I agree, not a strong show. Way too predictable. I would agree that if you're going to have an action/adventure show you need to have a real sense of danger. But, if you go out of your way to kill a character every season you destroy that sense. You just end up with a guessing game.

I actually did like Shannon's back-story, it explained quite a bit. But killing her off right after she and Sayid finally get together and profess their love...it wasn't dramatic, it was trite. And unoriginal. And manipulative. And, dare I say, cliched. And who didn't guess what had happened at the sound of the shot, if not before?

That was all so annoying I didn't give much thought to as to what the Walt apparition is all about.

Next week's episode does look interesting though. Here's hoping.

Oh yeah, and we need WAY more Kate!

I have not seen it yet, I am first going to think long and hard about whether I want to keep watching this show. I had hoped that this spoiler would not turn out to be correct, it sounded too fucking cliched. I like Shannon, but even if I had not this is still lazy shitty been there done that storytelling. This tough woman who has survived for weeks on end amidst incredible danger is just going to blow away the first skinny non threatening blond woman that comes along her path with her very last bullet when she knows there are other innocent survivors out there. Why didn´t they kill those three guys on sight then if they are that jumpy? It is just a lame attempt at shocking the audience. `Look, no one is safe on our show, we will kill regular characters.´ Spare me, they will never ever kill Jack because in the original pilot the audience did not respond well to it. He is the manly hero and he is there to stay. Surprise me and kill him or Sawyer, but they won´t. There is no fucking point to Boone´s and Shannon´s background stories. Jack let their father die to save his wife to be. That will have no consequences. What was the point of it all. Shannon was just a prop to be killed off in order to pretend to be a daring show and hurt Sayid and the audience (those of them who cared about her anyway) and set up a revenge story arc. Well I am so very interested in that, I have never ever seen a story like that before I swear.

_________________
Cartman: Mom--Kitty is being a dildo.

Mrs. Cartman: Well, I know a little kitty who is sleeping with Mommy tonight.

I haven't been on fire with love for this show this season, like I was last season. Last season, it was firmly one of my two favorite shows. (The other was my precious Carnivàle. RIP) I haven't hated any of this season's eps, but none of them have been particularly intriguing to me. I've felt a lot of the backstories were boring and did little or nothing to further my understanding of the characters.

It's funny, though. I have never liked Shannon - until last night. It was the first time she seemed like a real human being to me and I felt myself developing a soft spot for her. I genuinely felt for her for the first time.

And now she's dead? WTF? Come on! That is just lame! It felt like a dirty trick.

So, yeah, I was disappointed and for the first time since I started watching Lost, I saw it dying, at least to me. If it stays around for many seasons, I don't know that I want to keep watching it.

_________________

Well, I did watch the ep despite being spoiled about Shannon. I had hoped that maybe this was a foiler, or that if they did kill her off at least it would open up some interesting and orginal plot developments that would at least partially compensate for losing the character. No such luck. As has been mentioned, the way they chose to do this was pathetic. They had since April to plan this scene, and this is all they could come up with? i read a number of interesting speculations from fans on how they could do this and every single one was far better than what actually happened. The rest of the ep was so-so, I did like Shannon's back story, but that makes me even angrier since they killed her off minutes later after ignoring the character for most of the season.

I dislike the idea of killing off characters at sweeps time and I think it sends all kinds of bad messages. Yes, changes in cast do need to occur and this is a show about people in a dangerous situation, so I would have accepted Shannon's death if it had been better written. I hope Maggie Grace has plenty of success in the future, and that the lazy writers get a bad reaction to this and decide to think twice about pulling off another travesty like this any time soon. Unfortunately the world being as it is, they will probably get a great reaction to it. At any rate since Shannon and Kate have always been my favorites on the show and watching it now just to see Kate interact with the loathsome Jack has zero appeal to me, I'm not planning on watching the show again.

_________________
"if we never take the first step/We cannot go too far/Let's get a move on/Jump in." -From Jump In by High Places

I had mixed reactions to this week's episode - I found the Shannon flashback parts boring (although I did feel much more sympathy toward her and it helped to explain her treatment of Boone - and her evil stepmother was just a total witch!), but I found the present-day parts of the Tailies and others and stuff to be gripping. It's still one of my favorite shows.

