Everybody has their own theories about what's happening on this show, which is great, since it leads to a lively discussion.

However, it's when people starts thinking that only their theories are right and everybody else is wrong, when this thread becomes less fun and annoying.

DarkestPhoenix, you think that Locke hit Sayid, that's great but don't start knocking other people oppinions or theories since only time will tell who's right. So please spare me your condenscending attitude...

I also believe we will see how more people crossed paths before the flight. None of the other flashbacks have hinted at being false in any way, so I see no reason for Boone's to be. I believe the flashback was all real, everything after getting untied was not. At this point, no one would remember previously seeing each other.

I was under the impression myself that the compass isn't necessarily faulty. Sayid said it was broken if an off-handish way, as if he didn't believe it, but was not willing to admit there was something else weird going on with it.

Well, when I'm watching Law and Order, and twelve minutes in, one of the random cops in circulation cuffs a guy and says, "Gary Berman, you're under arrest for the murder of Amy Taylor," I don't rush to the forums and post something like, "Guys...you know...I don't think this Gary guy is really the killer." If it's obvious, why take the time during a commercial break or whatever to post "wow, this is obvious"? For all I knew, the 'dream' was going to be over 2 or 3 minutes later. At any point during the ordeal, I could've said the same thing. Why would it be worth running around my house to post about a plot point that could turn out to be completely inconsequential? I don't really get the appeal of mid-episode-message-board-discussion anyway, to be honest.

I was suckered into thinking that she was dead.

And I'm with whoever said that they didn't sleep together, and that's why she was pissed.

I was just waiting for the song 'I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight' by The Cutting Crew to play in the background.

"Couple that with the faulty compass he gave him."

I don't think the compass was faulty. Even Sayid joked that it might not be. The reason: Locke would know that Sayid would notice the compass was screwed up right after he gave it to him. Sayid is too smart for that. There's no way he could trick him into thinking otherwise. All he had to do was look down and compare it to his homemade compass. Then take into consideration what Locke said about the compass, he doesn't need it anymore. Why would he not need it if it was working correctly? At first I thought that he just had been all over the island, but I don't think that's it. And why doesn't the map make sense? Sayid seemed to hint the map wasn't right at all. Now why take all the time on a deserted island to make a map and make a fake one? For something as detailed as the one Sayid has, it would be a LOT of trouble for someone stuck on an island to make up a fake one. It all doesn't add up. My crazy thought, going with the wish fulfillment that seems to be going on, was maybe the island moves at the whim of a master. If Locke has figured this out, that would explain a lot of things. But, it's just a crazy idea and I'm sure they'll be some other reason.

Ineed, Locke would not make a simple minded slipup like that. Locke would obviously know what Sayid would and would not figure out.

Good idea!

When Sayid asked Locke "what do Webelos do?" I was really hoping Locke would answer "They wobble but they don't fall down" - an old Scouting flashback.

I can get on board with that.

How about the whole show is taking place inside Jack's dad's head? He isn't really dead, just in a coma. And it is really a medical show about a father son team? Top that one Zombie lovers!

Uh, am I the only one who's almost sure it was "Ethan" who did that?

People say Locke doesn't want to leave the island because he can now walk, but unless this is some magical island (which we're told its not), he should still be able to walk if/when they get off the island.

Isn't it possible that instead of it being a magical fairy island, that there is something large, metal, and magnetic buried underground? Whatever the hatch leads to, for example? Which is why Locke shows such an interest in it?

Didn't Sayid or Locke mention something along the lines of "a magnetic source would change the angle of the compass by 1-2 degrees, but not that much"? Or am I making stuff up again?

During Boone's dream sequence when Shannon was killed, I was thrilled that the writers had taken the show to a new level...that didn't last long.

It's been weeks since the writers focused back on Jin and Sun, but it's better that they continue to tell the stories of those that play prominently in the storylines.

The season is progressing rapidly, so how many of these backstories will they give before moving on to some real suspenseful storylines. They have to give some background on Michael (Hurley is optional as he's really comic relief).

The next episode deals with the backstory for Michael and Walt.

They said that, but if it's something truly massive, I don't think that's the case.

Ryan already went out with his other pseudo-aunt, Marissa, so what's another one?

The step-siblings, siblings-in-law issue: genetically, the being-related-by-blood is the real issue. But to me, the growing-up-together-from-a-young-age-as-siblings is just as big of an issue. If their parents got married when they were adults, that's one thing, but they were 8 or 9, right?

I kept telling myself that it was a dream, but they kept going further and further with it... my TIVO cut off right after they showed Shannon back at camp, and thankfully I recorded Alias anyway, but I'd be ticked if it cut off before that scene... I wouldn't have known the big reveal at all!

So what's Locke's reasoning behind keeping the door a "secret" from the rest of the people? I can see him forming sides and gaining loyalties, but he has no idea what's in that thing, and he has no reason to keep it a secret and garner suspicion from others...

My brain is failing here, but when Sayid got hit, was that when he woke up in the camp of the French chick? If so, and if it WERE Locke that did it, could Locke have put that goo on Sayid and made him hallucinate the French girl like he did with Boone?

sayid got hit with the shovel, then came all the stuff with torturing sawyer, THEN he left to chart the island and got caputred by the french woman.

and since sawyer and jack remember the torturing, it really happened, it wasn't just in his mind.

