Lostwatch: Ghost Story

@James - I agree with Mrs. Tuned-In's impression: Jack's "You're not even related to him" was a signal that flash-forward Jack knows that Aaron is his nephew (and that left behind on the island Claire is his sister). I think Hurley's downright shocking "You're not supposed to raise him" confirmed it.

- While we're on the subject of Hurley, I think the fact that "mental ward almost comatose Hurley" is so depressing is what most bothers me about the Oceanic 6's future, and why I'm convinced the show is, ultimately, about them "getting back" to the island to "save" everyone left behind (in some fashion).

- What is it about Claire and wandering into the jungle & disappearing? Kudos, though, for Sawyer playing the protective older brother to Claire all episode (women all across the country were swooning).

- Rose is badass. And I'm intrigued by her "people don't get sick here" theory that something is wrong if Jack has appendicitis. The island making Jack sick to "speak" to him that he shouldn't be trying to leave? As a man of science, of course Jack isn't picking up on this.

- Jin's pragmatic "get Jin off this island" conversation with Charlotte confirms A) he's awesome, B) he's one of the few characters with their eye on the prize, so to speak, and C) Charlotte is the key to the Freighter 4, in some weird way.

Oh, and Kate? You can strategically wear one of my button-down shirts ANYTIME....

Two more thoughts:

1) Are we SURE Rousseau is dead? I mean, REALLY sure? I didn't see enough of her face to know that was her...I'm just a little miffed that she was offed before we could get her ultra-cool backstory. Then again, when people die on the island, they don't necessarily DIE.

2) Jack tripping over the Millenium Falcon? Can the producers make it ANY more clear that my Jack-Kate-Sawyer = Luke-Leia-Han Solo (minus Luke-Leia being siblings) theory is correct? I mean, he metaphorically STEPPED ON THE SHIP FLOWN BY THE STAR WARS EQUIVALENT OF HIS RIVAL FOR KATE'S AFFECTIONS.

Plus (and here's a great thought for you), Sawyer "sacrificing himself" so that Kate can get off the island = Han Solo being frozen in carbonite (he's alive, but stuck in island-ish purgatory), and Kate "doing something" for Sawyer = Leia dressing up as the bounty hunter in a doomed attempt to rescue Han Solo.

So, I (a Red Sox fan) did some research on the "Series Sweep."

Since the 2005 season, there have been two series sweeps by the Yankees. The four game series from Aug 18-21, 2006, and the three game series from Aug 28-30, 2007 (I was at one game of each of those series; they were miserable...).

Jack's comment about A-Rod (I forget what he specifically said, but it wasn't nice) led me to check out the game recaps to see if he had a particularly big night for any of those games (in particular, the last game of each of those series).

He didn't do anything noteworthy in the 2006 series.

In the 2007 series, in the 2nd game he hit the winning Home Run (at which point he led the league in HRs). In the 3rd (last) game, as a fielder he was involved in a disputed call that got the Red Sox manager ejected from the game.

So, Jack most likely read about it in the paper on Aug 31, 2007.

For whatever reason, I felt this episode was wonderfully creepy, especially Hurley.

Also, the Jin-Charlotte conversation cements my belief that both Jin and Claire are still alive after the O6 get home. Sawyer too? Depends if Kate was doing something at the instruction of his memory/ghost or if she made some kind of promise before she left.

I loved it more than last week's episode. It had the same euphoria as a season 1 episode. I disagree with the oversimplification of some of these characters. It was about our original characters, involved as actual characters, instead of being marginalized or 2-dimensionalized for the sake of plot movement, like in the last few episodes.

The biggest thing being talked about was Christian appearing to Claire, because it was a WTF moment. Oh well. Is that what the show is boiling down to for some of the audience: WTF moments and new character revelations? Is quality measured by by the quantity of information we're given? I'm not criticizing anyone, because perhaps Lost has molded its audience into watching the show that way. It's just depressing, because this episode felt so much like a season 1 episode to me.

