LOST S4 Finale: There's No Place Like Home, Pt. 2 & 3

All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost.
-J. R. R. Tolkien

So its been three years and Kate keeps going through that last day on the island and trying to make sense of it. What I'm trying to make sense of is how are they protecting the people on the island by lying? I mean, it makes sense to lie because who would believe them and because who wants to make Widmore (or whoever planted the shipwreck - is there another option?) a bigger enemy, but how is that protecting them? So I guess they decided to go along with the shipwreck story that everyone saw on TV and that's why then chose where to be found. Nobody can even find the island though, so how does that protect them? Sounds more like protecting yourselves. I guess if they tell the truth and someone does start an investigation into it all and goes after Widmore they are thinking he found it once so he could find it again and when he does ... but those chances don't seem high.

Who's still alive and on the island (besides the Others): Sawyer, Juliette, Charlotte, Miles, Rose, Bernard, Locke (at least until he gets killed) - will we see Michael as a specter? Jacob's representative Christian finally released him and let him die.

Who's futures are not perfectly clear: Claire - I suppose that the fact that she came to visit Aaron and Kate like the other specters confirms that she is dead and probably died in the house explosion that Sawyer 'rescued' her from, but still. She did seem different than the other specter visitors who always seem indifferent and condescending. I suppose it could have just been a dream after all ... Daniel - I am going to assume that he and those extras in the raft with him were still close enough to the island to vanish with it, but that's not for sure. Jin. Okay, so it seems a far stretch that he could possibly still be alive since the ship blew up and even if he did make it he had no island to swim back to. That was one of the most frustrating scenes - they totally had two seconds to wait for him. Kate tried to run in after him, Desmond and Sun were yelling to wait, bot noooo, Jack had to go. Sun's screams were heart-wrenching. I suppose they needed Jin to go to fuel Sun into the bold and calculating woman we saw in the future - I love it, but it will be very interesting to see how deeply she has let herself hate and what she is now capable of. Does she want to work with Widmore to destroy her father or for his help to find the island? Both?

Who has to come back to the island: Jack, Kate, Aaron, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, Walt (Poor, tall, ugly haircut Walt, who none of the 6 came to see). I presume 'all' refers to the flight members, not to Desmond or Frank. What is Ben's investment in getting them back - is it all about revenge and the game he is playing with Widmore? Does he want to get back into the Island's good graces? He claimed that whoever moves the island can't come back. Is this true? Perhaps by telling Locke that and by moving the island himself he keeps a certain degree of power/allegiance with the island. Now we know why he had the parka on and a cut on his arm, when he was cranking the gears in the Journey-to-the-Center-of-the-Earthesque ice chamber, but how did he get to Tunisia? When the island moved did it just teleported him to Tunisia by default? It doesn't seem to be a random location since he had been there before, his fake name was in the hotel records. Hmmmm, Ben, Ben, Ben... what is up your sleeve? PS, you were freaking me out when you went all Psycho on Keamy! (I wonder if we'll see Keamy in flashes next season.)

The Others do stick to their promises. Wasn't that a weird look between Sayid and Kate though when they saved Ben and fought Keamy? Was there more to the bargain than we heard?

The Coffin: the two biggest theories for who was in the coffin have always been Locke and Ben. I had always leaned towards Ben based on Kate's disdainful reaction to Jack when he asked her is she was going to go. The minute Ben walked into the room though, it had to be Locke. Who killed you Locke, and made it look like a suicide? Was it Sayid? I have to admit, I was extremely proud of myself for remembering the name Jeremy Bentham as the coffin guy from the finale last year. So, Locke, why the alias? Is it simply to be incognito because John Locke is supposed to be dead and because Widmore's guys are probably after you? -

"Jeremy Bentham was one of the founders of the Utilitarian philosophy in the 19th century - the path to goodness consists of finding or doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Bentham developed this philosophy with James Mill, whose son, John Stuart Mill, refined it (JS Mill argued, correctly I think, that there are qualitative differences between goods - saving someones life is worth much more than giving someone $100 as charity). Bentham is also known for devising the Panopticon prison - a design which allows the prison guard to observe all prisoners, who are unaware that they're being observed."

This name goes along with some of the other philosophical names chosen for characters on the show. So Locke/Bentham has been coming to see all of them. He came to see Walt, and by the fact that Hurley recognised the name he must have come to see him too (everyone else is coming to see Hurley, so why not?) and Jack confirmed that he had come to both himself and to Kate.

The islands wrath: Is it on Jack specifically or on all of them for leaving? Jack was certainly taking it personally, but if they all need to come back, then its really all of there faults that bad things have been happening since they left. Next season they will hopefully provide flashes of Locke's visits. Ooh, zinger on Jack when Locke said, 'If you lie to them half as well as you do to yourself...' Was it always meant to happen like this - for Locke to die because Jack was meant to be the leader? His tattoo says something like, "He is among them, but he is not one of them." Will that come into play again? Could Jack have been like Locke on the island if he had gotten over his cynicism and insecurity and let himself believe? It seems that Aaron is the chosen one who will end up the new Locke, though. That kid is a miraculous survivor like John.

