All right, on to 316. First of all, I was very happy to see Jack wake up on the island in that all-too-familiar way. I was worried that the story arc of the O6 getting back on the island would last for the entire fifth season. Wow, there's a lot that happened in that 46 hours. In this episode, we just see what Jack went through. Every other member obviously went through a good deal - Ben all bloody, Kate tormented, Sayid arrested, Sun and Hurley changing their minds - so we'll obviously get more insight into that two day period. I'm curious how that will play out - now that they're back on the island and in a different time, it will take that much more intrigue to get us invested in their stories in the boring ol' real world. But they utilized an interesting technique - get them back on the island, then later use their individual back stories to complement another narrative.

God bless Eloise Hawking for being rather upfront about the DHARMA strategies and the Lamp Post station. No doubt there will be tons of screen grabs of every inch of that place. I liked the DHARMA plan to guess where the island is going instead of where it currently is, similar to quantum theory. Science mixing with faith and chance, themes we've seen throughout the show. We also see this as Jack, the man of reason, gives up his calculated decisions and does things Locke's way - having a little faith, no matter how crazy it might seem to him. He may buy into it now, though he will probably go back to being the level-headed counterpart to Locke's way of thinking soon enough - though on a much different playing field, given that he'll have to accept time-travel and all. I guess Sawyer has accepted it and still wants definite answers.

Plus, their method of getting back on the island was very satisfying - get on a plane and cross your fingers. I was worried there would be another donkey wheel in LA that needed pushing, or all that was needed was to push the pendulum, and they're off! It's all very much left to chance - even the ancient wheel which will get you off the island, but who knows where or when.

Questions this episode raises:
What was Ben doing that got him so bloody? And couldn't he wash his face before getting on the airplane? Why isn't the island done with Desmond? When will he go back? What will Penny think?
A few questions all at once, but that's the nature of the beast. Ben states "Oh, I made a promise to an old friend of mine--just a loose end that needs tying up". Most likely, he is referring to his promise to Widmore to kill Penny, as payback for Keamy killing Alex right in front of him. Ben had just seen Desmond at the Lamp Post. Ben called Jack from a marina and Des/Pen hideout on a boat. He obviously caught a snag in his plans because he was bloody and had to call Jack to pick up Locke (note: Ben doesn't know about Hawking's additional instructions - and didn't that just irritate him, not knowing :). He looked content on the plane, so it's up in the air if he actually succeeded in his goal.
   If Ben did kill Penny, that gives Desmond plenty of motive to get back on the island. Lindelof and Cuse are known for being gutsy about which characters they off, though I can't imagine Penny being gone forever - Des and Penny are the main through romantic story of the show (and how then will they end up as Adam and Eve!) I could see Ben kidnapping instead of killing. If he kidnaps Charlie, then Des and Penny will come to him. And/or if he kidnaps Penny, he has leverage over Widmore.
   Regardless, it's all set up for Desmond to team with Widmore, a dangerous combination. We see how Desmond has animosity towards Eloise Hawking, so he won't join that team. Desmond dislikes Widmore, but remember his conditions for getting on the island - sailing around the world to impress Widmore. Those will be his conditions that he has to recreate to return to the island.

What was Kate doing that she's so ashamed of? And what happened to Aaron?
So we know Kate has to do something for Sawyer. Kate could want to go back to the island for Sawyer, though that doesn't explain how she jumped all over Jack. Kate has seen a vision of Claire in a dream; Claire told her never to bring Aaron back to the island. Claire could have come to her again with a new message. If Kate gave Aaron to Claire's mom Carole, that would make a little more sense plot-wise why Carole was in LA (besides a 3 minute diversion in The Little Prince). It could be that Kate somehow gave up Aaron for whatever she had to do for Sawyer, though that would be some sacrifice.
   One idea to throw out there: Kate's pregnant. Either her night with Jack made it so, or she found out that night (and possibly got further instructions from Claire). If she is, she could help take the place of Claire on flight 316 - though why anybody would want to go to the island to give birth is beyond me.

What was Sayid doing that got him arrested?
Sayid could be an interesting case, since it does look like he's being taken against his will, unlike all the other characters. That should make for some good drama once he's back on the island. It's hard to imagine Sayid actually getting caught, but looks like it happened. Perhaps Ben "turned" on him and had him arrested, somehow arranging the flight through Guam. we can't even be sure the woman transporting him is an actual policewoman too. This action supports a lot of Ben's motives, seemingly against the characters but actually in their best interests. He knows Sayid needs to return to the island for his own good, and will go about it any way he can.

