I don't even understand what they're trying to do here. What's the point? What are the survivors trying to accomplish?

It feels like this season has no direction.

Isn't it a little early to draw conclusions about the direction of this season?

Who says they need to have something to accomplish other then sit back and go along for the ride of this Jacob/MIB war? I'm sure there will be some kind of mission or something they have to accomplish, but this is just episode two. I can actually see the direction it's going in already. People are going to be taking sides, this war is going to be decided and the characters personal conflicts will be resolved in the alternate universe. Where that universe will come into play remains a question.

Maybe I'm just impatient. Hopefully you guys are right!

Best episode this season by FAR. It was exciting, drew me in. And I care! Wooooo!

Man Claire is a b*tch. I liked that black guy...

Next week looks epic. And by that I mean the fact that they won't even show us anything from it speaks volumes.

Even if this season's "direction" isn't clear...I feel like every episode so far could have been...well...done in one episode.

Why? He didn't really do anything.

Anyway, I don't know who to believe on this, weither the others are telling the truth about this whole infection thing.

Claire has a pretty good reason to hate the others, I mean, electrocuting and branding her with a hot iron, without telling her why, that's some f*cked up sh*t right there. So I don't know if she's really all "evil" now or if she's just really crazy and pissed off.

One thing I want to know is, how can Ben still be alive and off the island in that alternate timeline? If Jack's plan to blow up the whole island succeeded and created an alternate timeline, then shouldn't Ben be dead since he was on that island as a kid? How did he survive? I also want to know how in the hell ANYONE is alive right now. I mean the f*cking island blows up and yet... it didn't, and everyone gets nothing more than a bad headache.

But whatever, it's not any less bizarre than what you normally get from Lost.

Eh, I dont agree. Lost isn't just about explaining all the plot points, the character development is important too and I don't mind too much when an episode decides to focus more on a character than moving the plot forward. However this is the last season, so the writers really need to step it up and explain as much as they possibly can. The only real revelations in the new episode is that now we know how The Others know so much about the survivers, and a few other things that I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Still, pretty good episode.

Maybe that's not how the island ended up under water?

I have but one complaint about this weeks episode. There were Adam and Eve... Hurley was looking over them, talking about them. I'm like... "it's Rose and Bernard dude... find something that belongs to them.... find it... FIND IT." And then they proceed to walk off and drop it. Like, that was the perfect chance to explain who they are. Even if they aren't Rose and Bernard (which I guess seems a bit likely since I assume they time traveled as well) they could have done something with it... what are the chances we'll ever be back at that location again looking at those two corpses? And who is going to just bring it up and ask Jacob or something? It's these little things I want to know.

Yeah, exactly, the little things stick out the longest. Like the whole thing about Libby taking up different identities and being a patient in the same mental ward as Hurley, that was such a twist.... and they never went anywhere with it or spoke of it ever again.

And of course, Walt, are they ever gonna explain any of that?

The Libby thing has always bugged me because it didn't seem like a little thing at the time--they really put a lot of emphasis on it and then it just kind of fizzled out. I feel like they really should tie that one up, but I dunno... I can't imagine how they'd work that in.

think back to Jack and his "new" scar from having his appendix removed as a kid. it seems that the bomb changed things that occurred even before the bomb went off. i'm not sure how changing the past can change the past that happened before the past that you changed, but i'm sure we'll get an explanation :D

That sucked.

seriously they're making it up as they go along.

THE WRITERS DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS THEY MADE IN THE FIRST FEW SEASONS

no wonder it's so ****ed up.

Why do you say that? They know the ending of the show and the general arc, so everything else in the middle that isn't as important essentially can be made up "as they go along".

That's what we call...... writing.

Last week, they SAID in the preview for this weeks episode, they SAID "Questions will be answered". They only gave us 2-second clips because, for some reason, to show us any more would ruin this week's episode. TOTALLY untrue. They played us. Total bull****.

Yeah, if you think questions haven't been answered you just plain haven't been paying attention.

So far this season we have learned

-That fake Locke is also the smoke monster.
-That he used to be capable of shapeshifting into whatever he wanted and that he has manipulated people in the past by taking the forms of deceased friends.
-That Christian (Jack's father) is most likely associated with him as well.
-That Jacob was truly the protector of the island.
-That the purpose of the list was to choose a new protector for the island, and that is a HUGE reveal because it now explains perfectly why everyone is on the island.
-And not only that but now we know that certain people have been assigned one of the infamous numbers, giving yet another clue to their significance.
-We have finally seen Jacob's list and you can easily look up all the people that are confirmed to be on it on Lostpedia.
-That Jacob's mirror device is how the others managed to learn so much about the plane crash survivors.
-And by obtaining this knowledge Jacob somehow influenced their being on the island.
-The sickness that was mentioned way back in the first season (by the french woman) has been revealed as something that turns people towards evil.
-Locke's remark to Richard about how it's "good to finally see him out of those chains" possibly confirms a very very old fan theory that the others are descendents of slaves from the black rock.
-That the temple at least used to have mystical healing properties and may be connected to how Richard and Jacob never age.
-That the incident really was caused by Juliet.
-That it successfully created an alternate future.
-And most likely the reason everyone is still alive in the main timeline is that somehow the incident sent them back to the present.

