"Lost" Thread-part 3

[Tstormwatcher]

Ok, so I just got to watch it and it was a good episode. Got a question though. Near the end, my cable channel started having sound problems. I got the part when Hurly told Jack that he should have gone with him but after that it was garbled until they were back on the island. Can someone tell me what hurly said.

[southerngale]

Ok, so I just got to watch it and it was a good episode. Got a question though. Near the end, my cable channel started having sound problems. I got the part when Hurly told Jack that he should have gone with him but after that it was garbled until they were back on the island. Can someone tell me what hurly said.

WHOOSH to the Santa Rosa gym where Hurley plays basketball, and this time he's visited by Jack. Jack saw Hurley on the news and stopped by to see if he's okay. Hurley asks if Jack has talked to anyone claiming to be from Oceanic. Jack is confused, but Hurley moves on. He knows Jack is really there to see if he went nuts and was going to tell. Jack asks point blank is he? The real question is tell what, but that is for another episode. Hurley apologizes for going with Locke and says he should've stayed with Jack. Then he says they didn't do the right thing. It wants them to go back, but Jack is insistent they are never going back.

You can watch the episode again on abc.com if you're interested.
Main site http://abc.go.com/index
LOST http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index
There's lots of interesting stuff there as well.

[Miss Mary]

Could the Oceanic Six be more than six?

Read on....

TV Guide
Today's News: Our Take
Could Lost's "Oceanic Six" Add Up to More?

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry ... /800032247

Lost fans finally got their Season 4 premiere on Thursday night, and within the very first moments (Spoiler alert) they learned about the Oceanic Six, a group to which at least Future Jack, Kate and (now we see) Hurley belong. As you wrack your brain over who the only other three "survivors" will be, keep in mind this previously excised portion of my Q&A with Naveen Andrews. "There's something quite intriguing [about the Oceanic Six] in that maybe there are only officially six," Sayid's portrayer shared. "Maybe there are more who they couldn't reveal to the outside world but are either still on the island or somewhere else, and why."

That, of course, would dovetail nicely with Future Jack's anxiousness to go baaaack to the island. Perhaps he's had a change of heart about some folks who didn't choose Team Shephard and thus ultimately will get left behind?

_____________

Apparently there are clues in this interview with Naveen Andrews, mentioned above:
http://www.tvguide.com/news/lost-naveen ... /080131-01

[southerngale]

My brain has been fumbling around with all sorts of answers, more questions, theories, etc. I guess you all know that Jacob was Christian Shepard, Jack's dad. Ok, why? I have a few weird ideas, but they're not worth the tap of the keyboard.

Like Miss Mary, I too somehow hope that Charlie survived, but unfortunately, I do believe that he's dead. Well, at least dead in the LOST sense. Obviously, he's still alive in some form, whether it be hallucinatory or after-death... better than nothing. Hurley and Claire's reaction broke my heart. That's when I lost it. *sniff*

You die-hards will enjoy this article. My sister has been reading Doc Jensen for a long time, and loves his articles each week. I started reading him more recently. He loves LOST, and he's pretty funny, wacky as well. I'll be following his articles each week.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20175395,00.html

[Miss Mary]

Kelly, so Jacob was the name of Jack's father? Whoa, missed that detail. But the so called Jacob in the cabin isn't really related to Jack is he?

I have so many theories but the one I keep coming back to is this - the oceanic six have to make a hasty, split second decision when told they could leave or stay. And staying is the hard part, they may be told what happens to those that do not leave. As if saying they traded getting off the island for their conscience? As we saw whatever the huge secret is was hard on Jack. Jack is a man of right vs wrong and whatever decision he soon makes is his downfall. He can't justify this decision. Kate seems to be okay with her decision but Hurley isn't. Jack just cracks up and takes pills, drinks heavily, while Hurley seems to retreat to what he knows best - a mental institution. I think Kate's okay because they probably expunged (sp?) her criminal record if she kept the big dark secret. All I know is I firmly believe that those who remain on the island, thinking it's a much safer situation than going with the rescuers, are in grave, terrible danger.