So, to organize some thoughts:

1) Locke and Boone find a buried object.
2) The object is large enough to be a chamber.
3) The object has a "window" but no obvious "hatch" or "handle."
4) Boone wants to open it.
5) Boone wants to tell others about it.
6) Locke is reluctant to tell others.
7) Locke decides he needs Boone as an ally. Locke considers Boone a liability?
8) Locke concocts a plan to indoctrinate Boone.
9) Locke knows Boone will have a vision.
10) Locke knows that this vision will give Boone clarity.
11) Locke believes that this clarity will make Boone his ally.

How did Locke know 9, 10, and 11 would be true?

Probably by what he saw when he encounterd the "monster" or had his vision. He said in a later episode something about "looking into the eye of the island and it was bliss" to paraphrase horribly.

Okay, which brings up my next point, which is that we now have proof of a hallucination on the island.

A) What is suspicious enough to be counted as a hallucination?
- Jack sees his father and a coffin: never happened.
- Sayid spends time with a French woman: never happened?
- Claire says someone in the cave messed with her: never happend?
- Boone sees his sister get killed: certainly never happened.
- ?

B) What initiates the hallucination? Locke says the island but he's presumably insane. Does the monster really initiate them? Are people just accidentally eating/drinking something they shouldn't, inducing their hallucinations? Or did Locke somehow initiate all of them botanically? For example, did he surreptitiously drug a person here or there to see how they would react and see if they were worthy to enter his inner circle? Or maybe he plans on leading a cult and he wants some people to be predisposed to accepting his beliefs of a magic island?

C) To a certain extent, this explains the wish fulfillment undercurrent that runs through the show. It's definitely a theme on the show, but now we have two aspects of it: the dramatic element, whereby people stranded on an island have time to ponder their inner demons and come to terms with themselves, and the mysterious element, whereby people have a hallucinatory experienced based on their own desires and it affects their future actions on the island.

D) Case in point: Boone needs to let go of his sister. He hallucinates that his sister dies and, surprisingly, he feels relieved. This gives him clarity, and it appears to have taken.

E) Case in point: Jack needs to bury his father, but that wish is destroyed when the plane crashes. So, he hallucinates that he sees his father and he finds his coffin. But, because he subconsciously realizes that burying him will not solve any of his issues, he finds the coffin empty. He now has clarity on that issue, but is still in denial. (Note, he destroys the [nonexistent] coffin and he compulsively buries the marshall even while every other corpses are burned.)

F) Case in point: Sayid wants desperately to find out who sent the distress signal, and when his triangulation plan is foiled, he hallucinates that he finds the actual person who sent the distress call. He hallucinates that he found maps and documents pertaining to the island. His hallucination ends, and there is nothing to contradict his belief that it really happened. He now has to find out why the maps don't make any sense (because he made them up), why the writing is nonsensical, and what the voices in the jungle are.

Sorry if it was taken as condescending, I'm just saying that if it was the french chick...ugh. It'd make my stomach turn, because it doesn't mesh at ALL with the continuity. I'm just saying look at the facts, is all. Not trying to be a bastard. Also, I think I'm right because the evidence I provided does everything but prove it. Ethan as the real hitter would be a better theory than the french woman.

However, JJ has been pretty good about providing alternate, meshing explainations in his history.

You're right, of course. But the same thing is true for the people who didn't know.

I'm saying that ALL the people who DID post about the events of the episode in real time were bamboozled. Surely one of the many, many, MANY posters who says now "I knew, 'cuz I'm a genius," after the fact could have so easily posted, as well. Seeing a lack of even ONE is what makes me suspect. There's more people who knew than who didn't, now? That's what I'm contesting. If so, there would have been one on here, considering the biggest fans are the ones who do the mid-episode-posting.

I'm just saying, I don't believe all you guys knew. But nice try.

And anyone saying, "Yes I did! I knew, I knew! I KNEW, DAMMIT!" comes off looking overly defensive. I could go over the posts and the ones who didn't say anything are probably the ones who really did know. I know I wouldn't give a shit if some poster didn't believe me. That's what I save the word 'Whatever' for. As a matter of fact, I don't really care about this argument, either. Too bad I've already written so much.

Other than that, it's a subject that's dropped. I may have to stop posting in the episode threads, though. So much drama! Theory threads are my forté.

Any Lost fan is still great, though.

I have NO IDEA what you guys are talking about with the whole 'Boone/Shannon never did it' theory!

Shannon has played off Boones love for her for years...milking money out of his 'knight in shining armor' act. Shannon finally gets caught (and gets scammed herself) so she fears that Boone will tell his mom and have her pre-existing allowance cut off.

Shannon, broke, and now fearing that she has lost the Boone angle, shows up at his hotel and bangs him in order to draw him back in. She knows that no matter how pissed he was, the memories of that night will spur him on to bail her aout in the future.

After sex, Shannon says, "When we get back to LA, lets have everything go back to normal" basically telling him 'Forget everything you caught me doing, and keep chasing me with mom's money'

Boone, PISSED AT HIMSELF BECAUSE HE'S BACK WHERE HE STARTED, sheepishly says 'Like its all up to you'

It IS all up to Shannon, she flaunted the p***y in front of him for years, and when she screwed up beyond all hope, she gave him a taste of it as a 'Get out of jail free' card.

When the plane crashes, Shannon is PISSED AT BOONE because she screwed him, and on an island where his checkbook means nothing, he's just a useless loser who she fucked out of necessity. He's gonna get in the way, Sawyer, Said, and others can DO more for Shannon, but now she's stuck with Boone hanging on her ass.

Her plan is to continue to abuse him until a rescue boat comes, and as its pulling into the port of LA, bat her eyes at him and start the whole cycle over.

Shannon's basically a prostitute, and DEFINATLLY slept with Boone.