Like I said I think dead is dead off the island. Christian was probably a Locke type of situation so his actual body is somewhere on the island. Claire "died" on the island so it's an "infection"

How does that work with characters not affected by the "flash" such as the stewardess who remained on the island after the crash of 815 or the new Other from last night that remembers Kate from three years earlier?

I don't quite get the 'filler' comments either. Just because they aren't doling out answers at 10 minute intervals doesn't mean it's any less engaging than it's ever been. The Jack & Dogan half was excellent, as was Sawyer's angst in the house and eventual breakdown on the dock. Claire and Kate's story was interesting in seeing how things are happening quite the same with minor differences.

I do have to say it's nice that they haven't turned Jin into a rambling mess like they have in the past with Michael, or Jack "We have to go back!" when they could have easily done. He could have left long ago to look for Sun but is sticking around for some reason.

Lastly, Ethan Rom was an anagram for Other Man, anything on Ethan Goodspeed?

So all of the major plot points I don't even try to figure out anymore, I just assume that they'll come up with something and I'll go along for the ride.

But the one thing that's bugged me forever was why the Others all wore tattered clothes and fake beards early on in the series, and then it was revealed that they were doing this, and then it was never mentioned again as to why they were doing it. Were the group of Others living in the old Dharma camp splintered off from the temple Others? Did they just tell the temple Others that they're out hunting and gathering, not revealing that they're living it up with book club night and showers?

200 posts and no one mentions the Empire Strikes Back reference? Granted, Sayid didn't get the line exactly right, but he and Han solo were both tortured and weren't (even) asked any questions.

You guys disappoint me with all your theories and speculation and you're missing the important shit

Atoned sheepdog. Think about it.

I'm still wondering why they were mining rocks.

I thought they were building a runway, as in the one the Ajira flight "landed" on...

That's is what I think happened. The runway was on the other island where Ajira eventually landed. Lapidus I believe pointed the runway out while they were looking for someplace to bring the plane down. Now, why the Ajira plane went down is another question unless we're just supposed to believe that the island wanted them there and that is it.

Also, the island is underwater in the new 2004 reality. Not that I am going to put it past them to figure out some way to bring the island back up given they can jump through time and move the island in general, but that is still a detail that currently would not make this same time line theory possible.

Interesting tidbit I read somewhere else. The date on Claire's sonogram is 10/22/04. The date of the original crash was 9/22/04. Meaningless oversight, or a clue to something more?

I'd like to think it's relevant somehow - but since the show did have a crew member visible during a scene with Christian and Sun a season or two ago anything is possible.

Seems to me that if the flight never crashed, it would have been on the same day - hence a production error.

On the other hand that would be a huge gaffe, especially since this show is dissected almost frame-by-frame between episodes. But then again, so is a visible crew member.

I don't understand the "filler" criticism. To me stories like the one about Paulo and Nikki are filler. This episode moved the plot forward. We see that things in the sideways flashes are happening similar to how they did in the OG timeline. And we get a major question, 'where is Claire' answered, with some major info on the disease from season one. Granted I don't really like Kate-centric episodes either, but this was hardly filler.

As to the comments about the Others not being very revealing... this is still Lost. The Others have always talked in circles and have never given answers freely, so this to me is par for the course. It would be strange to have Dogen sit Jack down and explain everything to him. And every season introduces new characters (e.g. Ben, Juliet, Miles, Widmore, Eloise, Alpert, Ilana... etc), so why stop now?

My theory is that in the alternate universe Al Gore was elected president in 2000 and instituted Socialized Medicine™ which means Claire and Kate had to wait a month before they could be seen by a doctor.

It's funny that he felt the need to pre-emptively put this "tweet" out there as if thousands of fans are wrong and he's right. That show was filler -- there was nothing in it that was pertinent to the remaining episodes other than Claire is alive and Sayid has been infected. If I'm wrong I'll eat my hat.

They probably got gaymarried in that month too, which destroyed thousands of straight marriages in the process.

I agree with Damon. Jesus Christ, there is still what 15 more hours of story left to tell. Hardcore Lost fans are so fucking greedy and what answers now.

Agree with everything you mentioned, which I mentioned earlier. Jack and Dogan's exchange was probably the best part of the episode and this was probably some of Josh Holloway's best acting in the series.

My criticism is because we only get 15 more hours of the show to reveal everything and it seems that they're giving us lame "flash equivalents" or "flash forwards" or whatever they are instead of focusing on why this whole plane crash even went down. I mean, what did we really learn last night? Sure, it wasn't Paolo and Nikki -- the single stupidest episode of Lost (and a ripoff from Amazing Stories) but it didn't tell me anything either.

I get to post this again. We're learning a whole of a lot about

No? An explanation about "the sickness" that the French chick has been talking about since the beginning of the show? A theory that might finally explain the deal with Claire, Locke, Christian and others?

And if you're expecting the show to reveal everything you might as well stop watching now. They've already said everything won't be answered.

So, if Sayid is infected (like Claire), then why did Jacob tell Hurley to take him to the temple. UNLESS the man in black was disguising himself as Jacob and fooling Hurley into taking him so he could get an inside man at the temple.

Well how long were they on the island before Claire gave birth?

Didn't Farraday say at one point when they were trying to get back to the freighter that the island is out of sync with the rest of time? What if everything that goes down only happens in one month of real world time, and what we're seeing with the "flash sideways" is the actual end of the show onward. All that shit on the island goes down, things reset and restore balance to the space time continuum, and the only major side effect is that a month passes in the real world.

The episode was definitely filler material, if only because it covered plot points in one episode that easily could have been handled in fifteen minutes. My guess is the writers had a defined story to tell and had to stretch out the narrative more than it could handle.

When did 15 hours become only 15 hours. I guess if we're talking about someone's marriage, 15 hours would be a short span of time. But 15 hours of television is quite a lot of time.

Are you talking about the plane crash from season one? The pilot episode? If so, we know how and why that plane crashed...the hatch, Desmond, etc. They've answered a large portion of questions from the first season.

IMO it's a bit silly to think a show that's known for being frustratingly cryptic, answering questions with questions, is going to reveal it all two episodes in. In the first three hours we've been given the fate (s) of the bomb from last season, a huge clue as to what the smoke monster is, a clue to what happened to Claire.