of the chains. I thought it was obvious what the line meant when we heard it back in LA X.

On another note, the smoke monster is one of the best examples of sound design I've ever seen/heard. Those sounds never fail to send shivers down my spine. I also loved how it was actually black. In several instances this season it has been more of a gray/faded black, and that bothers me.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

This episode finally explained what the island is...and 9 episodes before the last episode believe it or not. I was rather shocked.

Now we know the Island was constructed to contain and rehabilitate evil. Jacob is essentially the warden.

Cool.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

We suspect that the island is a prison of which MiB is the lone prisoner, but we don't know it. How would that square with the series' earlier assertion that the Smoke Monster is a defense mechanism? (I'm not sure it does. So that's either a piece of evidence that there's more to this business than meets the eye, or it's a sign that the writers have lost their way.)

How did the Black Rock end up so far inland? Am I expected to believe the storm carried it that far without tearing it to shreds? If so, I'm giving it the old squinty-face frown; with no water to help matters along, I don't know that I think I believe the ship could get that far.

Also, I'm now expected to believe that Richard spent all those years working for Jacob and yet never managed in all that time to sit down with the dude and ask him what exactly the hell was going on?

I did like the episode, though, and I was pleased by the scene in which MiB let Richard free simply because it was yet another homage to The Stand -- there's a similar scene in that novel, although it plays out in a very different fashion. Another nice piece of evidence of "Locke" being like Randal Flagg.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

We suspect that the island is a prison of which MiB is the lone prisoner, but we don't know it.

...Do you need an anvil to fall on you before you know it's heavy?

[King Mark 3,631]

So I guess it's not Man in Black vs Jacob playing somekind of philosophical chess game.

The island is a prison to contain evil, Man in Black is the evil and Jacob is the "warden" to keep him there.

I hope they explain why Miles and Hurley can talk to dead people and that it's not just something that can normally exist like in Ghost Whisperer or Medium.

I also hope they explain why the wheel moves the island through time

[Bryant Burnette 654]

We suspect that the island is a prison of which MiB is the lone prisoner, but we don't know it.

...Do you need an anvil to fall on you before you know it's heavy?

No. Anvils are consistently heavy and prone to cause damage to bone and flesh when dropped from even a small distance. If I hear there's an anvil dropping, I can very safely assume that if it lands on me, I'm goan get busted up.

However, in order to believe something a character says on a tv show, I need to hear it from a character who I can believe consistently tells the truth. With these two a-holes, I don't know whether what they say can be believed or not.

The exception to that would be when they're speaking to each other, but even then, the phrasing is purposefully vague. MiB doesn't say he wants to be released from the island; he says he wants to "leave" it. Those are very different things, and it seems entirely likely to me that the writers are leaving those conversations vague so that they can pull yet another rug out from under our feet later on.

After all, for now all we've got to serve as proof that the MiB is a prisoner is Jacob's word ... which is suspect. And it's also suspect that MiB is consistently lying. He definitely lies some of the time, but so does Jacob.

[King Mark 3,631]

I dunno, that late in the game I think we should accept as fact what was revealed last night

[Bryant Burnette 654]

So I guess it's not Man in Black vs Jacob playing somekind of philosophical chess game.

The island is a prison to contain evil, Man in Black is the evil and Jacob is the "warden" to keep him there.

I hope they explain why Miles and Hurley can talk to dead people and that it's not just something that can normally exist like in Ghost Whisperer or Medium.

I also hope they explain why the wheel moves the island through time

I hope they explain all of those things, and also that they explain why women can't give birth on the island, and also that they explain at least something about Walt's supposed specialness. There's still a LOT of ground that needs to be covered, and I mean in terms of matters that have been major elements of the series.

My prediction? They aren't all going to get answered, and the ones that do may not be answered satisfactorily. But even if that comes to pass, it's going to look great, be very well-acted, and have terrific music, so it'll be well worth my time.

I dunno, that late in the game I think we should accept as fact what was revealed last night

I think we should be able to, too ... but we can't, or at least I can't, and that's part of my general dissatisfaction with this season.

[Bowie 45]

Wow. One of the best episodes of television ever.