Here's the thing though, we're getting some mixed signals from the island. All the visitors from the island are telling them we need you, come back, but then Claire comes and says don't you dare take him back. Are there two conflicting powers on the island? Is what Jacob/Christian/Claire wants different from what Richard/Locke/The Others want? It shouldn't be too hard to find everyone, its just a matter of convincing them. Ben knows how to reach Sayid who knows how to reach Hurley, in his new Sayid instigated witness protection program. Will Sayid be coming to collect the others - I presume they are all being watched.

Aaaaaaah Sawyer - could I love you any more? That was beautiful. Had to love Sawyer's grin when he came swimming out of the ocean and saw Juliette boozing it up and he was just as casual as ever. I guess they'll be assuming their friends are dead. It makes me even more frustrated with jerkface Jack for being such a bum about Kate following through with Sawyer's last whispered wish. (Which was most likely about his daughter Clementine.) I get that he is feeling guilty and confused... I think next season will be kind of a redemption season for Jack.

Best acting moment: No surprise, it goes to Michael Emerson as Ben. In the Orchid when Locke asks him if that's the magic box and Ben shook his head in frustration and said, 'no John, its not,' and then spoke to him like he was five ... classic. When brief conversation between Ben and Pretty Eyes Richard was also amusing.

Most satisfying episode moment: The Des and Penny reunion. Oh sweetness. I hope you are happy and I hope that you can avoid Ben and I hope to see much more of you both.

Most intriguing new character development: Charlotte - So she 'finally' got 'back' to the island and she is still trying to figure out where she was born. What? whas she born there? Is she somehow a key in the island pregnancy dilemma?

Biggest question in my mind right now: When they do finally find and get back to the island, wherever it may be, how much time will have passed on the island? The Orchid video said it was a study of space and time both, so when the island moved did it move both space and time? It would be nice to get some more history of the island itself.

See you in another season, Brotha.

Some other thoughts:

Was the lamp Ben lit before he moved the island a nod to the lamppost in "The Chronicles of Narnia" – the same lamppost that served as an axis mundi? In Narnia (at least in the beginning) you needed a parka, too – because it was always winter and never Christmas.

Practically speaking - how are they going to um... preserve "Jeremy Bantham" while they gather the gang for another trip to Mystery Island?
So the Oceanic 6's web of lies was Locke's idea to protect the island and those left behind; how heartbreaking that the lies failed to protect him!

What are all those flowers at the The Orchid station?? It makes me think of Anaconda, where the scientists were seeking this rare flower that contained the "fountain of youth" (Alpert, anyone????) or miracle cure (but Jack doesn't believe in miracles…….or does the fact that in the flash forwards he ends up lying about the island prove that John convinced him otherwise? As well as the survival of all when the helicopter crashed (Kate, re: Aaron: "He survived. It's a miracle…)………
- "You can go now Michael…."Is Christian the angel of death? Father time? The Grim Reaper? Some other concept of life being taken away?
Needing a dead Locke to get back to the island.....I wonder if Christian being dead and on the plane was an important part to crashing on the island in the first place?

So, why did Ben knock out the time travel portal? I noticed he did use the tunnel behind it, but did it need to be deactivated before moving? Was the tunnel placed there because it had to be knocked out? Or was that coincidence? Will there be a time travel portal at the new locale?

If Lapidus and Desmond stayed on Penny's yacht (different ship than the "Searcher" ship she chartered?), then who was the person we saw off camera last episode in the Oceanic plane that commenters here said she said HI to? (referring to the Oceanic representative who went back to prep the six for their mainland landing - on her way back to them on the plane she nodded to some unknown person off camera)

Where is "someplace safe" that Sayid took Hurley?Why does Echo suck so much at chess?The Others' whispers (through the phone!) in Kate's nightmare were freaky. So was all the electromagnetism/light/sound when the island got moved.
Didn't anyone else get the feeling when Ben said to Locke, "I'm sorry I made your life so miserable," he wasn't talking about his island life only – but Locke's ENTIRE life? That he was somehow connected to all of Locke's heartbreak before the Island? And to those who took offense when I said Ben was the devil last episode – I have one word for you: "So." That's just what the devil would say if he were told that everyone on the freighter had just been killed!
If John Locke has always been seen as a sort of "savior" or "prophet" to the Island... does this mean that he dies but is "reborn" three days later when the Oceanic Six return to the Island? Talk about fulfilling prophecies and proving you are truly a miracle!

