RichC2

Anyone else think the losties are just the 3rd batch of an experiment? The Hostiles being the first, Dharma being the second, Survivors being the 3rd.

But whatever We just have to wait for group 4 to show up and wipe out the Losties.

Groucho

Actually, that's exactly what happened when he directed the Office. Suddenly, several posters who hadn't been posting in Office threads turned up praising the episode.

Tommy Ceez

If the bishop blocks the rook the rook can take the bishop but then the knight takes rook, so no checkmate

Actually, the queen is getting taken by the other knight

Patman

The knight is Locke's knight, not the computers (there's a faint outline denoting Locke's pieces), so it won't be taking Locke's rook with bishop block.

Robertwoj

Anybody know what language was spoken between Patchy and the lady?
Can anybody translate it?

Brian Gentz

I'm guessing Russian. I'm guessing you want a literal translation, but I'm just guessing she was telling him to shoot her and then kill himself.

HistoryProf

definitely russian. she was basically saying "do it!" over and over (dyelatz!)

MrX

I thought it was good in terms of moving the mainstory along, ot at least faster than they have been.

The flashback was kind of useless since we knew how Sayid felt about his past.

Keith123

Actually, Black will force a win with Checkmate soon enough. The Rook takes the Bishop with Check and so limits the response for White. The Knight must take the Rook to end the Check but then the Queen can take the Knight and then it is Checkmate. It still doesn't make sense why the Computer showed "Checkmate" on the screen so soon though...

Tommy Ceez

Lock is playing black

Groucho

The game doesn't say "Checkmate" it says "You win". In other words, the computer resigned.

Fok

Man how big is this island?

redrum

Klugh: Mikhail! You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way.
Klugh: We cannot risk. You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way.
Klugh: We cannot risk. You know the conditions.
Mikhail: We have another way.
Klugh: They know us. We will not let them [unintelligible]. You know what to do. It is an order.
Mikhail: But we still have another way! (pause) I'm sorry! (shoots)

hardercore

Thanks for that. We got the gist of what she was saying when she took a bullet in her chest, but it's nice to have a literal translation. Great episode this week. Naveen Andrews gave an excellent performance. The final flashback scene was really moving.

About the CAT, I don't think it was the same cat. But the sight of a similar cat reminded Sayid of this particular point in his life, and showed us how he could show mercy with Patchy.

groovrbaby

Locke was pretty dopey.. He left his unconscious dangerous prisoner to go play some computer chess. Bad writing.

HN

It shows both "You Win" and "Checkmate"

she wanted to save mikhail so she insisted he make the first move to shoot her first and later on when everyone's out of site, she'll regenerate.

pankwindu

Wow, can't believe all the posts on this rather inconsequential issue. (Oh wait, this is a Lost thread, never mind.)

Anyway, the game did actually flash the big red Checkmate box in addition to saying You Win, but other than that, this is the correct answer.

Maybe the programmer in charge of the big red box routine didn't know much about chess and forgot to implement an "I Resign" box.

EDIT: Just rewatched and I have to say, the way Locke's grin and chuckle just slowly bubble to the surface after the win is quite a nice piece of acting; a small moment of small triumph in an otherwise rather bleak environment.

Josh-da-man

I would think that they producers would be a bit more careful about details such as the "checkmate" issue. I wasn't paying very close attention to Locke's chess game, though.

I did cringe a bit last week when the fortune teller pulled the Death card out of the Tarot deck. (The "Death" card is indicitive of change, not someone dying. It's not the "evil" card its usually played out to be in movies and TV.)

Josh-da-man

Anyone else get the impression that the cat was the "monster?"

At the end, it looked like it was "judging" Sayid, much like Yemi was doing to Eko before it killed him. Like Yemi was to Eko, the cat served as a physical manifestation of Sayid's past transgressions. And, where Eko refused to seek abolution from Yemi for his past, the cat was watching Sayid to see if he would kill in cold blood. When Sayid saved his prisoner, the cat/monster spared him.

hardercore

I like that line of thinking, not sure if I'll go with it yet. But I like the idea that the Monster takes the form of things or people from characters' pasts -- Christian Shepherd for Jack, the black horse for Kate, Dave for Hurley, Yemi for Eko, Boone for Locke?

A-aron

add that the cat just happened to be named after Sayid's long-lost love.

pankwindu

You do realize that whole scene was set up by his dad, though. She could have been playing for maximum effect on Hurley, not for strict accuracy. (Imagine... you will soon encounter... a great CHANGE! Booga booga!)

pankwindu

Wait a minute. You are telling me this so-called daughter might be female? What will they think of next on this show!!?

porieux

Great episode!

If the chess game was really a security device and not a game, then it would explain why it would end the game when the 'sequence' had been entered, not necessarily upon an actual 'checkmate'. A real game wouldn't concede until the actual checkmate, obviously, since the player could still make a mistake and lose.

At first I thought maybe Locke was just better at chess than eyepatch guy, but obviously the latter must have known about the C4....

So why did eyepatch guy help Sayid with the wound? He could easily have pretended not to know anything about the subject and not been any more or less suspicious.

maxfisher

I'm glad some people are still getting enjoyment out of the show, but I'm afraid it's getting to the point that I just don't care about it anymore. Of all the bitchy and annoying things Sawyer has done, what the survivors want to change most about him is his nicknames? Locke is so obsessed with a computer he just stumbled upon that he lets himself easily be captured over it? After the hatch, Locke hasn't learned his lesson about dicking around with island computers he doesn't understand? Kate, someone who's been through quite a bit of shit in her life, can't stomach and cries when someone's having a bullet pulled out of their arm?

As far as story progression, I think this episode did a decent job, but some of the characters feel less and less like real people every week. The show went through a similar stretch last year with Sawyer being the new sheriff in town, Charlie turning into a psycho and Locke kicking his ass over it. Thankfully, it seemed to find its footing again after Henry (Ben) was introduced.

It feels to me like some of the writers get story ideas that they really like and feel that it's ok to have the survivors act significantly out of character in service of those ideas. Like I said a couple threads back, I'm still watching because I really want to see how it all turns out, but it's getting harder for me to sit through the show. Unless this season goes through something similar to the capture of Henry last season, I don't see myself buying it on dvd.