Also, anyone else notice this?

http://www.zshare.net/audio/74121624cd77c735/

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I didn't like how they reused "It's good to see you out of those chains" line again, and at the worst possible moment too: DIRECTLY after he's out of the chains. I thought it was obvious what the line meant when we heard it back in LA X.

On the other hand, the original line implied that the last time the two had met Richard was in chains, when that quote obviously wasn't true (the two spent time with each other for at least a little while after). While it may seem obvious, just remember how some LOST fans treat the dialogue on this show. As soon as a sentence is ambiguous there's already twenty new theories as to what it may mean. That just seemed to me to be the writers getting the whole thing 100% clear.

We suspect that the island is a prison of which MiB is the lone prisoner, but we don't know it. How would that square with the series' earlier assertion that the Smoke Monster is a defense mechanism? (I'm not sure it does. So that's either a piece of evidence that there's more to this business than meets the eye, or it's a sign that the writers have lost their way.)

Please enlighten me if I'm wrong, but I remember it being Rousseau who called it a "security system". She's not exactly in with the Others and certainly not Jacob, so it seems to me as if she drew her own conclusions and assumed the smoke was the Other's defense against outsiders. Even if some other character had said it, I fail to see it being the writers "losing their way"; retconning isn't as unusual as people think, and in a lot of cases it's not really that bad. Some of my favourite shows have done it: Alias is one, heck even Buffy was guilty of it. I'm pretty impressed with how the writers have managed to shape the show into what it is, based on the simple premise it started with. The hatch wasn't even planned from the start, but you wouldn't know it if you watched the show. That's real writing talent, not having everything plotted out from the very beginning.

How did the Black Rock end up so far inland? Am I expected to believe the storm carried it that far without tearing it to shreds? If so, I'm giving it the old squinty-face frown; with no water to help matters along, I don't know that I think I believe the ship could get that far.

Meh, I bought it. Explained two mysteries at once (the statue and the ship). Saved more time, we're on the home stretch now.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Wow. One of the best episodes of television ever.

Not even close.

Please enlighten me if I'm wrong, but I remember it being Rousseau who called it a "security system". She's not exactly in with the Others and certainly not Jacob, so it seems to me as if she drew her own conclusions and assumed the smoke was the Other's defense against outsiders.

Good point, and probably true.

But that would be yet another example of a character who sounds as if they know what they're talking about saying something that we take mostly at face value, only later to find out it wasn't true at all. The series has done too much of that, and this late in the game, I'm thinking we need more clarity and less ambiguity. The fact that we're not getting it worries me.

[Bowie 45]

Wow. One of the best episodes of television ever.

Not even close.

Not even close.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Wow. One of the best episodes of television ever.

Not even close.

Not even close.

It's not even one of the best episodes of Lost, to say nothing of how inferior it is to virtually every single episode of something like The Sopranos or The Wire or Deadwood. I can name you a dozen better episodes of Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek: The Next Generation, I'd point you to the first few seasons of The West Wing, and The X-Files has numerous better episodes. Let's not even mention Mad Men and Beaking Bad. No, let's mention them; there has yet to be a single episode of either series that wasn't better than this. Seinfeld wrecks it quite frequently, and so do The Simpsons (of old) and South Park.

I'd never take on such a ponderous task as ranking my favorite tv episodes, but if I did, and carried it on for quite some time, I don't think it'd be in my top 500. Probably nowhere even close to it.

No, definitely NOT one of the best episodes of television ever. A good, solid season-one-style flashback episode with great acting and curiously bad looping, with an engaging mythology element that was nowhere near as revelatory as some people apparently seem to think it is.

[Ollie 1,059]

Well Richard isn't as old nor is he as important as I thought him to be.

There are too many questions to answer and not enough time to do so. I imagine there will be many things left unanswered once the series wraps.

I'll be honest and admit I've been somewhat underwhelmed by this season. The suspense built up through the first 4 seasons hasn't been answered effectively by the past two seasons. Everything was built up so methodically and now we're reduced to an ending that quite frankly feels sped up and isn't as interesting as the previous seasons appeared to be shaping it up to be.

It's still good TV, the show is still well done but....

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I think people are just disappointed the show hasn't thrown any real curve balls. Everything has wound up as we expect so far. Which to me is fine.