I have an interesting observance on the 4-toed statue…I know it's been posited before that the island was connected to something else at some point. Like, a body of land. Curiously, there are no rocks or land under where the other foot of a completed statue would belong, just some sandy beach…. So something. at one point, was there to sustain the rest of the statue. But now that we know that the island is MOBILE … I can imagine in my mind's eye a point in time in which the island was very close to another body of land. Which leaves my mind wondering, imagining: If indeed our lost island was at once attached to another body of land, or was one large island rendered in two by some cosmic force, (creation narratives, anyone?) where is the other body of land? We don't have in our real world any parallel missing foot, though it could have been dismantled, I suppose, on our end. However, the whole time/space travel issues seem to negate that possibility. I don't think the island was ever "attached" in a literal sense, to anything in "our world." So, could there be another "Island" - a white to its black, a yin to its yang, a good to its evil, – a similarly hidden place that is in contention with it, or that completes it in harmony? This seems to fit seamlessly into the mythology of the show. It would seem that were this the case, there would be a very fitting world mythology that it would easily embody: the spring of eternal life, a place which if, could be physically found, would offer a cup of living water to those who partake? Regardless, if there is a second invisible land, who inhabits, controls, knows of its location? Does anyone? Does Charles Widmore know more than he's letting on or are he and Ben and even Jacob utterly clueless? Were the original Dharma Initiative's interesting experiments in effort to locate that other land, to rejoin them and thus "save the world"? Or is the world-saving power in a life-giving element of said land? The creators have mandated that the island is not purgatory, but they have never exposed whether AN "island" could be HEAVEN.

LOST: There's No Place Like Home, Pt. 1

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was, is lost ...
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Wow, so that was part one of the three part season finale. the last two hours are in two weeks, May 29th, because next week is the two hour Grey's Anatomy finale. Something about this episode felt more like a movie than just a television episode - more epic. Even the music was more melodic and not just the same old Jaws-like theme. It also felt different in that it was really a leading-up-to episode not an answer-some-questions-and-pose-some-new-ones episode and because it wasn't just flashed of one person. Its not just a finale, its a prequel to next season. The beginning of the end for what LOST has been up to this point. Though there will of course be a big cliffhanger ending, after this episode I am sure glad there are still two more hours! Widmore's guys have Ben, Locke has to sneak in and 'move the island' before Widmore can 'torch' it, the Others have Kate and Sayid, there's a big ol' pile of explosives on the freighter...

Oh Jack, your stubborn need to be the hero/martyr and be responsible for everyone is charming and noble and all, but sometimes its just exasperating! So Jack looks you in the eye while lying - I love scenes like that where they throw out little characteristics and things and then show it in action later on. Jack proved it on the Coast Guard plane and at the press conference while everyone else was looking down. On the plane they were all kind of looking at him like, 'how does this lying and leaving our friends come so easily to you?' (Or were they looking at him with a hint of disdain because he made some kind of bargain or did something shady to get them there? Or probably it was his idea to lie and he told them what to say.)

So the island of Mumbada led you to the village of Manukangga in Indonesia. I guess they're not going to find much if they search around Mumbada, cause the real island is outta there.

The arrival. How sad was Kate, all alone and clutching Aaron? Jack's Mom was darling. The Sayid/Nadia reunion was also very sweet and made me much more sad that she dies. I also love that they kind of all stuck close together when they first got back, being supportive. It makes sense for Kate to stick around because she literally doesn't have anyone else, but everyone else could have jumped back into their lives and tried to suppress the island. The coconut in Hurley's (or his parents, I guess) tackily posh house - I admit I was kind of disappointed when it was just an inappropriately themed surprise party and not the island messing with him. The numbers were still there to haunt him though. "Jesus Christ is not a weapon." Ha! Funny comment, but history would suggest otherwise. Sorry you had to find out about Claire that way Jack. The look you gave Aaron was devastating.

Two things were really in the back of my mind during all the flash forwards: 1, when did Kate's trial stuff happen? It must have been one of the very first things or else she would have been in prison, I would think, but based on Jack not wanting to see Aaron and then coming around later and based on the funeral Christian's funeral which would have been right away ... the timing seems off and I am trying to piece it together. (Some of Jack's frustration about Aaron seems more justified now though - not only is he feeling guilty about Claire, but now he knows that Aaron has a biological grandmother out there who should probably rightfully be raising him. Does Jack tell Kate the connection? That's unclear in the flashes we've seen, but I think so. If not, she certainly seemed close enough to hear.) 2, When does Hurley go and see Sun? Its after she has the baby, but presumably also after he starts his descent into insanity once more. When will they tell us what he meant when he asked her if anyone else was there and when she said no and he said good?

Moving the island is dangerous and unpredictable ... and yet you do know how to do it, Mr. Linus, because dangerous and unpredictable is your life philosophy. Ben is so fantastic in an I hate him but I can't help but respect him and can't wait to see what he does next kind of way.

