I wonder if there's a connection between Desmond not leaving any tracks and the Others.

I can't agree with this. Jin has no other method of communication. He needs to learn English or not be able to understand just about everything people are saying. Plus he is surrounded by people speaking English all day long. There's no shortage of opportunity to practice.

Why would Michael learn Korean? He's not cut off from his society by an inability to communicate. There's 40 other people who he can talk to. Not understanding one guy is a mere inconvience, not motivation to learn a new language. I'm sure he's making no effort to learn Korean (other than maybe a few words just for kicks). Jin on the other hand is probably working very hard to learn English just so he can talk with people again.

I had close friends in college who were from Kuwait. I was close to them for 4 years. At the end of those 4 years, I couldn't really say anything in Arabic other than Hi. So I think it make perfect sense that Michael isn't really picking up Korean.

No..Obi Wan showed her to her mother briefly, so she COULD remember her being sad...

No..wait.. I mean... The bear was a gift from mom, whether she knew her or not. Like, it was in the crib when she was taken, and the captors left it there. She grew up with this bear and keeps it as reminder of the time before she became an "other." (Assuming she knows she's not the kid of any of those dirty leg people and dreams of meeting her real mother some day.)

I'm still leaning toward the passing group being the "Others" and their prisoners - as half had pants and half did not.

I'm not convinced that his name is Dr. Ako. On closed captioning, it was something like Misterico. Or maybe he was saying "Mr. Ako" and closed captioning had the wrong letters, though that doesn't happen that often on pre-recorded shows.

And I'm dying to see the eventual episode where Dr. Ako (if that's his name) and John Locke meet up and work together on some project (like hunting or whatever).

Few things I'd like to answer to:

Mich-Rod called Adebisi "Echo" (sp?) when she told Saywer confidently "Echo will be back."

The shoes Sun wanted to wear and her mom took away: orange??

I kept waiting to see Sun wearing the orange flower that BaldKoreanMan took from Jin in her hair or something.

Someone kind of said this and I agree that the point of the view of the Others from the thighs down was to show not only that they're barefoot, but that they walk quietly, and lightly so as not to make tracks or be heard. They could come and go as they please, going undetected in the process.

As far as the Others having a prisoner(s): I might be wrong but I thought when I watched the episode that I saw someones feet roped or chained together? Can someone check that?

I thought the backstory was relevant to the island plotlines in showing how Jin went from simple fishing town "nothing" to Korean mafia strong arm. He is quite capable of adapting, highly motivated and could certainly surprise people with what he is capable of.

This season, I think, even moreso than last, emphasizes the recurring "chance" theme among all the characters. Winning the lotto, the kid has to pee on Jin's shift, he bumps into Sun while gawking at another hottie, Jack's future wife being a 1 in a million recovery story etc.

I also enjoyed Locke's little speech to Sun. Eery little advice session. You find things when you stop looking? How much more relevant can you get?

Lastly, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Even the sub-par episodes of Lost are better than the best episodes of the overwhelmingly vast majority of other shows.

See you all in 3 weeks.

It's been reported on The Futon Critic that his name is "Emeka" (like the Charlotte Bobcat's Emeka Okafor).

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr...=20050727abc01

Ok, I know this is nitpicking, but I thought that when Sun met and later went on the date with the owner of the hotel who had been educated at Harvard, that she should have spoken English with him to impress him with what she knows. I can see her not speaking English with Jin because he doesn't know it and she doesn't want to upstage him.

As far as whether his name is Mr. Ako, Emeka, Misterico, or whatever, ABC is still calling him "Mysterious Island Man". I'm waiting for them (or imdb) to make a final name determination.

I thought Sun only learned English after deciding to leave Korea, so she would be able to survive in America or wherever she was trying to get to.

that was my understanding

Actually, it's three great actors from "Angel."

Here are a pair of screencaps from Josh Holloway's brief appearance as the third vampire ever to get dusted on "Angel," about three minutes into the debut episode, "City Of":

Correct. She didn't learn English until she was ready to leave Jin.

Good point. Since we know Jin's story, I thought, despite his size, Mr. Echo was going down.

Remember the promos for the second season said, "everything happens for a reason," This is more the theme for this season and really the whole series. That is why they show the flashbacks, to help put all the pieces together.

BTW, the reason Jin turned to look at the woman in the orange dress was because his friend told him that he would find the love of his life today and to look for the color orange. When he turned to look, he bumped into Sun. This is not a 'chance' thing more a 'fate' thing.

Very nice episode.

The child holding the teddy bear could be a girl or a boy.

ABC is calling him Eko:

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/205.html

Do you think Michael will find Walt now he has stopped looking.

VERY slow episode but I liked it nonetheless!

The only thing I found sort of funny was that Eko asked Jin about his wedding ring but made no mention of THE BROKEN HANDCUFF AROUND HIS WRIST!

Or did I miss something?

Sam

OK, Eko makes sense. Eko is the former name of Lagos, which is the largest city in, and the former capital of, Nigeria.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos

When he wispered his name, he must have said "Mr. Eko".

Oooh. Good thinking.

Below is a major spoiler link. It is a purported second Dharma Video. Again, I warn you that this is a major spoiler.

http://hem.bredband.net/b293146/Hans...ion4-16-81.wmv

If you watched the above, further discussion, spoilerized:

Shouldn't all of that be in the Lost General Discussion thread?

Yikes. You are right. Since I can't report my own posts, could you report the threads and ask a mod to move them on my behalf?

Yeah another fat guy only good for one liners. Maybe we can get Louie dressed up as hamburger in a dream sequence. Somehow I thought Lost was more original then that. I'm just saying there is more to a person then just one side. I think Hurley has more to offer even if he's not a doctor. I hope they explore that side.

Josh -- your final link (READ THIS READ THIS) doesn't work. Can you fix? I'd really like to read it.