I thought this was one of the best episodes of the series, up there with Walkabout. The word excellent applies nicely here.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

They're the ones that decided how many more episodes to make. So since Season 4 they've known where they were going, and what they were going to answer. You all need realize that they won't answer everything, they said this on more than one occasion. They said there will be many pissed off fans after the finale.

I, for one, am enjoying the ride, and trust all the important stuff will be answered. We've already gotten so much.

[Ollie 1,059]

I won't be pissed.

[Jay 37,374]

I liked the episode a lot. Even though it was complete Richard-centric (I guess that last scene was the only one without him in it), I enjoyed the new info we got about Jacob and the MIB more than Richard's backstory. Not that I didn't like Richard's backstory as well, but the Jacob/MIB stuff just did more for me.

So if we believe Jacob, the MIB believes that everyone can be corrupted because it is in their nature to be bad.... and Jacob has been bringing people to the island over and over again to prove him wrong. Since every single person eventually dies, that kind of makes Jacob look like a dick who doesn't care about the lives of people just to prove his point..... unless we also believe him about the MIB being evil incarnate and there is more at stake in the games they are playing, I dunno.

One thing bothered me that I will let the lostpedia entry point out:

The subtitle at the beginning of Richard's flashback places the events in 1867, yet the Black Rock was thought to be lost at sea following its departure from Portsmouth, England, March 22, 1845 ("The Constant") and the ledger was discovered in 1852.

[Ollie 1,059]

I think people are just disappointed the show hasn't thrown any real curve balls. Everything has wound up as we expect so far. Which to me is fine.

We expected the series to boil down to a battle between a MIB and a MIW?

[Jay 37,374]

I think Mark O hit the nail on the head of how I feel: "Well Richard isn't as old nor is he as important as I thought him to be." - I guess that's why I liked the Jacob/MIB stuff more than the Richard stuff in the episode.

One thing I loved about the episode was the music!! I recognized Jacob's Theme of course, but there was also another theme throughout the episode...it was 7 notes and very similar to "Window To The Past" from Prisoner of Azkaban. Is this Richard's Theme? Or a theme for Richard/Isabella? Did Richard ever have a theme before this episode?

I think I finally noticed a MIB theme too, but I can't remember which scene now.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I think the MIB theme played when he was persuading Richard to kill the "devil." I don't ever recall any specific music for Richard, which is why this episode was awesome. So much new music. I particularly loved the bit that played as he walked through the ruins to find where he buried his wife's necklace.

[Jay 37,374]

The theme that played over and over again throughout the episode was a new theme for Richard

Richard certainly got a theme, and it's a DOOZY. Other than Jacob's theme, probably the best character theme Giacchino's written since Ben's theme (maybe Juliet's), and easily the best and most memorable theme of this season. When it's played as Richard rides on the horse at the beginning of the episode, I almost got chills because of how perfect it was. It's a theme that can be both hopeful and melancholy, and that natural 6th gives it an old-fashioned feel. Also functions beautifully as a love theme between Richard and Isabella, especially during the final scene with Hurley. Giacchino really exceeded my expectations with this theme.

But that is not the best part. No sir it's not. Because, finally, the Man in Black or whatever you want to call him has a real bad guy theme. Not just that kind of mysterious traveling music. This is a full-fledged baddie theme, and is given an extremely threatening and wonderful performance at the end of the episode when Man in Black is sitting under the tree. I hope to God (or say, Jacob) that Giacchino continues to develop this theme as the series reaches its climax.

Jacob's theme was actually not used nearly as much as I had envisioned, and the few times it is played, we (mostly) don't really hear anything new, but simply its presence in scenes lifts those scenes to a different level. However, in the scene between Jacob and the Man in Black near the end, the music does rise to epically religious proportions.

I also loved the scoring when the Man in Black is touching Richard. Again, very religious scoring (strings almost sounded like voices), and you always think it's going to transition to Jacob's theme until you see the Man in Black.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I think a lot of characters have turned out not as important as we thought them to be.