Wow, on that first raft trip over when Sun and Jin got to the freighter I am sure glad we got those extras rescued. I was getting really worried about them. :P It does seem like the raft is coming and going between the island and the freighter a little too easily, but I'll let that slide. I also like that Daniel's word is good. That look that passed between him and Charlotte as he was taking the first group over was interesting. I know they stick together and he digs her and all, but it was a look that perhaps suggested that they still know more than we do about what's happening? I half expected her to insist on being in the first group. I didn't like it when the men ran into the ship and Sun stood there looking at the door - almost like it was going to be the last time she sees Jin or something. Sun! that's my girl getting all feisty and taking control and standing up to your dad! I've never seen you quite so vindictive. I like it. (Who was the other person besides your dad that is responsible for Jin's 'death?' Widmore? Jack? Yourself?) That must have been some settlement that Oceanic gave you guys. I can't help but wonder if, unbeknownst to you since your motives were purely bitter, you have bought into something connected to the island. All the other dad's are connected to the island! Or, does the future of the show simply need Sun to have a lot of money at her disposal and this seemed a practical way to do it?

Have I mentioned that I love Sawyer yet this episode? I know I'm just partial, but the more I watch these flashes I really kind of think that Jack and Kate got together in the future more because they needed that connection to hold onto than because Kate loves Jack more than Sawyer. KAte does have a tendency to love the one she's with, though. I am very anxious to see how they do the Kate and Sawyer parting ways scene. I can see it now, Kate bawling and shaking her head that she won't leave without him and Sawyer saying, 'You've got to go, Kate, and take care of Aaron. I want you to... to check on Clementine now and again and see that she's alright. Now get out of here, Freckles.' Sigh.

PS, I hope that the Others' holding Kate and Sayid means that we get to see the Temple.

Other thoughts:

The rabbits are back! Rabbit's foot keychains on the Coast Guard plane and Hurley's keychain for the Camaro. The rabbits were in the Orchid Station video, right?
I guess the bombs on the freighter are rigged to the detonator on Keamy's arm. If he blows up the freighter, how does he plan to get himself and his crew back to civilization? There must be another freighter or island nearby that the helicoptor can take them to.
I think Widmore concocted the "Official" story of the Oceanic 6. He of all people was desperate for a way to explain how these people who were confirmed dead suddenly pop up.How did Nadia find out about and get to the press conference on the military base? Was it Ben or Widmore? (Hmmm, good question. Maybe Ben, somehow. Maybe he needed to make sure that Sayid was very happy so that he could crush it because only a broken Sayid would work with him)
Did anyone else think the scene where the Oceanic Six first disembark was reminiscent of the mothership landing in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the aliens slowly descending the open door? If so, what are the writers trying to say about the Oceanic Six? They're now strangers in a strange land? The Island has claimed them, and they will be "aliens" until they return? Is that why they all have so much trouble adapting?

Was anyone else thinking - Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure when Ben pulled his 15 year stash out? In the movie they went back in time and hid things they would need to help them beat the bad guys. What I want to know is... -Why 15 years earlier - what's significant about 1989? Except that's the year Bill and Ted came out. -Why are crackers in the stash - is that Ben's way of thanking Hurley for sharing his Apollo Bar? Last week Kate told Jack - You should eat some crackers. Crackers always make me feel better. (Hmmm, could crackers be truly important to the mythology of the show? Probably not, but it was a clever way to give us a significant date)
Did anyone else get a weird feeling when Sun looked back at the heavy, metal door swinging closed on the ship? it seemed eerie, like something horrible was going to happen to the people inside. i swear i thought the bomb was gonna blow, sending Sun and Aaron into the ocean as the only survivors.although, if this happened, then our poor boy Des would be dead and that would NOT be cool.

Daniel Faraday knew what the Orchid was and what it would do. I don't think he was talking about Keamy and his guys torching the island. I'm pretty sure he knew it would be used to move the island which is why he told Charlotte they needed to leave now.
I know that Ben "passed the baton" to Locke – literally, he gave him that black wand-like thingy, but I don't believe for a single second that Ben thinks he has been replaced as the "chosen" one. Fate may be a fickle b***ch, but Ben is a conniving b*****d.

Business men talking to Mr. Paik - "Whoever did this used five different banks"I assume they're talking about Sun and her purchase of the controlling interest in her father's company. She says it was the Oceanic money but could she be getting funded by ... Charles Widmore? (Ooh, I like it!)
The island Membata was mentioned tonight as the crash site or near the crash site. Just digging around and found the word "membata" is Indonesian for "ambivalent, doubtful, to be uncertain." So even if the Oceanic Six didn't land IN "Membata," they at least ARE "membata" now.The numbers (which it seems we haven't seen in quite some time) make a freaky appearance in Hurley's car. Question - his dad repaired the car as a memorial to his "lost" son. So could the numbers have been there before Hurley left for Sydney? Or was it the island "calling him back" the first sign of many - which when he ignored them, the island sent Charlie instead? Is it possible that other islanders survive as well? Ben clearly does somehow. Michael (or at least Walt) does. Perhaps Juliet did as well. She'd just be able to slip back into society because no one knew where she was to begin with. She could just be finished with her gig and finally reunite with her sister. Desmond too could return from sea and be reunited with Penny - she already knows he's alive and who else would have known he was missing?

