"There's No Place Like Home" Part 2 (Season 4, Episode 13)

Will there ever be another series like "Lost"? A series that consistently entertains and surprises the viewer week after week. Where it's not-so-great episodes are better than most shows' best? A show that made me create a blog dedicated to it and for you fine readers to check out each and every week? I think not. We are really spoiled. At least we have two more years to look forward.

Before We Get to the Finale:

• If you didn't watch the rerun at 8 p.m. ET, then you didn't see the "extra footage". This occurred during the Oceanic Airlines press conference. Added in was Jack explaining that the three "survivors" who didn't make it back were Boone Carlyle, a woman named Libby, and Charlie Pace. Also a reporter asked Sayid if he was aware of what was happening in Iraq and if he was going back, to which he answered no. Also, Jack was asked about his plans and he said he wanted to have a service for his father.
• During the last commercial break of the last hour, did you catch the ad for Octagon Global Recruiting? This fake commercial offered anyone interested in "unpaid positions" to visit their website, http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/ , which I of course did. It plays a video of the same ad then explains they are part of the Dharma Initiative (hence the octagon in the name - same shape as their logos). You can also submit your e-mail address (which I alsoe did) for a representative to contact you regarding an event in San Diego in late July. Coincidentally, this is also the location and date of Comic Con, one of the largest comic book/movie/TV conventions where the producers and cast of "Lost" have frequently been guests. No response yet, but I'll keep you posted.
• Finally, you may have seen where "Good Morning, America" was going to show alternate endings to last night's show. I DVRed it this morning and watched it tonight. Alternate ending #1 had Sawyer in the coffin. Alternate ending #2 had Desmond in the coffin. I'm happy they went with Locke.
  

Although not a jaw-dropping finale like last year, I feel this was a very satisfying close to another excellent season. Old questions were answered, new questions were raised (what else is new?). Exciting actions sequences balanced with emotional moments made for a full two hours. (What would they have cut out if ABC hadn't given them the extra hour?)

Best Line

• "If you mean time-traveling bunnies, then yes." Ben responding to Locke's questioning of what the Orchid Station experiments involved.
  

Did You Notice?

• I thought the "previously on 'Lost'" recap had the perfect scenes to set up the finale, especially last season's final scene continuing as this season's first scene.
• The man in the coffin has a name: Jeremy Bentham. Interestingly enough, this was a real person. He was an English philosopher and social reformer in the 1800's. Ahead of his time, he argued for equal rights for woman, separation of church and state, and the end of slavery. When he died, the real Bentham's will stipulated that his body be preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet, which he called his "auto-icon". This is not unlike Locke's Bentham whose body was stored in a wooden box, which we call a "coffin". Another interesting point is that the real John Locke was also a British philosopher, whose works later influenced other philosophers such as David Hume (Desmond Hume?) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Danielle Rousseau?).
  
• Was it foretelling that Sawyer referred to Jack as "Sundance" since later Sawyer would leap from the helicopter not unlike Butch and Sundance did off a cliff at the end of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
• Since the ghostly whispers occurred right before the Others attacked the mercenaries, are they the origin of them or some other, unrevealed island party?
• The fight between Keamy and Sayid was amazingly choreographed and brilliantly edited. You really believed these were two military men fighting for their lives.
• Walt (or Walt Chamberlain as I believe he should now be called) hardly even looks like the same kid from the island. Hurley summed it up nicely when he said "Getting big, dude."
• So Locke was the one who suggested the Oceanic Six should lie to protect the island. And sure enough, that's just what they did.
• I loved that Locke couldn't find the elevator because he didn't know what anthuriums looked like!
• The quick scene between Miles (a.k.a. Shorty) and Rose was priceless.
• I now believe stronger than ever that Charlotte is really Ben's childhood friend on the island, Annie. That she wanted to get back and was trying to find where she was born just confirms it for me.
• Locke's question to Ben about the "magic box" refers back to the episode where Ben had explained to Locke how he got Locke's father to the island.
• As pointed out in a previous blog entry, Edgar Halliwax is also Marvin Candle and Mark Wickmund, all presenters in the Dharma Initiative orientation films.
• The Casimir effect to which Halliwax refers is an actual term in physics. In simple terms, the Casimir effect can be understood by the idea that the presence of conducting metals and dielectrics alter the vacuum expectation value of the energy of the second quantized electromagnetic field. Yeah, right. Don't even get me started on negatively charged exotic matter.
  
