I was disappointed that they (seemingly) killed off Rousseau as well. She was one of my favorite characters and it seems like there was a lot more story to tell there. Hopefully she's not really dead.

But even if she is, that doesn't mean we'll never see her again. Naomi has been in almost every episode this season despite the handicap of being dead. And how many episodes has Christian Shepard been in? He died before the first episode!

I can't remember - was the old man the same in both Michael's dream and reality?

Eh, what can I say. I don't care about AI either. I just want them to put it on any day at 8pm or 9pm. IIRC, NCIS has no trouble getting 12m+ on Tuesdays and Criminal Minds with 11/12m+ on Wednesday against AI. That in addition to the fact that I think there's so much worthless crap in primetime, makes the move to 10pm just piss me off a purely selfish level.

Widmore's probably lying to Frank then. And he probably hired Frank so he wouldn't go to the press with his wild story of "That's not the pilot of flight 815!"

It's just a theory, but I think Widmore's got a nasty death planned for Frank once he's outlived his usefulness. Jeff Fahey has been listed as a guest star during this whole season. The actors playing Faraday, Miles and Charlotte on the other hand are listed as regulars...

But remember how hard it is to reach the island. It looked like there were quite a few people surrounding Carl, Danielle & Alex. It would've taken several trips on the 'copter and who knows how long plus it would be dangerous each time (they had to bail out the first time). Then, there's the issue of them using blowdarts instead of guns just like The Others did before. I'm 99.9% positive that these are Ben's people from the Temple.

Any ideas on what the back of Michael's watch said or how he got it? I don't seem to remember Jin giving him one, but I could be wrong.

Edit: Nevermind...guess it was Jin's watch...

I didn't see any blowdarts in this episode. Those were bullets piercing the flesh. Probably with silencers for some odd reason.

Those definitely weren't blowdarts.....

Yeah, for whatever reason when watching it the first time it just seemed like it wasn't the sound of bullets whizzing by (and I've had bullets whizzing above my head in a forest before...not a pleasant experience ), but rewatching it now, it could have been...probably what made it sound like blowdarts or whatever was the bullets ripping through leaves and grass.

Also, when rewatching it after Carl and Danielle are shot, when Alex is looking out, you can see what appears to be gun barrels moving through the grass. And you can see somebody crouching down in one spot, but you can't really tell who it is.

Agreed.

Plus, the fact that if they are from the freighter, how the hell do they happen to be at the same spot as Carl, Danielle, and Alex? The Island is huge. Unless they knew where the temple was and have already killed the remaining others.

I think I agree with this point of view. I just don't think Ben set them up to be killed. It's obvious that there's a showdown coming between the freighter people and those on the island, and Alex's "stop shooting, I'm Ben's daughter" makes sense if they think she's important. If it's "Others" that shot Carl and Danielle, that makes Alex's outburst moot and I don't think they would have put it in there, IMHO.

That patient's ET tube is going to slip out if they don't secure it better than with a piece of tape on his cheeks.

Interesting how the technology changed from Michael's dream state to reality in the hospital. Wonder what's up with that?

I thought there were two important things to make note of from this episode:

1. “The island” seems to have an incredible amount of influence in the real world. Whether through direct intervention of jamming the gun or through more subtle means of distracting Michael with news footage, Mr. Friendly was very confidant in the fact that “the island” was not going to let Michael die. Makes you wonder how much involvement “the island” has exerted in the Losties flashback lives. And whether they were actually brought there intentionally.

2. Mr. Friendly seemed to be able to pick up on Michael’s thoughts and emotions while he was talking to him. He would suddenly realize things about Michael as the conversation would progress. He suddenly realized that Michael had told Walt about the shooting and he realized that Michael was getting cold feet about his mission.

Of course, if Friendly does have some gift, it makes his own death a little puzzling. Seems like he would have picked up on the trap that the Losties had set for him. Maybe the island was done with him at that point.

lol, didn't even notice that. Weird.

After last night's episode I'm convinced that:

I was hoping i wouldn't have to hear - "It's a father's right..."

But, I did!

It makes sense of you think about it. Think about a room you've been in but aren't intimately familiar with. When your mind recreates that room in a dream you are bound to get some details wrong. Now I don't think he actually saw the room until he woke up, so it puzzles me more that he got so many details right.

Just watched the scene again, frame-by-frame, yes, definitely bullets. Don't know what I was thinking with darts. There was even smoke flying up.

There are a few frames with a guy crawling away on his knees but it's too hard to tell who he is at this point.

So, according to Michael people who go on rescue missions don't carry guns?

Obviously it's not a rescue mission, but still a stupid comment.

Yeah. I think he was looking for any reason to go ahead and kill these people.

I think Michael has really turned into a very unsympathetic character throughout the show. He seems to go to moral extremes to make up for past mistakes. He killed Anna Lucia and Libby out of a misguided sense of guilt for not being there for Walt when he was younger. Now he is willing to kill a bunch of people he doesn't know to make amends for original killings.

Alex is pregnant.

Oh, and I think Michael is now by far the front runner for the man in the coffin.

No it wasn't. They should have no idea that there is anything on the island other than stranded people. But it's clear that they do. And maybe a few handguns, but a Heckler & Koch MP5 is a serious warfare weapon.

I agree, he was probably the most obvious choice before, and last night's ep made it seem even more obvious...but it almost seems TOO obvious. I'm still going with Ben for the time being. But the writers have been sort of uncharacteristically straightforward with some of their reveals this season, not throwing us as many curveballs as in the past, so maybe it is Michael.

Why does anyone think that it was the freighter people who killed carl and danielle? Think about it. Why would Ben send Alex off with those two? Because he knows that's the only way she will go. And don't you think that Ben has a way to communicate with the other people in the Temple that Locke and Co. don't know? He's free now so he would have the ability to do so. It's funny that they killed Carl and Danielle with ease yet allow Alex to stand up and yell something out. This was planned by Ben. First, he convinces Locke to let him loose. Then he convinces his daughter to leave with two useless people. Ben is a survivor and leader. He's taking them out one at a time.