At this point I think I'd head out to sea and well, just drown! But that's me.......LOL

*Edit* - I just read that sci-fi article Kelly. I loved it! Note - be sure to click on all 3 pages. The reviewer made me laugh outloud! So the cop who yelled at Hurley to drop his gun after the car chase, was Ana Lucia's old partner? So many, many connections to all of these plane crash survivors. So many, I don't even remember all of them! But I guess if this is your job - to review and keep all these Lost crazy facts straight, you'd know them. I'm darn glad this guy knows his Lost sh**! I do call myself a diehard fan but I think I need to brush up on my Lost facts a bit.....LOL

[JonathanBelles]

Did anyone else see that amazingly long Lost commercial during War of the Worlds at 10:31? It was all 3 seasons in a 3-5 minute commercial.

edit: there was a second one that was exactly 5 mins long at 10:47.

[southerngale]

Kelly, so Jacob was the name of Jack's father? Whoa, missed that detail. But the so called Jacob in the cabin isn't really related to Jack is he?

Oops, guess I sounded confusing. Confusion with LOST? Imagine that!

Jacob wasn't the name of Jack's father. When I said that Jacob was Christian Shepard, Jack's father, I meant the figure in the rocking chair. If you zoom in to the still, it is very clearly Jack's dad. It's hard to tell when watching in passing though.











Also, did y'all see what Charlie's hand said when Hurley saw him in the police mirror?

[Miss Mary]

Slight spoilers ahead.........don't read if you like to be surprised, but Ausiello doesn't really give much away.....LOL


TV Guide

http://www.tvguide.com/ask-ausiello

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Ausiello on Heroes, Moonlight, Lauren Graham, Scrubs and More!

Question: What did you think of the new Lost? I am hearing a lot of mixed reviews, but personally I loved it! — Kelly
Ausiello: I loved it as well. It wasn't the big slice of heaven that was last May's game-changing finale, but it was easily one of the best hours of TV so far this season. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for tomorrow night's episode, which would've merited a solid three and a half stars were it not for two annoying blunders — one of which should've been caught by Lost's typically crackerjack continuity police, and another that dumbs down the 815ers to the point where the castaways on Gilligan's Island look smart by comparison. I'm anxious to get your thoughts. Check my blog immediately after Thursday's episode to see if we're on the same page.

Question: I miss Juliet like a hard drug! What is she up to this season on Lost? Will we see more of her in the upcoming episodes? — Sam
Ausiello: A decent Juliet fix awaits you tomorrow night. Not only is there a nice little scene with her and Sayid on the beach, but she ends up saving the day — much to Kate's chagrin. Speaking of which, there's a Kate/Jack/Juliet moment that will have you peeing your pantaloons. It's that funny. It's also pretty subtle, so your full attention will be required.

Question: I'm sure you'll get hundreds of questions about the Oceanic 6, so I'll add my name to the list. Since I imagine the names of the other three members of the Oceanic 6 are too much to ask for, how about the genders? — Amy
Ausiello: One of the remaining three has male genitalia. How's that?

[lurkey]

Question: I'm sure you'll get hundreds of questions about the Oceanic 6, so I'll add my name to the list. Since I imagine the names of the other three members of the Oceanic 6 are too much to ask for, how about the genders? — Amy
Ausiello: One of the remaining three has male genitalia. How's that?

My guess:
Jin, Sun, Julie

[southerngale]

Question: I'm sure you'll get hundreds of questions about the Oceanic 6, so I'll add my name to the list. Since I imagine the names of the other three members of the Oceanic 6 are too much to ask for, how about the genders? — Amy
Ausiello: One of the remaining three has male genitalia. How's that?

My guess:
Jin, Sun, Julie

I don't think Juliet would be considered one of the Oceanic 6 though, since she wasn't on the plane.

[Miss Mary]

I don't think so either. Julie huh? LOL At first I thought, hey I thought this was a Lost thread.....

[lurkey]

I don't think so either. Julie huh? LOL At first I thought, hey I thought this was a Lost thread.....

errr. . . Juliet.. .

ok may be not Juliet. .

only three people based on Ausiello's "spoilers" that make sense here are:
Jin, Sun, and Claire . . . but I don't see Claire leaving without Aaron (is Aaron even considered a separate "entity" or part of Claire?) <<---- I have received clarification on Aaron's status. I cannot say anything about it other than technicalities count apparently. . . .

It makes sense that Sun and Kate leave . . . (Sun's pregnant and Kate might be)

Rose will want to stay. Sawyer, Sayid have reasons to stay on the island. Locke ain't going anywhere.