• I think when "Lost" finally ends, a detective show featuring Sawyer and Frank Lapidus has potential.
• I really believe the writers missed a great opportunity for Hurley to say something comedic with the whole issue of the helicopter having too much weight on board. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten all those crackers."
• I have to believe Sawyer asked Kate to check on his daughter, Clementine, right before he jumped. The same request that would later lead Jack not to trust her.
• Sayid's mention of Bentham's supposed suicide confirms what could be gleaned from the newspaper obituary that Jack had in last season's finale. Close inspection of a still frame showed that it read Jeremy Bentham of New York hanged himself in his downtown Los Angeles loft.
• Does Sayid really not intend to take Hurley back to the island but instead to someplace safe? If he's still working for Ben, I would think not.
• So Hurley was playing chess with Mr. Eko? He's been visited by Charlie. I guess anything is possible.
• The whispers could be heard prior to the freighter's destruction.
• When Christian Shephard told Michael "you can go now", my initial thought was that he was going to transport him to safety. However, everyone I spoke with today felt he was telling Michael he was no longer needed and it was time for him to die. An interview with the actor at www.tvguide.com pretty much confirms this. He's done. Gone. Off the show. Much to the actor's surprise, in fact. Unless this is the producers' way of preventing another leak like when it was found out that Michael was returning this season. We'll see. I might just be right after all.
• The actress who plays Sun did a tremendous job of portraying the anguish and helplessness of losing Jin. Hard to believe this same character was not so long ago ready to flee to America to escape him. The island does have a miraculous effect on people.
• As for Jin, I guess it's still possible that he survived the explosion.
• I'm still not sure if I know who Sun holds responsible for Jin's apparent death. She blames her father and one other. I believed it could be Jack for leaving him behind, then I thought for sure it was Charles Widmore since it was his boat, but then I thought maybe Ben when Sun seemingly made overtures to Widmore to team up.
• So Charles Widmore and Sun's father, Mr. Paik, are old golfing buddies. Coincidence?
• My new monthly skeleton theory is that the Adam and Eve skeletons found in the cave in Season 1 are Sawyer and Juliet.
• It is obvious Ben was handing over the mantle of island caretaker to Locke, although begrudgingly so. I can't help but wonder if Ben was the Others' second choice from the start and it should have been Locke all along. If only he hadn't chosen the knife when Richard Alpert came to see him in his foster home.
  
• The ice cavern had hieroglyphics on the pillar where the lantern was similar to what was inside the secret room in Ben's closet.
• The show's producers always give a code name to the season finale. This year it was "Frozen Donkey Wheel". Who would have guessed that's exactly what it would have been?
• Ben's departure from the island sent him almost one year into the future as we saw in the earlier episode when he landed in the Tunisian desert with Halliwax's parka on, his torn sleeve and bleeding arm, and a puff of cold air breath as he landed.
• The purple sky and high-pitched sound were identical to Season 2's finale when Desmond was prevented from entering the numbers in the hatch. My co-worker Scott has a theory that the number entering was linked to the frozen donkey wheel and maintained the balance of the island's machinery.
• So what happened to Faraday and his raft of survivors when the island vanished? Were they carried along to wherever or whenever it went? Will we see him finally come ashore alone, gnawing on a leg bone? The others were all extras after all.
  
• Apparently, the island was looking out for baby Aaron when the helicopter crashed. Either that or his turnip head acts as a flotation device.
• The late night caller on Kate's phone when played backwards says "The island needs you . . . You have to go back before it's too late." Spooky, but if this was just a nightmare, then not so much. Same goes for creepy Claire and her dire warning not to take Aaron back.
• It was so wonderful to see Desmond and Penny reunited at last. It's not every girl that has her own tracking station. Probably got it for her birthday.
  