Why did Hurley have a change of heart?
Hurley had a guitar with him, that wasn't just to pass the time once he's back on the island - Hurley was way too serious at the airport to concern himself with that. The guitar case symbolizes Charlie Pace. The case may even have been Charlie's (his guitar is still on the island). Charlie must have reappeared to Hurley and convinced him somehow to return to the island. Given that Charlie was close to Aaron and Claire, I'm guessing his unfinished business that Hurley must help with has to do with protecting them.

Same with Sun.
Sun's motivation is to see Jin. That will be a nice reunion, though Jin was reluctant to have her come back. Hopefully after Locke moved the wheel, the flashing stopped and it's a safer environment. Though how will they then get back to Ji Yeon Kwon? And will she now be that much more of a resolute action hero after vengeful few years off the island?

What happened to the airplane?
My guess is the plane went back on course, only with seven fewer passengers - Jack, Sayid, Hurley, Kate, Ben, Sun, and Caesar. Caesar's well-wishes to Jack and presence on the plane make him look like we haven't seen the last of him. Plus, he's a recognizable actor who, oddly enough, was in Vantage Point with Matthew Fox. Actually, Frank Lapidis would make it 8. He was supposed to be the pilot for O815, so flight 316 came together even better than expected. Maybe for the time being, he's filling in for Aaron just as Locke is filling in for Christian Shephard.

Any significance to the number 316?
Well there's John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And looks like John will be coming back to life, so that's something. There's also 78, the number of empty seats on the plane. Some theorize that this marks a continuation of the Valenzetti Equation. Just as 108 (the sum of all original numbers) was so significant before, now it's 316. So we could have 4 8 15 16 23 42 78 130 = 316. We just don't know what 130 is yet.

More on the Lamp Post station?
Not much yet, but I found one interesting thing. Horace Goodspeed, a mathematician for DHARMA. A source is needed on this, but it's hard not to notice this line: on the DVD commentary track for "The Man Behind the Curtain" Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse describe Horace and his companion Olivia as factoring significantly in the future "game plan" for Lost.

Next week! Any theories on Jeremy Bentham and Locke's return?
Well we'll find out soon enough, but the for all those who think Jacob is actually Locke, all the pieces are in place. Christian Shephard came to the island in a coffin, and now we see him as a spirit on the island who speaks for Jacob, seemingly with the ability to be anywhere on the island that Jacob needs him. So once Locke comes back in a coffin, it's possible that the same will happen to him, only taking on the more important role that he was always meant to hold. His suicide will then be the ultimate sacrifice in the belief of his fate, and Ben is there to help him. Did you see in the teaser what looked like Ben prostrated before Locke?

Why didn't anybody carpool to the airport?
Skipping around in time so much, they aren't aware there's a recession going on :) Though they did get a nice settlement from Oceanic, so I guess they don't have to worry. Still, given how nervous Jack and Ben were about getting everyone together, they seemed pretty content letting everyone get there on their own terms. Seems like Jack is starting to have a little faith already. This was confirmed in that nice sequence at the airport - going through the motions of claiming himself as the caretaker to Locke's coffin, slowly seeing everyone arrive at the airport, getting confident the hare-brained scheme might actually work.

A few misc. notes:

• Nice Lost joke with the disappearing rabbit magic show, a reference to this great teaser for season 4.
• We only see Jack, Hurley and Kate's return to the island. We still need to see Sun, Hurley and Ben (and any other characters they choose to introduce to us). It could be that they've flashed to different times, though we have yet to see the characters react to the flashes differently, besides the nosebleeds.
• Remember Christian's quip to Locke about Ben, something like "When's the last time listening to him did you any good?" It's possible that Christian is more closely tied to the needs of the island, and the island sees Ben as a misfit - possibly a Renfield character that isn't always appropriate, but in the end supports the island, so it lets Ben continue his sometimes shady actions.
• We haven't seen what happened to what happened to those on the island after Locke turned the wheel again. We see Jin in DHARMA time. I'm hoping after the wheel was turned, those left on the island go to DHARMA time and stay there. This would further turn the story in on itself, and delve more deeply into DHARMA and the electromagnetism. Also, maybe all O6 had to get back to the island because they were already there in the past. They're destined to be on the island because they were already there.