You asked if your missing anything. I'm going to propose an answer. It depends on if you really like these characters or not. I really like these characters, including Jack and Kate. So the episode was very compelling to me. I enjoyed learning about their future, and was surprisingly moved by the small moments like Jack talking to Kate about his father's storytelling. I can empathize with you, because there are some shows with characters that I don't like, and I feel like a lot of time is wasted on them. I just think it's good for you to know that the time spent on Jack and Kate is not filler or time-wasting for people like me.

I like that the season 1 prophesy that only Claire should raise Aaron is finally being addressed, if addressed means hinted at.

Is it possible, though, that Hurley was talking about Christian and not Aaron? As in, Jack, don't raise those spirits from the dead?

And does anyone think that the Frieghter Guys would take the time to bury Frenchy and Carl? Doubt it.

I'm with you, James. I didn't really care for last night's episode. While Jack-centric episodes are usually marginally ok, I despise Kate-centric ones. as previously mentioned, I also really dislike the whole love craptogram, since basically Juliet is good for Jack and Sawyer is good for Kate but they don't want to admit that because of raging hormones. Blech. Since this was essentially a Jack and Kate centric episode... Erk. Can we get back to Desmond now? Please? Please-please?

Plus, with a few tiny exceptions this ep really felt like filler (as most Love Craptangle episodes do). We really only learned that Sawyer chose to stay on the island, that Rousseau really is dead, and that Keamy somehow survived his encounter with smokey. Two out of three of which we correctly guessed last week.

I do have one question, though. Have we ever seen Miles in the same place at the same time as The Whispers? The sound right before he asked who Danielle and Karl were reminded me of them. I'm curious to see what his interpretation of them would be.

August 31, 2007? That seems a little too far into the future. Because last year's season finale was proved to be April 2007 based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper article. Then again, who knows, if Damon and Carton are in control of those types of references. The only thing I know for sure is that this flash-forward happened after the Hurley and Kate flash-forwards we saw earlier this year.

@Chaddog I think you need to edit your first comment. That quote from Jin comes off as a little selfish with that typo. lol.

@Chris Kw. - sorry, good point. I meant to say "get Sun off this island."

Amen, Doug Jack.

I for one thought this episode was pretty compelling. The FF filled in a lot about Jack's "downfall" and how he started on the road to becoming the guy in the FF at the end of season 3. Yes, he seems to be falling into the same traps as before, but isn't that kind of the point? My way of thinking about it at the moment is that he didn't take from the Island what he was supposed to - he didn't learn his lesson if you will - so the Island isn't done with him yet. That fits with Rose's comments about the appendectomy. I think it's interesting that of the O6 only two - Hurley and Jack - are showing any inclination to go back and finish things.

I thought the Island portion of the episode was very good in a lot of ways. People have already mentioned Jin and Sawyer and Rose, so I won't say any more about that other than I agree completely with others' comments. But I think this episode told us a lot about the 4 "good" frieghties (i.e., the non-military ones). First there is Myles' comment, "I didn't sign up for this," as well as Faraday's comments that he and Charlotte aren't there for the same reasons as the others from the freighter. Obviously, I'm wondering what they signed up for? The chopper pilot seems to fit the same category. Charlotte, however, I think knew exactly what she signed up for, which is why she had no response to Daniel when he was trying to get her to help the Losties (w/ the supply-gathering). It goes back to our first introduction to her when she was examining the polar bear fossil w/ the Dharma logos around it. My impression from this episode is that she knows exactly what's going on.

Myles has to know some of it too due to his knowledge of Ben's past. I'm waiting to see how the whole Ghost-seeker thing fits in with his extortion attempt. Of the four on-island Frieghties, I think Daniel is there to help, the chopper pilot got in over his head and has no idea what's going on but just wants to save his own skin and get out of there, Myles is the wild card, and Charlotte is the one with the hidden agenda. I think she has a direct link to Abaddon and knows exactly what is going on w/ Dharma, the nature of the Island, the whole nine yards.

@chaddogg/James, definitely agree, that comment makes it sound like Jack knows that Aaron is his nephew.

Question regarding the appearance of Christian in the lobby - Jack was lured down there by the smoke detector beeping could that be a reference to our old friend Smokey the monster somehow manifesting himself off island in the form of Christian? Or that Christian is smokey, etc. I don't want to launch into theories about who or what smokey is, but i just thought that the smoke detector thing was way too specific to be a coincidence...

