This show has gone crazy. It feels like picking up a book and instead of reading it front to back, just randomly reading a page here and there and trying to make sense of the plot.

All the time travel stuff is interesting, but the Lost I like most is in the small character moments. Things like Hurley conquering his fear and driving the Dharma van down the hill, the Penny and Desmond scenes in the Constant, Jin forgiving Sun, a lot of the redemptive backstories from the first season.

In this episode, that best moment for me was Jack and Ben talking about the Apostle Thomas in the church. Especially Ben's closing line somewhat along the line of 'In the end, everyone believes.'

I wish there was more of those type of moments, rather than all the time loop things that seem to be really piling up now. But it's still the best show on television.

1. The Middle Eastern guy on the plane (don't know the actor's name) is a pretty widely used character actor. Most recently was in "Traitor" with Don Cheadle.
I have a feeling we'll see him again, if only b/c it seems extremely odd to hire a character actor of his caliber (he's really good; I've seen him in lots of stuff, including as the Iraqi who tortures Mark Wahlberg in "Three Kings") and only give him half a line and 3 minutes of screen time.

2. The exchange between Jack and Ben on the plane once again reminds us that Jack is good and Ben is evil.

Jack: What happens to the others on the plane?
Ben: Who cares?

3. Not a big fan of Locke as Jesus. And I thought his suicide "note" to Jack was awful. What a hateful last message.

3. Not a big fan of Locke as Jesus. And I thought his suicide "note" to Jack was awful. What a hateful last message.

I'm not either.

What was the last message? Just that "I wish you had believed" part?

Although, technically true. If Jack had listened to Locke and hadn't called in the freighter people, a lot of Lost redshirts might have avoided becoming cannon-fodder. (Not that Jack's motives weren't good).

I have a feeling we'll see him again, if only b/c it seems extremely odd to hire a character actor of his caliber (he's really good; I've seen him in lots of stuff, including as the Iraqi who tortures Mark Wahlberg in "Three Kings") and only give him half a line and 3 minutes of screen time.

Good point, although that would destroy my "they were all just flashed off the plane" theory, meaning that everyone who already had a connection to the island (or was chained via handcuffs to someone who did) came off the plane.

We'll see. I'll bet Lepidus is on the island too.

Didn't they show Sayid's cop in the preview of next week's ep? It might mean that everyone on the plane flashed onto the island because they were in the "radius" (as Faraday put it a few eps ago) and the plane went unmanned in its normal time slot - but the question would be whether or not everyone just fell from the sky.

I like the Cholll-eee getting Hurley on the plane idea.

Shauna - you're dead on. As soon as Ben said, "I made a promise to an old friend," I thought to myself - Penny's dead. My theory on that is that he actually killed Penny and now Desmond will get Eloise to get him on the island to seek his revenge and kill Ben. Ben Dies when Desmond returns to the island. (Although I thought Ben could never go back. Things will turn out poorly for him soon)

This was a pretty overtly Christian episode. There are multiple Christ figures here - Christian, Locke and maybe, ultimately, Jack.

Is the idea that the island is God? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son (in this case, Locke) that whoever would believe in him (ref. the note) would not die, but live forever (hostiles). How strange all of this is.

My guess about Jin and Dharma:
When Locke "fixed" the island he reset the the Losties in a certain time frame on the island. This both saved their lives (cured the bloody nose syndrome), but stuck them in the 70s. This is how we see Faraday in the highly reactive cage back in the second ep of this season. This is also how Jin gets to work there. This would mean that Sawyer, Juliet, Rose, Bernard, etc. are all also working for Dharma, ostensibly, on the island. This would also explain how Faraday sees CS Lewis and tells her never to come back.

There is still a question, though, of how the island interacts with time. When they first crashed, wasn't the island in modern time? After all, Ben did show Jack the Sox's World Series. Unless, of course, they ended up in a future time slot or it's just a coincidence that "when" the island was happened to be the same "when" the Losties were in when 815 went down. Hmmmm . . .

