Get Ready: Further Instructions

We got a great new episode of LOST last night, with the airing of season 3 episode 3, Further Instructions. Got any thoughts about the episode? Why Desmond seems to have psychic powers, Locke's return to "faith" and his conversations with the island, Hurley's return to the beach? Get us your comments by posting them here, sending us an email or leaving an audio comment on our automated audio comment voicemail by calling: 206-666-2278.

Comments

[Phil]

I was really happy with last nights episode, always good to see Locke back to his best and the return of Boone, even if it was just a vision.

Ive read a few people complaining about Desmonds reveal at the end, saying that it could lead to a jump the shark moment but personally I think it works well enough in the world of Lost considering all the stuff that went on with Walt.

[Matt Jones]

Desmond isn't psychic. He is remembering the future.

Saving the rest for the cast.

[Mark B]

Much better episode, Lost is back on track. Whilst no more (perhaps less) happened in this episode than the previous two I enjoyed this far more. Two more to go to the break, hopefully we are building to that mini-cliffhanger …

Lockes eye, looking into the tree tops and turning to see Des at the start just like Jack from season one (except Jack saw Vincent) -- is Locke the new Jack for the 'beach crowd' this season ? He seems the (somewhat) logical choice for a new leader. Though I would question his descison making. The one time he made the right descion (to push the button) he convinced himself it was all a sham but as the only 'lead' person left on the beach he'll become the leader.

What happened to Locke, Eko and Des in the time between hatch imploding and us seeing them ? I think Charlie said something about Locke being missing for a day. Why did Des have no clothes but Locke and Eko did ? Is it because Des was nearer the magnet ?

In the dream sequence….
What did Boone mean by Desmond looking after himself as usual (or words to that effect) ?
What did Boone mean by they don't need your help yet in reference to Charlie and Claire ? What help will they need ?
It appears, from the dream, that Sun and Jin are safe with Sayid.

Did Eko speak to Locke or was it the island speaking through Eko ? I think the later.

Looks like some of the Pearl people didn't make it back to the Pala Ferry dock. And what's that with the kids toy ? Did the polar bear take some (all) of the Dharma peoples kids ?

Locke is a perennial mark. Apparently every dog has his day but Locke. Backstory was interesting and showed how Locke learnt about the 'magic paste' and backwoods skills but like the Jin/Sun flashbacks didn't really add that much other than to compound what we already know about Locke being taken all the time. I liked it way better than the Jin-Sun flashbacks though. Eddie seemed to speak in an Otherish way to Locke but I suspect that does not mean he is in Dharma but was intentionally written that way. "You're a good person". The flashback seems to be post-1997 but pre-2002. On the paperwork Locke hands to the it says 1997 but his license expires in 2002. This can be seen in screencaps at www.lost.cubit.net

Locke couldn't kill Eddie yet Sun shot Colleeen. Eddie and Colleen said similar things under very similar circumstances. Seems to be a theme developing, who can and who can't shoot/kill people. Sawyer, Eko, Sun and Kate have killed people. Jin and Locke didn't when they could have. So where will Hurley, Des, Jack, Charlie and Claire sit ? I bet there will be at least one surprise in store. You could argue Jack killed his Dad but indirectly. Will Hurley turn out to be a murderer ? Will Claire ?

Locke will make a plan to save J-S-K. Hopefully he'll keep Sayid out of it.

Can Desmond see the future ? Did he travel into the future ? Is this a one-off or a permanent 'power' he know has ? Did he have it before ? Did he already know he'd meet Jack 'in another life' ? He wasn't even there when Locke give his speech so how did he know. I tend to think it may be a permanent power but one he can't control and that he did not somehow jump into the future and back.

Two new people were introduced, Paulo and Nikki, will they be new main characters or just filler for a few episodes or one season wonders. I didn't like the way they were introduced, I found it somewhat sudden that they just appeared and Locke refered to them as if they were friends but I guess this adds to the the characters talk 'off screen' so are bound to know more about each other than we have seen theory. Therefore Kate could have known all about Jacks past and told the Others and they may not have a dossier on everyone.

Mark B

[Challabuck]

Twasn't bad, but I'll admit to some disappointment. So many plot points seemed stretched beyond the limits of believability (and by that, I'm talking about the general logic of the show) -- mainly 1) Eko being dragged for miles by the polar bear without so much as a gash, 2) Hurley catching the knife with whatever it was he was holding, 3) the 3 hatchers somehow popping out of that hyper magnetic implosion largely unscathed. Just seems to me that the writers piled on the deus ex machina plot solutions when they could have been more creative. I could add another point about Desmond's clairvoyance, but I'll wait to see where the writers want to take it.

That said, I loved the return of the Locke we know and love, and can't wait for him to really get in touch with his inner Rambo. Another nice return was witty Charlie -- we hadn't seen this side of him for almost as long as Locke was obsessed with the button.

[Rebecca]

Well, I have to say, that was my least favorite episode of Lost ever. However, I'm going to have to watch that again. Initially I felt that the Polar Bear "cave" was hokey, why would the polar bear want to eat Mr Eko? And Desmond and time warpy stuff kinda hard to believe. Don't get me wrong I am certainly not going to say, and now I will never watch Lost again but I can say it was the first episode that I have watched that I actually just didn't like. Hope next week is better, previews look promising.

[Taylor]

Oh man, freakin' awesome ep! Classic LOST! Anything that kind of goes back to that first season feeling of "the island is a mystery and it's talkin' to us" is really kinda classic LOST.

Matt, Dez remembering the future? Ooooh, neat idea! Perhaps being at ground zero, he got mentally warped into the future...which also stripped away his clothes...right? ;) And what was with the following the tye dye shirt as he was checking it out?! Gyah, must have been a moment for the ladies.

The vision sequence was awesome! Loved it. Just really trippy and kind of atypical of LOST's shooting style. I want to go back over it for any other potential easter eggs.

Did Charlie get a haircut? Why does his hair not look quite the same? Hmmm.

Polar bear definitely looked better than the S1 bear. And the hatch...good lord, I knew that set was done for (hope someone saved the timer for posterity)...but dang, massive hole in the ground. Though I still don't see how it was an implosion rather than an explosion. Perhaps because there aren't hatch bits (save for the hatch itself) all over the island.

Overall, great episode! Definitely my fave so far! Gotta go back and watch it again to get some more insight! :D Can't wait to hear the next podcast!

[Rebecca]

Well, I have to say, that was my least favorite episode of Lost ever. However, I'm going to have to watch that again. Initially I felt that the Polar Bear "cave" was hokey, why would the polar bear want to eat Mr Eko? And Desmond and time warpy stuff kinda hard to believe. Don't get me wrong I am certainly not going to say, and now I will never watch Lost again but I can say it was the first episode that I have watched that I actually just didn't like. Hope next week is better, previews look promising.

[Erika]

The leader of the pot-growers is Chris Cooper and Clancy Brown’s love child!

And, for that matter, Penny Widemore
is actually Suyai Steinhauer , the recent bootee on Top Chef. I have the pics. The resemblance is uncanny. Major easter eggs, guys. Truly.

[Erika]

Oh, and a poster on another forum had an excellent question: Did anybody really speak to or acknowledge Desmond other than Hurley? Hmmmm. You would think Charlie would have asked about him. (Yes, a glance by Locke at the beginning, but that doesn't really count. Locke is as crazy as Hurley by most estimates.)

[Scott]

wow - nothing happened in this episode.

We learned stuff about Locke that we ALREADY KNEW - he's a sucker all the time & He's not really a hard-nosed hunter. No Shocker there

we learned everybody survived the hatch-plosion, except for Desmond's clothes. great 30 seconds of info.

the biggest reveal was Desmond's remembering the future - another 2 minutes.

so about 3 minutes of moving the story forward and 40 minutes of not moving the story anywhere.

that being said - i like Locke & anything that tells his story - so I guess I have to like this episode, darn.

oh and eko is dead now. sweet.

[Pete]

I agree with the Others who've posted that last night's episode was the worst of the series. I hope Lost isn't hitting a slump. My top dumbest things from the episode:

1) Echo gets mauled by a bear without a single bite
2) Desmond's pants disintegrate, but his parts are fine
3) Guns to protect a weed factory?
4) 99 percent of Charlie's jokes
5) Desmond doesn't ask anybody for some scivvies?
6) Locke's "big" speech was like 8 seconds long.
7) I wasn't a big fan of the dream sequence.

I realize lots of these these things will probably be explained in future episodes - is Hurley imagining Desmond? The weed compound might be more than that. Etc. The writers of the show are so so smart, but last night I think they just weren't sharp.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

I didn't hate the episode at all. I really enjoyed seeing Locke back on his game or at least getting back to his Season One roots.

