They've obviously been monitoring them. For starters we had Ethan Rom (fun with anagram "other man") sneaking around amongst them. We also know they were monitoring the tailies since they essential swiped all of the children. It seems that they are simply prepetuating the experiments of the Dharma initiative by seeing how the survivors react to various situations.

That Ben knows what he has demonstrated he seems to know about the survivors suggests to me that none of them are genuinely there accidentally - which the show has hinted previously as we see how several of them were connected to someone else (e.g. Sawyer having drinks with Jack's dad).

The show's creators have repeatedly called all of those criss-crossing paths and prior connections "easter eggs" for those who really watch the show in detail.

Sadly, I take that to mean that most of the major coincidences of the past three seasons *don't* have some singlular underlying explanation, but are just there for our amusement.

don't think this was brought up.

the reason i think locke was wet is because he took the submarine to another location and swam back. therefore not actually blowing up the submarine.

I kind of expected that after season 2 started. They're fun, but little else.

It's the stuff on the island that ultimately needs to be accounted for.

Same thing with the Dharma shark unfortunately. They mention on the dvd that it was just an easter egg and they didn't expect people to notice.

I think it would be intense if Cooper was revealed as the real Sawyer, as everybody expects, and Sawyer (James Ford) on the island finds out which could pave way for a flashback story and a conclusion to his whole "letter to Mr. Sawyer" storyline that's been there since Season One ... plus, it'll be nice for someone to just give that fucking asshole his due, assuming Sawyer would probably kill him after reading him the letter.

damn, i didnt even think about that. awesome theory though. that would make sense because i really dont want to think that locke is actually as selfish as the sub's destruction would make him out to be.

what makes you think they're (the show's creators) not lying to us? thay dont have to tell us the truth until its actually shown on screen. they could be just telling us everything is a red herring because they like to screw with the fans. they know how rabid the fanbase is and how everyone likes to dissect every episode to the point of screen capping each frame. its all a ruse. they dont have to be truthful about anything. its the hardcore fans that take their quotes and make them part of the lost gospel. i'd actually be really surprised if they were telling the truth about these connections being "coincidental".

Guys, everything that Ben and the Others have known about the Oceanic survivors is information that would be in school transcripts, police reports, medical records, etc. It's not like they know the name of Locke's pet goldfish that died when he was seven or Sayid's high school sweetheart. It's all, "I know your name is John Smith, and that you grew up in North Dakota, and that you graduated from Stanford with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and that you broke your back eight years ago, and that you're on the lam for killing your father when you were 15."

It doesn't mean the plane was "brought" there by the Others (indeed, the show has strongly implied that Desmond alone is responsible for that, because he didn't press the button in time and the magnetic force reeled in the plane). The Others could have easily gained access to a copy of the manifest after the crash (either directly or through some external connection, like news reports) and, because they had satellite communication to the outside world before the "anomaly" (the magnetic implosion of the hatch), they could have just run extensive and thorough background checks on them all. They had already sent some of their own to infiltrate the group, with one of the goals probably to become familiar with their names.

There are no clones or any other such nonsense. They crashed on the island, and the Others most likely simply reacted to a potential new threat.

The coolest thing about this episode is that it revived my personal theory that the island provides immortality.

The only thing that bothers me is that if they have this much info on the survivors, they have to know that there are no ulterior motives why they're there. The plane crashed. Simple as that. However, like you pointed out, the Others are reacting to them as if they're a threat that's looking to change the Others' way of life. When in actuality, if they had a way off the island, everyone (with the exception of maybe Locke) would leave with a quickness.

Why not just get them off the island and be done with it?

As I said before, when Tom and Jack first met and Tom said "this is our island" Jack should've said "you could have it...we want to get the hell off of it".

perhaps the Others want to keep the island, and it's location, secret. If so, then the discovery/rescue of the crash survivors would not be desirable.

I guess I'm the only who really didn't like this episode. :(

I thought it just created more questions (I want answers!). I also didn't like that Locke's dad was there at the end. I guess, I keep hoping there is a non-fantastical explanation for everything - that there's not some mysterious box that creates want people want in it, etc...

I just want there to be a rational explanation for everything - I don't want the island to be some sci fi creation that couldn't exist in the real world. But the story line keeps going there. I want to resist it but its probably way past time to do so.

Exactly. The most complicated thing would be that smoke monster, and even then, in time, I'm sure we'll be able to come up with a reasonable explanation for. ...Or maybe not.

Wouldn't it be pretty obvious if there was no wreckage?

Great episode, this season is really building and building.
Probably the best season yet; Seasons 1 and 2 had a lot more crap IMO.

ya i guess there would be wreckage, i dunno.

also how are people gettin that lockes dad is also sawyers dad?

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the short wordless scene in which Rousseau, hiding in the jungle, saw her daughter Alex for the first time since she was a baby. That was a very touching scene, yet not overdone as most shows would do.

Why can't sci-fi also be rational? That's what makes it a different genre than fantasy. This aspect of the show is nothing new - the very first episode introduced us to the invisible monster. I'd be disappointed if the explanation for everything turned out to be mundane, and didn't have an element of the fantastic in it.

Tell that to:
Boone
Shannon
Ecko
Ana Lucia
Ethan
Libby

He's not Sawyers dad. He might be the original Sawyer though. The con man that Sawyer named himself after....

after watching this episode a second time I've noticed 2 things...

1-When Locke was going into Bens refrigerator to get chicken, you see many Dharma products. Could this mean that the others are Dharma?

2-Ben states jack made a deal with him and he was letting him go home in the morning....no one said what Jack had to do though (usually a deal consists of favors from both sides)

Let's not forget Kelvin, and Mikhail, Klugh, Goodwin, etc etc.

Wouldn't that have been saving Ben?

Locke is either Gilligan or a Genius. Not sure which one as of yet ...

i don't think so. The deal was if jack saved Ben then Ben would let Kate and Sawyer go.

That was in exchange for not killing Ben.

But, if you recall, they also made a deal that if Jack did the operation Ben would let him leave the island.