_________________
Stocking Stuffers: Little Gifts from RKT

I thought it was a good episode last night. Loved the opening scene, with the quiet ocean, then plane pieces falling like rockets from the sky.

They got me, I thought Nathan was one of the Others. I mean - Nathan/Ethan, Canada/Canada, creepy/creepy, etc. I thought Goodman was foolishly letting him go, and the Others would then be by shortly.

I wasn’t sure about introducing so many new characters in an already crowded cast, but I like Ana Lucia, Libby and Mr. Echo more than some of the regulars.

RE: the Others, a few thoughts:

* The ones on the boat who took Walt seemed pretty low-life, like scurvy pirates. Ethan and Goodman seemed clean, educated and well spoken. It seems odd that a couple of jungle boys could come off so well.

* In each case the Others were at the crash site at, or near, the time of impact. It's a big island. What were the odds that they would just happen to be in the neighborhood? It was a little easier to believe with Ethan because there were so many people. It would be fairly easy to slip in a few days later.

However, with the tail crash site, Goodman was there immediately. He was also dressed appropriately, down to the shoes. As Ana Lucia mentioned, they weren't big on shoes.

It almost seems like they knew the plane was going to crash and they were waiting. Claire's psychic seemed to know the plane was going to crash. A large piece of plane wreckage in the first crash site had the ghost image of a Dharma seal on it.

Hmmmm......

Well Culzean, despite being completely unspoiled (and not doing a lot o' thinking/discussing of this show), we know that there's funky magnetism going on in The Hatch, and that Flight 815's instruments went kablooie: I would guess that The Others did expect a plane to be a-fallin!

I never liked Shannon: could think of several other females (just on the front of the plane, never mind the back) who were better w/ Sayid than she was.

That said, I still didn't like the Game Over way they killed her off: cheap shot. Literally.

. . . however, it (along w/ tonight's backstory) gives serious new dimensions to "A-L": have to say that I'm really looking forward to seeing the dynamic of the "reunited passengers" now.

And FINALLY, we get a Kate ep!

GG Anyone else get a chill when Locke and Mr. Ekko sized each other up? If these two work together----OR at odds---I think they could either save the castaways . . . or DESTROY THE WORLD. Take your pick! Out

Gatito - good point about the magnetic influence of the island. It would explain why so many planes and boats have crash-landed there. That, and the mysterious numbers signal, the one that drew Rousseau and her crew in too close to shore.

That still doesn't explain how they knew exactly where the different parts of the plane would land, but we can chalk that up to creative license.

I finally watched last week's episode. That was quite a look between Loche and Mr. Echo. Ditto the look between AL and Sayid.

I like Mr. Echo, but at the moment he seems a bit like Loche. I like AL, but at the moment she's yet another guilt/angst ridden castaway. Bernard is definitely a background character. So far, I like Libby the best of the Tailies.

And next week we have a Kate episode. YEAH!

What did people think of the Kate episode? Pretty cold blooded of her to kill Wayne that way, if I do say so. And WTF is with the black horse? Is it a symbol of something - her guilt, maybe? Quite the love triangle developing with Jack and Sawyer. I see now why Kate has such a love/hate thing with him. The association with Wayne - creeeeepy.

Watching Rose and Bernard reunite was so sweet.

Hilarious moment when Hurley gave Jin the thumbs up the night after Jin reunited with Sun. Thank god he got that cuff taken off.

Locke just gets weirder and weirder. What's up between him and Mr. Eko?

I didn't find much in the way of clarifying by seeing the missing bits of the film. It just added to the confusion. But WTF with Walt being on the computer, eh?

_________________
Stocking Stuffers: Little Gifts from RKT

Black horse is that a night mare?

Just an added piece of info for those interested: the "Book of the Law" found by the agents of Josiah in the Temple is believed by most Biblical scholars to have been what we today call the Book of Deuteronomy.

Hmmm....the horse. It could symbolize a lot of things. The ancient Greeks strongly identified the horse with Poseidon, god of the sea (and we are, after all, dealing with an island, aren't we? ).

I wonder, was that actually Walt on the computer??

I didn't care for the Jack/Kate kissing scene, but they made up for that with the Kate on a motorcycle scene.