I thought adding the drug element connected him to Mr. Ekko more than either of them know. I think Ekko fell into it to protect his family and Locke in order to find a family. Although, I don't think Locke really got into the whole drug part of it. I think he just saw it as a means to an end.

And it was nice to see how they are introducing the Brazilian in even if it was only for a second. I liked him in Love Actually. Curious to see what Pablo will be on the island. Anyone else have the reaction of "Who the hell are you?" to the blond yelling at Locke back at the beach.

[Preston]

I really enjoyyed this one, this is the type of episodes I love the most. The strange ones :) I wanna see what happened the hr between the hatch blowing and Desmond/Locke & Eko waking up on the island.

Something strange has happened, Desmond seeing the future? Desmond is acting so strange! Someone must have pulled them out of the hatch? Great Episode!

[Bryan from the Dena]

well right of the bat, I enjoyed this episde. It was great to get another "Locke is the good kind of crazy, again" episode. Here are the thigns I noticed.

1. Charlie mentions that the polar Bears are the Einsteins of the Bear world. This seemed to reflect the point made by Tom that it only took the bears 2 hours to figure out how to get food from the cage that Sawyer is in.

2. Where the heck did Hurley get a canteen? when the others had him leave, we don't see them give him his stuff back, and the only water bottles or canteens we have seen the others have (if they had happened to give him water) al have a dharma logo on them. sadly I think this was written in just so Locke could throw the knife and have it scare the crap out of Hurley.

3. Paulo and Nikki - I love that the writers didn't even bother introducing them. it did solidify the feeling that stuff goes on with the Losties that we don't see. This felt much more realistic than us getting an explanation of who they were during that time when they were in a small emergency. I am sure we will find out more about them later, but most likely only through back story, since they have been on the island so long everyone would already have a little familiarity with them.

4. The one thing about Locke losing his voice. It reminded me of the New Testement story of the birth of John the Baptist. Essentially, John's dad doubted what an angel told him and lost his faith. As a punishment, he lost the ability to speak. he only regained his voice after he confirmed the name of the baby as John rather than a family name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_the_Baptist

http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Luke&passage2=&passage3=&passage4=&passage5=&version1=31&version2=0&version3=0&version4=0&version5=0&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Just like Locke he regained the ability to speak when he demonstrated that his faith had been restored.

anyways, what do you guys think.

[confused]

I'm a little confused - maybe I missed something, but when exactly did Desmond remember the future?? THank you guys.

[Snarf]

confused - Desmond told Hurley that Locke will make a plan to rescue Jack, Kate and Sawyer. "He said so during his speech." But the speech had not happened yet. We see the speech near the end of the episode.

[Oaktown_Funk]

Interesting episode!
1) Eddie has a Gerinimo Jackson t-shirt and says he is a big fan....this was one of the albums that was spotted in the hatch.
2) Locke has the worst gut in the world. His first instinct seems to always end up burning him in the butt.
3) I thought the previews said that Claire was going to catch some people - if the tent is boppin' - don't bother knockin'
Oh well...like everyone else, lookin' fwd. to the P Cast

[Mark B]

Matt Jones -- you little tease.

confused -- Desmond saw the future when after Hurley had given him the tie-dyed shirt he said something about Locke making a speech about going off to save Jack, Sawyer and Kate. This was before Locke got back to the beach with Eko and made his speech, which Des never saw because he was throwing stones into the sea while Locke was pontificating. Or at least Hurley sees him doing throwing stones, no one else seems to have interacted with Des yet other than Hurley hence the is Des dead or is he on a different time plain that only Hurley can see or is Hurley imagining him etc ? Personally I think it's that we just haven't seen anyone talk to him yet and he can somehow see the future. I heard one theory that he is like Arnie in the Terminator and travelled in time but his clothes got left behind.

Mark B

[David Schultz]

I agree with another's comment about this being their least favorite episode of Lost. I liked the first bit in the tent with boone and the hallucination stuff, but the rest was garbage. As mentioned in the last lostcast, i also think that they need to pick up the pace dramatically as they are soon going into a long hiatus and we need something big to keep us engaged after a several month break.

[johnali3n]

Great episode :)

Did anyone catch the engravings on Echo staff????

If you look on the left hand side you can JUST make out the word:-

NARNIA

Anyone else catch this?

[Doctor Manhattan]

I did not like the way Nikki was talkinig down to Hurley.

"When were you planning on telling us this, Hurley?"

After Hurley told her that Jack is not coming back. Didn't Hurley just get back to the beach. Was he supposed to use his cell phone to tell this chick on his way back?



"What happened to Locke, Eko and Des in the time between hatch imploding and us seeing them ? I think Charlie said something about Locke being missing for a day."

It seemed that Locke woke up soon after the implosion (Eko's stick just came falling down) so that day is in between when we first see him and his arrival at the beach.

[mooze]

I thought this was a great episode - we're getting back to some season one stuff like the polar bear instead of dealing with the Others over and over again.

I hope you guys discuss Locke's vision... There's some interesting stuff in there.

I'm not sure what to make of the skeleton in the polar bear cave that had the material with the Pearl logo on it - what do you guys think about that? What were they doing outside? Do you think it could've been a replacement for someone?

[biolite]

Best episode of the 3rd season so far. It's nice to go back the the mythology of the island. The vision was very interesting, I can't wait to find out more about the island. I do agree that is odd we didn't see any pronounced injuries on Eko when we found him in the cave, but he is a pretty tough guy ;) Who knows, the polar bear probably built a sled to take him back to his cave, and was rooting in the back for some ketchup when Locke arrived, they are the Einstein of the bear community after all.

The Desmond/future thing is interesting too. I don't think that he's dead, or only HUrly can see him...that seems a little too complicated. But there's clearly something more that happened when the hatch imploded, somehow all 3 people inside ended up outside, and fairly unharmed. I think we'll find out what happened in a Desmond or Eko flashback, maybe the smoke monster saved them.

Overall, it was nice to get back to the beach and check in with everyone else, good to see Charlie and Hunter Locke back in action. Can't wait for next week.

[mooze]

Oh, and some of the things that were visible from the one shot of Eko's Jesus Stick (there are more on the other side that we've seen in other episodes, but these are from that one shot near the beginning of the episode, after it falls from the sky):
-the numbers (4 8 15 16 are visible)
-"lift up your eyes and look north"
-acts 4:12 ("Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.")
-gen 13:14 ("The LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward.")
-rom 6:12 ("Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.")
-john 3:5 ("Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.")
-hab 1:3 ("Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause [me] to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence [are] before me: and there are [that] raise up strife and contention.")

[johnali3n]

And you can just make out:-

NARNIA

on the top left had side of the jesus stick!!! :)

[Joop]

When Charlie (the hobbit) says, "I here trees are great conversationalists."

That was funny.

When Hurley tells Desmond that he is alone, then Desmond comes toward him w/ the full motey he says I'M NOT ALONE!

That was funny.

[smokem]

Not a bad episode but a slow one. In its defense, we still have 3 more episodes until the break so its not going to be a fast paced shocker... it was a set up episode, and in my opinion a good one.

Some of the things Boone said were VERY interesting...

Oh and by the way for anyone who said the stuff that happened in this episode was "Unbelievable" need i remind you that... THIS... IS... LOST... YOU... IDIOTS!!!

[Joop]

I spelled monty "motey"

That was funny.

[Blackfonzie]

Overall, pretty good episode, except the flashback was dropped a bit suddenly, I thought. Was waiting for another twist at the end of it to explain why this incident was so significant in Locke's history besides showing (yet again) how gullible he can be.

Another flashback point: The weed commune had a very Othery kind of feeling to me. Isolated, full of secrets, people doing manual labor together. I also had a strange sense that the head pot farmer, Mike, is the guy on the Geronimo Jackson LP cover. The only pics I have of the cover are small and blurry, but it makes sense to me that the leader of a psychedelic rock band would later get into...uh...herb farming.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

New theory - the losties are racists. No one asked about Michael or if they found Walt. Even Hurley was paying more attention to Desmond than helping the battered Mr. Ekko. :)

[popmerchant]

OK, for everyone that keeps saying we didn't find anything out... how many of the espisodes actually tell us anything? if you don't realize by now that they like to build up to things on LOST, then maybe you should give it up. Geez! We are 3 episodes into a LONG season, and you want all the answers NOW. Relax.

I thought the episode was interesting. Nice to see Locke back to being himself. I also thought that whole commune thing was interesting. I mean, Locke has worked at a box factory, been a home inspector, and now lived/worked in some kind of hippy/pot commune.

i dunno, I think it's all kind of interesting.

[Tommy]

Wow, Kathy is an idiot.

That is even more Retarded than Mark B's thoughts on LOST, and that is pretty bad.

[Mark B]

Doctor Manhatan -- true Locke woke up not long after the implosion. So what was Locke doing from the time he got twatted by the Jesus stick to getting to the beach ? If I recall in the past the hatch -> beach trek didn't take that long. Didn't someone run to the beach and back in an hour to get something or am I confused ?

