Yeah, at least the blonde chick is going to be a regular. Nice first line: "Jack is gone? When were you going to tell us this Hurley?"

Didn't he just get into camp like a minute earlier?

here is the id:

What makes it even stranger is that Locke actually gave the speech, Desmond wasn't close enough to hear it.

BTW, did anyone other than Hurley interact with Desmond? Can't remember, but maybe he's not really there.

Nice work, redrum.
Well, he's clearly not a Shepard (or however you spell Jack's last name).
So much for that theory......

Yes, Locke sees him stealing through the woods.

The Canadian preview trailer for next week shows a lot more (beware spoilers):
http://www.lostlinks.net/videos/promo2.htm

Putting the id thing aside, Jack's mother is still alive.

Oh yeah, I did forget that. Good memory!

Eddie was lying about his mom being dead and his dad being a drunk...it was a line to get Locke to empathize with him. They knew Locke's history, so they were EXPLOITING it to get Eddie in undercover - thought that was pretty clear.

MATT

Any ideas why Desmond's clothes are gone?

Wow, I didn't even catch that! I knew there was something strange about that line.

Playing devil's advocate here, since I actually believe Desmond's alive, but Locke saw and heard a lot of things no one else did in this ep...

Tequila

Oh totally. He just asked whether anyone else saw Desmond.

I doubt it since, as was mentioned earlier, Locke caught a glimpse of Desmond earlier in the episode. But this is something to consider. Hurley has been known to see and talk to people who weren't actually there before. Will be interesting to see if other people interact with Desmond in future episodes.

Pretty sure Desmond was real, unlike Dave, who I think was just Smokey.

WTF was up with Charlie's hair? Worst.Haircut.Ever.

Did they even try to keep continuity?

Hurley didn't

He's trying to bring back the mullet!

You're probably right, but it is possible that Desmond was Smokey as well (for this episdoe at least.)

Chalk me up as one who loved this ep by the way... Really dug Locke going all Colonel Kurtz in the tent.

I must admit to being slightly disappointed in this episode. Though I enjoyed some elements of it, it never really added up to a satisfying whole, in my eyes. I thought the first two episodes of the season were among the best in the series. This was still a decent episode, and quite a bit better than the worst episodes of last season.

I can't wait until next week to see more of the prisoners.

So how much weight did Hurley lose?

Pure speculation on my part considering that I refuse to read any info on upcoming plotlines or spoilers but, I'm willing to bet the next few episodes stay compartmentalized until the hiatus finale when all the stories and characters converge for the rescue.

I think Kate looks best next to me...

I'll put up with earthquakes just to stay in Hawaii for this kind of stuff...

Okay... let's talk about the episode "Further Instructions." I thought it was a "blah" episode. Not bad, but not that good either. It had a good start. Charlie's lines were really funny for a change. Maybe it was better that Locke was mute. I liked the Boone vision. The flashback was pretty good up until the end. It really does look like they cut the scene prematurely. Bringing back the polar bear was a bit weird. I thought the "daring rescue" was going to be for Jack & the gang but I guess that's coming next week. And my worst fears have come true: Rodrigo Santoro and Kiele Sanchez are survivors we never ever saw before but kind of "popped up" all of a sudden. Maybe in Season 4, Gary Coleman and Danny Bonaduce (playing themselves) will also be part of the survivors. They were there ALL this time, but we just never saw them up until now...

Next week's episodes looks good. I find the Others very intriguing and that's why I liked the first two episodes of this season.