Has that diminished them as characters? I think not. John Locke's a dead pawn, I still hold him as my favorite.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

How did the Black Rock end up so far inland? Am I expected to believe the storm carried it that far without tearing it to shreds? If so, I'm giving it the old squinty-face frown; with no water to help matters along, I don't know that I think I believe the ship could get that far.

Dude, it tore the whole statue to bits. Jacob cooked up one mean storm to get the Black Rock in there.

Also, I'm now expected to believe that Richard spent all those years working for Jacob and yet never managed in all that time to sit down with the dude and ask him what exactly the hell was going on?

From a Richard perspective, what more would you want to know?

So I guess it's not Man in Black vs Jacob playing somekind of philosophical chess game.

They still are, although not as essentially as we thought. Jacob still represents free will and Man in Black now represents a simplified version of predetermination.

We suspect that the island is a prison of which MiB is the lone prisoner, but we don't know it. How would that square with the series' earlier assertion that the Smoke Monster is a defense mechanism? (I'm not sure it does. So that's either a piece of evidence that there's more to this business than meets the eye, or it's a sign that the writers have lost their way.)

Please enlighten me if I'm wrong, but I remember it being Rousseau who called it a "security system". She's not exactly in with the Others and certainly not Jacob, so it seems to me as if she drew her own conclusions and assumed the smoke was the Other's defense against outsiders. Even if some other character had said it, I fail to see it being the writers "losing their way"; retconning isn't as unusual as people think, and in a lot of cases it's not really that bad. Some of my favourite shows have done it: Alias is one, heck even Buffy was guilty of it. I'm pretty impressed with how the writers have managed to shape the show into what it is, based on the simple premise it started with. The hatch wasn't even planned from the start, but you wouldn't know it if you watched the show. That's real writing talent, not having everything plotted out from the very beginning.

In fact, Rousseau was "infected" just like Claire, who has shown a strong bond with the Man in Black. It also makes sense that The Others would want to protect themselves from it with their sound wall. Now, why can Ben summon it at his will if he's working for Jacob (and to kill the men that were taking the people out of the island as was his purpose) is now the biggest mystery raised by the episode. Or the show's most blatant continuity mistake.

[Jay 37,374]

How does Jacob represent free will when everyone on the island is there against there will because he brought them there?

[Elmo Lewis 6]

He brings them to the island, yes. He probably feels they "have to" come. But once they are there, in his "kingdom", he's all for letting people do what they choose to do ("You have a choice" being his dying words).

Oh, and this bit from TV.com answers something I was curious about while seeing the episode:

Richard is seen reading the Bible opened to Luke Chapter 4, verse 37. In Chapter 4, Jesus has returned from his time in the desert, where he thwarted the temptation of the Devil, and attends Temple in Nazareth. As verse 37 approaches, a man with "a spirit of an unclean devil" challenges Jesus, who then summons the devil out of the man, much to the amazement of the those present.

[Jay 37,374]

Yea, Lostpedia says

Gospel of Luke: Richard is seen reading the Bible opened to Luke Chapter 4, verse 24. The verse reads: "And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country." In Chapter 4, Jesus has returned from his time in the desert, where he thwarted the temptation of the Devil, and attends Temple in Nazareth where he cast out "a spirit of an unclean demon" from a possessed man and healed a woman with a great fever. (Religion)

I was also curious was Ab Aeterno meant:

• Ab Aeterno is Latin for "from eternity". The phrase is used to mean "since the beginning" or "for long ages".
  • The phrase comes from the Latin translation of the Bible found in Proverbs 8:23 : "I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began."

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Anyone else notice that Richard's theme has a very similar architecture to that of "Window to the Past" ?

Ironically both are themes for the past.

[Jay 37,374]

Well yea, I just said so 8 posts ago

[Red 75]

I think a lot of characters have turned out not as important as we thought them to be.

Has that diminished them as characters? I think not. John Locke's a dead pawn, I still hold him as my favorite.

I would say that's true for side characters like Abaddon or even Malkin the psychic Claire visited, but not the core group. I've said this before, and I'll probably keep saying it until the end of the series, but they are the show. It's not about Jacob and Smokey though that's a part of it, because their story intertwines with the characters we've followed since the beginning. Their story is the one ultimately being told.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

That you did, wasn't reading carefully.