Desmond technically isn't a part of Oceanic airline crash.

You'll are driving me to the spoiler boards. . . ughhhh

ETA: Either Ausiello is wrong or the spoiler boards are wrong. . . because are two different lists going around about Oceanic 6 If I understand Ausillo, the survivors are 3 males (2 named and 1 unnamed) and 3 females (1 named 2 unnamed). But Dark UFO says 4 males (2 named and 2 unnamed) and 2 females (1 named 1 unnamed).

[Miss Mary]

Great Lost recap, don't read if you haven't watched the Feb. 7th episode yet.




From:

TV Guide

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry ... /800032727

Lost
Episode Recap: Confirmed Dead

If last week’s episode left me emotionally drained and thirsty for more, tonight’s episode left me completely baffled, slightly annoyed and, as always, thoroughly intrigued. (Oh, and it has to be said, sick to death of the seemingly endless commercial breaks.)

Where to begin? First, I have to give props to the posters from last week who guessed that Naomi’s dying words were, in fact, a code to her team. Apparently, “Tell my sister I love her” really meant “Someone is holding a gun to my head and I am in grave danger.” Despite all of that, it still won’t surprise me if Naomi has more than one connection to our friends on the island.

Tonight’s episode kicked off with the discovery of Oceanic Flight 815—or what appeared to be Oceanic Flight 815—deep in the waters off the coast of Bali. On our slowly emerging timeline, those remains were likely being discovered around the same time that Jack was telling everyone about living together or dying alone on the beach.

As the various survivors set off on their respective journeys toward or away from rescue, we were introduced to some new folks—Daniel (Jeremy Davies), Miles (Ken Leung), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader) and Frank (Jeff Leahy). Or, as Namoi summed it up, “A head case, a ghostbuster, an anthropologist and a drunk.” Daniel was the first to drop in (pardon the pun) and his jittery, unfocused explanations did not sit well with Jack and Kate. They were especially unnerved that their rescue was not, as he put it, his team’s primary objective. Daniel's introduction was framed by a flashback to his inexplicably emotional reaction to the discovery of Flight 815.

Soon after Jack and Kate encountered Daniel, the trio located Miles, a hothead who initially doubted their story about Naomi’s death. However, we soon learned that Miles has a rather unique gift—he is able to summon and communicate with the spirits of the dead. A few moments with Naomi’s body and he believes Jack and Kate’s story that it was fellow survivor John Locke who was responsible for her demise. Still unwilling to drop their weapons, Daniel and Miles are soon surprised to find that Sayid and Juliet have tracked down their friends and are providing much-needed back-up. (I especially enjoyed Kate and Juliet’s wry smiles when Jack was surprised that Kate was unable to read his winking signal.)

We also got a flashback to Naomi tonight, alive and well and being recruited for a dangerous mission by none other than last week’s creepy, fake Oceanic Airlines representative. (Speaking of Hugo/Hurley’s mysterious visitor, I noticed in the replay of last week’s episode that he did indeed appear to leave a trail of black smoke as he stole away. Another great catch that a lot of you made. So cool!) Naomi’s goal? To lead her team of aforementioned misfits out of the mission alive, assured by creepy guy that “There were no survivors of Oceanic 815.”

While Locke’s group contended with Ben’s mind games and Sawyer's quick temper, they came across Charlotte, who innocently claimed to be part of their rescue team. But Ben seemed to know better and swiftly tried to remove the threat, stopped only by Charlotte’s bullet proof vest. In Charlotte’s past, we learned that she has had some experience with polar bears—something that might be helpful on this particular island. Meanwhile, Jack and Kate’s growing crew met up with Frank, the pilot for the rescue team, who was injured, but lucid enough to know that Juliet's name was not on Flight 815's passenger list. In Frank’s flashback, we see him calling the hotline set up for families of Oceanic 815 passengers, refuting the pilot’s identity and admitting that he was supposed to pilot the fateful trip.

Questions, questions and more questions. What does this particular team want with Ben? If they weren’t looking for survivors, why was their mission seemingly instigated by the crash. Are these other Others really as dangerous as Ben thinks or are there even more dangerous people on the way? Did Locke really see a giant Walt and if so, did the island speed up his puberty or what? And where the heck is Michael?