I'm excited about next week's ep because it is a large missing piece in the puzzle. We know that Bentham interacted with everyone (including Widmore, now) and spoke with them. What did he say? He was still walking!

So many thoughts:
-It appears that Ben knew that when Jack read the note the plane crash/time shift/whatever would happen. When have we ever seen him so courteous?

-If Chol-eee appeared to Hurley, I wouldn't be surprised if Claire appeared to Kate - that might explain her craziness. Since Locke is the new Christian, maybe Jack and Kate's new baby is the new Aaron. The Oceanic 6 is made up, partially, of a zygote . . . (?)

There is more that I'm thinking, but I can't think of it right now . . .

Shauna - you're dead on. As soon as Ben said, "I made a promise to an old friend," I thought to myself - Penny's dead. My theory on that is that he actually killed Penny and now Desmond will get Eloise to get him on the island to seek his revenge and kill Ben. Ben Dies when Desmond returns to the island. (Although I thought Ben could never go back. Things will turn out poorly for him soon)

Aw. When he said "I made a promise to an old friend" I had no clue but just thought that GoodBen was keeping a good promise. I didn't snap to the fact that he was going to kill Pen.

I doubt he killed Penny, though. My guess is he tried and failed, and Desmond beat the stuffing out of him. Of course, if Ben tried to kill Penny, Desmond will want to do more than just beat him up (If Des is after ya, Brotha, you are so dead). Somehow Ben escaped the beat-down. It wouldn't surprise me if Des chases him to the island anyway. I just can't bear to think that Penny's been killed. No way.

We'll probably find out in a season or two. :-)

I do think it will end badly for Ben. But it's really hard to tell with this show. He's such a great character.

The Narnia stuff is cool.

This was a pretty overtly Christian episode. There are multiple Christ figures here - Christian, Locke and maybe, ultimately, Jack.

In what way is Jack a Christ figure? I don't see that at all.

Heh.

In all seriousness, the show has already told us who Jack is. He's Thomas. Ben's exposition (one of the best I've heard on Thomas, and from all people, Ben) on Thomas described Jack perfectly. He's very brave, but he's noted (unfairly) for his doubt.

One thing that's kind of cool - regardless of the ultimate purpose of the writers here, etc., this week people are thinking about John 3:16 and what it means. They are thinking about Resurrection. And, the way Lostophiles are, they are thinking hard about it, as they continue to try and unravel this show.

Another form of redemption on the show: Hurley bought 78 seats, to save any new people from getting on the plane and dying.

Hurley rocks every kasbah there is.

Back to Jack. He's back on the island, sober, cleaned up, and I'm wiping my slate clean with him. He's got a new start in my book and I will try to not bring up my past criticisms of him. I expect redemption for this character (the show is all set up for it).

Regarding Jack as Christ figure:
I think Jack might be the real sacrifice, here.

Maybe it's just me, but when Eloise mentioned Locke as a substitute, everyone's first thought was Christian. When Jack asked, "For Who?" She replied, "Who do you think?"

Is it possible that she meant for Jack? What I mean is this . . . I think it might be possible that the island wants Jack to sacrifice for everyone. In his stead, however, it will except certain substitutes for his sacrifice, namely Christian and Locke. I think that it's possible that after Jack finds redemption or should I say that since Jack found redemption (leap of faith taken = salvation?), I think they may set up Jack to be the true sacrifice.

I could be very wrong. In a sense, Locke already died to save the world. Maybe Jack is a Pauline figure? Someone who not only had no faith, but was adamant about science. He just saw the light (literally) and might believe hard core now. Maybe he's the one who will teach the world about the island.

So is this show an allegory? Augh.

well, it is called "lost".

that's my new theory. the timeless (alpert, faraday, etc.) are angels/messengers. smokezilla is the holy spirit (dwells in the temple, convicts sinners, etc.)the island is "God" drawing people unto itself for its purposes.

can't believe it was that easy to figure out. heh.