[crocodile 8,020]

The episode was alright. Giacchino did a fine job. Though, as many people, I'm still underwhelmed and we're alreade halfway through the season...

I think it has to do mostly with the fact that most of the themes of the show (black vs. white, redemption etc.) were interesting as a metaphors. Well, I guess, what intrgued most people in the first place was the mystery, but in a sense that everyone could draw their own conclusions as to what everything means. That everything is implied. But when you say it straight sounds just... hollow and bland.

In short... the writing is becoming to mainstream for its own good. The ending will disappoint at first. The question is could it improbe over time.

Karol

[Olivier 5]

What a beautiful episode!

One more very tragic story, along the line of Locke & Ben's.

I loved that it was all one continuous narrative.

Richard has already been though hell, repeatedly.

MiB almost got him on his side, but Hurley arrived just in time. Although he had had some heroic moments in the previous seasons, he has now really become a very important character, way beyond the comic relief Mr Nice Guy; his gift of communication with the dead has evolved in the same way, and it seems that the Dave he used to see on The Island may not have been an hallucination or a manifestation of either entity (MiB or Jacob), but Dave's ghost.

The Black Rock: I thought it ought to have been shattered to pieces if it did wreck the statue; but then, it crossed my mind that so should have Oceanic 815; it was not blown to pieces upon impact, but crashed in such a miraculous way that there were many survivors in both front and tail sections. The ship and the plane may thus have been protected by Jacob, have been made resistant enough to survive their extremely rough forced landings on the Island.

Jacob was very different on the beach than we're used to, at first: he was not calm, peaceful and all diplomacy, but a fighter that jumped Ricardo, roughed him up, drowned him a bit to make him reaize he was not dead.

Why Ricardo?

Did MiB spare him because he was a candidate, or rather (as I think) because he sensed he could use his despair to have kill Jacob?

Who was Jacob luring to the Island? Hanso? Other people on the ship? Even though we did not see any such scene, did he meet Ricardo at some point, and therefore marked him so that he would get to the Island to become his intermediary? Or was this just a "heck, he's killed all my candidates and I'm just left with this guy" kind of improvised plan (from someone who has been shown to have quite an insight into the future)?

Beautiful music throughout !

[Datameister 2,044]

Pretty cool episode, yep. I agree that the music was lovely, though I thought Giacchino perhaps overused his new theme for Richard a bit. But that's okay. In general, Giacchino's music continues to be the best thing about this season - he's really stepped it up, whereas the season as a whole is still dragging its feet a bit for me. But things are getting better, I think/hope. I'm sure the true nature of the Jacob/MiB conflict is still at least somewhat unknown to us...they wouldn't have revealed all the important details this "early" the season. Something's going to happen at the 11th hour - figuratively speaking - to change the game, I'm sure.

I noticed the "Window to the Past" similarity, too, BTW.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The latest podcast from Lindelof and Cuse.

The title for the series finale was revealed, and several fan questions were answered.

For those who don't want to sit through it's 30 minute running time, the main points were:

- We will see Libby again, I think it's guaranteed to be in Everybody Loves Hugo

- A character on the show will be asking questions about the smoke, such as "Is he only limited to dead bodies?" etc. to another character that knows the answers, and that character will truthfully answer those questions.

- It is possible the MIB is good and Jacob is really the evil one.

- The title of the series finale is "The End."

The title is awesomely appropriate, and reminds me of Scrubs' "final" episode.

[Bowie 45]

Anyone else notice that Richard's theme has a very similar architecture to that of "Window to the Past" ?

Ironically both are themes for the past.

I actually posted a comparison on the previous page before any of you.

Glad people bothered to check the link. Here it is again:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/74121624cd77c735/

[TownerFan 4,983]

I think it was a great episode. Richard has always been of the most intriguing characters and his own arc totally paid off in this episode, imho.

Yes, the show is boiling down to a mythological/allegoric tall tale about Good vs. Evil and in this sense it's becoming a lot like Star Wars. However, I think the writers are good enough to make the characters compelling and full of subtle nuances. The most important thing is that they tie up all the character stories and their journeys, which are always been the core of the show. Also, the Good vs. Evil thread is not just a simple "Light Side vs. Dark Side", but it seems to me a much more intriguing argument concerning a lot of philosophy topics. And this isn't an ordinary thing for a mainstream television show.