• I loved Jack using Desmond's signature line "I'll see you in another life, brother".
• Okay, this bothered me. During the Oceanic Six press conference, we saw an enlarged
• photo of the survivors bringing their raft ashore at the tiny fishing village with the locals helping them. Last night, we saw this event actually happen. Who took the picture?
• The song playing in Jack's truck as he approached the funeral home was "Gouge Away" by The Pixies. Unlike other musicians featured on the show, they have not died in a plane crash. Yet.
• Did Ben look younger and healthier to anyone else? Or was it just the fact that no one has been beating him up lately?
  
• We got the answer of who's in the coffin: Locke a.k.a. Jeremy Bentham. But now new questions arise: Why did Locke leave the island? According to what he told Jack, bad things happened after Jack left. Was it the survivors' unwillingness to return that led to his suicide? But I thought the island prevented suicides as it did with both Michael and Jack? Was it really suicide as Sayid questioned? If not, then who killed him?
  
• As soon as I saw Locke in the coffin, I immediately was reminded of Jack's dad. Does this mean if they get him back to the island, Locke will be up and about again? Alive and well?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Kate said Jack called her for 2 days straight to convince her to go back to the island.
• Kate also said she spend the last 3 years trying to forgot the horrible things that happened on that last day.
• Desmond had 6 months of explosive ordnance disposal training in the army.
• Faraday told Charlotte and Miles that he was leaving in 10 minutes.
• The Orchid was Station 6 of 6 Dharma Initiative locations.
  
• The time traveling bunny had a 15 on it.
• The time was 8:15 when Sayid killed the man in the car.
• Sayid told Hurley that Jeremy Bentham had died 2 days ago.
• Lapidus estimated there was 4 to 5 minutes of fuel remaining in the helicopter.
• Michael said there was 5 minutes worth of liquid nitrogen left in the tank.
• Ben said Richard and the Others would be waiting for Locke 2 miles east of the Orchid.
  

And so, my fellow Lost and Founders, another season has come to a close. I wish I had my own frozen donkey wheel so I could move ahead 8 months for the premiere of the second-to-the-last season and see what these "few ideas" Ben has for getting them all back to the island and if "all of them" includes Walt Chamberlain and Desmond and Kenny Rogers, I mean Frank. Until then, Namaste.

Coming Soon . . .

. . . my last official blog entry for 2008! I am now reviewing my sources and re-watching the show and finalizing my thoughts on the finale, so be patient.

The Final(e) Countdown Has Begun

Just over two hours until the 3-hour extravaganza that is the "Lost" Season 4 finale! I'm counting the 8 p.m. rerun since it includes extra footage and hopefully will provide a perfect lead-in to the last two episodes for the year. I hear there will be deaths. And I'm expecting a final scene that's worthy of taking its place along side the mysterious opened hatch of Season 1, Penelope and the Portuguese-speaking radiomen of Season 2, and the series changing flash forward of Season 3. Check back tomorrow night as I blog my little heart out for the last official recap of 2008.

"There's No Place Like Home" Part 1 (Season 4, Episode 12)

I believe if you re-watch last night's show (which gets its title from the famous line in "The Wizard of Oz") in two weeks when it airs before the two-hour finale, you will see the foundation that was being laid down in this episode. Although not overwhelming in revelations or introducing a myriad of new questions, the stage is being set for the final confrontation between the freighter folk and the survivors, with the island's original Others thrown into the mix for good measure.

Best Line

• "Jesus Christ is not a weapon." Hurley's mom as her son brandished a golden statue of Jesus.
  

Did You Notice?

• Oceanic rep Karen Decker was played by Michelle Forbes, who sci-fi fans may know as Cain from "Battlestar Galactic" or Ensign Ro from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
  
• Along with the reoccurring them of car accidents and a soundtrack with songs from dead singers, "Lost"has perfected the dialogue-free reunion scene with an appropriately moving instrumental score. Last night's reunion of the Oceanic Six with their respective families on the airport tarmac was one of the best, especially Sayid being embraced by Hurley's parents and Kate noticeably without anyone.
  
• Jack's mother was once again played by Veronica Hamel, who may be best known for her role on "Hill Street Blues". (For you youngins, this was the police show of its time, long before Law & Order even was around, let alone had its first spin-off.)
  