I was kind of glad they didn't sugarcoat Kate's crime. There was certainly no self defense involved. That was murder.

Which brings me back to - an awful lot of people on this island have killed somebody.

The separated film strip was interesting. Somebody wanted someone to play with that computer. They went through a lot of effort to remove that warning. Though why they would hide the film strip rather than burn it is beyond me. I thought Walt on the computer was great. Real creepy.

And I was wondering about the horse too, I have no idea.

kate on a bike... yum! Hot! I would rather see a sawyer/kate hookup than jack. I still can't stand jack and I am still bitter over shannon.

_________________
- - - - - - - - - - -
moliendo café

Well, this was mostly a really good episode . . . until the last few minutes.

* How kewl was seeing the Island's (feel like I should capitalize it: the Island's a character! ) "defense system" like that? I felt, from the finale last year, that the smoke (?) we saw was "alive" somehow: this was a lot more evidence of that (kinda like the "Eye of the Island" that Locke saw in S1)

* Mostly really enjoyed "Mister" Eko's backstory. This is very true-to-life to rebel (i.e. terrorist) groups like "The Lord's Resistance Army": they make young boys kill, to effectively keep them (mentally/emotionally) captive FOREVER. Clearly, Eko had grown to be a leader among his cell . . . but he was still that terrified save-brother-at-all-costs boy inside. Seeing his brother's sacrifice must have broken through that (was Eko really functioning as a priest before he got on Oceanic 811? Or was that just a spur-of-the-moment decision he said to Charlie? I still kinda wanna see Eko hook-up w/ someone on the Island, so if he's a "priest", I hope it's not the celibate kind! )

. . . but I really thought it was stupid that Eko burned the plane (which might have had many useful parts. And truthfully, a small amount of heroin should be saved---under lock and key!---just to use as anesthesia/painkiller for medical emergencies). Couldn't he have just burned his brother's body outside of it?

Last/least: Charlie. I almost thought he had grown from his Eko experience, when he confessed to Claire . . . but then he turned into a defensive little putz again. How surprised am I (NOT!) to see that he's hoarded a bunch of Heroin Mary's?

GG Maybe he's a great guy, but I struggle to understand what Evangeline sees in Dominic, either. As Joe Jackson would sing "Is she really going out w/ him? Is she really gonna take him home tonight?" Weird. Out

The smoke was very cool indeed! It seemed to be electrical. It looked like there was almost an image within it when the camera panned around it. I'll have to re-watch and freeze-frame.

So, somehow this smoke was able to grab Locke and drag him into a hole? And presumably it yanked the pilot out of the plane and tossed him up into the trees?

Now that's strong smoke.

I like Mr. Eko, and I liked his backstory. I got the feeling he might have begun to turn his life around after his brother was taken in the plane. Perhaps he did continue to live as a priest, though I can't imagine how he ended up in Australia, and on his way to the U.S.

I'm wondering if Walt's alive, and sitting at the computer in another bunker somewhere on the island? Or, has wet-ghost Walt made his way into the computer system?

We didn't have much Jack in this episode, which was good. But Charlie stepped in as annoying-character-of-the-day.

Has anybody else marveled at just how much tarp that plane was carrying? Amazing. Almost everyone has a tent.

Oh, and next time, I want to see one of the guys cutting the hair of one of the women. This is starting to get old!

Man, where is the plot going on this show? Sawyer and Charlie teaming up to steal the guns?

Charlie is being "Other"-fied, I think. Sawyer, I don't know.

GG More and more of a "Lord of the Flies" thang happenin'? Out

That was a pretty decent con, in that I thought Anna Lucia might have had something to do with the attack on Sun as well.

I'm not sure why Kate asked Sawyer to go talk to Locke, or why Sawyer was able to assume that Kate would ask him to do so. That part really doesn't add up to me.

I also have no idea why Kate would want anything to do with Sawyer after this. If being played like a violin doesn't inspire trust issues, I don't know what does.

And, lastly, I wonder if Sawyer can sleep with his eyes open.