I also can't decide if the Red Sox thing was supposed to give us the time frame of the episode, 8/31/07 seems like an awful long time in the future, I guess its possible, but the last episode had Sayeed working for Ben starting in October of 2005 right? I would think that last night's flash forward was more in a similar time frame...

No one ever seems to comment on what Aaron is. Remember in an earlier season when the psychic put Claire on the plane, seemingly knowing it was going down --- I thought Aaron was the Anti-Christ or something. Did I miss something?

@Gerry - totally with you on the Claire prophecy thing, thats been bugging me ever since they revealed that Kate has him off island. I also had the same thought as you regarding Hurley's comment about "raising him", like the smoke detector thing, I just get the feeling that its supposed to mean more than the words would suggest.

And the love-quadrangle thing is what it is. It's TV for cryin' out loud! There's always a love triangle of some sort!

And I for one think Jack/Kate works better than Jack/Juliet. Jack and Juliet seem like "work" equals - but that doesn't necessarily mean they make a good couple. She's good for him a big sister kind of way - kick him in the butt and keep his ass in line. Kate's better for him from an emotional aspect. First 'cause he actually loves her (always important), and second because there is nothing about her (once they get off-island) that needs fixing. Unlike everyone else in his life. I love Juliet, though. Her scene with Kate and where she tells Jack "I know you're awake" was fantastic - and very revealing about her character.

And Sawyer's not good (emotionally speaking) for anyone. I mean come on, have you met Sawyer? Let's go ask Cassidy what she thinks...

Bottom line for me - yes, this episode was a lot of filler, but all of that is necessary and this was really GOOD filler. Unlike, say, Expose.

My guess about the "Series Sweep"

August 18- 21, 2006: The Boston Massacre 2: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 2-1 at Fenway Park, completing a five-game sweep of the Red Sox in the first five game series between the teams in 33 years, evoking memories of 1978's "Boston Massacre". The Yankees outscore the Red Sox 49-26 and push their division lead to 6.5 games over the second place Red Sox. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy dubs it the "Son of Massacre".[9][10] The second game of the series, which the Yankees won 14-11, took four hours and 45 minutes to complete making it the longest 9-inning game in major league baseball history. The Yankees cruised on to win the division while the Red Sox never recovered from the series loss as they failed to make the playoffs and fell to 3rd place for the first time in years behind the Toronto Blue Jays.

My guess about the "Series Sweep"

August 18- 21, 2006: The Boston Massacre 2: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 2-1 at Fenway Park, completing a five-game sweep of the Red Sox in the first five game series between the teams in 33 years, evoking memories of 1978's "Boston Massacre". The Yankees outscore the Red Sox 49-26 and push their division lead to 6.5 games over the second place Red Sox. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy dubs it the "Son of Massacre".[9][10] The second game of the series, which the Yankees won 14-11, took four hours and 45 minutes to complete making it the longest 9-inning game in major league baseball history. The Yankees cruised on to win the division while the Red Sox never recovered from the series loss as they failed to make the playoffs and fell to 3rd place for the first time in years behind the Toronto Blue Jays.

Especially because of the use of the word "Bludgeon" in the headline..

I think you've gotten it, Nate. That makes the most sense.

The date of the article is August 30, 2007. You can view a pretty good screencap of the newspaper article at http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg162/getlostpodcast/4x10/newspaper.jpg.

Well, i was wrong.. I played the episode online, and took a screenshot when they showed the article:

"The sweep was more emphatic last August when the Yankees rampaged into Fenway Park and won three games to bury the Boston Red Sox. The best the Yankees could do this time was to win three at Yankee Stadium and chisel a chunk from Boston's sizable lead in the American League East.
Suzy Allman for the New York Times Robinson Cano hit two home runs as the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox with a 5-0 victory. The Yankees cut Boston's Division Lead to 5 games."

Other details include: Chien Ming Wang pitched. Curt Schilling pitched. Yankees had 1 game lead ahead of Seattle in the wild card.

