Each of the returnees has become his own worst nightmare: Jack is a washed-up alcoholic like his dad; Hurley's back in the nuthouse; and Sayid's a contract torture/killer, working for Ben, of all people. They've all "lost their souls," to quote Sayid.

Why on earth is Sayid working for Ben? And how did Ben make it off the island alive? And what's up with the bracelets?

Ben mumbled something about "if you want to help your friends, you'll do exactly as I say." I got the impression that Sayid was being blackmailed into working with Ben, but I could have misinterpreted that. Ben probably finds a way to live and get back in control.

Dude, you don't know me, but I'm a faithful reader.

When you do a spoiler alert, you have to insert some space so we actually have a chance NOT to read what follows. But it was just sitting there in my reader with no chance of evasion.

My guess is that the people Sayid is killing are supposedly trying to harm the Oceanic 6. Or at least that Ben has convinced Sayid they are. Maybe it's Abaddon's crew.

I think now that Locke is convincing people he's not just nutso but also probably "bad," it may be easier for Ben to either swing a deal with the Oceanic 6 (a lesser of two evils kind of thing) or outright convince them that he's on the good side.

I am thankful for the re-introduction of the supernatural angle with the ghosthunter guy. I thought all of that would get played off as magnetics or something.

Yeah - it would be hard to plausibly explain a lot of stuff on Lost without the supernatural angle. I'm not saying that they can't try to now - just that it wouldn't be believable. There's also that kind-of supernatural angle with the whole time thing - the rocket that was launched and showed up 30 minutes (or something like that) late. I guess sound waves or radio waves travel fine, but something causes physical stuff to slow down or be delayed? hmmmmm....

I'm wondering what Sayid really traded for Charlotte. I mean, Locke already had Miles. It's not as if Sayid was in a position to barter.

Also, was it me or did the other two "boaties" seem totally uninterested in the fact that Miles was being held hostage. When Charlotte was gone, Miles was nuts to go get her but now that he's being held the other two are like, oh well, we've still got our work to do.

I'm so confused.

They don't like Miles. None of us like Miles. He's a wacko and belongs with Locke's Wackos. I talked to my literature class this morning about story climax and story arc, and it's interesting to see that working itself out on Lost. The split/civil war was the climax, and now we have those who stay and those who return working out their future lives just as they were were working out their past lives before the split. Locke's Army is made up of people, like Sawyer, who want to stay on the island or are afraid to leave, afraid of the future in the real world, and Jack's Oceanic SIx is made up of those who have the courage or the foolhardiness to leave and find out that the real world is not so great after all. As I said before the Oceanic SIx so far seem to living out their worst possible lives. There's even a hint of that with Kate since she is most afraid, not of being captured and jailed, but of being tied down, of "playing house" as she put it to Sawyer, and being forced to quit running, of being left behind. And in the finale last year, she said she had to get back, that He would be wondering where she was. Is she "playing house" in the future and hating it?

Thanks for the reminder about Sayid's barter being unknown.

Maybe Kate isn't one of the Oceanic 6. Do we know for sure that only six leave the island? And maybe the 'he' is Ben. Now, that's a creepy thought.

I will say, Sayid looks really good with washed and blow-dried hair, heheh~

I was pretty disappointed to see Ben in the end. It drives me absolutely nuts that he is kept alive or has survived this long. So the ending of this episode truly frustrated me.

The 30 minute time-delay on the projectile and the reminder from Farraday to the Helicopter pilot to stay true to his bearing was intriquing. (Wasn't that the same instruction Ben gave to Michael?) That brings me to another thought...anyone notice how white "Lost" is? Maybe Ben would have been killed off earlier if he were of darker skin.

BTW...tongue in cheek.

Oh did I miss something...where did the Locke's cabin go? Is it only visible at night?

Has anyone noticed that Sayid seems to be really into Naomi?
Also, didn't the polaroid of Ben look like it was from the 70s? (The vest, etc.)
I'm sad that Ben seems to be losing his creepiness. Also, Miles is a jerk, but not much fun to hate, like Ben used to be, he's just a jerk.
It's also really strange how happy and trusting Jack and everyone was with the new people. Even though Locke seems sort of nutty, wouldn't you at least be on guard with them?
I'm glad to see Sayid at last can afford to trim his nails a bit.

Finally saw it. Overall intriguing episode. Although I hope all the hit-man, "who are you working for" stuff doesn't entice J.J. to just make this Alias II.

Sayid is one of my favorite characters and his shows are always good.

Hurley has been my all time favorite. I love his sweet innocence and desire to do the right thing.