Blackfonzie -- I agree about the leader of the pot farmers being in (or connected to) Geronimo Jackson. Don't know why but the "great taste" comment made me think that.

Kathy aka Fangirl -- don't think they are racist but I think it is odd that no-one has asked after Micheal and Walt. Also odd that Hurley did not mention the Micheal being the killer and the others letting them go.

[daviboy]

If any of you guys have read Alan Moore's Watchmen, then you know there are references to the graphic novel in LOST. My theory is that after the hatch explosion and the surge of electromagnetic power, Desmond gained some clairvoyant powers just like the character Dr. Manhattan did in Watchmen.

Below is the first paraghaph from wikipedia that explains the character. Pay close attention to the last line. Also, Desmond shows up naked just the same way Dr. Manhattan did in the novel. (not that important but it did lead me to believe the similarities in the characters.)

Wikipedia entry: Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen)
Doctor Manhattan (Dr. Jon Osterman) is a fictional character featured in the acclaimed DC Comics series Watchmen.

Due to an accident involving an atomic physics experiment, Dr. Osterman was taken outside the physical realm and returned with god-like powers, including superhuman strength, telekinesis, the ability to teleport himself or others over planetary, interplanetary and possibly interstellar distances (the exact limit to the number of people other than himself he can teleport at one time or the distance he can teleport them is unknown; it is quite possible there may be none), control over matter at a molecular level, and near total clairvoyance.

It's just a guess but I believe the writers have incorporated some of Dr. Manhattan's abilities into Desmond.

[Scott]

For 90% of the episode there were only two characters in it - Locke & Charlie. the flashback had some stuff - but not anything we didn't know about Lock already. Echo showed up, but he was 1/2 dead. desmond is Anti-Social and has like 2 lines. not a whole lot going on to talk about in this episode I'm afraid.

but charlie does make my laugh - so I'll let it slide

[mooze]

johnali3n: I'm pretty sure it doesn't say "NARNIA". It looks like another scripture, just not legible.

[Mike in the Box]

Just for the record: his name is "MICHAEL" that is an A before the E.

It seems that the forums and even this site are split down the middle. People either loved it or hated it. Some say that we didn't get any new info and others seem to be finding a lot of new info. Here is my point: L O S T is so broad and able to be individually interpretted. Until we actually know things for a fact we should just go along for the ride and enjoy the ride.

I was under the impression that the first 6 episodes were some kind of mini-series. Therefore I am not taking them one episode at a time, instead I am waiting for the sixth episode and then combine all that we have learned.

Finally, there is way too much anger or testosterone or something. If you don't like someone's opinion or interpretation don't belittle them or insult them. Can't we just say, "i don't agree and here is why..."

[HELPIMLOST!]

I thought tonight's episode was one of the best LOST episodes ever!

My only problem with it is the intro to the two new Brazilian characters. Some people have said it seems more natural not to introduce them, but it seemed very out of place. I wish they would have kept the Claire/Tent scene in with a line like "Whoa!" and then later having Nikki and Paulo say "Now I want to properly introduce ourselves" ect.

Other than that, I'm excited to see the new episodes!

[Marty]

Didn't really like this episode much. The tripped out sequence was cool, but not very Lost-like. Kate wearing make-up? Um-okay. Why the hell is everyone dressed up nice at the airport in Locke's little fantasy? Very weird.

The whole killer-polar bear thing, Echo dragged to a cave with a Tonka truck and skeletons...it looked like Stephen King's Pet Sematary movie's deleted scenes or something. Very B-movie-ish.

And why the hell is Charlie the hobbit suddenly sportin' a mullet?

Didn't really seem to learn anything new from Locke's past either. Wow, he's been a mark on more than one occasion. Figured that one. Yeah, we know how he probably learned some survival skills and how to make the paste...but nothing too concrete. This show is dragging too much lately. Give us some answers!

Next week's episode looks great though so I can't wait...hopefully more action and more answers.

Great podcast guys. Stay Lost.

[Mike in the Box]

@ HELPIMLOST!

I agree that the way that they introduced the two new characters seemed a little off. It seemed forced to me. However, i realize the complexity of trying to show us, the viewers, two people who are supposed to have been there all along. We have nearly 20 "main" characters that we have to keep track of currently. I am not sure that there needs to be 2 new ones, but I will go along with it for now.

Maybe their story will be better than Sun's and Jin's. I am tired of that one, it is weak compared to some of the other ones. I am really looking forward to a Ben backstory if there is one.

It was great to have Locke back, I hope he brings the pain!

[Sobaika]

Someone mentioned how Claire was supposed to find people going at it in Jack's tent according to many spoilers. Many scenes (centered mostly on the two new characters and little bits like Locke falling out of the tree before waking up) were in the script and filmed but edited out. All of this can be found on Kristin at E Online's TV column here:

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=94927c7b-1e0d-4b2e-a210-79abae215cba

[Mike in the Box]

Every episode cannot be a balls to the walls answer-fest. Nor can it be blowing shite up and beating people down all the time. they have 20 or so episodes to go this season, and you would like the show to last longer than three seasons I presume. So just relax and let it take its time.

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

Okay, apparently jokes are lost here and the smiley face didn't work. I was kidding. I just thought it was funny that no one asked about Michael or Walt. I didn't think anyone would take me seriously.

[Mike in the Box]

no worries kathy, i caught the humor in it. i do think it is strange that no one has asked about walt and michael since that was the whole reason why the group left to find the others to begin with.

[Mike in the Box]

I just saw something on Eko's jesus stick: a part of a passage reads "lift up your eyes and look north" directly under it is "John 3:05".

What happens though is that you can read it as one phrase, "lift up your eyes and look north, John."

When we put together the maps that have been made by our contributers here we know that the pala ferry and possible the hydra are north of where the losties currently are. Could this have been some directions from eko? the island?

here is the screencap:
http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage.php?pid=76524&fullsize=1

[Cameron]

Great episode - except for the flahback - it really added nothing IMHO, unless there is a reveal in a close inspection of the fertilizer bag text or one of the people in the drugs commune or something.

But some big stuff in the main story.

We have touched on Tintin before - but this episode took about half a dozen sequences/settings directly from the 'Tintin in Tibet' book. The cave, the bones, the location of the injured person, the dreams/visions of someone in danger are all spot on. The set designers seem even to have copied the shape of the cave entrance and the location where Eko was lying down. The Polar bear is chased off by a bright, hot flame, in the book it was similar - a blinding flash from a camera.

Notice that the Polar Bear had been out killing boar ('the active kill') way AFTER it had stashed Eko in the cave, while Eko was still alive. Why? It was protecting Eko and bring food back to him , just like the Yeti does for the boy Chang in the book. Why did it grab Eko just at the point that Locke got to him? Why did it drag him away rather than ripping him to pieces? To keep Locke from taking him, not in a move to kill him. How did Eko even get so far into that cave in his state? The Polar Bear dragged him in there, again just like in the book.

Did the Polar Bear kill the people whose bones were in the cave? Probably, but that does not mean that the child to whom the dump truck belonged was one of them. We may yet find out that Polar bear has a very keen sense of who is a 'good person' and who is a 'bad person'.

Note also that 'Tintin in Tibet' centres around a plane crash in a remote, hidden area populated by highly spiritual people, a plane crash that the outside world soon gives up hope of finding and which is found only through the efforts of a very determined individual, against considerable odds.

[I_Love_Sayid]

@Kathy
Anyone who's read any of your dozens of great comments would never have flamed you like that. Sorry he was rude to you.

[I_Love_Sayid]

I was so excited to see this ep and I thought it was pretty good. Very compelling. Anything Locke centric is cool in my book. Thought it was great that Desmond came back to the physical realm naked as the day he was born... Kind of like Walt existing in the non-physical realm and being wet as if in primordial fluid.

Got two gripes though(although they didn't ruin the ep for me or anything.)
One is that his back story was a bit anticlimactic. Last week's back story climaxed with the death of poor KK. I was totally on the edge of my seat going "don't do it Locke, you're not a killer, man." Then when he didn't shoot I thought, ok, so now what? Did he run away in shame and let the commune go down or was he able to save it or at least go down with it and take his medicine? I was just expecting a little something more to happen afterwords.
The other gripe is the fact that the culprate was a polar bear. Honestly...the polar bear. How about the culprate was the smoke moster or the second group of Others (if there is one)?

[Cihan]

Hmm, pretty average episode in my opinion, with a fan-pandering Super Locke. (although the actor wanted Locke to be how he was in season 1 again too).