This sounds a lot like 2007 to me.

UPDATE upon further review I found the EXACT game the article refers to. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270830110

Oh, and Kate's "mission" from Sawyer has to have something to do with his daughter. Which is why Kate wanted to keep it private. Jack has no right to know anything about that. Kate wasn't really lying, she was just trying to keep Sawyer's secret.

The game has to be a mistake, right? How can last night's episode be further in time than the season 3 finale? Chaddogg, what's your take?

I stand corrected, so the flash forward is to mid/late 2007. Seems very weird that they'll have been off the island for so long before they go back...

I wasn't particularly impressed. All the flash forward really did was emphasize the depths to which O6 Jack will fall (even breaking up his engagement, when from Looking Glass, we know she's in no hurry to get back to Sawyer). So this will be brief:

Christian visions being the cause of Jack's downslide? Not surprising (some of us have been saying it since the season opener). That they are revealing it to us this season is surprising - just how will season 5 work?

"You can't raise him". Like Gerry, I too thought that we shouldn't assume that means "parent Aaron", but also consider "Christian visions". Especially if there are two opposing sides manipulating things behind the scenes (my guess, a conflict between The Whisperers and Ms. Hawking's people).

Speaking of "ghosts", Island Christian, much like his appearance in the last Missing Pieces bit, sure seems pretty corporeal. I think it's an open question as to whether he's dead or not (in current Island time anyway).

(Speaking of the preview ghost: was that Ben's father? If so, doesn't The Purge only being 12 years ago complicate the Alex situation?)

Jin's started a plot to get Sun off the Island. Given this is Lost, can't we then assume that the plan doesn't go through, Jin is dead, and Sun gets off via some other means?

Speaking of getting on/off the Island, how many people were in Keamy's party? 5 still? Unless Smokey didn't kill off any of them, haven't we confirmed that Lapidus has made a couple trips to drop off mercenaries, given that they can't all fit in the chopper at once?

One final random thought: how good is Harold Perineau's agent? He's been credited (and probably paid) as a series regular for showing up in all of two episodes (and one episode was just for two quick scenes). The guy hasn't even had to tromp around in the jungle yet!

@ antilles: In season 1 I would have agreed with you, but we've seen a lot of character growth with Sawyer, he's become quite the unlikely hero in his own right. Next to Jin and Sun, Sawyer has the most redemptive plotline. Kate needs Sawyer because Jack will always question her, never trust her and will fuel her habitual lying. Sawyer sees through it since he's such an accomplished liar himself.

Jack, with all his Daddy issues needs Juliet to keep him doing the things he should be doing and to taken him down off his high horse. Kate would never be able to master Jack's control-freak god complex. Juliet would.

Jack/Kate is a waste of time anyway, because we know they don't end up together in the end.

As previously stated: More DesPenny plz. Kthnx.

Some posted this on another blog, and I thought it was funny.

Commenting on Myles/Miles' (however you spell it) finding Danielle and Carl:

Wouldn't you like to see everyones faces when Miles walks over Nicki and Paulo's grave.
"Dude,they weren't dead when you buried them."

That would be funny...

Jack isn't the only one who has gotten sick on the island. Remember Ben's tumor? He believes in the island more than anyone (except Locke) and he still got sick. But like Jack, Ben seems to have abused his power and his illness could be a result of the island being none to pleased at his actions as well. And Locke almost bit the big one when Ben shot him, but ghost Walt brought him back.

I have never mentioned any of my own theories, but here goes. Didn't Ben's mother die while giving birth? Now, did women always die in childbirth on the island, or could that be some kind of manifestation of Ben's anxiety and fear over the death of his own mother? I have also wondered for a while if smokey was also somehow unconsciously linked to Ben, and last week made me think so.

That wasn't Ben's father in the preview. That was the leader of the Dharma initiative who found Ben's father on the side of the road with the dead mother. I cannot remember his name for the life of me, but I think it was Horace. Anyway, I remember Lindelof and Cuse speaking about how important he and his partner, Samantha Mathis were in the overall scheme of the island.

