What about this coincidence, not just the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 but also how much money Hurley has 156 million...dont add them up as the whole numbers they are but add them up by every digit.

4+8+1+5+1+6+2+3+4+2+1+5+6=48

There were 48 survivors right? Pretty weird coincidence

I wonder not just what the numbers mean, but also where they came from. Perhaps they are code for a word where each number represents a letter...that would make it pretty tricky cause you'd have to solve the formula first, then figure out what the word means

The "Object" did not transmit the numbers, the Radio Tower by the "Black Rock" did the transmition.

he knew the dr. personally so that's why I think that he was a patient.

uh-oh

I have to wonder how many lottery tickets with those numbers will be sold in the next few days? I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we have the "real life" winner who thanks Lost.

Wow, what a great episode. Seems like all the "coincidences" are coming together.

To Sayid, "She says, Hi." Just really loved that line.

Thank goodness for dvr's. My son and I caught the box company reference and my wife kept requesting that we replay the last scene.

How in the world did Claire not figure out what Locke was building? Seemed real obvious to me.

Much anger in our household that we have to wait til April to see more new episodes.

My brother-in-law is pissed, because he finally was able to get caught up on all of his shows and get my nieces to bed early enough so he could sit down and watch Lost/Alias in HD for the first time (he just had his HDTV ISF-calibrated a couple of weekends ago). And KDNL ABC 30 never flipped the HD switch. He said it was upconverted standard-def in 4:3. By looking at the thread over at AVS, he isn't the only one livid w/ our shitty ABC station.

He did say the episode was awesome.

Did they ever say why Hurley was falsely arrested?

Wrong last number.

So his real name is Hugo Reyes? Am I remembering that right? So what could Hurley mean now that we know about some relation to an institution? Also his mother mentioned he was gaining weight again. Maybe he had an eating disorder and hurled a lot Or maybe he tried to hurl himself off a building and kill himself?

So the guys at the listening post heard the numbers from the distress signal. Why would the French woman put them in a distress signal?

She didn't. She stated that the radio tower was broadcasting those numbers before she arrived on the island. She changed the recording and replaced it with her distress call after her crew "vanished".

a couple of thoughts i had:

Do Boone and Locke know about the numbers? I find it hard to believe they don't because if was digging somethong out by hande, i think i'd notice some numbers clearly marked on the side of what i was looking at.

My first thought on hurley's ties to the loony bin was that he was an employee. You would think that he'd get so defense to make sure that he wasn't associated with the people he worked with.

maybe 42 was not a option..so 24 was?..?

Very interesting. It's finally nice to see the background story on Hurley or should I say Hugo Reyes.

I can't believe I have to wait until April 13th for new episodes.

BTW, I'm in the dark as to the significance of the numbers, why the radio tower was transmitting it, why people using these numbers suddenly become rich while at the same time being a lighting rod of bad luck, why the hatch has those numbers inscribed at the side.

Okay - now I'm confused. They guys in the listening post said all they heard was static. Then the distress call - the French woman's. How did they know about the numbers then?

Maybe a man named Hurley conned his mother and and drove his father to murder suicide, then young Hugo swore he would never become that man, but then he did, so he took the name Hurley. Just a guess...

The woman in Australia that Hurley talked to said that her husband and the guy in the institution heard the numbers in the static.

OK.

There is something off-kilter with Locke. We still don't know what happened with him and whatever the hell the monster is on the island.

I think that Hurley was a patient as well. Just fits better IMO.

I guess Walt has no fear of not being paid. Interesting to see how Hurley has extreme luck with money (he fell into it, and has doubled it in a short amount of time), but bad luck with everything else.

I have a new guess on the rumoured death on the island:

I didn't know there was a doubt about him being a patient or an employee? It seemed fairly obvious he was there for a short stint. As an employee he would have gone through the proper channels to visit a patient...at least that's how I saw it...it never creeped into my mind that he may be a former employee.

For years the men heard nothing but static...then 16 years ago the numbers started repeating through the static...AT THE SAME TIME the French crew heard the transmission and changed course to investigate...they wrecked on the island...after everyone else was dead, the French woman changed the message being transmitted from the numbers to her distress call.

BUT...why hasnt the Navy listening post picked up the French distress call? Is it a coincidence that 16 years ago the Cold War started winding down and the Navy might have abandoned the post?

An employee would have known the patients last name, have had a better relationship with the lady who worked reception, and wouldnt leave to work at a fried chicken place and move in with his mother.

I assumed he was a patient all along