Most interesting thing for me was Eddie's Geronimo Jackson t-shirt, I've theorized that the bearded scientist of the Swan Dharma video was in that band, back in his Michigan uni days... (I've turned into such a Lost geek I recognised Geronimo Jackson on Eddie's t-shirt before it was even legible or when that dude mentioned it)

Cameron, we have indeed touched on Tintin, last season I was comparing Tintin & Flight 714 to the show and still think its a major influence, but its nice to see a Tintin In Tibet reference, its actually my favourite Tintin tale. Nice catch. (But seriously, 714 = 815, coincidence? Methinks not!)

[Karmasmurf]

Hey guys, long time listener, first time poster, all the way from England.
Can't really understand all the hatred some people have for this episode, it was loads better than the previous two- as some have commented, it really did have the feel of season one Lost- esp. Locke's vision, which reminded me just how surreal the show can be!
Some thoughts:
1) The vision seemed to correspo0nd to relationships and character placings on the island: notice how Charlie and Claire, who are now in a relationship (i think, they kissed at the end of last season didn't they?), are stood together in one line (i.e. the beach). Across from them are stood Sin, Jin and Sayid- Sun and Jin are arguing, and Sayid is pointing at something. At this point in the time-frame (assuming that this episode is happening at the same time as the previous one) Sun and Jin are indeed arguing about wether or not to help J/K/S. The comment by Boone of "I think Sayids got it" is representitive of Sayid leading the 'Worst Ambush In History'. Hurley as the ticket operator had me stumped- hes on his own in the airport, signifying perhaps his isolated position on the island at the time as he is returning to the beach. He's also punching the numbers in. I think placing him as the 'numberpuncher' shows his connection to the numbers. I think that Desmond is the real anomaly here- hes portrayed as the pilot, flanked by stewardessess. In my opinion, this shows that he has a more significiant role on the island than we are led to believe- possibly that he is working for the others (notice Boones comment that he is "helping himself"- an indication of betrayl?). The most interesting part is were we see J/K/S. They appear to be behind a fenced off area, clearly mimicing thier on-island capture. Kate and Sawyer appear together (the kiss from the last episode), whilst Jack is being scanned by Ben- showing the divisions between the three of them, and the possibility that Ben is going to 'turn' Jack.
N.B. the only bad thing about the vision was the UNBELIVEABLY cheesy polar-bear-jumping-out-of-the-fire trick! Come on LOST writers thats just awful!
2)Lockes backstory- i liked it, and yet didnt. Not a great deal of info was doled out- i think Locke's back-story has by far the most mileage still left in it (Something that can't be said for Jack/Charlie/Sun+Jin), i.e finding about what happened to him after his gf (cant remember her name, she was played by Katey Segal) left; of course, the issue of what happened to his legs. And yet, they sent him to a rural commune for a bit instead. Hmmmm... saying that, it was enjoyable, I thought they were gonna go all Jonestown on us- but I think having Locke being a part of a brainwashing suicide cult might just stretch his credibility a leeetle too far! LOVED the Geronimo Jackson refrence, that one was most definiately a nod to the hardcore fans lol! And a few comments Eddie made definately were intended to make us think "OMG HES AN OTHER!!", but I have a huge feeling that thats a red herring. I think the main point of the backstory was to show that Locke is not a killer, and that he somehow manages to mess up everything that he does. It was heart-wrenching to see Locke finally managing to get a surrogate (addmitedly pot-headed) family, only to throw it all away. Im also slightly confused as to when exactly sll this happened- was it before he met Katey Segal, was it after...???
3) I think the two noobs on the beach would have been introduced far better if they hadn't deleted the scene that introduced them (as I think happened, thats were the promo scene must have gone). To be honest, we didn't really get enough time with them to see who they are or what they're like. I think they're going to be "Libby-ish" characters this season- hanging around the fringes of the main cast, occasionaly chiping in with advice or help when needed. I reckon they'll become more important toward the end of the season/season 4.
4) People seem to have have 3 main bones of contention concerning "unbelievablities" this ep:
-How they got so far from the hatch, considering the fact that the hatch was utterly destroyed: I think either, the writers have used some artistic lisence here (a la Jack waking up in the forest in the pilot), or that something happened between the crash happening and them waking up- did someone place them there?
-Desmonds clothes: im actually liking the whole 'Desmond is really dead' theory, in which case we have a valid explanation for his lack of coverage. However, if he was dead, Im pretty sure that the other two would be dead as well!
(OMG just had a thought- now that the hatch is gone, we'll never find out what the deal was with the washer and drier!)
-Eko gets blasted by an explosion (from the dynamite), fried by an implosion (the failsafe) and then mauled by a polar bear- and barely has a scratch on him?: Yeah that ones got me stumped too...
5) Desmonds prediction- the major 'reveal' of the ep- i dont understand why its gettin so badly flamed- this sort of stuff happened all the time in Season One, although perhaps in a more suble way (remember Walt and the bird?). Perhaps the failsafe implosion messed with Desmonds head somehow, maybe it gave him a vision of what to come in the future- one things for sure, he didn't seem particularly surprised when Hurley challenged him about it, showing that Desmond had definately seen the future. What else could he have seen? This ties it back to my earlier comment about Desmond as the pilot- does he have a different role on the island?

Well, thankyou for reading my haphazard, badly writen (its nearly mid-night over here) comments. Looking forward to the podcast!
Stay LOST
Karma Smurf

[matt beale]

Whooo - At last!

UK Fans will now get to watch LOST S3 from November 06 now its been snapped up by SKY from Channel 4.

'Sky One' will start S3 in November, in the run up to Christmas, then will continue with S03E07 running a week behind USA when it comes back Feb 2007. (same time gap as 24 with Fox/Sky)

Little Old UK only a week behind USA.... Great News!

[Cihan]

Karmasmurf: I think Locke's flashback was set after the last flashback we'd seen of his, because he mentioned in the grace prayer that he was glad he wasnt so angry anymore, so its clearly after the anger management classes and his relationship with Helen. I really am curious as to how he lost feeling in his legs now...

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

When Locke and the cop were walking and the cop asked "how come you nver talk about your dad" was anyone else expecting him to just say "because he stole my kidney."

[Tyler J]

Absolutely loved this episode! It was nice to get away from all the craziness going on with the Others for a while and focus on our characters and the island. Locke's relationship with the island is one of my favorite mysteries Lost has to offer and the Hatch seemed to superceed that. Maybe the Hatch and the Button put Locke in perfect harmony with the island so that he didn't need any coaxing to do its will or maybe that connection was blocked by the unnatural quality of the Swan. Either way, the island is back in contact with Locke and I'm loving it. This was like an episode from season 1! As for advancing the storyline, John is back in the good graces of the island and has obviously been selected to lead.

As for his flashbacks; John isn't a killer and we still haven't learned why Henry/Ben allowed himself to be trapped(does anyone honestly think they don't know where all of Danielle's traps are?). Maybe he was coming for John.

Why didn't anyone on the beach take notice of pantless Desmond? Last time they saw him, he was drunk as skunk! Sometimes when people drink too much, they lose their pants.

[Matt H.]

Well I dug this episode. MUCH better than last week and definitely more in toon with the LOST I love. Sure its not perfect and it can be picked apart but you can certainly do that with just about anything. Anyway, I was excited to see John back and the Bear/Wolf image in the sweat house was nice.

My hopes are up for the show.

Next episode looks kind of creepy. I really hope they don't make Jack switch sides. That would suck.

Oh, and Desmond's scenes were too few. Although they are an integral part of the show, I'm actually getting tired of the flashbacks. I'm starting to feel like they take us out of the intensity and flow of the island story. But that's probably my impatience getting to me.

[Drynn_03]

Since most of the obvious stuff had already been pointed out or asked I will skip those (This is the good thing about posting after Mark B hehe)

I will start off by saying I doubt there will be anything to do with time travel. Logically if Desmond was "teleported" into the future he would be some place else because the world woud not have made it to that point yet. That goes for the Island, too. If time was slower on the island then it would be ripped from the planet.

That being said, if Desmond (which at least 2 people saw, Locke and Hurly) can now see the future because of the accident in the hatch and Locke haveing very potent/accurate visions then did the first accident cause the same thing to the "others" or whoever is responsible for the "whispers"? Maybe thats what the machine in the Swan hatch was created to do.

Time line for when Locke woke up was atleast the next day. Charlie got back from the explosion last season in the daylight and you see him that night with Claire. He even asks Locke where he has been for a day.

I stand corrected on the flashback timeline and what I got from the screencaps is, Damn I need to get a HD TV heheh, that is some good detail. I really don't think the 1997 date on the paper behind the liscense means its atleast '97. We can't see what that paper is. We do see a 1994 to Present on Eddies' fact sheet and unless he is very "babyfaced" that looks more apropriate for the age of the actor. We see he graduated his police classes in 1989. If that was a 2 year school degree then lets say he was 20 at that time. He barely looks 21 in the truck and noted that he has moved out because of yet again, Daddy Issues. '97 puts him near 30. And maybe I am reading to much into it hehe.