LOST: Cabin Fever

Queer little twists go into the making of an individual. To suppress them all and follow clock and calendar and creed until the individual is lost in the neutral grey of the host is to be less than true to our inheritance.... Life, that gorgeous quality of life, is not accomplished by following another man's rules. It is true we have the same hungers and same thirsts, but they are for different things and in different ways and in different seasons.... Lay down your own day, follow it to its noon, your own noon, or you will sit in an outer hall listening to the chimes but never reaching high enough to strike your own.
-Angelo Patri

Well, its nice to have the old faithful Locke back. I also love that they are getting back to the 'these people were chosen for a reason' thing with the discovery that creepy randomly recurring tall black man (Abaddon) put the idea of Australia in Locke's head. We always see him in flashes - I keep waiting for him to turn up on the island. Maybe he's at the temple, if we ever get to see that. Interesting to do a flash of before birth - the only other time they did that was with Ben's birth flash - a little Locke/Ben comparison? Interesting parallels with John and Ben. Are they saying that John could have been Ben except that personality and interests are so defiant of his 'destiny?' We may have fates but they are what we make them? "I'm not you." Ben didn't really seem envious (like he was when he shot Locke and dumped him in the pit) he just seemed thoughtful. For someone so crafty at manipulation, it certainly seems like he has accepted his 'fate' fairly easily.

Oooh, Richard and his ageless pretty dark eyes are back. So John was deemed special by the islanders from birth.Huh. He drew the smoke monster. The test - the bottle of sand (?) and the compass were his, but not the knife. It certainly seemed that little John just chose the knife because he wanted it, not because it was his. So, is Richard really dumb enough to wait from the day he was born (though I guess a few years isn't much to him) and then give up on him and think he's not special because he picked the knife? Or, did the fact that John picked the knife simply tell Richard that John doesn't follow directions and wasn't ready? Did the knife symbolically mean something bad for the island or just something about John's personality that didn't 'fit?' Defiant even as a child.

Horace? Dead for twelve years? Bloody nose just like the hemorrhaging for those who don't have their Constants. Hmmm. Its been a while since I've read Dante's Inferno - was there a level of Hell when you keep repeating everything or is it just Groundhog Day? Well, whatever its from, Horace and his unchoppable tree were freaking me out. I'm still not sure how the dead on the island thing works anyway - are they actually the person that died with their soul intact or are they some kind of manifestation portraying the person? did Horace just leave that repeating imprint of himself on the island? 'Help me John Locke, you're my only hope.' Horace was building the cabin when he died. So... is Horace Jacob? Why can't Jacob speak for himself? I like John the best the way he was in this episode, calm and trusting instead of frantic and careless, but it is worrisome when he follows things blindly because he likes to feel 'special.' I love defiant John ('Don't tell me what I can't do') but I can't say I agree with trusting the island just because it heals you and it 'chose' you. Does anyone remember Something Wicked This Way Comes? Its that old movie based off a book where this evil carnival rolls into town and wants peoples souls. the ringmaster grants gifts, but at a price. For instance, an old woman wants to be young and beautiful again. Her wish is granted, but she is made blind and can't see her beauty. When Ben was telling Locke about the island having consequences, that is what I thought of. On another note, all that time that Ben was the special one, was he just a fill in while the island was waiting for John to be ready? Maybe its a Harry Potter & Neville Longbottom kind of thing - could have been either?

Claire! What has Christian done to you? Don't be dead like Horace! I don't want her to be dead, but that seems all too likely. Oh, it was unnerving seeing her act like that. At first I thought, she's acting drugged, but then her odd, knowing grin and her, 'I'm with him' made it seem like she wasn't even Claire at all. Here's a question. At first I was automatically looking at Christian as the villain; that he must have done something to Claire. Is it possible that Claire died in that explosion at the camp and nobody, including herself, realized it? It is a fine line between life and death on the island - perhaps Christian was just bringing her to her peace. But then, when Jack was told last week that he wasn't supposed to raise Aaron, and with the psychic telling Claire she needed to raise him... if she's part of the island now does it all just mean that the island is supposed to raise him? Maybe Locke is the John the Baptist to Aaron's Christ. Sorry for the blasphemous analogy, but maybe the current chosen ones are just stepping stones necessary for Aaron to become what he needs to be to the island. Maybe Locke, Ben, Claire, Sawyer, Jack, Charlie, Kate... they've all just been needed to play a part?

Move the island? Well, whatever that means, I guess that explains Ben's conversation with Widmore when he tells him he'll never find it. Maybe in the next couple of seasons the next time we see the island it will be in the Atlantic instead of the Pacific. Or. maybe it will be in the year 2040 so it can't be discovered until then. Is it literally a floating island or are they going to time warp? the move has to be more than just magnetic or thunderstorm trickery.

Oregon again with the science place teenage John's teacher talked to him about in Portland. What is going on there? I mean, other than vampires and werewolves, of course, for those of us who've read the Twilight books.