Good catch SeannyD, it does look like Horace Godspeed:
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Horace_Goodspeed

That makes the next episode more interesting - who better to argue with man of faith Locke (while a ghost!) than a man of science mathematician.

That doesn't help us much with the timeline questions though, given that we know Horace died in The Purge (Ben actually shows remorse over his death). Was Alex actually raised by Richard's jungle Others until The Purge?

Also, one other thing I forgot to mention: Any guesses on Miles being so interested in Claire/Aaron? Is indeed Aaron special or is Miles wondering why ghost-Charlie/Ethan/Christian/Eko/Etc. are interested in Aaron?

"Speaking of flash-forward Aaron, I'm sure I've brought this up before, but that is one huge toddler. Is this just standard Rapidly Aging TV Infant Syndrome, some time anomaly, or has more time elapsed than I'm guessing?"

I think the creators are doing this on purpose, to show us how much time has passed. Lost is usually pretty good about continuity. I am expecting an explanation for this, just as I am expecting an explanation for why Mr. Alpert doesn't age.

I have to side with Doug Jack. Lost did something to its viewers in season 2 and 3 when they left us hanging for so long with no new info: They forced us to rate each episode by what new information we are granted. I can still enjoy episodes like this because of how I feel about the characters, and this one especially because it shows us that the island and the Lost experience didn't fundamentally alter any of the O6.

A friend who is a huge Yankees fan said the game mentioned could have been from 2006, but the Astros-Angels box score at the bottom of the paper appears to be from a June 20, 2007 game.

Again, a mistake on the producers' part?

I agree with homegirl. It comes back to what Ben said about a magic box that gives you what you want. I believe the island could sort of follow the concept in "The Secret" where if you give off the energy of something with your mind you get it back. For example, Ben wished desperately for his tumor to go away and then a back surgeon crashes there, Locke/Rose desperately wanting to be uncrippled crashing on the island and being cured, Sawyer wanting revenge getting Lockes father, etc.. Conversely, those who have anxious and negative thoughts get sick (i.e Jack about getting off the island, etc) or run into trouble?

Gerry, looks like either they want to confuse the hell out of us by putting game scores from two different dates in the same paper, or they figured noone would look at such a minute detail as what the other scores on the page said.. Personally, I think the main point of it was to show the Sox v Yanks and that the other scores were not meant to be viewed as important to the date (i.e. a production mistake - a mistake to think we all would not look at the picture and figure out the exact details of when the paper was printed )

So i think '07 is pretty much locked down as the date of the flashforward yes?
If so whats been going on since fall 05 when Ben and Sayid were doin' their Chris and Snoop thing in the middle east? Was Kate really been awaiting trial for the better part of two years? If so how could she and Aaron have forged the motherly bond? And when did Hurley go into the institution? By 07 i doubt a plane crash survivor would still be that famous. Clearly the Sun flashforward was just after they got back since the baby was new, what's she been up to? Also that means the unattened funeral was in fall-ish 07, what does that mean for who could be in the coffin?

Also i think with all these Ghosts around Miles is about to get pretty important. I'm beginning to think that when the O6 escape some of all of the frieghter 4 will stay behind.

Yeah I'm not so sure on this summer/fall 07 date for the flash forward. Doc Jensen over at EW brought up a good point that the sox-yanks thing may have been less to pinpoint the timeframe of the flashforward, and more to represent how things are returning to their old ways (i.e. Jack is drinking and being suspicious of his significant others, Kate is lying). When Jack was on the island, the sox won the series, (things were different), but now he's off island and things are going back to the way they were, which is not necessarily a good thing for him...

Good points, Mike--um Doc Jensen. But the brians behind Lost put so much effort into the little things and dare viewers to discover their meanings that I'm inclined to read it as an attempt to pinpoint the date.

@carlos This is pure speculation, but given how bent out of shape Hurley was, maybe he's in the coffin, from suicide. Because he was institutionalized, no one would come. And Jack would feel a) inspired to do the same but more importantly he would feel b) incredible remorse over not taking him more seriously.