I too thought there was something missing for the flashback, but I guess the payoff for it was farmer vs. hunter and for that we did get an answer.

I thought this was an outstanding episode, much better than the first two. Which is funny now reading that people didn't like it. This is what I thought made Lost, Lost. The mystery of the Island. The airport scene was really good. Ok, the polar bear angle was pushing it, but the sell off for the show was to affirm Locke as the hunter and Eko is a little to big to be carried off by a hog or a Hurly screehing bird.

[KGM]

One word: Werebear! The island certainly has a spiritual/aboriginal feel to it (Locke's sweatshack and paste-induced visions). Desmond IS the polar bear, thus the confused nakedness in the wilderness...

[Joop]

KGM,
I think your theory about Desmond & the polar bear is a paste induced vision :)

I thought I saw wrighting on the wall when Lock was pulling Eko from the cave. Has anyone seen a screen cap of this?

[Sarah]

Has anybody heard any spoiler-ish things about Charlie and Claire? (Relationship stuff and plus the creepy "They're fine...for now" thing in Locke's dream.)

[Drynn_03]

CC noted in the official podcast that Charlie and Clair would be entering a love triangle with someone else, this will probably push charlie back into his dark persona. Or maybe it will be Brokeback Island. either way hard times ahead for those 2 I am thinking.

[sam]

sooooo much better than the last 2 episodes (excluding the first 5 min. of episode 1). It was intence. You know what I'v been wondering ever since Locke used that goo on Boone, how did he find that stuff?? I mean, was it his little hut thingy that was to figure out if he was "a hunter or a farmer." And was it just me, or did the cop look like Pablo (new guy) on the island w/o a beard? Maybe i'm the one who is on the goo. Anyways, i found it odd how all of the characters in the airport seemed to reflect how they were on the island. Jack, Kate and Sawyer were going the security (the others?), Sayid, Sun and Jin were waiting for tickets (next step is the security checkpoint), Hurley behind the desk (the only one "in control"?) and Charlie, Claire and Aaron were just standing around (not in any danger?). These are my random points, just hope SOMEONE agree's with me.

[Amanda]

So here's my off-the-cuff theory about Desmond's sudden psychic ability (assuming that this ability is in fact sudden):

Perhaps the Others, including Henry Gale/Ben, are descendents of/are abandoned DHARMA scientists and are still very invested in the scientific method and scientific exploration rather than just base survival, and while they don't believe psychic phenomena are possible or likely, they are invested in studying it and people who have those characteristics (Walt?), and perhaps have in interest in harnessing this power. In the first episode in the book club scene they discuss how Ben (who we assume is the Leader of the Others) wouldn't have liked the book Carrie because it was basically a bunch of hocus-pocus, perhaps indicating how they really feel (or are supposed to feel) about psychic phenomena. Maybe such close contact with this electromagnetic phenomena can strengthen an inherent ability toward psychic phenomena (I think this was discussed in terms of Walt's abilities), and the vaccines are somehow used to prevent this influence. Assuming that Desmond stopped taking the vaccine when he feld the hatch--I don't think he would have continued to take the vaccine whilst still believing he's home free and Penny-bound--his contact with the EMP during the implosion of the hatch either enhanced powers he inherently had or gave him powers he didn't originally have, hence his new-found or newly-enhanced psychic abilities. In terms of harnessing psychic power--maybe that explains the injections into Claire's baby in-utero; if Claire has a psychic tendency, and if the pre-born Aaron does too, perhaps they are trying to delay the development of this power until it can be appropriately channelled/harnessed. I don't know if it's a stretch to assume that an island with healing powers and inhabitants with super-human strength (i.e., Ethan) could also foster growth in terms of psychic phenomena.

Perhaps because Rousseau's team was without the vaccine, either all of them (with the exception of Danielle), or just Danielle, started to express their inherent phenomena; Rousseau thinks her entire team has gone bonkers (if one of my friends claimed to have psychic visions, but I never witnessed any of these visions come to fruition, I would likely think they were delusional/hallucinating), or she's unable to deal with her abilities, she goes bonkers, and kills her team. I think the latter is more likely, because what's the possibility that all of a scientific expedition would be psychic? If she passed this inherent ability down to her daughter it might explain Alex's apparent reluctance and/or direct thwarting of the Others' plans. If Desmond is somehow unable to deal with his abilties, or if the losties are unable to accept him, he might go bonkers, too.

I think, just off the cuff, that maybe Henry Gale has a little bit of a psychic tendency--he was the only one looking up at the sky when the plane broke apart, even BEFORE there's any sound to indicate that there's an incoming plane. Maybe he's hiding this from the rest of the Others, but I suppose it's also possible that it's the exact opposite--maybe the Others are seriously invested in psychic abilities, and maybe they all have these abilities, and the people that they took/tried to take are inherently gifted in that same manner.

Any thoughts?

[jg]

They say the hatch imploded. Wouldn't that mean Eko, Jon and Desmond would have been crushed to smithereens? Or were they spit out like watermellon seeds?

The healing powers of the island come in handy when you want to severly damage key characters but reserect them in a few episodes. I hope to see Eko up and about in 2-3 episodes. (I hope...that character is deep).

jg

[Scott]

"Balls to the wall answer fest." nice... that's exactly what i would like - each & every week...

[Joni]

My feelings are split on this one.

I loved seeing Boone, and I didn't like him much before he died. It was just so fitting seeing how Boone was a sacrifice the Island required and now the Island was using Boone to speak to Locke.

To me, the hallucination was really just the Island showing what state the others Losties were in. Jack/Ben were shown together as they were together. Sawyer/Kate the same. Sun, Jin, and Sayid the same. Charlie/Claire/Aaron all together.

I also thought Locke's speechless was excellent and another repition in the show. (Eko's silence after killing the two others).

I hated hated hated the whole bear thing. I was so expecting to see the black smoke make an appearance and not some stupid polar bear. The whole hunt for Eko and running from the bear was just cheesy!

And I so did not like the weed growing family thing. It was so far out there. The last flashback we saw of Locke he was in the hotel parking lot and this is where the writers resumed his story from!

The Eddie "You are not a murderer" thing, no "I'm a hunter". I liked that simply because it is a string that has been weaved through the episodes.

All in all, glad to see Locke acting like himself. Nice to see our other Losties. The additions of the Nikki and Paolo were a little awkward as we havent heard a peep out of them for 60+ days. Why not Steve or Scott or whatever his name is?

Where were Rose and Bernard?

[BLinder]

I thought the episode rocked. I dig the dreamy stuff. And I see that airport gate sequence as either each characters proximity to getting off the island (which seems to only be manageable through the others). Or simply each characters proximity to the Others (more literal). Desmond's pilot outfit indicates to me he's got his own way out, departure through madness or his Widmore lass (or maybe a bit of both). Hurley's the check in guy because either he's the only one who can connect what's happened to J, S,K to everyone else. Or perhaps he blames himself for the crash more than anyone else.

I don't know why a polar bear would drag a large guy several miles, but leave the larger kill (the deer) behind. I don't know why we just now see the polar bear again. I don't know why we need to know that the Pearl station guys made good polar bear food. But the polar bears have been a sparsely but long standing part of the island mysteries and I don't think it's just randomness.

But what I liked most about the episode is it was good on it's own. The Intro gave us a problem. The end gave us a resolution and the path to that resolution gave us some interesting new pieces to the mystery. The last two episodes had that plot line closure, and we probably won't get that until the end of the 8 series run.

Don't know if I'll be on the cast this week so I'll save my theory junk for then.

[Blinder]

I meant to say the first two episodes did not have that small plot line closure.

[HowHighTheMoon]

First time poster here...I guess this means our Losties don't have to punch in the numbers every 108 minutes any more because Desmond turned the failsafe key. So if this key could always automatically shut down the electromagnetic field, then does that mean that having people input numbers and press a button every 108 minutes was only a psych experiment afterall? Why else would you have people devote months of their lives pushing a button while another team watch their every move but all the while there was this key that could control the electromagnetic field without all that hoopla? Anybody have any ideas?

[Drynn_03]

How High the Moon: My Hypothesis on the numbers being imput has been that Dharma created a machine and when they started it up the first time, something bad happened. But not so bad as to destroy the machine. After putting the machine online there was a charge that had to be disapated every 108 minutes or the machine would start up again. So they used people to imput the numbers because it was more reliable than a mechanical method that might break down. That way they could leave the machine viable once they worked out how to harness it. The key was a failsafe incase something happened that made it so you could not imput the numbers and permenantly destoyed the machine.

Well thats my humble hypothesis.

BTW: BLinder, that was an awsome speculation on the airport scene on how to leave the island, going back to watch that again with that in mind.