What are your burning questions? Are you, like me, having your own flashback to last season's first six episodes where we got a big dose of new characters and not enough of our favorites? Do you like the added layers and new mysteries? Are you just happy to go along for the ride? No matter what kind of Lost fan you are, one thing is certain—only six episodes left (at least for now). Where will the island take us next?

Do you want to get a little more Lost? Check out the Online Video Guide for full episodes and clips. Or click here to read more about the newest members of the cast.

[southerngale]

*cleans brain matter off the walls*
Interesting episode!! But aren't they all?!

From Doc Jensen... (who also posts a "cheat sheet" the day of new episodes... it doesn't really contain what I'd call spoilers though... I avoid spoilers... just little tidbits of stuff to look for, etc.) Read the one yesterday for an idea. I love this guy!

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20177008,00.html

''Lost'': Chute First, Ask Questions Later
As Locke flees with his rebel tribe, four crew members from the freighter land, each with a mysterious past and dubious motives

By Jeff Jensen


I have been told by people who also received preview screeners that they thought last night's episode of Lost, ''Confirmed Dead,'' was flawed. The opening-sequence flashback — in which the wreckage of Oceanic 815 was found on the ocean floor — was a narrative cheat because it relied on perspectives not known to its character. Similarly, the moment when sisterless secret agent Naomi recalled receiving her Island infiltration orders from castaway-denier Matthew Abbaddon played fast and loose with flashback logic because...well, because Naomi was dead. (Maybe consciousness seeps out slowly on Soul Trap Island.) If Frank Lapidus really landed the freighter chopper as he claimed, how come he woke up so far away from it? (Maybe there's a story to be told there.) And come on: Isn't the whole business of Ben manipulating Locke with the promise of Island secrets getting just a little bit old? (Maybe...nah, you're right about that one.)

Bah! Mere quibbles. For me, ''Confirmed Dead'' was downright alive with fascinating new characters, mind-blowing new possibilities, and exciting new theory fodder. Like this one: I am utterly convinced Charlotte Staples Lewis has been to the Island before. Maybe it was her giggly delight as she splashed about in the Island's inland waters. True, the would-be freighter savior (or devil) could have been celebrating the mere fact that she had survived her harrowing arrival. But there was something more to her reaction — something that reminded me of another fantastical tale about an enchanted homecoming. The book is Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis, the sequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The story starts with a chapter called ''The Island,'' in which the Pevensie kids return to Narnia via a mysterious island marked by ancient ruins and odd creatures. First thing they do: play in the water. Maybe I'm just fishing again. But if you think I'm wrong, then you owe me a better explanation why Charlotte Staples Lewis has been assigned a name so conspicuously similar to the author's unfurled handle, Clive Staples Lewis.

(Don't roll your eyes at me — especially since we're only getting started! I spent 90 minutes researching Apocalypse Now and by extension the complete canon of Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad for Lost resonance thanks to Sawyer's snarky ''Colonel Kurtz'' crack. I found some, too: Check out The Shadow-Line, Chance, The Inheritors, and The Secret Agent. And for those who want to take me up on my C.S. Lewis challenge, consider investigating The Space Trilogy. C'mon, people! Support your local library!)

But for the more casual, less geeky Lostophiles who'd rather not engage the show with their English degrees (what else are they for?), the episode was equally worthy of watercooler kibitzing. For example, it looks like a monster more troublesome than Smokey might be setting its sights on the castaways — a certain green-eyed bugger named jealousy. The Jack-Kate-Juliet love triangle began to simmer anew. Ben mercilessly taunted Sawyer by poking at his I'm-not-as-good-as-Jack sore spots. And Locke was quietly rocked by Hurley's disclosure that he, too, could dial up Jacob's ghost shack. I don't think Mr. Mystic likes having to share the office of Island high priest with anyone. Hurley's recent flash-forward hinted at a looming rift with Locke; might a disagreement over properly interpreting Jacob be the cause?

But topping the talking points list: that WTF? opening sequence, in which remote-controlled cameras belonging to a salvage vessel called Christiane 1 stumbled upon Oceanic 815 — plane, passengers, and all — in the Sunda Trench of the South Pacific. (The backstory for Christiane 1 — which was actually hunting for the Black Rock — was recently told in an online story called ''Find 815.'') Does this wreckage prove that powerful forces are trying to hide the existence of the castaways — or does it prove that we're dealing with alternate-reality theory? Our message boards await your quantum leaps of logic.