I can sort of see why Charlie would want Locke to feel stupid, but not why he would hurt Sun to accomplish it or why he would trust Sawyer. And I suspected Ana Lucia at first, but not when Kate started blaming it on her - I knew something was up. And I know that Sawyer's aim was to mess up the leadership that Jack and Locke had semi-established, and to get some sort of revenge for people taking his stuff, but I don't see how it's tenable for the long term. He has to sleep sometime, and I don't see Kate becoming an ally that will help him keep his gun. And now he's just a big fat target. I dunno. Anyway, it was a decent episode. I doubt that Sawyer really loved whatever-her-name-was in his flashback. He's a total con artist.

But I can't help lovin' that man!

_________________
Stocking Stuffers: Little Gifts from RKT

So we now know that The Island has curative properties, on Locke (whose past paralysis is *still* a mystery), Rose (her terminal cancer), and presumably Jin as well (his supposedly irreparable infertility).

My prediction: come the end of the season (if not sooner), we're going to see that it otherwise affects the human body---in terms of growth/maturation!

GG That is, when we recall that only about 2 months or so have passed on the island (and one month since last season)---imagine everyone's shock when they see Walt looking a year older!!! Out

I started watching this show again and I just finished ep 18. I skipped the parts with any kill me now Jack flashbacks and the disgusting senseless no purpose other than having people give Anna Lucia the evil eye for a few weeks and Sayid being hurt dead Shannon bits, but there is plenty of irritating stuff left, like lord Jack going to trigger happy Anna Lucia to start an army instead of Sayid or the Hurley and his gf are both crazy and maybe they are imagining all of it plot which has never been done before in the whole history of TV shows and or movies.

Fortunately the parts I like do still outweigh them, so I will keep watching for now. The lack of Michael and the less time spent on Jack has been a blessing. The addition of Mr Eko and Hurley´s girlfriend are a bonus. Did anyone notice a few eps back that Locke was checking out a house for Sayid´s lost love? These people are all connected and still it seems they are trying to make it look as if everything on that island is some man made conspiracy. Yet I cannot imagine anyone being able to manipulate all of them to get on that plane, crashing it in a way no one should survive and then have black smoke tear people apart.

Edit: Well that figures, I said it out loud so I have no one to blame but myself. What do we get for episode 19? Far too much Jack being way too close to Kate (she was "honored" he asked her to come with him, WTF???) and Michael returns....

_________________
Cartman: Mom--Kitty is being a dildo.

Mrs. Cartman: Well, I know a little kitty who is sleeping with Mommy tonight.

Wow...I didn't see any of that coming!

Don't read this if you haven't seen last night's episode.

Thoughts on Michael:

A) The Others made a deal with him - get our man out and we'll give you your son.

B) He's been brainwashed.

C) He's "sick." Rousseau killed everyone in her party, including her husband, after they got sick. I'm sure she'd take Michael out if she saw him now.

I wonder if there are two classes of Others. The Greater Others, who control the medicine and the Lesser Others, who get sick and do their dirty work?

I wonder if Jack can spot a self-inflicted gunshot wound? Probably not.

I'm really bummed they killed Libby. I was intriqued by her backstory. I suppose we may still see her in Hurley's flasbacks, but still...

Since the Others have an interest in Locke, I think he should go join them and play double-agent. That could be interesting.

I am only a very recent Lost viewer. I have not seen the 1st season, but what I have seen reeks and reels so much of every Twilight Zone episode ever made I'm not sure that isn't the intent. They really are running the gamut of mind f*** cliches, including it all being a figment of Hurley's imagination, not knowing who is who or why - and no way for the audience to know either beyond teasing it out. I'm wondering if the writers of the show are just hoping they'll come up with something no one has ever done before - before the end of the season. It's not the sort of show I can see running for a long time.

That said, the show can be a lot of fun to watch and does create suspense when it's needed. It's just not paying off any time soon.

In a way, there's something about it that reminds me of the Michael Douglas film, the Game, or even the Truman Show. A focused experiment on an individual (or group of them) for someone else's entertainment. But who knows? My personal favorite theory is that they're all clones ala The Island, unaware of their true purpose....

I am really irritated that they killed off Ana Lucia...and after the humiliation of sleeping with Sawyer no less!!!!

Now we're back to Kate being the only hottie on the island...although she's getting way too many Jack cooties...I don't know how well that hotness is gonna stand up...

