2) Yeah, it is wussy. Students and learning...
3) Yes.
4) They just have a magical connection!
6) Widmore on a sub made me laugh. That seemed like something out of James Bond. It was pretty cheesy. And isn't Jack supposed to help Jacob's friend get to the island... are we to assume that friend is not Widmore? Since Widmore got there on his own?

New theory: Sometimes things just happen! Jacob told Richard that he had a plan, man, and that someday he'd tell Richard what it was. Well, that's like a metaphor for the entire show! So, what if at the end of the show the story is basically, "Jacob made some shit up, and we all went along with it, but it was basically pointless. But wasn't the journey worth something, maybe?" Sometimes things just happen!

I want to know who the six candidates are. 1. Jack. 2. Hurley. 3. Sawyer. 4. Jin or Sun. I sorta run out of ideas after that. Anyone have a firm handle?

Wussy World, nah... More like "Boring World".

But I did like the new crazy Jack. He don't give a shit anymore. Other than that.... snorer of an episode.

4) She was never his birth daughter in the main timeline, he took her from Delen. God damn it, Steve! How do you not remeber that?!

6) Also: people will be shot.

I thought this was as solid an episode as any we've seen this season. The Ben character advancement was nice, and now that he's picked a side, maybe he can finally get back to being a bad ass.

This was the first screening I caught at the Begdad, too, and I was disappointed. For all the show's flaws, it's still better then BSG. The turnout was just sad.

The turn-out was pretty kick ass in my friend's basement. And we had a tub of red vines. Can't buy tubs at the Bagdad, nope!

Courtney: stuff on the candidates: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Candidates

Poor turnout at the Bagdad, eh? Too bad. I feel bad for C + F. They picked the wrong season of the show to start this.

Miscellany:
-Miles: "Yea, starting a fire's really gonna help things."

-Booty Babes!-Big, beautiful, buxom buns.

-William Atherton! One of the great, prickish character actors from the 80's! This was nice to see. Also together on the same show with John Gries for the first time (I can only assume) since Real Genius.

-Ben's student/daughter is quite cute. Was hesitant to say this first so glad WSH beat me to it. Not surprising considering the teenie boppers who adorn his office wall.

The reason I don't watch Lost at Bagdad is the same reason I don't like going to bars on weeknights: they won't let me smoke pot there.

How about this for a half-ass theory: A small part of Smokey is also inside the "Wussy World" Locke. (Note how manipulative he was while trying to convince Linus to overthrow the principal?)

1) I've always liked Ben. I like him the same now, I just feel more sorry for him.

6) The group I watch Lost with figured it would probably be Widmore coming, so that was totally anticlimactic at the end.

I also loved seeing William Atherton as the jerky principal.

The scene with Jack and Captain Eyeliner with the dynamite was the most suspenseful part of this boring episode. But I love this show, dammit!

I thought this ep was weak. The best part was Miles finding the diamonds.

1) I don't care if bizarro Linus is redeemed or not. I am glad Linus is not the Big Bad anymore because his character has nowhere else to go.

Did anyone notice this episode was directed by Mario Van Peebles? Speaking of which he stole some moves from the first season and ended the episode with the slo-mo beach walk over sentimental piano (which I hate). Having Widmore be the cliffhanger was boring as shit.

There were few new answers or questions revealed in this episode and I thought it odd they would focus on Ben since there are only a handful of episodes left and who cares what happens with him. Answers: Richard is from the Black Rock and Widmore is the one coming to the island.

Captain Eyeliner.

HA!

Oh yeah, the beach reunion! After the show ended, I said I want someone to make a beach reunion montage. There have been so many. And everyone is always so happy to see Hurley.

Captain Eyeliner is what we've been calling Richard Alpert pretty much from the first time we saw him, so that's always the first name I think of. :) (By "we" I mean the group of 6-10 people I watch Lost with every week, with snacks and a bucket of beer on ice.)

sueno, I didn't even notice that Miles was holding a diamond when he mentioned the diamonds. I musta blinked. and gone deaf, 'cause you were sitting next to me and didn't tell me!

Ben killed Jacob only a couple days ago. People care about him. The place where his character can go is to deal with his arch-nemesis Widmore. And most likely to battle Smocke, since the man in black was most likely the guy who instructed him to take the lead, ice all the dharma folks, and then set up shop in boring old maternity-problem land.

ROM, he wasn't holding a diamond when he mentioned them (but did anyone else notice that he said those damn extras were buried *alive*? No one else knows that) but later it showed him holding one diamond, looking at it up close. I think it was just before or during the slow-mo beach reunion.

1) Captain Eyeliner, using that from now on :-)

2) Agreed that the "surprise" ending of Whidmore on the sub was lame-tacular. I mean, pretty much anyone who has been watching this show for a while would have guessed that was coming, right? I've been expecting his return for a while. Now--whose side will he be on, Smocke's or Jacob's? It seems like he would be the person Jacob was expecting...?

3) Speaking of sides, what do people think about it being faith (Jacob) vs. free will (Smocke) instead of just good vs evil? To me, good vs. evil is too simple for this show, which always makes us see the good and bad in everyone, and tends to blur the lines between good and evil.

4) Seems like Miles mentioned the diamonds in one scene, and then decided to go all grave robber and dig them up right after. Kinda weird, but I guess who cares.

5) ROM, I like your theory about "Jacob told Richard that he had a plan, man, and that someday he'd tell Richard what it was. Well, that's like a metaphor for the entire show!" Very apt. But that would be really annoying if it turned out to be their version of an ending.

Just looking at Ben makes my eyes water. He really does need to blink.

I thought it was a strong episode. We found out: (1) how Richard came to the island (as a slave on the Black Rock... cool), (2) that Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, etc., all CANNOT die (cool), (3) that Widmore is coming (already expected, but still cool), and (4) that Miles is stealing a pile of diamonds (don't know where that's going, if anywhere, but maybe cool).

Most importantly, it was the first episode since season four where the off-island and on-island stories and character decision-making had hit-you-over-the-head direct parallels and connections. Well written episode.