NEXT: Flame on!

They also await your reactions to the Freighter Four, whose imminent arrival in last week's season premiere divided the castaways into two tribes: the Jack Pack, cautiously confident that the freighter is their ticket off the Island, and the freighter-fearing Locke Lot. (Or the Ben Bunch, if you share Sawyer's belief that the seemingly leashed Other is still pulling the strings. Killer line: ''It's only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny. And I bet he's already figured out how he's gonna do it.''). The Freighter Four fell to earth, like the castaways [or Icarus? Lucifer? David Bowie? Pick one — we're interactive!]; they had to bail after their helicopter encountered electromagnetic turbulence in the airspace around the Island. Lost has sometimes fumbled the needle when injecting new blood into the narrative. (See: the Tailies in season 2, Nikki and Paulo in season 3.) But here, the show has seemingly scored some primo plasma. The casting of Charlotte (Rebecca Mader), Lapidus (the Lawnmower Man himself, Jeff Fahey), Daniel Faraday (an appealingly quirky Jeremy Davies), and Miles Strom (Kenneth Leung, making a strong impression) totally worked for me, while their intriguing backstories left me jonesing for more. And did you notice that each one corresponded to a member of the Fantastic Four, another quartet of curious characters who fell from the heavens after bumping through a weird-science squall of cosmic rays? For purposes of both analysis and recap, let's take each of them in order of appearance:

Name Daniel Faraday
Island introduction Discovered by Jack and Kate in the jungle shortly after Strom shoved his chicken butt from the chopper. (''Hey, genius! Go!'') J&K were clearly puzzled by Daniel's jittery quirkiness — and deeply alarmed by the poorly hidden pistol on his belt and the gas mask in his luggage.
Occupation Socially awkward physicist, though ''physicist'' is too small a word for the eccentric egghead. ''I guess you could call me a physicist,'' he later told Sayid. ''I don't like to be pigeonholed.''
Fantastic Four analogue Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), socially awkward physicist, whose body is as elastic as Faraday's view of himself.
Name game Daniel was an Old Testament prophet who survived the lions' den and interpreted dreams for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Michael Faraday was a pioneering scientist in the fields of electricity and magnetism. Remember when Daniel noted how the sunlight ''doesn't scatter quite right'' on the Island? Exactly the kind of anomalous phenomenon Michael Faraday might have noticed.
Backstory intrigue According to Naomi, Faraday is a ''headcase.'' We got a taste of that in his flashback. While watching news coverage of Oceanic 815's (faux?) discovery, Faraday, dressed in jammies and robe, began to tremble with emotions he couldn't explain — as if experiencing a deeply disturbing bout of déjà vu. It reminded me of ''Flashes Before Your Eyes,'' when Island Desmond projected his mind through time and left Flashback Desmond feeling seriously discombobulated. Is Daniel destined to dance the time-warp shuffle, too?

NEXT: The psychic enemies network



Name Miles Strom
Occupation Ghostbuster + hustler = Ghosthustler! Miles can commune with the spirits of the deceased; he vetted Jack and Kate by psychically interviewing Naomi, whose mortal remains he dismissed as mere ''meat.'' I wonder what Miles is going to make of the holy trinity of Island spectral entities: Jacob, Christian Shephard, and Ghost Walt.
Island introduction Found on the windswept rocks near the shoreline by Jack, Kate, and Faraday. He appeared to be unconscious but was playing possum and popped up with gun drawn. Remember Naomi's dying words last week? According to Strom, ''Tell my sister I love her'' was code for ''Ugh! They got me! Bring weapons!'' Hence, Strom's haughty guardedness.
Name game ''Strom'' is an anagram for ''storm,'' which befits his blustery personality. But ''Miles Strom'' sounds very close to ''maelstrom,'' a wickedly strong whirlpool. (Shall we plum Edgar Allen Poe's ''Descent Into the Maelstrom,'' about a whirlpool that destroys a fishing vessel?) (No, we shall not.)
Fantastic Four analogue Johnny Storm, the hotheaded Human Torch, as fiery as Strom's temper and wit. When Sayid suspiciously inquired as to why Miles and Daniel weren't surprised to find the castaways alive if the outside world considered them dead, Strom sarcastically responded, ''Oh my God! You guys were on Oceanic 815! Wow! That better?'' Even Sayid seemed to smirk at that one.
Backstory intrigue Strom was hired to scare away the ghost of a murder victim (a drug dealer, it seems) who was haunting his grandmother's house. The eerie exterminator plugged in a portable cold generator (chilled air flushes out lurking spirits, according to poltergeist lore), meditated himself into a twitchy state of mind, and then shook down the specter for his secret stash of cash. Surely Dr. Stantz would not approve, though Dr. Venkman might. Creepy, hilarious, so very cool. (Is Scammy Strom greedy enough to resort to grave desecration if Nikki and Paulo blab to him about the diamonds buried with them? Would Lost risk provoking our N&P-hating wrath to tell us that tale?)