• Faraday's notebook pages featuring the Orchid logo also contained the phrases "TimeLike Factor" and "SpaceLike Factor".
• Faraday obviously knows something about the Second Protocol and of what the Orchid Station is capable.
• Sawyer refers to Ben's village as "New Otherton" which is the name given to it by the show's writers.
• Although the Indonesia island of Sumba is a real place, the supposed crash site of Membata is not. However, the word "membata-bata" in Indonesian means "ambivalent", kind of like the Oceanic Six's feelings about their supposed experiences after the crash.
  
• Who is responsible for the elaborate story the Oceanic Six are obviously telling under duress? Charles Widmore?
• Why does the cover story include two survivors of the crash who then didn't make it?
  
• What a bittersweet reunion of Sayid and Nadia, seeing them reunited at last but knowing she will be killed.
• Ben states that moving the island is "dangerous and unpredictable" as well as "a measure of last resort." If he's not going to move it in time, then I don't know this show as well as I think I do.
• I believe Ben was signaling Richard Alpert and the Others with the mirror.
• Didn't Charlotte actually seem sorry to see Faraday go off on the raft?
  
• I loved Sun in Alexis-Carrington-from-Dynasty mode as she informed her father that she had bought the controlling stock in his company.
• If Sun's dad is one of the two people responsible for Jin's death (presuming he is dead), then who is the other? Her? Widmore?
  
• Hurley had a takeout bag from Mr. Cluck's Chicken Snack, his former place of employment.
• Was the whispering heard as Hurley entered his parents' house really just those of the party guests or remnants of the island?
• The disc jockey at Hurley's birthday party had a Geronimo Jackson album by his turntable.
  
• The car Hurley's dad gives him is the one he drove in the police chase in this season's first episode.
• The car's key chain is a rabbit's foot not unlike the one the Coast Guard pilot is holding in the beginning of this episode.
• I loved the look Sun and Jin gave Michael upon first seeing him on the freighter.
  
• I wonder when Claire's mother came out of the coma she was in? If you remember in Claire's flashback when it was revealed that Christian was her father, her mother had been involved in a car accident and was hospitalized.
• I feel that the expression on Jack's face when he realized Claire was his half sister may have been one of the best acting moments on this series.
• Terrific irony that Claire's mother is unknowingly looking at her own grandson when she compliments Kate on Aaron.
• So does the hold full of C-4 explosive and the mysterious broadcast signal have anything to do with the device strapped to Keamy's arm?
• I loved Locke's reaction when Ben handed him his Sharper Image retractable cattle-prod thingy.
  
• Is there a legitimate reason that the actual Orchid Station is underground?
  
• I am still anxious to see how the group that are the Oceanic Six manages to be the ones who make it off the island since at this show's end, they were all scattered about.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Over the satellite phone, we hear Lapidus say the chopper is 5 klicks from the site.
• Oceanic rep Karen Decker said that on day 108, the 6 survivors made to the island of Sumba.
  
• Aaron is said to be 5 weeks old at the press conference.
  
• The reporter wants confirmation from Kate that she was 6 months pregnant when she got on Flight 815.
  
• Ben points out to Hurley that the Dharma soda crackers are 15 years old.
• Mr. Paik is told by his associate that 5 different banks were used, presumably in Sun's takeover of the company.
  
• On Hurley's car, the speedometer read 481516 and the trip meter displayed 2342.
  
• The closest Hendricks will approach the island is 5 miles off the coast.
• Jack said he wrote his father's eulogy on a cocktail napkin 10 months ago.
• Claire's mother said Flight 815 was 6 hours in the air when it crashed.
  

Previews - No new show next week but then on May 29, this episode will rerun at 8 p.m. EST with the final two episodes airing at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. It all comes down to this!

"Cabin Fever" (Season 4, Episode 11)

John Locke is one of the most intriguing people on "Lost". From the first episode when he asked Walt "Do you want to know a secret?" (I can't wait to hear what that is!), this man of faith has always been my favorite character. No surprise than that last night's show which featured his flashbacks - way back! - was one of the most intriguing episodes.

Best Line

• "He wants us to move the island." Locke explaining to Ben and Hurley what has to be done. I kept waiting for the episode to reveal the weekly best line and, although there were some good ones (Locke's summation of the Dharma Initiative as the makers of ranch dressing to Hurley's dream-induced exclamation of "Mallomars!"), it wasn't until the final seconds that I got my line. "Lost" has always had great last lines right before that musical BUM! but this one was a doozy!
  

