“WHOOSH back to the security station where young Ben uses the flaming bus and fire as a diversion to break Sayid out. He has his dad’s janitorial keys, and he uses them to unlock Sayid’s cell. They escape into the jungle, but near a dirt road they are stopped by Jin.”

Did anyone else think of the little boy from Flatliners when Little Ben was hooded?
Flatliners happens to be a movie about , death,resurrection and repentance hmmmm

just a thought

I understand your – not anger, but disappointment perhaps – about the Charlotte gaffe this year. While there isn’t anything wrong in demanding the show follow correctly its own plot I think as fans we have to understand that these guys and girls making the show are human and are therefore subject to the numerous flaws inherent. Carlton Cuse said that he and Damon felt the Charlotte thing fell under the category of “Acceptable goofs” and I have to be honest it’s not really something that’s kept me up at night. Before this season I was talking to my uncle about how going forward we’re probably going to have to forgive the writers on occasion for oversights to varying to degrees (Charlotte’s story being the biggest one right now) and I still think that’s true. What some fans hold as important (Libby’s story being a great example) may simply not be a part of the overall story they’re trying to tell. Should it be their goal to answer every question? Yes, absolutely. But I don’t think that’s exactly a realistic possibility. It remains to be seen what percentage of the show’s mysteries are going to be revealed outright and what percentage are going to be half answered or not answered at all. Damon often talks about the Star Wars “mitochlorion” (sp?)thing and I feel that we’re going to have to put up with a few mysteries that aren’t revealed because the answer would rob the mystery of its magic. Frustrating, I know.

If the show had a more linear story telling motif I’m certain there would be fewer continuity issues but then it would be a different show and most likely not the one we’ve all come to know and love. Would it be as good? Maybe but maybe not, that’s not really a question anyone can answer with any degree of certainty.

Also, I disagree with your idea that the 1970s stuff should have been placed in season one. If so, there would have been no emotional investment in our castaways. The plane crash would have lost its ultimate dramatic flavor — very anticlimatic.

If I could suggest one thing to the writers for revision, I would have liked to have seen one of the castaways discovers the Dharma group photo with Hurley, Jack and Kate back in seasons 3 or 4.

Of course, that’s the show how I want it to be, not how it is, so…..

That’s certainly the ethos of Season 5, and previously, going back to Ms. Hawkings’ first appearance in Flashes Before Your Eyes and last year’s The Constant. And it was first posed in the Man of Science / Man of Faith duality between Jack & Locke. We’re no doubt going to see additional permutations of this in the next few episodes, as Sayid the torturer tortures himself with the knowledge that he created what he had tried to destroy. “Destiny is a bitch.”

But no way is that the final word. Lindelof is a Star Wars fanatic after all. Sure, he’s got that Alan Moore tragically flawed heroes overlay, but deep down inside, he’s all about channelling Luke Skywalker. I’m betting that’s going to be the series payoff in Season 6: one of the Losties is going to finally break the arc of time so carefully– and ultimately futilely– welded in place by Hawking, Jacob, Christian, Faraday, Widmore, etc.

In the end, my money’s still on free will.

It’s ultimately not a big deal, but hey, there’s a sub-section of the fandom that cares about that stuff and TPTB make a big deal out of when stuff is made, when events are happening on TV’s in the background etc., so we should ding ‘em when they get it wrong.

2. Yes, exactly. Jack knows squat about where security is housed, where Sayid is being kept, what’s happening to Sayid, what’s planned for Sayid etc. Canon shows that little Ben was the one visiting him, and was the one who broke him out. There was no sign Jack had a hand in the planning, timing, or execution of any part of the escape. Are we to suppose Jack was in collusion with little Ben (who did most of the grunt work) when we have been given no reason to believe he’s even met him yet? What was Kate’s mission? To wait to distract Sawyer from the diversion Jack was supposedly implementing? But Sawyer is the one who changed his mind and went to see her. Is she supposed to be psychic?

Sorry, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why have Jack be an unseen part of the rescue mission (the day after he’s landed back on the island and has no clue about Dharma, how it operates and what to expect, mind) in which little Ben appears to be the sole orchestrator on screen, only to have Jack’s (and Kate’s apparently) role be completely off screen. Why not construct some equally whacky theory that has Hurley filling the Dharma bus with a flambed baked Alaska to help make it more combustible too. Why not add him into the scenario while we’re at it? He looked shifting eating those waffles. We don’t know where he was shacking up. Dun dun dun. HE was behind the door.

Loved the parallels with Confidence Man and Sawyer and Sayid being in different positions. And thanks for the reminder of Walt firing the raft, since some people seemed to think Ben’s actions proved he was going to grow up to be a devil.

Personally I felt the episode touched upon the nature vs nurture argument, and the Hitler paradox really well without taking any strong stance, just letting the audience muse on it instead.

The Dharma fashion catwalk gave me a good giggle. I am right behind you there, can’t stand the jumpsuits. I’ve definitely had enough of this society that pretends to be all harmony and warm fuzzy outwardly, but underneath there’s all this fear and paranoia and distrust of anything that doesn’t conform. There are secrets that they seem to want to protect at all costs.

Sawyer did his best, he was truly between a rock and a hard place, trying three times to help Sayid in a way that would minimize the danger and risk to everyone else he was protecting. But in the end, Sayid had his own will and his own plans.

I do think Sayid has now helped create the monster who grows up to become Ben Linus, machiavellian mastermind.

I feel as though Sawyer grew too comfortable and complacent in his Dharma life with Juliet. He is going to have to wake up to the fact that it was still all based on a lie, and eventually that ‘reality’ is going to crumble and possibly turn them into suspects if he doesn’t formulate an exit strategy too. He had 15 years to plan for the Purge, but the arrival of his old comrades have suddenly shifted the timetable in terms of shit hitting fan outcomes.

best LOST-recap-quote ever! Thanks a lot!

I think you’re 100% wrong on this. Ben didn’t want Sayid to go into the past to attempt murder on 12 year old Ben. Sayid had always attempted murder on 12 yo Ben. Ben used Sayid to kill because that is what Sayid is, a killer. If Sayid could kill a 12 yo boy, Sayid is the perfect man to do Ben’s bidding in the future.

The producers spoke of this in the podcast. If you go back in time to kill Hitler and you fail, you could of created Hitler in the first place. So actually trying to kill him turns him into the thing you tried to prevent…

1. What if Sawyer was actually going to Jack’s place as a last resort to ask for his help to save Sayid? It would then make sense that Kate closed the door (she closed it way before the car ran by) so Sawyer wouldn’t dare come in and find out that Jack wasn’t there (I doubt Jack would’ve set the VW on fire without letting Kate know). Yes, I think Jack pulled the trick himself (with or without Lil’ Ben’s help). Kate didn’t go back for Jack because she knew he wasn’t there.
2. When did exactly Jack release Sayid? Lil’ Ben released him, didn’t he?
3. I don’t get why would Jack be an illusionist…

I’m curious, why?