Guessing games are fun.

of note: Hurley doesn't have a son.

coffin was kinda small for hurley, no?

my guess was Ben in the coffin, cause he has no family/friends in the outside world, and because Jack may be really sad about it because he thinks Ben was the only one that could get him back to the island to save the other survivors. Seems too obvious for it to be Ben tho...

plus Ben is too much of a central character at this point to be killed off. The large context of whats happening to the 815 survivors is a war between Ben and Widmore for the island. Killing Ben would more or less end this story line and seems unlikely prior to the final season.
I'm guessing it was someone from the freighter who made it back, be it Michael, or Frank, or Dan. Michael seems the most likely given that he was suicidal, has a son, and Kate would be repulsed by the idea of attending his funeral. He seems to have done a good job of pushing his mother away and has no other family that we know of. But he seems like to obvious a choice too.

I think that using dates in newspapers to pinpoint the timeline is pretty close to futile. Mistakes can be made, as shown in the episode where the X-Rays of the Italian guy Jack was operating on last year had dates of 2007 (or whenever the episode aired).

Personally, it's irrelevant to me the specific dates as long as the overall continuity is held firm, such as Aaron's aging and the amount of time spent off the island. I'd like to have a definitive amount of time. Like "Oh, it's been 2 years since we've been off that island."

An interview, or maybe it was the podcast, with Damon and Carleton said as much in that they want the show to exist long after it is aired, so emphasis on actual dates is diminished.

While I don't particularly classify this episode as "filler", I was not the biggest fan but I understand the purpose in that it is setting up the events for the next few episodes. I expected a larger confrontation between Jack and Christian, such as the one Hurley and Charlie had, so it was disappointing to not see that played out.

They wouldn't have shown the newspaper if it wasn't going to be a hint.

I loved the episode, personally. I had forgotten just how much I love Juliette as a character.

Hello all! wow I've gotten here late. . .

Initial impressions from the episode:

1) Sawyer the hero rocks. I LOVE seeing him be all heroic, particularly last week with Hurley and Claire, this week again with Claire. I have so very much enjoyed his character development from a dude who behaved despicably so he would be punished to a dude who steps up and leads and protects the weaker members of the team. He is definitely learning from the island, letting go of his past self, etc. I'm anxious to see how Sawyer 2.0 behaves once he's returned to the beach and is again butting heads with Jack (last week I posted wondering how much of Sawyer's development has been made possible by him being away from Jack).

2) The Jack-Kate-Aaron thing in the future was really well done. Like others have pointed out, they're both still tragically stuck in their pre-island selves with the lying and the not trusting. The happiness was so bittersweet because there was so much guilt and pain behind it - it totally reminded me of the episode(s) in Angel when Lindsey and then Gunn got stuck in the suburban hell loop, where everything was shiny and pleasant except that every day ended with him going downstairs and getting killed by the monster in the basement. One of the boys later reflected that the worst part wasn't having his body repeatedly tortured by the monster in the basement - the worst part, for him, was the part upstairs where everything was shiny on top but he could feel that it was really empty, and that he was just going through the motions - at least in the basement things were clear. So, for Lost, at least on the island things were more clear, but in this suburban existance that Jack and Kate have created for themselves and Aaron there is all that still lurking under the surface, making it all that much harder to go through the motions and keep up appearances.

3. I bet that when we have another Kate flash forward episode we might see some of these scenes from her perspective (didn't they do that with Sun and Jin, later showing the other side of scenes we'd already seen the other one go through?).

4. Someone needs to put a leash on Claire when they take her into the jungle. Her seeing her Dad's ghost was a heck of a moment, made even creepier by the fact that I'd just watched Supernatural, whereby people kept getting phone calls from (allegedly) deceased loved ones. It was a very creepy episode. Both were, actually.

5. Jack is such a major control freak! We knew that of course, but wanting to stay awake for his own surgery? I was delighted when Juliet and Bernard drugged him, because it showed how much of a like-minded control freak Juliet is - she played it so well, not arguing with him until she had his stomach cut open, because what's the use of arguing with jack, then when he couldn't do anything about it she drugged him and did the surgery fine by herself.