Did You Notice?

• The song Emily was listening to in her bedroom was "Everyday" by Buddy Holly. This song was released in 1957. Along with Patsy Cline and Glenn Miller, Holly is yet another musician whose songs have been used on the show and who died in a plane crash.
• Are we to believe that Emily's older boyfriend is con man Anthony Cooper (a.k.a. real Sawyer)?
• Emily being hit by a car can be added to the reoccurring theme of car accidents (Michael being hit, Locke almost being run over in a parking lot, Kate getting in a car accident while fleeing the hospital). However, the car that hit Emily was not the Mystery Car of Death involved in the other accidents. Perhaps its predecessor?
  
• Is it a coincidence that both Locke's mother and Ben's mother share the same first name? Also, Ben and Locke are the only two characters who have had flashbacks to immediately before they were born and then showing different stages of their childhood.
• Keamy not being able to kill Michael echoes Michael's own attempt to kill himself and the island preventing it. We saw this same situation earlier this season when Jack pulled the trigger on Locke and nothing happened.
• Another reoccurring theme was the close-up shot of Locke's eyeball.
• This is the fourth dream/vision that Locke has had on the island. His first involved Boone and finding the crashed small aircraft. Then, he dreamt he was Mr. Eko and found the Pearl Station. His third dream was in the sweat lodge when he saw all the survivors in an airport setting.
• Interesting that Jacob's cabin started off as a getaway for Horace and the missus.
• The repeating nature of Locke's dream is reminiscent of a time loop.
  
• Not surprising that Horace Goodspeed wishes Locke "Godspeed."
• Is it significant that Emily's mother wanted to smoke in the nursery? Did this have some long term effect on baby Locke and the smoke monster of the island?
• Island native Richard Alpert has been watching over Locke since his birth. Hmm.
• So Locke considers Hurley "special" since he could see Jacob's cabin.
  
• I like that when Locke says they're making a pit stop, the stop actually involves a pit!
• Young Locke was playing backgammon as we saw him do in Season One with Walt.
• Young Locke is told he is "special" as was Walt.
• Young Locke's drawing could definitely be construed as a child's version of the smoke monster.
• The objects Alpert shows young Locke included a baseball glove; the Book of Laws (which I felt had a biblical look to it); a vile of what appeared to be sand (from the island?); a compass, a comic book (Mystery Tales with the cover story "The Hidden Land" and an accompanying picture of a city in the clouds - Cloud City? A Star Wars reference?); and a knife. Alpert seems pleased when Locke chooses the vile of sand (he is one with the island?) and the compass (he has a sense of direction?) but not when Locke picks up the knife (he could be violent?).
  
• I believe Ben is referring to Richard Alpert when he tells Hurley it was the Others Leader's decision to kill the Dharma people.
• The mercenary who dies from wounds sustained by the smoke monster's attack is named Mayhew. The actor who played Chewbacca is Peter Mayhew. Another Star Wars reference?
• Is the sickness affecting the freighter crew the same condition that Rousseau's crew succumbed to?
• Charles Widmore would seem to be associated with the Dharma Initiative as his secondary protocol document bears the logo of the as-yet-unseen Orchid Station.
• Could the "Temple" be the one place Ben can go to escape the island being torched?
• I'm guessing Sayid is only able to get one zodiac boat-load of people (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sun, and Aaron) off the island and to the freighter before the rest are stranded.
  
• On the inside of the door of teenage Locke's locker was a poster of the band Geronimo Jackson, first seen as an album in the Swan Station by Charlie and Hurley, then later on a t-shirt worn by undercover policeman Eddie at the commune in Locke's third season flashback.
• The summer science camp is sponsored by Mittelos, the same company that recruited Juliet. Mittelos is also an anagram of "lost time". If Locke had gone, would he then have been a man of science like Jack?
  
• Teenage Locke's statement "Don't tell me what I can't do!" is also what the wheelchair bound Locke said to the Australian walkabout travel agent in Season One.
• Lapidius found Michael's belief that Widmore re-created the crash of Oceanic 815 very amusing and bordering on conspiracy theory. What does he know that we don't?
  