Quick thoughts:

There were no regular flashbacks in that episode. Though one could argue that the episode was one big flashback. It didn't follow the usual Lost pattern of going back and forth. It stayed with one storyline through the whole episode in chronilogical order.

Though there are some questions, most of the timeline has been filled in now. I could see them tying up most all the holes by the end of this season. So what's going to be left for the final season. The wrapping up of the war between Widmore and Ben I guess.

I think Hurley had Charlie's guitar.

The actress who plays the cop escorting Sayid was the love interest/adversary to the "Lone Gunmen" in the short-lived, but funny, X-files spin-off. She was also the Love interest to Aragorn/Viggo in the movie "Hidalgo". So I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing her again too. They won't be "wasting" her either.

All the time-travel stuff is losing my wife. She used to love the show. Now she hates it. All the time travel paradox stuff drives her crazy. (But I LOVE it. :)

Bill, I sympathize with your "Ben is good" theory, but it would take a seriously creative episode for them to figure out how to justify his good guy status in relation to mass murdering the Dharma people.

He's evil. Heck, maybe he's Judas. :)

By the way, I liked the Thomas thing too. I thought that was awesome. What I couldn't believe though was that Jack actually didn't know whether Thomas ends up believing or not after he touches Jesus. Would he really be that Biblically illiterate?

jen,
You're right. It's just sad. And being a doctor means education, and once upon a time education meant having at least some knowledge of western culture and literature, and the Bible is at least that. It's hard to imagine an educated person not at least having a general idea of the major stories of the Bible.

But again, you're right, and it makes me wonder how many viewers were just as ignorant as Jack and really learned something.

Also, it's well established that Ben is a prolific liar (exhibit #140958 in the "Ben's evil" file, although . . . Ben might be good . . . hmmm)

I didn't catch this at the time, but just thought of it. Jack asked him how he could read and he said "my mother taught me".

He doesn't have a mom! - she died in childbirth.

Man! Ben!

Bill, good catch on Ben's lie. Also, if you ever listen to the podcast Wretched Radio, they have tons of scientific bumpers about evolution and stuff. Faraday is often mentioned about being a physicist who discovered electromagnetics from reading scripture. (or something like that, but he's mentioned.)
OK, Mrs. Hawking is super-annoying. (My son asked, "Gosh, why don't they just name her Mrs. Einstein?") Her acting style is like from a Soap Opera. Even her lines seem from different writers.
Kate was bugging me, pouting. Gosh! Sun had to leave her blood-kid and she wasn't being such a baby.
I think Hurley brought Charlie's guitar to recreated his character, in a "proxy" like the shoes.
Did anyone else think the clothes they brought were impractical? Wouldn't you have worn comfy stuff and had a bag with tons of sunscreen and stuff?
I really agree with Evan's comment, especially second paragraph; The show loses "heart" withouth the flashbacks and quiet moments, the slower dialogue. This season is really relying on our past relationship with all it's characters to be willing to just chase them around now. But, I'm in. I admit, I care.

Well, I won't spoil anything, but the ABC press release concerning next week's episode lists the title of the ep, the short summary that you see in TV Guides or on your cable/satellite channel describing the show and . . .

a list of actors guest starring and their roles.

If you want to get super-pumped about next week's ep, go find that press release (I saw it on LostPedia.com) and read it. The list of guest stars and their roles are quite intriguing. BUT it will be a minor spoiler in that it introduces characters that you might rather be surprised to see on the show instead of knowing about them beforehand.

By the way, I liked the Thomas thing too. I thought that was awesome. What I couldn't believe though was that Jack actually didn't know whether Thomas ends up believing or not after he touches Jesus. Would he really be that Biblically illiterate?

IIRC, Thomas is never described as actually touching Christ's wounds. He says he will have to touch them, but the Biblical account has Jesus telling him to touch the wounds, but Thomas is never said to have done it. Christ asks if he believes because he has seen, not because he has touched.

I know it's an argument form silence, but I believe that Thomas did not, in fact, touch the wounds.