6. Hurley just broke my heart in the flash forward. They've got to get back to the island, cause I'm not willing to accept an ending where Hurley ends up like that. They'll just have to do better.

two quick things that shara and dave made me think of:
juliet telling Jack she knew he was awake after her confession to kate was great. she's really a no BS type of lady
and
i'm liking the emergence of bernard lately, maybe its just been out of necessity since the characters are sort of scattered to the wind, but i like him popping in with morse code skills and putting some of the dentistry skills to use. i just hope that this sudden usefulness isn't setting him up for a Artz like demise

"It's just that this was the first of the flash-forwards that resembled one of the bad old flashbacks, in that it just reconfirmed character traits we already knew and showed Jack and Kate falling into patterns we knew from the past."

I echo what antilles (and maybe someone else) said earlier about how that - I think - is exactly the point. They haven't learned their lessons, they haven't been "reborn", they are still in the same destructive ruts as before - Jack is still boozing, controlling, and suspicious, Kate is still avoiding the truth, Hurley is back in a mental hospital, letting his perceptions beat him down again. They still have "work to do", on themselves as well as on the island. That's what I got out of it, anyway, and why I found it much sadder for them to be doing it in the flash forward than in the flash backs - because its just so much more tragic.

I thought it was interesting to contrast Hurley's (humorous) declaration in the last episode ("We're all gonna die", or something like that, referencing the Risk game) with his eerily-similar statement that they were "all dead" in the episode from last night. What Hurley said about them all being dead put me in mind of the Dubliners story "The Dead" (we've mentioned this story on Lost Discussions before re: Chaddog's the living and the dead theory), in that the "Dead" in that story represented not just deceased persons, but people who had stopped "living" their lives in the abstract sense (stopped seeking experiences, understanding, connection, etc). That's what I got from that conversation with Hurley (even though I assumed he was NOT speaking abstractly) - that they're stuck in these ruts and can't go forward. As a result, they are living lives of quiet desperation, and I think that pointing that out was definitely worth a relatively uneventful flash-forward episode.

Has anyone considered that Claire didn't actually survive the attack on Camp Benjamin last week? That might explain why Miles (former ghostbuster) was watching her so much - aside from her being freakishly hot.

@steve088 - I had come across that theory somewhere today, and I thought it was really interesting. And would address how she survived the firebomb attack relatively unscathed (at my house, we were all like "damn, no way she survived that. huh? seriously?"). An alternative theory I had also heard (maybe here? Maybe at ew or tvguide?) was that Claire might have ghosts following her around - Myles might have been feeling the spectre of Christian Shepherd around her (since alleged-CS showed himself to Claire that night), or possibly her mother, or possibly Charlie, Ethan, or anyone else's ghost that might be interested in her or Aaron.

You know, I can't add a single thing to what has already been commented on except this.....damn, that Juliet is HAWT!!!

New guy here.
Am I the only one who thought the smoke detector sound was the same as the Hatch warning sound (when you had to enter the code)?
also, how did Keamy and his men survive facetime with Smokey?
Charlotte speaking Korean is a total hint that Paik Industries is about to enter the picture...working with Widmore it would seem.

Barry i haven't heard anyone even offer up an explination as to how they survived that. Its seems pretty weak to me to have them not die and offer zero explanation as to how they got away. The best guess i can come up with is that there were more of them than survived and this group ran off while those guys were gettin' got. But it seems to me that they're all bad men and that smokey shoulda taken them down.
If one were of a suspicious mind, one might think Ben had smokey not kill them so that or because they would be of use to him later. but who would ever suspect Ben of anything?

lots of 815 survivors have outrun smokey.. stands to reason the mercanaries could too.

.. im guessing the favor for sawyer was regarding his kid that he had in arizona (i think)..

Yes Nate, but none of the 815 survivors got away from Smokey 1) while trying to fight it, and 2) with so much Smokey to go around. It's almost as though Smokey (and the Island) has its own agenda.

FYI, while Smokey is massively awesome, I'm still not a fan of it. It's going to take a lot of explaining by the end of the show to make me not say, "Wow, what a stupid monster."

Not everyone made it out.. they don't show you the people except for the one who gets dragged away so, some could have been shooting while others ran.

funny thoughts about smokey tho.

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