• I'm wondering if the device strapped to Keamy's arm is some sort of time stabilization device so no matter where - or when - the island goes, he'll be with it. Almost like an electronic constant.
• Ben reveals that he was also once considered "special" and the "chosen one". It is obvious in this episode that Ben is reluctantly passing the mantel of authority over to Locke.
  
• Paralyzed Locke was at the Delerue Center for Rehabilitation. Georges Delerue was a renowned French film composer. He died of a heart attack and not in a plane crash.
  
• The second I heard the orderly's voice I knew it was Abaddon. What was the miracle that changed him? When he is telling Locke about his walkabout, there seems to be a guttural effect (not unlike demonic possession) to his voice when he says "Who I was." Then right before the elevator doors closed, I swear his eyes did something freaky. I re-watched the scene frame-by-frame on my DVR until I got too creeped out by his face. He just reminded me of the devil or an alien so much I couldn't watch it again.
• Now that the freighter doctor has had his throat cut and thrown overboard, does this mean the island does not exist 30 minutes in the past as Faraday's test proved, but maybe 23 hours and 30 minutes in the future?
• I wondered if it was symbolic that the satchel Lapidus threw out of the chopper landed on and collapsed what appeared to be Claire's shelter with Aaron's empty crib.
  
• Jack's dad did not have on his burial suit and trademark white sneakers that we've seen him in up until now. He appeared to have similar clothes to the island natives and a pair of work boots.
• Claire seemed very un-Claire-like to me. Could she be dead. My co-worker Geoff wondered if she wasn't killed when her house collapsed on her. Is it possible the island can only control dead bodies, ones with no will of there own, and is using her and Jack's dad to communicate with the survivors?
• In the humorous scene of Hurley and Ben waiting for Locke, I swore I heard ghostly whispering, including a "Yessss" when Hurley gave Ben a part of his (Apollo?) candy bar.
  
• As soon as Locke said they needed to move the island, my first thought was that they're going to move it in time, not geographically.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Emily said she was almost 6 months pregnant in the opening flashback.
• The freighter captain pointed out that there are 2 keys to the safe.
  
• The captain told Sayid and Desmond that there was a pantry big enough for 2 men and to meet him in 10 minutes behind the container.
• Desmond said he has spend 3 years on the island.
  

Previews - Next week's "There's No Place Like Home" features the homecoming of what the media apparently dub the Oceanic Six. This show will also mark the return of Jack's mother, Hurley's dad, and Sun's father as I imagine they are reunited with their children. This is considered the first hour of the three-hour finale. Also, my co-worker Ben pointed out to me the news item that the final two 16-episode seasons in 2009 and 2010 have been expanded to 17 shows each, on account of this year's season being shortened by the writers strike. You can never have too much "Lost"!

"Something Nice Back Home" (Season 4, Episode 10)

On Thanksgiving Day of 1982, I woke up with an appendicitis. Missing out on Mom's turkey dinner seemed pretty bad, but compared to what Jack went through in last night's show, maybe not so much. My operation was pretty uneventful, other than the out-of-body experience, but that's a story for another day. On to the show. Last week's show was all about action and intrigue. Tonight's was all about emotions and characters.

Best Line

• "Yeah, I getcha." Miles' response to Sawyer threatening him with a boot to his face unless he says "I getcha."
  

Did You Notice?

• The show opens as it often has with a close-up of an eye.
• Is Rose right that Jack's sudden medical emergency coincides with him trying to leave the island? His pain did seem to peak instantly after he vowed to get everyone off the island.
  
• Is it significant that Jack had a shaved chest in the future? In Season 2, when Jack came out of the Swan station's shower, he had a hairy chest. Also, Juliet had to shave him in preparation for the appendectomy. Hair today, gone tomorrow? And where was his appendectomy scar? Mine is still visible 23 years later and my operation wasn't performed in a hut on an island.
• Besides the writers love for "Star Wars", was the toy Millennium Falcon included because Han Solo claimed it made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, which is not a measurement of time but of distance? Are they implying that what we presume is time-travel is in fact travel instead over a great distance?
  
• Based on the score of the Red Sox World Series game shown in the newspaper, it is apparently late summer 2007 when these flash forwards take place. We know it's after Kate's trial and presumably before the events of last season's finale when a distraught Jack desperately wanted to get back to the island. This time frame would make Aaron almost three years old.
  