Name Charlotte Staples Lewis
Occupation Cultural anthropologist.
Island introduction After her splash-about, Charlotte was discovered by Locke's crew as they were hiking to the old Dharma barracks. She was stunned to find them alive — or at least pretended to be — but then grew weary of Locke's third-degree and bossiness. ''Me Tarzan. Me survive Ben bullet because of missing kidney, convenient plotting, and Magic Healing Island. You White Devil Freighter Woman come to ruin my good thing. You be prisoner and clean the Dharma latrine.'' Then Ben grabbed Karl's gun and shot her. So much for the homecoming party!
Backstory intrigue Bribing her way onto a hush-hush archaeology dig in the deserts of Tunisia, Dr. Lewis discovered a polar bear skeleton (!) and a Hydra Station collar buried in the rocky soil. Charlotte's face lit up; clearly, she had a hunch — and perhaps feverish hope — about what she was going to find. (My skeleton theory: Dharma was using the polar bears as guinea pigs for teleportation and/or time-travel experiments. Why? To invalidate the God-killing theory of evolution by planting false evidence in Earth's fossil record, of course!)
Fantastic Four analogue Susan Storm, the FF's token female, whose ''hard light'' powers were handy for conjuring bullet-repelling shields and making herself invisible. Wanna bet Charlotte is hiding something about herself — something that's right in front of us but we can't see? Something besides a bulletproof vest? More on this in a minute.

NEXT: Who is Ben's mole?



Name Frank Lapidus
Occupation Pilot; also ''a drunk,'' according to Naomi. And since he sports the required accessory for spiritually wasted TV boozers — a scruffy beard — she must be right. (But since it's only a small beard, maybe he's only a little boozer.)
Island introduction Found by Jack's crew. Despite the electrical storm, Lapidus managed to land the helicopter, the sight of which caused Jack, Kate, and Sayid to beam like kids on Christmas morning.
Name game Lapidus is a type of granite.
Fantastic Four analogue Ben Grimm, who piloted the team's ill-fated spaceflight through a storm of cosmic rays and was transformed into the sad-eyed, rock-encrusted Thing for his trouble.
Backstory intrigue While watching coverage of the Oceanic 815 salvage, Lapidus became convinced the corpse in a pilot's uniform couldn't really have been the plane's pilot because he wasn't wearing his wedding ring. Of course, we have reason to know he's correct. After all, we saw the pilot get eviscerated by the Monster in the first episode. But how could Lapidus be so certain? Because he used to work with Capt. Seth Norris (Heroes' Greg Grunburg in a still-photo cameo) at Oceanic Airways. Lapidus, in fact, was originally scheduled to sit in Oceanic 815's captain's chair. (Did you try calling the number on Lapidus' TV screen? It's 888-548-0034 — and it works.)

Clearly, the Freighter Four have more secrets to spill, not to mention their own private agendas. But we were told their primary common objective for coming to the Island. Their job — initiated by Abbaddon, the creepy suit who last week harassed Flash-Forward Hurley at the mental hospital — isn't to rescue the castaways but to abduct Ben. (''Their mission is a man,'' to borrow the tagline from Saving Private Ryan, which featured a brilliant performance by Jeremy Davies as a courage-challenged soldier.)

While the Jack Pack wrapped their mind around that revelation, the Locke Lot was on the verge of screwing things up for the Freighter Four by assassinating their quarry. The über-Other begged for his life by pulling the old I'll-tell-you-secrets trick, but Locke called his bluff with a dead-serious question encoded with a slight wink at the audience: ''What is the Monster?'' Ben looked baffled, then said, ''I don't know.'' Locke cocked the gun, and with no choice but to come clean, Ben blurted out Charlotte's complete résumé. How does he know so much about Freighter Girl? ''Because I have a man on their boat!''