In short, you're a complete moron.

Well said. Last night's episodes was one of my favorite of the entire series. It was very, very dark.

...

Which of those did they answer last night?

Calling me a moron is just a tad unfounded. When did I say this season has never answered questions? Can you quote it? My last post said that yesterday's episode answered none of the questions it claimed it was going to answer in the preview. And it didn't. So why am I a moron?

they know the ending now but they were stalling for the past few seasons, and as the mysteries of this season bifurcate there's still many unresolved ones (libby's plot for example was truncated as she was offed for sympathy) and the numbers, etc. etc. I'm not saying that they can't do it, but **** I'm honestly expecting nothing more than a deus ex machina.

Actually no, Darlton has said a script for the overall arc has existed since Season 2.

and you believe the script remained stagnant for that entire duration?

Yes.

characters like Nikki and Paulo were killed off due to fan reception. this is a small example, but if you research all the stuff, hell even the non-canon lost files, there's plenty of evidence suggesting the story has never been set in stone.

As I said before - anything in the middle is fair game. The Arc of the story, ie the general premise, backstory, universe and setting (which includes what we refferr to as "the end"), is already written. So it doesn't matter if Whats-his-face is introduced and Whats-her-name gets killed off, the characters and most of the situations are merely driving elements to the arc, and how we observe the story.

can you link me to an interview please?

I've heard it on one of the podcasts, but for the life of me can't remember which season and going through the transcripts is a bit of a pain. From what I remember it was along the lines of the entire mythos had been developed by the early part of the third season. I've got a little piece of an interview to support it.

Entire interview here.

Criticizing the writers for not planning everything in advance is stupid, what writer actually does that anyway?

Seriously, when you're gonna write a story, especially one that spans 6 seasons of a tv show, are you gonna plan ahead EVERYTHING?

Of course not, that overcomplicates the writing process and it can stifle creativity, a lot of writers come up with the best ideas AFTER they have started writing. It's good to come up with a plan from the beginning but tossing away better ideas that come your way later on is not an effective writing strategy.

I'm convinced people criticise this show just for the hell of it sometimes.

Who the hell cares if they didn't have an ending 4 years ago, they weren't ending the series 4 years ago.

And there are a few plot holes, big deal there are plot holes in every show. Not that it's even ended yet.

The only times I've ever become bored of it was the first half of the 3rd series when it just seemed like capture, escape, capture, escape, capture , escape every other episode. And some of the 1977 stuff went on a bit long. But again, you'll find padding & filler episodes in most television series.
Take into account thats over 6 years that's really not a bad record.

And I wouldn't exactly call myself a huge fan of it, I just enjoy following it.

It's on tonight. Going to break out the stomach pump.

Excellent episode tonight. Ben reveals himself as a tragic hero, while Alterna-Ben confronts the same moral issue that regular Ben was faced with regard to Alex at the end of season 4. I would have liked to see the Richard Alpert flashback this episode, but I imagine it can't be long until we see it. Speaking of which it was interesting to see Richard so vulnerable in this episode. That adds a lot to his character, which I've always found mystifying.

If they kill off Richard before giving him a flashback I'm gonna be mega pissed.

I really enjoyed the episode tonight. It's great to see the show starting to pick up steam! My vote is Hurley winding up being the one who stays behind as caretaker in the end.

Spoiler:

I predict that Ben will probably die in the next episode, he's lost everything that ever meant anything to him and thus he doesn't have as much of a role to play anymore. At least things turned out a lot better for him in the "flash sideways" timeline.

And I agree, Hurley will probably be the one.

Anyway, awesome episode, one of the best ones of the season thus far, mainly because Ben is one of my favorite characters and this episode really kept me on edge regarding his fate. We'll have to wait til next week to see weither Widmore blows him to smithereens or not.

i loved the way that scene was shot, specifically when it was just his face. so eerie. probably one of my favourite moments on this show.

I think Lost is the same as Heroes.. both make you waste sooo much time with their never-ending plots and stories.

My advice for you..stay away if you want to do anything else with your days :D

My advice to you if you want everything revealed straight away with no mystery or suspense so you don't have to use your brain go watch some dumb Hollywood action movie.

Urban, it's a fucking network television show. Not exactly an intellectual pursuit.