• Aaron's mobile of the planets may have been shown to remind us that there is more to the universe than just Earth.
• Jack is reading from "Alice in Wonderland", specifically Chapter 2 where Alice has found herself in a strange new world.
• I believe Claire's comment to Sawyer that she was seeing things refers to a scene cut from last week's episode when she saw Charlie.
• Why were Rousseau and Karl buried? So no one would find the bodies?
• Why is Sawyer suddenly so protective of Claire and baby Aaron?
  
• Jack's associate at the hospital wants him to look at an x-ray of an L4 vertebrae, which is also the same place on Ben's spine where his tumor was located.
• Dr. Stillman at Hurley's hospital bears a striking similarity to his other doctor, Dr. Brooks, who was seen in the episode "Dave", right down to the glasses and sweater.
  
• Interesting that Hurley believes that the Oceanic Six are all dead and in heaven. Is it possible that the surprise in this season's finale is that they die while escaping the island? Although the producers early on dismissed the theory of the islanders being in Purgatory, could it be possible that they were telling the truth at the time and that now Jack, Kate, Hurley, Aaron, and Sun (no longer islanders) don't survive? I purposely leave Sayid out of this theory because his interaction with Ben makes me think he, if not the others, is alive and well in the future.
• Charlie's message to Jack, "You're not supposed to raise him", mirrors the warning the psychic gave a pregnant Claire that her as-yet-unborn child should not be raised by another.
• Apparently, the smoke monster only chased off Keamy and the other freighter mercenaries last week.
• Looks like Jin won't hesitate to fall back on his enforcer ways to ensure Sun and his baby leave the island.
  
• In case you missed it, Juliet reminds Jack that Bernard is a dentist, making him a logical choice to assist in a medical procedure.
• Bernard's comment to Jack that he could be dreaming about something nice back home reflects (at least initially) the future Jack shares with Kate. Does this call into play the question of whether Jack's future is real or a figment of his imagination?
• Although the sign above the front desk indicated that Jack was back working at St. Sebastian's Hospital, the setting had much more of an upscale private practice appearance as opposed to the more traditional city hospital look it has had in past episodes.
  
• Was Jack's dad (white shoes and all) a manifestation of the smoke monster, explaining why his appearance occurred moments after the smoke detector went off?
  
• I think Kate's promise to Sawyer was that she would check on his illegitimate daughter, Clementine.
• So Sawyer chose to stay on the island. He had previously stated he had nothing to go back to. Was everyone given a choice to go or stay?
• I got the impression that when Jack pointed out to Kate that she was not even related to Aaron that there was the unspoken comment that Jack was, as if he had found out about his and Claire's family connection at some point.
• I loved that Kate seemed to have picked up Sawyer's habit of using nicknames when she called Aaron "Sweet Pea".
• Where has Claire gone with her dad (or what appears to be her dad)? Is he bringing her to Jacob?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Jack comments that his incision will be 2 inches lower than where Juliet is shaving him.
• Jack's appointment with his patient, Miss Berenberg, is at 5 a.m.
• Jack's associate has an x-ray of an L4 she wants him to examine.
  
• Kate mentions on the phone that Jack is not never home before 8.
• Jack points out that the nanny only works until 4 and he came home at 6.
  

Previews - Next week's "Cabin Fever" gives us a look back to John Locke's childhood as well as yet another appearance by Jack's dad, Christian Shephard; the never aging Richard Alpert; the
mysterious Matthew Abaddon; and Horace Goodspeed. If you didn't recognize him in the previews, he was the long-haired man with the ax that tells Locke he's been dead for 12 years. Horace is also the same man who brought young Ben and his father to the island and who was later killed by Ben when the village was gassed. Some people (including my co-workers Marilyn and Brian) wonder if he may be Jacob. He's got the hair for it. Plus, with a title like "Cabin Fever", you know the mystery man may show up. Also, TV Guide reports that "in a flashback scene that perhaps represents the narrative device's greatest leap in time so far on the series, we'll bear witness to a historic event that has significant repercussions on 'present-day' events on the island." Wow. This is building up to what could be one of the best episodes of the season.