. . . so I'm royally ticked off at the writers right now for making Hurley a traitor. That trend better not have legs or that will be awful.

John's an evil nutcase. I used to really like him too.

If CSLewis turns out to be Ben's mole, I called it.

Is it possible that Ben's man is Michael?

I suspect that Sayid and Desmond will see Michael in ep 4 when getting to the boat . . .

Quaid - that's a pretty good surmise. I hadn't thought of that but that is very plausible.

I thought about that a couple of weeks ago when Ben mentioned having someone on the boat - the idea of Michael being Ben's dude. The actor's name was in the credits, but we still haven't seen him, so it made me wonder.

While Bill probably won't want anything "ruined", I found this link through LostPedia about a deleted scene from this week's episode.

You can read the transcript here.

It involves Sayid, Kate and Miles happening upon the "sonar fence" on their way to the barracks. Interesting stuff.

oooh...Michael being Ben's man. That is a nice twist.

I was pretty disappointed to see Ben in the end. It drives me absolutely nuts that he is kept alive or has survived this long. So the ending of this episode truly frustrated me.

Well, Thirsty Bear, there has been speculation that the funeral that Jack went to at the end of last season was Ben. Ben is sometimes seen writing in a journal, and there was a journal next to the casket. So, he may finally get it in the end....

Well, that would be...dare I say...gratifying. I just have this weird feeling that Ben will be 'right' and the ultimate hero at the end of this tale.

My wife asked me after watching the episode this morning, "So, is Ben good or bad?"

I laughed, realizing that this is one of the most fundamental unanswered questions since Henry Gale got locked up in the hatch. We still don't know where Benry's motives lie. (pun intended)

I have such a love/hate relation ship with this show. I had not even thought about Michael being the mole so I tip my hat to you.

I am glad they seem to be going somewhere now, the third season almost lost me because it just seemed like they would build more and more questions into the story and never answer a thing.

"it just seemed like they would build more and more questions into the story and never answer a thing."

I understand that sentiment. But one thing I've started doing is compare what I knew at the beginning of a season to what I know at the end. I think each season has provided a tremendous number of answers. Compare what you knew about Ben's motivations, the origin and history of the Others, their purposes there, etc at the beginning of Season 3 to the end. I don't know about you, but I felt like I learned a lot from the start of season 3 to the end (and I just watch the show, avoiding all the other meta-sites about Lost). Lots of mysteries have been "filled in" over time - albeit I don't think much has been explained to its fullest extent. It's just that for every mystery explained, there are two more that crop up. And there are certain ones that linger on (whispers in the jungle, that darn cabin, the smoke monster, polar bears, etc).

The best part about Lost is that they have really developed the characters - slowly, slowly, but think about how "round" these characters are, versus the flatness of so many characters on TV: Jack, for instance, or Hurley. Sawyer, Sayid. And, of course, Ben. So intriguing.

I personally think that's just a part of what makes Lost rock. :-) I don't see it as a huge puzzle that I'm dying to solve. I see it as an adventure to savor.

"I don't see it as a huge puzzle that I'm dying to solve. I see it as an adventure to savor."

Definitely. I don't think that it's as simple as a puzzle. The story is so complex that there won't ever really be one "a-ha" moment. There will have to be a series of "a-ha" moments which is what is so compelling and adventurous about the show.

[SPOILER ALERT FROM LAST WEEK'S SHOW]
With the past week's show, it's obvious that the future holds a battle between (at least) two factions. One headed up by Ben with Sayid and one with/against/headed up by? Matthew Abaddon.

As this plays out, there will have to be a series of multiple a-ha times. In one way, having new questions introduced throughout the show paves the way for future suspenseful a-ha moments.

BTW, for those who know me and know that I love to peruse meta-Lost sites, as Bill calls them, my theory regarding Michael as Ben's man is my own - not one that I read. Granted, I'm likely not the only one to have thought of it - it's not exactly a reach. Still, I didn't read it somewhere else.

I agree - there have been many answers in Season 3. And some bigger questions still haven't been answered. But the producers have stated that some mysteries are going to stay that way until the last episode.

Didn't they already reveal the mystery behind the polar bears? It seems to me that there was a Dharma video once that listed what they were researching on, and some polar bears were in the background. Sawyer and them were locked up in the polar bear cages for half a season, so I was guessing that Dharma brought in the polar bears for research, and they escaped at some point when Dharma was chased off the island.

Oh also, while we're talking about things we called, I call that it's Michael in the coffin (I came up with that on my own in another comments thread a few weeks ago)