[Raz Minder]

This episode felt very much like a Greek narrative. Boone as the male version of the Sibyl – an underworld being guiding lost souls. Locke returns as the hunter and tribal shaman. And finally, we witness Desmond’s precognitive abilities – seemingly reborn into a prophet of sorts (hence the nakedness). Then throw in a polar bear, a den of skeletons and a trippy hallucination that would make David Fincher proud. Not bad.

Didn't care much for the bear hunt, though I realize its purpose as a plot device - to have Locke re-find his role as the hunter.

Although a bit redundant, I still enjoyed Locke's flashback, which once again show us he is an easy mark. Eddie apparently had the psych profile to prove it. "Amenable to coercion." That must have bruised Locke’s ego.

Eddie did well with his backstory – dead mom, drunk dad equates nicely to Locke’s parents or lack thereof. It was hook, line and sinker from there on.

(Not really important, but Eddie was probably investigating a potential bombing, not drugs. People that purchase large amounts of fertilizer will always trigger police interest, especially post-Oklahoma City. Not sure they would have an undercover operation for marijuana trafficking.)

I liked the idea of rebirth for the 3 hatch survivors in this episode. I imagine Eko has changed in some shape or form as well.

It was a very self-contained episode that didn’t progress the overall arc much. But it put forth the idea of Locke planning a rescue attempt of Jack and Co. And the whole Desmond/psychic thing is interesting – going with Matt Jones’ idea, Desmond is kinda of like “The Terminator” minus Austrian accent, and the cyborg thing, and no John Connor to protect... yeah.

[BLinder]

@ HowHighTheMoon

Apologies for the long-ass post.

What up with the Button? This might get long by the way.
Here's how I put all that together and I'm probably wrong, but here goes. And there will be spelling errors that make sentences appear illogical or paradoxical and I'm sorry for those:

I think of the Swan station story (which we went through all last season) as a great way to reveal a recent chunk of island history. Myth is a better word. They were even kind of enough to tell us Dharma is mythology by wrapping it all up in keywords from the world's mythologies, Dharma, Swan, Apollo, and on and on.

There was Hanso and Degroot and they got together to do some crazy stuff on this mysterious island.

They made these stations to do their studies, one of which was this electromagnetic anomoly on the island, The swan.

When Dharma got up on this anomoly (and who doesn't like getting up on an anomoly), they built this lab that exposed and or manipulated the anomoly or field for study. It seems whatever they unleashed would grow to some destructive force if not controlled. The numbers were used to keep the force from doing just that. And if the numbers fail, the failsafe is there to ignite some reaction that makes the force implode on itself. You wouldn't want to just throw the failsafe for no reason and destroy the force because it was hard to create and maybe it was some jaw dropping earth changing shit, you know?.

What was that force? Had they uncovered some kind of portal of time distortion (which would be very time freak Third Policemen stuff by the way, the book Desmond read when he was in the station, before doing the little time trick of his own this week)? Was that force some raw planet wide electromagnetic field they exposed like an electric wire with it's copper exposed? And the theories only get weirder form there. I could go on forever. But whatever it was, it was money.

Anyway, The Dharma regime fell to the Other regime and it appears not to have been a comfortable exchange. There were Hansos, there were Degroots, smoke monsters, polar bears, whispers, there were probably some human labrats and now we know there were people that have been around the island longer than everyone else.

Viva la revolucion! And the dharma holdouts did what they could do in the change of power to keep at least this prized Swan experiment going. They manned their posts with guns and supply airdrops. The figured out how to throw down the blast door (why would you need a blast door? Trust issues). And Dharma kept a hold on a valued experiment/investment.

I don't think Henry was especially concerned with destroying the experiment, but if he could undo Dharma's work along the way to whatever his larger objective is, why not? He just didn't want to be there when it happened becuase he probably knew it was some hardcore shit and didn't want to see it all go down up close. And he's in the business of mind fucking so that's how he set it up with lock.

The team (Pearl) watching the Swan were there as a failsafe to the failsafe. They weren't told why they were doing what they were doing because it was some serious business. Or maybe the Pearl was set up to spy on Dharma. You know, trust issues. And they couldn't tell the Pearl guys what they were reporting on because they were using Dharma people to spy on Dharma people. I guess one way to make someone spy for you without thinking they are spying is to have them write about everything they see as part of an experiment.

But again, When Dharma was "transformed" the palla ferry pick ups stopped coming (or became too dangerous to visit) And whoever was still in the pearl just kept sending reports for a year or however long it'd take to send a big pile of reports through the tube. And then the Pearl guy or guys gave up and started searching around the island. At least one of them successfully located a polar bear. Or who knows, maybe one of them met up with the Dharma station workers, did a bunch of freak paste and painted the walls with invisible ink.

Maybe the new regime dressed up like seabillies to make those dharma folk think pirates did them in and obscure the Degroot hand in the upset. Who knows? just thought I'd throw that in there.

Anyway, that's how I see the button.

[jg]

The polar bear den had a creepy feel of "The Ghost and the Darkness" bone filled lion den. I think it was to show how awry the DHARMA Initiative has gone. The previously caged Poalr Bear(s) have wreaked havoc on the DHARMA personel including the eating of kids. The DHARMA people were (are?) powerless to stop these creatures even with their guns.

The sensless labor of Kate and Sawyer is part of a "Re-education Camp" which were(are) so popular with the communist Chinese.

jg

[LOSTnlovinit]

Just wanted to share a thought my friend had... Desmond died in the implosion of the hatch and is now in Hurley's mind. She noticed that no one else talked to Desmond in the episode and the way he popped out of the jungle after some suspicious noises. I'm not sure I buy this, just wanted to share!

This episode got me MUCH more excited about the season than the first two. I agree the polar bear was a little cheesy but I definitely enjoyed this episode.

Also, I think the actual phrase from the scriptures was something more like, "Lift your eyes up and look North." (It's not exact I'm sure, but it definitely did not include the whole thing. Not sure if this is important at all, just interesting that it didn't include the other directions.)

[Vaibhav]

@All

The answers are never gonna live upto the mystery... because once you "know" something you can judge it... and theres no way the final ending will be judged perfect by everyone...

we only like the show because of the unexpected twists... The writers are getting desperate now coz after 2 seasons any more twists could end up being jumping the shark...

Plus, with all the time people spend on constructing theories, its impossible for the writers to come up with something satisfactory AND new... any time the writers begin to show the final answer... people would rush 4 steps ahead of them and then all we'll get is "confirmation" of what we already know...

In conclusion... Everyone back off man! Its just a TV show!

[HowHighTheMoon]

Thanks Drynn 03 & BLinder for taking the time to explain your theories. And if I'm understanding you both is that the failsafe wasn't just a switch to turn off the dangerous powersource but to destroy it. And that the Benry Gang no longer had a use for that powersource so they could care less if it got destroyed or not. Okay, that makes sense, but if the powersource could be dangerous to the island (purple sky, island shaking, etc) why wouldn't the "Benry" Gang be concerned about whether or not someone at the hatch was either inputting the numbers or knew about the failsafe key? Yes, Desmond knew about the failsafe but once he left no one from our Losties knew about it. So what if the Losties one day just decided not to "press the button" without Desmond there? The destructive force would have been unleashed without someone there to perform the all-important failsafe backup plan to destroy it. Or are you saying that the destructive force would only be a danger to the powersource itself and to nothing else on the island? But if the destructive force was only a danger to itself then why have a failsafe key to destroy it when letting it destruct itself would have the same effect? I hope I'm not annoying you guys with all my questions!

[BLinder]

@ Vaibhav, for me, running my mind down the theory rabbit trails is why I like the show. Call it an overactive brain, but it's on the laundry list of things I think about at traffic lights. I could care less if what happens is perfect or not (you're right it's just a show), but that won't stop me from trying to put it all together.

@ How High The Moon. My thoery is that had the failsafe not been thrown there'd be no more show cause they'd all be dead. How Benry was able to run that game and know or not know about the failsafe, I don't know? Perhaps he knew there was a failsafe. Perhaps he didn't and has a deathwish. Perhaps he ws just curious as to what would happen and lucked out. On the less likely side, maybe he's got precognizance (sp?).

[Mark B]

Couple of things ....

1. Why would Ben tell Locke that the button pushing is pointless ? If they'd stopped pushing the button before he was rescued by Michael he would have been in the hatch when it all went ka-boom and he would have been stuck in the armoury. I tend to think he was just trying to get into Lockes head and try to create a mistrust in the Losties camp and was relying on someone pressing the button if Locke decided not to. Seems like a bit of a risk to me. I'm really not sure about the Others and their motives. Why have they taken Kate-Sawyer-Jack ? I'm not even sure that Ben is an Other in the same way Juilet, Tom and Bea are. In short I don't trust Ben at all and think whatever he says is a lie. Hopefully we'll find out more in next weeks episode but I suspect the hatch is dead and we'll never know the answers.