A lot of previous theories thought that Widmore was after the island - that the competition between Widmore and Ben was over the island. He wants to torch the island - to completely purge it and make it his own or just to anger Ben? Seems like burning the island is probably against the rules too. How does Widmore know where Ben is going to go? Also, who is this Keamy guy? It seems like he is taking this whole thing a little too personally than a plain old hired thug would.

Oh captain, my captain. Poor chap. You redeemed your dissappointingness just in time to get killed off. Desmond. Will you truly find your Penny and avoid ever having to be on the island again? Will Penny come to the island to find you so you will have to go to the island to find her? Will you die to protect her from Ben? Do you still have visions now that you are off the island?

Best lines of the night: "We can see it cause we're the craziest." Ha- I adore Hurley! And then of course, "Fate is a fickle b***h." (Seriously,no one can pull a one-liners like Ben! Well, Sawyer can. Oh Sawyer. How I missed you this week, my love!)

Other thoughts:

I know Emily Linus and Emily Locke aren't supposed to be the same person – but it was interesting the similarities in the births of John and Ben – they were both premature and their mothers requested their sons' names – Name him Benjamin, name him John. (Both born three months early, too.)
Call me crazy - but I think Richard Alpert might be John's father - In the beginning - Emily's mother complains about her boyfriend - saying he is twice her age. Richard looks eternally in his mid 30s. Think about it - if you can't procreate on the island, go back to "mainland" and get someone pregnant, and bring the child back to the island. It would make sense because Richard has always seemed to take a special interest in Locke - he helped him behind Ben's back. (Ooh, I like this. Locke's grandma did seem like she was lying when Richard was standing there and she told the nurse she didn't know who it was.)I totally got the "game" feel tonight when Keamy opened up the red envelope. It reminded of the game Myst – it came with a sealed envelope with hints to open only if you got really stuck. The scene really had a feel of Widmore and Linus having played this game over and over – each knowing what the other would do. We'vewitnessed yet another instance where the island won't let Michael die when Keamy's gun jammed. I wonder what he is still needed for.

Well Locke's last comment about moving the island certainly explains why a drug plane from Nigeria and a slave ship in the pacific all ended up on the same island....the island has moved all over the oceans of the world for centuries to avoid detection from people who want to exploit its mysticism and technology...it's Atlantis! A people who were technologically advanced and spiritually evolved. They are the ones with the four toes (the statue) and why Richard Alpert never ages, he is one of them and the Atlanteans basically discovered how to remain immortal as evidenced in the Locke flashbacks. But they also can't reproduce. What a sucky side effect.

The knife is not supposed to be his, but he sure was drawn to it. one of these things is not like the others.....

The dead doctor's body somehow gets to the island last week before Sayid left the freighter, so the time disruption doesn't affect dead people (maybe).

Has anyone seen a push-me-pull-you? Because Dr. Doolittle's Island is the last one I heard about that could move. I'm just sayin-

Ben passing the torch to Locke reminds me of when Desmond passed pressing the button to Locke. It's all about belief in what you are doing.

Horace was an ancient Greek poet who coined the phrase "carpe diem," sieze the day. Hugo and Ben sharing the candy bar... priceless. Richard approached Locke, who failed, then Ben who succeeded? Claire was told there was a family who wanted to adopt her baby...Jack was told his fathers' body was in Austrailia...Locke was told he needed to go on a walk-about...Jin and Sun were told to deliver a watch...Hurley was told the answer to the "numbers" was in Austrailia...Michael was told he had to pick up his son...Sawyer was told the man who "killed" his parents was down under...
Martin Keamy just might be the scariest character we've seen on LOST so far. Not only does he makes the threats but he sure follows through with them. Who else saw the Dharma logo when he was looking through the second protocol? And what are they going to try to do? Shoot the smoke monster to death?Anyone else think the device taped to Keamy's arm is a detonater? Is the island already wired to blow?The fact that Charles Widmore knew where Ben would go if something happened tells me that he either has been to the island before or him and Ben have a close history, I'm guessing that Charles was Ben's mentor as has been mentioned before.
"John, which of these things belong to you ALREADY?"Why wouldn't it be the knife? Was he supposed to take the Mystery Tales comic book that says "What was the secret of the mysterious "Hidden Land!"? The picture on the cover appears to be buildings floating on clouds. Could the move be upwards?