So who could it be? The safe bet would be ex-castaway Michael: If you've been reading the press about the new season of Lost, you know that at some point Harold Perrineau will be returning to the show. But what if Ben's lying? What if his spy isn't a man but a woman — the same woman he just tried to kill? What if he and Charlotte are in cahoots and that shooting business was all a ruse — another move in Ben's 20,000-steps-ahead-of-everyone Island chess game? Theories! I have tons more of them, including the logic-tortured argument that Charlotte is the daughter of Ben's Dharma-days gal pal Annie. (Do the research — they look a lot alike!)

But it's time for me to turn the space over to you for your thoughts and quibbles. Did you dig Superhero Jack as much as I did? (''I don't know, Miles — how stupid are you?'') Do you think something dark is brewing inside Sawyer? How did you like Locke's disclosure that he's taking orders from Ghost Walt? And hello, Vincent! Post!

[Tstormwatcher]

I found this theory on another forum:

"the rescuers are all Dharma people. They were somehow connected to the island. In the case of Dan, Miles, and Charlotte, they were concieved on the island. We know that women who get pregnant on the island die. So Dharma would send them back to another community run by dharma in Essex, MA. Sometime before these families could go back Ben took over and killed everyone. The pilot was also dharma and was off the island for some reason at that time also.

They are involved in this because they want revenge on Ben. For killing friends, and in the case of the younger one's probably family members.

the island is hidden from being found by normal navigation because of it's exceptionally strong magnetic force. The only way Dharma could find there way back was by having some sort of signal coming off of the island from the underwater station (probably sonar).

When Ben took over he controlled the signal and so could essentially hide the island from Dharma, and Dharma has been trying to find it ever since.

This is the reason that the pilot flies for Oceanic, he's been flying over the ocean trying to find the island. In this case he sabotaged his own instruments to get the flight over the area where he thought the island might be. But he's probably done that before and so had a poor record and was fired before he could be the pilot on that flight and was replaced.

Dharma has been waiting and watching for the electromagnetic anomoly that they knew would eventually occur from the button not being pushed. Once that happened they knew the general location of the island and set out to find it. But they had a problem, there were all kinds of searchers out there looking for flight 815, so they faked the discovery of the crash in the deep ocean to clear out all of those search boats and planes so they could operate without a lot of scrutiny.

Ben did not kill all of the dharma people. He sent his girlfriend "Annie" off the island to say that she had escaped. She is Ben's mole inside Dharma, and she is his "Man" on the boat.”

[southerngale]

That sounds interesting, Tstormwatcher. I'm guessing whoever wrote that forgot about the Dharma food drops though.

[lurkey]

The showrunners of Lost (Carlton Cruse and Damon Lindelof) can go to back to work on Monday per WGA, with the rest of the writers showing up on Wednesday. There are high hopes that the settling of the strike is just in time to complete the final 8 episodes of Season 4.

[Brent]

The showrunners of Lost (Carlton Cruse and Damon Lindelof) can go to back to work on Monday per WGA, with the rest of the writers showing up on Wednesday. There are high hopes that the settling of the strike is just in time to complete the final 8 episodes of Season 4.

That's got me wondering... what happens to Lost when Grey's returns? For sure Grey's will return to the slot with Betty at 8, so where does Lost go? It's going to have to move AGAIN.

[southerngale]

The showrunners of Lost (Carlton Cruse and Damon Lindelof) can go to back to work on Monday per WGA, with the rest of the writers showing up on Wednesday. There are high hopes that the settling of the strike is just in time to complete the final 8 episodes of Season 4.

After a crappy day, that sure puts a big ol smile on my face!

[lurkey]

The showrunners of Lost (Carlton Cruse and Damon Lindelof) can go to back to work on Monday per WGA, with the rest of the writers showing up on Wednesday. There are high hopes that the settling of the strike is just in time to complete the final 8 episodes of Season 4.

That's got me wondering... what happens to Lost when Grey's returns? For sure Grey's will return to the slot with Betty at 8, so where does Lost go? It's going to have to move AGAIN.

How are Lost's ratings?