2. PREVIEW SPOILER WARNING. From the preview of next week I am confused about the Others and their need for Kate to admit (or deny) she loves Sawyer (assuming the words and action go together which in Lost promos sometime they do not). Perhaps saying yes is the wrong answer and that will lead to even worse stuff happening to Sawyer -- that maybe what we see in the promo with Sawyer tied to the bench and people with needles. But if she says no will they just start on Jack ? Perhaps this is Kates dilemma and the Others merely want control over her to get her to admit something she does not want to admit. Perhaps they'll tape Kate admitting she loves Sawyer and play it to Jack to get him to show him he has no reason to want to go back to the beach crowd ...... though I think he's bigger than that.

3. I think Nikki and Paulo had to be introduced like that -- it would have been odd for say Claire to be walking along the beach and meet Nikki and go "Oh hello what's your name?" after over two months. However they could have been introduced in a much smoother way when say Claire and Charlie first saw Locke coming back and the four of them could have had a conversation about Locke and what he was doing. Then Charlie could have said something to Paulo and closed with "OK Paulo I'll go talk to Locke, see you later" or something. We would have found out Nikkis name in a similar way, perhaps Hurley could have walked past her or whatever. Even the rumour "tent scene" would have been better with Claire saying something like "Jesus you two". For some reason that sudden introduction and action grated on me yet the Artz intro from season one did not.

4. SPOILER WARNING: In next weeks episode Desmond is constructing something and it perplexes the rest of the Losties. Obviously he's alive.

BTW :
Drynn 03 -- you (and Tommy) will be pleased to hear I'm on vacation next week so you can get in first 8-))) (hee-hee)

Katy aka Fangirl -- I didn't think you were serious about the racist deal either. Sorry.

Vaibhav -- the writers have said that there is no one final answer to everything and we may never get some answers. Part of the appeal of a show like Lost is the guessing and theorising. If people didn't theorise there wouldn't be have the fan-forums, podcasts etc. I think people tend to over analyse every detail (me included) and look for links, answers etc where none exist. Last season people spent ages talking about timelines due to what turned out to be an prop error.

Lost is still the best hour (45 mins) of tv on right now but as you say it is still just a tv show.

Sorry to have gone on so long (again)

Mark B.

[Mike in the Box]

i don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but look at the pic of charlie and locke standing over the remains of the hatch. there appears to be a tunnel to the left. could the implosion/explosion have opened up the wall that was closed/sealed? I think it was in a conversation between Jack and Sayid that it was determined that there was a room or hallway or something. Any thoughts?

http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage.php?album=1185&pos=296

[Justin]

"So they used people to imput the numbers because it was more reliable than a mechanical method that might break down."

I disagree that people are "more reliable" than machines or computers. Not only that, they are already depending on a computer to input the numbers it. What if the computer shut down? If computers are so "unreliable" why use them at all?

[Justin (AKA Locke Junior)]

I think Desmond was severely mentally injured (as he was near the key) and if he is a true seer, then it might have some interesting insights. At first I didn't know what the heck Hurley was staring at & the "Its like deja vu", but re-watched and understood.

Eko could be talking to Locke through the Black Smoke Monster / island. Could the 2nd fraction of others be using Telekinesis/mind games. If the show their faces then I think they are the people of faith and the Benry others are the people of science. Only time can tell.

I think Eko is going to be out for the next episode (Sawyer Hatch style) - but he could talk in tongues again to Locke and point him in the right direction.

It's good to see Locke as the leader (but for how long) - it's obvious that Terry O'Quinn has a huge following and the writers have accommodated the fans into their writing. The Boone airport trippy scene was was back to it's best (Mythology) and was really cleverly done - I loved Benry as the security officer!!

It's a shame Desmondo took a back seat - but then Locke needed his limelight.

Charlie (Locke's Aide)- you're such a joke / where do you fit into the story now fool? - Die a horrible and sudden death NOW!

*One question - what's with the big Yellow Tonka truck?

other than that it gets a huge 9 1/2 out of 10 - doesn't quite get a 10 because of the bear - ABC your budgeting on us!!

Justin (AKA Locke Junior)

[Mike in the Box]

@ "ILoveSayid"

Do you have a version of your map that has north at the top? I really love the map, it is great, but as I have been looking at the map it is killing me that North is down and to the right.

@ John, Matt, Robert, and Brian:

Can we have a sidebar that has the map links? It would make it easier for people to browse them? Just a thought.

[Lon]

Here is my ideal next episode:

everyone recovers and 'Team Swan Hatch' go kick some others ass

"team swan hatch":

locke
aka 'the hunter'
skills: knife experience, hunting with and without guns experience.
tracking skills,
at one with the island.
motivation: he wants payback and to prove himself

eko
aka 'preacher'
skills: lets not forget he was previously a war lord -has killed people with his bare hands, guns and knives, inflicts the fear of god into his enemies - can face the black smoke without any problems, tracking skills. can speak to the island too, and wields 'The Jesus Stick™'
motivation: He is a general badass and is gonna lay
the smack down

sayid
aka 'the veteran'
skills: Torture, military tactics(although so far
hasn't proved himself) double hard,
tracking skills and general think before you act.
motivation: he wants to rescue his friends and do some
torturing - he will find outthe truth!

Jin
aka 'the messenger'
skills: he is a hitman, likes beating people within an inch of their lives, can use a gun, and can understand a little 'engrish'.
great fishing skills
motivation: may not want to leave sun, although he may
as well as it's not his baby.

charlie
aka 'speedballer' aka 'cannon fodder'
skills: generally pretty useless, although has killed
a man on his knees with a gun from point blank range - wow.
motivation: he is along for the fun wants to be one of
the gang. may die earlier rather than later.

[I_Love_Sayid]

@BLinder
Let's assume that Benry & Co. is in oposition to the Dharma Initiative. What if part of Benry's reasons for getting captured was to insure the distruction of the Hatch Machine (HM). Convincing Locke to do it himself would be a bonus because that's a way of bringing him over to their side. Once Benry convinces John to stop pressing the button then he can rush to the failsafe and destroy the HM and thus destroy what's left of Dharma's influence over the annomalies. Once the HM is destroyed, the electromagnetic properties of the island would be freed to be manipulated by Benry & Co. who may want to use it for more villainous means other than trying to save the world.

[Chris]

I thought the episode was average. Didn't advance the story much, but Locke is a great character so the back story was interesting. A few thoughts: Locke's knife hitting Hurley's canteen(?) was weak. I thought the polar bear in the "trip sequence" was a wolf at first, until I saw it later. Why is this the first we are seeing of the magic paste? What was it made of? If Locke can talk to the island, shouldn't he have done so by now? The polar bear was really bad. I think they should just use clay-mation next time, how could it look any worse? Do you think they made the cave so they could keep it dark to hide the crappiness? Anyway, next time on Lost blew me away. Can't wait until next week. I enjoy the podcast, thanks.

[I_Love_Sayid]

@ Mike in the Box
Sorry 'bt that...I'll have time to tweek the map this weekend. I love maps and was so excited to get the screencap from the Glass Balerina with the north arrow. This confirms that the circle some think is the crater is at the northern tip. I definately think it is not the crater because the topography doesn't support that. It does appear to be some kind of raised circular area or an area that is encircled by something (not by mountains or ridges indicative of a crater.) I think this is where the radio tower is but I have nothing to support that just yet.

@ John, Matt, Robert, and Brian
If you happen to add the link as Mike in the Box requested, would you mind linking to the map project web site instead of the file page? This was I can tweek the map as new information arises and add on the ideas of other Lostcasts posters. Heres the link:
http://www.geocities.com/colwildr/OthersvilleMap.html

[Mike in the Box]

@ "I love Sayid"

Thanks, is one of your maps the one that is also on flickr? I think this is the link?

http://static.flickr.com/92/264413070_d3709a3431_b.jpg

That was actaully the one i was refering to, i thought it was yours.

[I_Love_Sayid]

@Lon

Love the Team Swan Hatch roll call...classic. Maybe we can get the producers to do another promotional video with TSH walking down the beach to cheezy electronic cassio music while picking up members. Maybe they can add in Rawhide for good measure. :)

[I_Love_Sayid]

@Mike in the Box

oh...no that one's adam!'s.

[Mike in the Box]

@ I Love Sayid

Apologies. So many maps. I just looked at your page and realized that as well.

@ Adam!
See my comment to "I Love Sayid" about re-orienting the maps so North is at the top.

Thanks. Can't wait to here this week's podcast.

IMHO i would have made this episode the season premiere. Of the three so far, I enjoyed this one the most, but as I have already said, I want to suspend judgment until the sixth episode.

[ebonX]

I haven't posted in a longtime ... Just getting caught up on all the discussion & podcasts. Anyway, here are some random thoughts of mine up thru S3E3 ...