I could not find "The Book Of Law" (one of the items that Richard put on the table for little John to choose from) but I did find The Laws by Plato on wikipedia. The connection to the the Cabin and the book can be made. The 3 characters on the island of Crete in search of the cave of Zeus.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_(Plato)The settingUnlike most of Plato's dialogues, Socrates does not appear in the Laws. This is fitting because the dialogue takes place on the island of Crete, and Socrates never appears outside of Athens in Plato's writings, except in the Phaedrus, where he is just outside the city's walls. Instead of Socrates we have the Athenian Stranger (in Greek, 'xenos') and two other old men, an ordinary Spartan citizen (Megillos) and a Cretan politician and lawgiver (Kleinias) from Knossos.The Athenian Stranger, who is much like Socrates but whose name is never given, joins the other two on their religious pilgrimage to the cave of Zeus. The entire dialogue takes place during this journey, which mimics the action of Minos, who is said by the Cretans to have made their ancient laws, who walked this path every nine years in order to receive instruction from Zeus on lawgiving. It is also said to be the longest day of the year, allowing for a densely-packed twelve chapters.By the end of the third chapter Kleinias announces that he has in fact been given the charge of laying down laws for a new Cretan colony, and that he would like the Stranger's assistance. The rest of the dialogue proceeds with the three old men, walking towards the cave and making laws for this new city.

LOST: Something Nice Back Home

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
-Washington Irving

I am so emotionally attached to these characters! I watched the majority of this episode with my hand over my mouth and my eyebrows lowered in either worry and concern or else because I was so moved by the scene. Damn you LOST writers for snaring me so completely! these last couple of episodes really have been satisfying in that they have filled in of some of the future blanks. They've done a great job of showing enough to let us know how things came to be while still being vague and not losing the speed of the storyline. Jack and Kate. Sigh. I think they were cleverly ambiguous with the way they had Jack say, 'you're not even related to him' - couldn't quite tell by his inflection whether he knew that HE was related to Aaron or not. I think he did. I'm so torn! I love Kate when she's with Jack and I love Kate when she's with Sawyer. I know its likely to be Jack and Kate in the long run, and the proposal was sweet. Sawyer, like Juliette, is just kind of a tragic character that I can't really see ending up with a real and happy future. Poor Juliette. Poor Sawyer. Well, poor Jack to - can't be easy to feel like you are competing with a memory, and poor Kate for being trapped in the middle. Kate! Who was on the phone, and what are you doing for Sawyer and why does the whole thing break my heart a little bit when I don't even really understand what is going on?

Most interesting single phrase of the night to me was near the end when Jack and Kate were fighting about Sawyer and Jack said that Sawyer chose to stay. So there will be an option, eh? Hmmm. but not an option for everyone perhaps? Jin: "I will get you and our baby off this island." Oh Jin, but not yourself?

Well these freighter folks are sure full of surprises. Charlotte is fluent in Korean (so maybe finding the polar bear in Tunisia isn't the only reason they chose her?) and Miles really does hear dead people. Looks like they are starting to realise that this little 'mission' isn't exactly what they were led to believe it would be. Miles seemed sincerely shook up, as much as that guy can portray emotion. So I guess Rousseau really is gone! Not that she couldn't turn up in spirit, I suppose. It would have been an interesting Fast Forward to see her trying to survive back in the real world when she's so crazy - holding knives to peoples throats and freaking people out.

"People get sick, Rose." "Not here. Here they get better." I'm glad they had the characters bring this up. Jimmy Kimmel recently interviewed the writers and they said this:
Kimmel: The island heals some people and doesn't heal others. For instance, Ben needed an operation from Jack to beat cancer, but it seems like Sawyer gets injured every sixth episode and by the next, he's fine. Is that just a TV thing?Carlton Cuse: Wow. [Laughs] Where are the softball questions, Jimmy? What about the warm-up?Damon Lindelof: The short answer is, it's not arbitrary. Yes, there is a certain degree of compressing story. The idea that everything you've seen has really happened in 110 days of real time feels fantastical, but that's the convention of the show. However, who gets sick and how fast they heal is something we talk about. In the second episode back [airing May 1], that becomes a major issue in the story. One character gets sick and another who has had experience being healed voices exactly that question: Is there any rhyme or reason to it?Cuse: The healing is related to the degree to which you are in communion with the island at any given moment. Perhaps Ben getting sick and needing surgery had to do with the fact that he had fallen out of favor, that his connection with the island was maybe not what it had been in the past. To go along with that, there was a really good article with Michael Emerson and he said:

Let's say that Ben was able to manipulate the smoke monster, but on the show everything is a binary system, everything is in balance, morally balanced or economically balanced, so for Ben to make a thing happen like that, there is also a price, I think, that he had to pay. We don't know what Ben paid yet to make the smoke monster come. We don't know that he… "Is he allowed to do that?" and everyone who has power also pays a price. John Locke is going to pay a price. Ben has paid a price… Nothing is for free in terms of power or morality on the island and I'm beginning to see that the writers are more interested in that pattern, too, of this living ledger book system.

So perhaps there is something to Bernard's joke about Jack angering the island Gods.