Giacchino's score was excellent as usual. Richard's theme is beautiful.

[Jay 37,374]

Anyone else notice that Richard's theme has a very similar architecture to that of "Window to the Past" ?

Ironically both are themes for the past.

I actually posted a comparison on the previous page before any of you.

Glad people bothered to check the link. Here it is again:

http://www.zshare.ne...121624cd77c735/

Sorry dude, I was at work when reading and posting in the thread yesterday and couldn't really download anything to check out.

The latest podcast from Lindelof and Cuse.

Damn! I went on itunes to grab its not there yet! It's only available right now on the EW page... and you can't even download it, you can only listen to it through flash on that page. What the shit is that?

[Morlock 11]

Decided to try and rewatch the whole series. Only a couple of episodes in. I couldn't help but laugh at Locke's description of Backgammon. So far, I'm surprised at how straight it plays, even with all the revelations we've found out (for me I mean- I thought what I knew would color the experience a lot more). First time revisiting any of the show, should be interesting.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

So the island has made at least one major jump since Richard arrived. Because going from the Canary Islands to the New World sure doesn't take you across the Pacific Ocean!

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I did like the Biblicalness of Jacob...um rather by force....baptizing Richard.

Anyways, I watched this again last night with She Who Must Be Obeyed, and I have to say that this may well be the best episode Lost has done yet, if you look at it as a standalone piece of television and put aside your expectations on how it plays into the remainder of the season.

[Datameister 2,044]

One thing I'm thinking about...if the Island truly is a sort of cork for keeping in the evil, what's happening in the alternate timeline? The Island is at the bottom of the ocean...does this mean Puffy/Smokey/MiB/Locke-alike is loose? Things actually seem to be going pretty well for the characters...Jack gets to form a relationship with a son, Ben gets to put Alex first, Locke gets Helen, Sawyer's starting to let go of his past (and isn't a con man), Hurley is the luckiest man alive...Sayid's the only one who's having real problems so far. Well, and Jin, but we don't know the scoop there. Oh, and Kate isn't doing so hot. But still.

I really can't wait to see how they're going to work the alternative timeline into anything...without knowing any spoilers or anything, I'm SURE it will serve a much bigger purpose than to just show "what if."

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah it'll be interesting to see how they connect, especially with Jack's bleeding neck on 815, and the whole Desmond thing.

[Jay 37,374]

So the island has made at least one major jump since Richard arrived. Because going from the Canary Islands to the New World sure doesn't take you across the Pacific Ocean!

i'm sure between 1867 and 2007 the island jumped more than a few times

One thing I'm thinking about...if the Island truly is a sort of cork for keeping in the evil, what's happening in the alternate timeline? The Island is at the bottom of the ocean...does this mean Puffy/Smokey/MiB/Locke-alike is loose? Things actually seem to be going pretty well for the characters...Jack gets to form a relationship with a son, Ben gets to put Alex first, Locke gets Helen, Sawyer's starting to let go of his past (and isn't a con man), Hurley is the luckiest man alive...Sayid's the only one who's having real problems so far. Well, and Jin, but we don't know the scoop there. Oh, and Kate isn't doing so hot. But still.

I really can't wait to see how they're going to work the alternative timeline into anything...without knowing any spoilers or anything, I'm SURE it will serve a much bigger purpose than to just show "what if."

Oooh, good points I hadn't thought of that

Don't worry about being spoiled - there are none out there. Nobody knows what the alt timeline stuff means.

[Marian Schedenig 8,211]

They still are, although not as essentially as we thought. Jacob still represents free will and Man in Black now represents a simplified version of predetermination.

Putting it like that nicely complements all the S5 time travel theory stuff.

Decided to try and rewatch the whole series. Only a couple of episodes in. I couldn't help but laugh at Locke's description of Backgammon. So far, I'm surprised at how straight it plays, even with all the revelations we've found out (for me I mean- I thought what I knew would color the experience a lot more). First time revisiting any of the show, should be interesting.

It is interesting. I did just that before S6 began.

And since everybody so far failed to mention it: Nestor Carbonell is cool.