Note: Agree? Disagree? More to add? Brain fried? Feel free to add a comment!

Welcome back to the fray. Apologies for the lapse in reporting . As is typical for me, I arranged my birthday celebrations to be more like a week-long festival which left me little spare time to watch and review last week's episode, This Place is Death. In addition, I finally set myself up with HDTV and was pretty hasty about setting up all my shows, and missed recording my first HD Lost which I was really stoked about. I kept myself in a Lost bubble for the week, hoping to catch the popup rerun while hearing as few spoilers as possible. I set up my recordings fully and I'm hoping to figure out this weekend the fancy feature of configuring my recorder remotely, so I shouldn't run into these issues again. Now I'm back, one year older, so let's see how my newfound wisdom plays into Lost analysis, shall we? :)

I'll just hit on a few things on last week's episode since there's a lot to cover. First, the show looks amazing in hi-def. If anyone's shuffling their feet about upgrading, I strongly recommend it. Second, the popup shows are pretty cool. As HD advances, hopefully popups like these will be a feature we can turn on and off with any show. Sometimes they're a bit obvious - I know the time flashes are coming faster with greater intensity without even having watched any previous episodes. They are however helpful when referencing shows from way long ago. Especially this episode when we see the French crew, Danielle, the smoke monster, and the reunion of Desmond and Eloise Hawking - the reminders they offer are helpful.

Quick notes on This Place is Death:

• A popup stated the numbers are broadcast by Dharma. I haven't thought about the numbers radio broadcast in a while; when I heard that I wasn't sure if that was a reveal or not.
• The French crew heard the numbers and felt the wrath of the smoke monster immediately when they arrived on the island, similar to the very first episode (Anyone remember who the pilot was? :) The French team had much worse success however.
• So that's how Montand lost his arm :)
• The French team and Jin end up at the Temple. A popup reminder: Ben said this was the only safe place on the island. This is from Through the Looking Glass, the place where Rousseau, Alex and Karl were going for refuse (though it didn't work out so well for Rousseau). Also, moments before his death, Robert stated that the smoke monster is a security system guarding the temple.
• Interesting note from Lostpedia: In the official press release for this episode, she [Melissa Farman] was only credited as "young Frenchwoman" as to not reveal her identity.
• So, at some point in her 16 years fending for herself on the island, conditions were so bad that Danielle Rousseau's eyes changed from brown to green? :)
• Charlotte's ramblings. A popup stated they were similar conditions to the "cabin fever" the crew members of the Kahana exhibited. That hasn't come up in a while. Also, they seemed to me more similar to those of Theresa Spencer, Faraday's unfortunate college experiment who I think we'll hear more about. Both Charlotte and Theresa where flashing to earlier periods in their life.
• A random popup fact: in her ramblings, Charlotte mentioned Geronimo Jackson, an obscure 70s rock group. This is an inside joke with Lindelof and Cuse, and marks the fifth time the band has been referred to on the show.
• A popup refers to the wheel being in an "ancient chamber". That's lucky for Locke or he would have been flashed to being stuck in solid ground. I'm glad to see the return of Christian Shephard, I've been waiting for him to take on a more prominent role in the island's mythology. Skipping ahead really quickly, looks like Ray Shephard, Jack's grandfater, will be roped in too. Seriously, they could have had Jack get something of his father's from anywhere, but they had him visit his grandfather, a man who wants to escape his retirement home, stating "they won't ever find me, either."
• Eloise Hawking, the woman who everyone is talking about (Widmore, Christian Shephard, Faraday). It's finally revealed that she is Faraday's mother, though we all saw that coming.
• Good reveal on Charlotte's back story, and that she grew up on the island. The bigger reveal is that Faraday was the "Scary Man" who warned her never to come back to the island. Boy, Faraday is breaking his own rules left and right! And I'm curious to see how Faraday can go from endearingly nebbish to "scary". It's possible Faraday's time with Dharma may be revealed pretty soon, seeing as how the latest episode showed Jin in a Dharma uniform, though I still hope that Faraday purposefully travels back to the Dharma time and doesn't just happen to flash there.
• That's sad about Charlotte. There's still a lot of mystery behind her character - who are her parents, why did her mother lie about the island. There's plenty of theories about her parents - Widmore? Ben? Faraday?

All right, let's get this out there, then get right back into it with 316.