Aha! I had been awaiting the return of Christian Shepherd. Reaching out to his offspring. Creepy. Is Claire now dead? Brainwashed? In limbo? Given a lobotomy and being set up on a thrown at the Others' Temple to be worshipped as a beautiful, mindless island Goddess? Being sacrificed to the Black Rock? Curious that Claire was so blase when she said 'Dad?' and went with him so easily when she didn't even want to know his name when she met him before. Also curious that he took Claire but left the baby, and what did he do to Claire that she would leave him! Stupid Miles, why didn't you speak up?! So I guess Kate maybe takes the baby because they all presume Claire is dead but maybe she's not - looked like she was in the preview for next week though. Only as a spirit? If she's not dead, and they all eventually go back to the island in the final season, that could be some painful baby mama drama between Claire and Kate and Aaron. So Charlie is haunting Hurley in behalf of Jack now, eh? All comes back to the psychic telling Claire that she needed to be the one to raise Aaron. Why are only Jack and Hurley being haunted? I guess Michael is too, by Libby. Maybe there will be a flash forward where Kate sees her horse standing in her front lawn :)

Some other wiser and more amusing thoughts:

You're not supposed to raise him? Charlie is sending Jack on a guilt trip for leaving Claire behind.

Jack Shepard is the anti-Norris. Jack Shepard doesn't sleep, he cries! Underneath his stubble, there isn't a chin, just more tear ducts. (Ha ha)

Aaron has a Millennium Falcon. This could mean something. (Did you all know right away what the Millennium Falcon is? Did I just show my nerdiness a little bit because I know the name of Han Solo's ship?)

I don't think Jack had appendicitis. I think Juliet did something to him to make him think that, then wouldn't allow him to watch the surgery so she could plant some sort of tracking device or something inside him. It's like Rose said: people just don't get sick on that island. . . More evidence that Juliet wasn't really doing an appendectomy - Jack pointed out that she was shaving two inches too high where the incision should be.(Interesting theory. Unlike some, I really, really like Juliette and think that if she IS deceiving it is because she has to be but that she really is a good person. If we discover she is actually deceitful then I still like her for being so clever and believable! "I know you're awake." Sad! I love how honest she was with Kate though - she's not vindictive and going to try to be manipulative about emotions. But maybe this will make her 'stop pining over Jack and get back to work for Ben.' When Juliette was first introduced I secretly had hopes for her and Sayid, but I'm pretty sure that's out)

Hurley (playing Risk) in last episode: "We're all going to die."Hurly (talking to Jack) in this episode: "We're all dead."
(I have to say, for the writers being so adamant that purgatory is not what is going on here, since that has always been a favorite LOST theory, the idea certainly comes up rather frequently)

Jin rocks! I love the way he's kind of been flying under the radar all this time because of the language barrier, but in reality, he's been observing everything all this time. He totally has Charlotte's number and called her out. He's my hero!I found the conversation between Rose and Bernard interesting. Did Jack do something to make the island angry? Maybe since he's trying so hard to get everyone off of the island, the island sees that as a betrayal, therefore Jack has to pay a price.So Miles, in addition to Claire, Jack, and Hurley, can see Christian. What does the island need Claire for? She said she had a headache and was seeing things when they were walking. I wonder what she saw.Creepy Hurley was almost too much to bear. "You're not supposed to raise him Jack." Jack seems to be turning into his late father, drinking and abusing prescription drugs. Seems that he's just as crazy as Hurley. Effects of the island? (Jack is in a worse spot than Hurley, if you ask me.)

Was that a new tat on Jack's back or has that been there? What was it of?? (I remember wondering that as well. We have heard the story about the big That tat on his shoulder, but it seems like they sort of purposely made sure we saw that little tat on his back as well)
Jack is turning into his father. With the pills and drinking that he succumbs to off the island. not that Christian popped pills, but i have said for a while now that the reason Christian drank so much and was so messed up before he dies was because he had some connection to the island. As in, perhaps he had been there before and couldn't get back!

Thoughts as to what Kate was doing for Sawyer? Maybe visiting his daughter?? Now that Kate's a mommy perhaps she's more sensitive and would do something like that for Sawyer. (Could be why Sawyer has been so overly protective of Claire lately - maybe all this 'Kate might be pregnant' business has him thinking about his own kid, Clementine)

Claire still has to fulfill Desmond's vision in the helicopter. But it WAS a vision. She could be dead and was "seen" on the helicopter.

The only ones that we've seen get sick on the island are now Ben and Jack. I think there is some connection there.
With the appearance of Christian both on and off the island to his offspring, I'm thinking there's an element of the Hero's Journey that is coming into play now. The Hero's Journey – ala Joseph Campbell, fleshed out in the Star Wars sagas and other mythologies (even Harry Potter) – always CULMINATES in some sort of RECONCILIATION WITH THE FATHER. That may be the story here, and the reason behind all the daddy issues. I'm guessing we have yet to encounter the mother of all daddy issues (pun intended), but there were certainly some hints in that direction tonight.
Another reference to "Alice in Wonderland" tonight. Jack was reading it to Aaron, just as his Dad read it to him as a kid.

Here is my new theory on why some people on the island are cured of their sicknesses while other are not: The ones who have not been cured by the island like Ben and Jack are the ones who are alive. The ones who have been healed by the island like John and Rose are actually dead. But you can't tell the difference by looking at them so really anyone could be dead.