And poor Hurley...I suppose now we won't find out about the whole Libby/looney bin connection

I was really enjoying seeing Michelle Rodriguez running around in her little tank top and jeans all sweaty...damn!

Yeah, I really wanted to know where that was going.

_________________
Aaron
'TaraBaby77'

"I've always believed it doesn't matter who you sleep with. What's important is how you treat people." - Amber Benson

_________________
Mary Cherry IS my hero!

I do not give a toss about Anna Lucia, but if Libby remains dead, the only thing that will compell me to watch again is if they present me with Jack's head on a stick. I swear, I am sick of writers that pretend to be daring by killing off female characters whilst keeping obnoxious male pretty boys alive because the audience will react badly to them being killed off.

_________________
Cartman: Mom--Kitty is being a dildo.

Mrs. Cartman: Well, I know a little kitty who is sleeping with Mommy tonight.

...I think if Sawyer ended up becoming missing, I would still be able to sleep at night, LOL. Anna, I don't know. Mixed emotions about her from the beginning. But Libby, she raises my 'interesting' eyebrow. Anyhoo, I'm twitching because I wanna read the spoiler, but I don't... the pressure. =)

_________________
Aaron
'TaraBaby77'

"I've always believed it doesn't matter who you sleep with. What's important is how you treat people." - Amber Benson

I didn't see any of that coming. As for Ana Lucia and Sawyer, I hated it. I think she'd have been better sleeping with Vincent than Sawyer. At least its in Vincents blood to be loyal. Not that I want to see anyone sleep with a dog but she may have well. I'm sad about Libby though. Poor Hurley.

HUGS
Barb

I feel a lot of ambivalence about this show right now.

Like some of you, I am sad to be losing both Ana Lucia and (apparently---rumors notwithstanding) Libby. On the other hand, for all I know, it may well have been in MR's and CW's contracts "Get busted for DUI, and we will 'kill you off'" (But why do I have the feeling there ain't a clause like that in MF's contract? Heh: "MF"---nothing against the actor, though I do HATE the character, Jack...)

On the other hand, the plot is so damn involving! Keeps me guessing!

I love the little connections: that the father of the "miracle" that "Father Eko" was sent to investigate, was the same psychic who told Claire "you MUST raise your baby" (but then set up a supposed adoption in LA). What's up w/ that? (Last night, he admitted to Eko he was a fake)

The whole connection of Locke & Eko intrigue me: both of the characters are so, well, deep. Like they could be forces for tremendous Good, *or* tremendous Evil...balanced on a knife's edge.

The Big Plot Reveal last night, confirmed some suspicions: the "Dharma Initiative" is (at least in part) a complicated psychological experiment (straight out of BF Skinner?). That revelation, marked a loss of faith for Locke...

...but not for Eko, who, when combining the synchronicity of finding his late (saintly priest) brother's body on the island (half a world away from Nigeria), with all the other Island (and Castaway!) Weirdness, is more of a believer than ever (in what, we're not sure). And Eko's faith seemed to restore Locke's as well.

So, next week: Sayid's onto Michael. The "Chief Other Guy" reappears. And everybody's shocked-shocked!!!

GG Dollars to donuts, that Group-Shock is at the reappearance of Walt: ya heard it here first! Out

As a general rule, I don't enjoy it when characters get killed off. On the other hand, I do enjoy being surprised. I thought the second season started out pretty slow (and had WAY too much Jack) but it's definitely picking up.

Here's what I don't get - Henry's an Other. While incarcerated, Henry spent all his spare time manipulating Locke. He even told Locke that he was wasting his time pushing the button because nothing happened when he himself didn't push it.

Then Eko has a dream where his brother tells him Locke has lost his way and needs to have his faith restored. So Henry pulled Locke further off the path, then Eko got him back on track. If the Others want Locke on this path, why pull him off in the first place? Was Henry testing Locke, or are there two forces at work on the island?

The dreams seem like a form of manipulation to me. I don't think Eko's brother is speaking to him and looking out for him.

And the psychic guy...that's very intriguing. My take is he's probably part of the Dharma initiative. They seem to be all about manipulation.

And yeah, I'll bet Walt returns next week. But there must be something different about him; otherwise everyone would react with surprise and happiness at seeing him, not shock.