@daviboy - Great catch with the Desmond = Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen reference). It totally explains his ability to see the future ... Remember that Dr. Manhattan has the ability to see every future (inifinite possible futures based on choices made by people). BTW, on the Official LOST Podcast, they mentioned the idea of a time paradox this season --> Desmond sees the future and does something to try to change that future, thus creating a time paradox.

Benjamin Linus - Love the link to Apollo and thus the island & "Linos" ... Also, Wikipedia has an interesting tidbit of info concerning "Linos" -- "Son of Apollo and Terpsichore, he taught music to Orpheus and Heracles. Heracles killed him with Linus's own lyre after he reprimanded Heracles for making errors. According to other sources, he was the son of the muse Kalliope and the inventor of melody and rhythm." -- This is an interesting link, since you guys have previously linked Heracles to Jack.

Benry = Keyser Söze - DL pretty much confirmed on the Official LOST Podcast my speculation from last season (which I posted here) that Benry was speaking about himself when he was telling the Losties about the leader of the Others (great man, but not a forgiving man, etc. etc.) ... Props to me, Yeah!!! :-D

@Amanda - Love your theory about the vaccine shot preventing people on the island from developing "powers" ... I would like to call this your "X3-theory". However, I wonder if this will be the LOST's answer at the end, as this story element has been repeated too much in recent time (Heroes, 4400, X3, etc.)

@BLinder - I agree with your theory on the Swan hatch history. My idea as to why Benry would allow the timer to reach zero is that he (being born on the island) would be unaffected by whatever the release of the EM anomaly ... Remember at the end of the S2 finale, when everyone is covering there ears and seem to be in pain as the Swan hatch's destruction is beginning, Benry is standing tall and just looking up.

Others Theory - My speculation on the Others is that they are comprised of both ex-DHARMA scientists (Tom, Juliet, & Bea) & ex-DHARMA labrats (Benry & Ethan). I think Tom is in the "scientist" group because of, most recently, what Sawyer said about Tom knowing how to punch, while the other guys seem to be trained, but have never been in a real fight. This leads me to believe that Tom came from off-island. Juliet is a psychologist and Bea is a scientist, probably a geneticist from what we have seen so far. My guess is that Benry & Ethan were born on-island and thus were the labrats when DHARMA came to the island. They have shown evidence of special "powers", which none of the Others have shown.

Now down to S3E3 - I thought Locke's flashback was OK, but I agree with some other posters that it was left hanging -- They should of shown what happened Locke can't kill the cop ... DEA raid ... Locke getting booted from the Hippy Commune ... whatever. I also agree that the intro of Nikki & Paolo was way rushed and was really hurt by the deletion of their actual intro scene (which I had read was supposed to be them going thru Jack's tent or something like that and being confronted by Charlie & Claire) ... Also, my speculation is that Paolo & Nikki will be the 3rd members of the Charlie-Claire love triangles (Nikki-Charlie-Claire & Paolo-Claire-Charlie). This is similar to the Juliet-Jack-Kate & Sawyer-Kate-Jack love triangles that will probably develop in the Hydra station. @Cameron - great catch on the Tintin parallel ... I remind myself that LOST is a serial show (like ER or CSI) as DL & CC have mentioned more than once, where there may be over-arcing storylines, but each episode can be watched by itself. This is different from something shows like 24 or Prison Break, where you need to watch the entire season from E1 to Season Finale to be able to understand any single episode.

Anyway, great podcasts as usual.

@LOSTcasts - Can I ask favor? I remember reading that either one of you guys or one of the main contributing posters wrote a paper in college/school about Watchmen ... Can you post the paper or a link to it, if it is not too much trouble? I would love to read it.

Stay LOST brothas!

[I_Love_Sayid]

@Mike in the Box

no appologies necessary. adams! map is great. I love that we're having so much map discussion here.

[Thomas]

Did anyone notice the animal sounds in the jungle. In S1 and S2, whenever the losties were in the jungle it was silent. Now there is wildlife making all sorts of noises. Maybe the pushing of the button kept the animals away, with a radar-like output and now that the button is not being pushed the animals are coming back to the surrounding area. I remember the execs talking about the lack of animals in one of their official podcasts and how it was important.

Also, I don't think that Desmond can see the future. I think that when the hatch key was turned and the charge was released it synced all three of their minds together. Almost like resetting their brainwaves all on the same frequency (compare with E.T. and Elliot). Locke knew when he heard about J/K/S that he was going to go get them and tell the camp he was going to rescue them. Since Desmond is on the same wavelength as Locke now, he knows that Locke will make a speech about his rescue attempt. This also works with Eko. At the end of the episode when Locke talks with Eko, they are also synced. Even though Eko is unconscious, his mind is still working and Locke can access that and talk with him. Little dissappointed in this episode but still devoted.

[Gil]

I second the request for the Watchmen paper.

[SmokeMonster]

Just finished watching Lost in HIGH DEFINITION... shame my screen is so small. I watched all three eps. Anywho, about time we got fantastic episode. After that Season finally I was pretty Pee'd..
So Locke was a pot smoking acid taking hippy, who'd of thought.. Boone was looking pretty healthy. That hair spray thing, i used to do that to the local cats. Once my brother microwaved a cat, Microwaves are amazing, I mean heating things up without any heat! WoW! That Dude Sarah was with after bailing Jack out, I believe was not her real lover, I think it was Jacks farzsher.

so what did we learn?
Sawyer got smarts
Jacks a sucker, I hope he shows some intellegence soon.
Ben dresses like my grandfather(and he was born 1916)
Sun is a lying murdering ho
Jin is on to Sun and her deceitful ho'ish ways, "...if you have any contact at all.. I will finish this"
Locke is bald, and doesn't need hairspray. Lockes plates were Californian. In the bad twin, was the hippy retreat the Widmore fella used to hang out at in california? then again, they were nude in the book, so probably no connection...
Desmond has preminitions. That makes things interesting
Kate is looking sexier than ever in her new outfit
Juliet has the largest breasts on the show
Hurley is a Polar Bear

I think in the next Locke ep, Edward gets killed by mike and Jan. "..bad things happen to people who hang around with me" and perhaps Eddy will say something like ".. blah blah.. your a hunter John".. i dunno, maybe

I'm am very much looking forward to the next ep, and the next podcast, sorry Lostcast.

[SmokeMonster]

@ Thomas
I think you could be onto something.

[Bob from Chicago]

I wish Locke wouldn't think he is such a sucker. So he gave his Dad a kidney. If he hadn't he would have guilt instead of anger. As far as the commune goes. So what, he's the guy that picked up the hitchhiker. The guy was living there for six weeks and nobody else including the leaders had any suspicions. They are all stupid equally to blame. Why doesn't Locke stick up for himself? Why didn't the commune people just sneak the pot plants out of the greenhouse and replace them with orchids? Then they bring the cop guy in and say, OK you can see what's in the greenhouse. Then he gets all excited and goes in there and it's all orchids and he goes home and tells his cop buddies that there's nothing there. Everyone overreacted. Locke has a good heart. He can't kill someone in cold blood and he is trusting. Is that so wrong? Is that why the others wanted him?

Also, the intro to the new characters was totally cheesey. Expect the show to start going downhill as ABC starts meddling in the show. Season 3 of Alias was when everything started to go to hell.

Bob from Chicago

[MarC]

Where have the flashback connections gone? Season 1 and 2 were loaded with flashbacks with connections between two or more people stuck on the island...I have not been able to catch any connections, thus far, into 3 episodes. Am I missing something?

[ralphus]

If the leader of the commune was the lead singer of Geronimo Jackson that could be your connection.

[Amy]

This episode, for the first time ever in Lost, made me want to turn it off before the end. I was sooo looking forward to it, it was a Locke episode, they're supposed to be great, and the promos made out to be like that, but then when I watched it, I thought it was a dissapointment. A Letdown for Lost, also it seems like this view is shared by alot of people, more than usual for people not liking an episode. It was very basic not much progression, and then the contradiction of Locke working on a farm growing drugs made me go 'WFT?!' And the end, what a rubbish introduction for the new characters, it looked like they just got thrown in teh scene, I thought they'd be added into the storyline better than that.

Next weeks promo looks like it should be good, and I hope it is after this week. I need some good quality lost back.

Also, any UKers, or anyone really, going to the Lost convention june 07?

[Kathy aka Fangirl]

I think part of the problem with doing a series like this is you can't have an episode that isn't part of the mythology. Other genre shows like Buffy and X-Files could have a throw away episodes to ease the load. The new Battlestar Gallactica has even been able to do this. This show can't really do that, but every show needs breathers within its storyline. I think the people who hated this so much and complain about its lameness need to ease up a bit and remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Consider this a muscle crap if you must and remember to just walk it off.