i'm so glad its almost over. the addiction will not be missed

I liked the episode. I do wish that Jacob said just a LITTLE bit more while they were all chilling by the fire. Like, not just WHY he chose those folks (b/c they were flawed blah blah), but HOW. How does the lighthouse work? Plus, how does whispering some commands into a cup of water make that water magical?

Smocke's final line in the episode was not mindblowing.

At any rate, I'm psyched for the final on Sunday.

I'm glad this episode wasn't a religious allegory again. I'm glad I'll get my Tuesdays back. I was pissed off that's how they killed Richard. He seemed worthy of a better death. I guess maybe he's not dead but it seemed like it. I wasn't surprised Ben went back to killing everyone he can.

So Ben can just kill Widmore now? I thought he couldn't do that for some reason (anyone else remember that?). And smokey's ploy to have Ben kill people in exchange for the island doesn't really play when he tells him that his ultimate goal is to DESTROY THE ISLAND! Two and a half hours left to find out why Miles can talk to the dead and what the button was about.

I'm willing to bet decent money that the final two hours of screen time have the plot work itself out and resolve everything... BUT! No over-arching answers are given. It's left unanswered. Better that way. No fucking midochlorian angst will happen that way.

Good point, Graham. I'm on the fence about this matter. I do think it would be cool to have some sort of "the island is *this*" answer. But I'm not holding my breath for it. And I'm worried that if they do do something like that, that the answer would be lame.

Crazy Danielle cleans up real nice.

Bagdad crowd notes:

People were AMPED. Lotta pops in the early goings of the episode. Desmond turning on the car - huge laugh. Desmond socking Ben - huge laugh/cheers. Ben blank-faced and calmly walking back to the chair after Richard is unceremoniously dispatched? Big laugh.

Richard went out worse than Lapidus, which kinda sucks. But that whole Alt-Verse thing...I have a feeling the deaths will turn out to be weightless by the end of the show, and the ending will be mostly happy. Probably a little more bittersweet than anything. Lindelof and Cuse are mashing together the works of Stephen King and George Lucas when spinning this story.

Ben is gaming Smokey. just like Sawyer was gaming Smokey. Ben killed Widmore because he just got reminded of Alex. Nice callback, there, because not only did it pay off with "Dinner at Rousseau's," but it provides immediate motivation to empty a fucking clip into Widmore's chest.

And then the crowd broke into APPLAUSE as Ben said "He doesn't get to save his daughter." Which was a cold ass line, but this is the same audience that awwwws whenever Penny is even hinted at, and they're cheering at Ben essentially giving Smokey the go ahead to end her. The show is STILL manipulative as hell when it wants to be.

I've theorized like crazy where this shit is gonna go and I've been lucky to be around 15% at best, but this is my last shot to be as wrong as possible, so I'm takin it:

I'm thinking maybe the alt-verse is the reward. The number of people alive and happy in the alt-verse includes quite a few dead characters who really didn't do bad by Jacob and/or the island. I'm seeing a scenario where everyone aside from Jack dies on the island trying to kill Smokey. Those people get to live their idyllic, happy life they never got to have, in LA X. But Jack doesn't get to live in both worlds, like Desmond. So Jack has to die in LA X - and protect that light in the Island verse to make sure that LA X doesn't disappear. Maybe that light at the center of the island powers the alt-verse. So Jack isn't just living there to protect the light at the island, he's protecting the happiness and well-being of his friends, who are finally enjoying the lives they never got to have.

Also - Jack's ex-wife has to be Juliette, right? And maybe Kate dies in LA X, and chooses to stay with Jack on the island, meaning Sawyer and Juliette get to be together in the alt-verse.

I dunno. I like that every theory I thought was plausible-ish has been turned to ash, and I'm no closer to really figuring a fuckin thing out than I was at the end of the 2nd episode of this season. But I can see the creators leaping at the chance to make this bittersweet, with Jack alone on the island, Life and Death theme playing in one last go, slow motion cuts to all our favorite characters doing some sort of everyday thing with the person they love, sharing smiles, and cutting back to Jack, alone on that island in a completely different universe, staring out at the ocean.

Desmond is going into the hole, the light that is. He wont die and he will be both good and evil, not unlike man. But he may screwed and not be able to leave the island.

I really don't think that it's going to be Jack who ultimately is left in charge of protecting the island. It's way too on the nose. I think that it's going to end up being Sawyer in the end. I think Jack is going to kill Locke in the alt-verse, which will happen when he becomes aware during the surgery, and that is going to have some big effect on what happens on the island.

I think Edwin is right. That hadn't occurred to me before, but now it seems almost obvious. That's why Widmore brought him, because the light is the center of the electromagnetic shit and Desmond's "unique resistance" is somehow going to translate into him fixing all this (again) by going into the light and i dunno, busting a move.

I also agree with BFiddy in that Jack is going to kill Locke in the alt-verse during surgery - good call. Sawyer staying on the island kinda makes sense, too. I wonder if two people will be left on the island, maybe like a Jacob/Richard situation? But if Jacob's fire went out, Jack's the last person who's getting any of that ritual shit, so I think there's a good chance that it is going to be Jack.

Fatboy, I like your predictions, but I dunno about Ben gaming Smocke. I think Ben is hungry for the power. He knows what the island is/can do, and he wants what Jacob never gave him.

Also, Richard's just dead now?! What the fuck, man? What the FUCK!