I feel like I should watch this episode again because there were so many levels to the stories that I’m sure I missed things! It was a complex episode and and raises a host of new questions and mysteries. This is the only drama I watch in real time every week; the show keeps on getting better and better.

I like zombiebaby’s statement, “I think there are numerous cons going on here.” Ben and Locke, Locke and Sawyer, Ben and Juliet, Juliet and Jack, Desmond, Sayid, Hurley and Jack…

I love the chess match going on between Ben and Locke how he drew Sawyer into it. Sawyer (Josh Holloway) was fantastic, and as I’ve said before, Sawyer and Locke are two of my favorites and to have them together like that was great. Richard is an interesting minor character who I bet will play a bigger role in the future. He’s creepy and smooth at the same time – what is his deal? Is he still working with Ben or does he have his own agenda?

Although Jack has been a jerk this season (and to think he was one of my favorites during the first season) I think he still wants to “save” everyone that was on Flight 815. He and Juliet have some sort of plan, but I think Juliet has given him the bare facts and that there is a lot she is withholding from him. She is devious; Jack is not.

The burning questions in my mind are how did Cooper get to the island and who exactly staged the fake plane crash. The mysteries and power of the Island is even more far reaching than I expected. It really does bring us back to the original question from the pilot, “Where Are We? I am excited that Ben’s flashback is next. He is incredibly manipulative and sadistic and it should be another episode that weaves more layers (questions and answers) into the story!

Kate=Dreamz

Feel like searching one of my first postings (when Lost first started).I said something about them being all dead and in limbo til they`ve sorted themselves out. Maybe that`s why we don`t see anymore of Michael and Walt. Walt accepted Michael as his father. Just rambling but does anyone remember my posting?

LAST EDITED ON 05-04-07 AT 02:54 PM (EST)

What a season ender we are building up to. Someone mentioned how how this show has been moving outward from the beach since season 1. What they heck are Jack and Juilet up to? There are so many secrets, the secret of the island, Dharma, the Others, and the Losties. I wonder if Lockes dad is deat the way Mikael is dead? Could the cliff hanger this season have something to do with a potential return of Michael and Walt.
DRONES

Loved this episode! The kind of episode that had me talking/making noises at the TV. A truly emotional moment when Locke thanked Sawyer for killing Cooper. But I absolutely loved the exchange between Rousseau and Locke. Locke sitting there in the Black Rock (sharpening his knife?). Rousseau walks in, sees Locke and hears someone banging on the locked door behind Locke and yelling. Rousseau doesn't even bat an eye. The two have an almost pleasant exchange kinda like "Nice day out there." and then she just leaves with her dynamite. Classic!

Siggie courtesy of Seana

I started to believe that the flight wreckage had actually been found. If it was staged, would they actually be able to show bodies? Would they really stage a replica plane underwater with fake dead people in it? And if they admit bodies were found, wouldn't loved ones want to bury them?? (Then countered that with the fact it was found in a trench so deep…maybe there's a reason to be given about the bodies not being retrievable.)

The flight is pivotal. If found, then either they ARE dead, or there's some parallel reality going on here.

After last night, I think we can definitively say they are not dead. How else could Naomi have flown/parachuted to the island? She didn't die first, she saw it while still in the air. Also, we've seen Others in mainland flashbacks…mostly in Juliette's recruiting. So I have to lean toward a parallel dimension--with the "box" possibly being the portal? In the "other" dimension maybe they did die.

Speaking of the box, there must be something to it--or something along the lines of its power. Going back to Walt and the polar bear, Kate and the black horse, those were really on the island, and indications are they came from the thoughts of individuals.

As for Locke's "purpose" I wonder if it really is to show everyone else the light. He worked on Boone to face his fears, he looked into the black cloud untouched, he made one of the first significant links that we've been seeing tie so many on the island together. (Was there speculation, or confirmation, that Sawyer killed Jack's dad? If so, does Locke already know that from reading his file?)

If so, then I can't wait to see the future episodes when he leads each person to enlightenment. What are Hurley's numbers about? What is the deal with the fortune-teller's vision for Claire's baby? Those are the kinds of things I could see Locke uncovering.

I believe that if "they" (this mysterious corporation behind Dharma and such) can pull off such stunts as murdering Juliette's ex-husband, they can stage an airplane crash. Depending on when and where the wreckage was found, a story could be concocted about being unable to retrieve any remains. Or perhaps remains were retrieved, but were in such a state of decompositon (especially if they had been left in water for any amount of time) that they could only be identified by DNA or dental records, both of which could be faked.

Or...if you really wanna put on yer tin foil hat with me...

This particular group of passengers may have only thought they were boarding "Flight 815". There may be two planes. One real, the other? Not so much. More of a private flight, if you will.

Didn't she say that the plane was found at the "bottom of a trench" in the ocean? If so, it could have been too deep for anything but robot diver video confirmation, which I think would probably be easier than anything to fake.

Slice n' Dice's Sigpic Chop Shop 2004

There are some trenches in the ocean that are so deep that even the robot subs cannot reach because of the massive pressure. They collapse.

Deep oceanic trenches are one of the great mysteries of Earth. There have been something like 24 people who have gone to the moon. Only two people have ever been to what is currently the deepest KNOWN ocean trench. Since the sea floor is almost unmapped and only a miniscule amount of it has ever even been mapped, there could trenches out there where even a robot sub camera can't get to without being destroyed. We know more about space.

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein
This is one of the many reasons I love to SCUBA. I feel like an astronaut.

Right, but if they have "proof" that the plane crashed and ended up in a trench, wouldn't a robot sub (really gotta look up what they're actually called...) be the logical way to "prove" that the whole plane is there with people inside? And, wouldn't that footage be relatively easy to fake? A lot easier than crashing a second plane and filling it with dead bodies, I mean.

Slice n' Dice's Sigpic Chop Shop 2004

is very wise. You should listen to her more often Jimbo!

Sure they *could*...but why *would* they? Many water crashes leave nothing but debris, so why not just scatter plane bits and say they found the wreckage and no bodies? SO much easier than the whole robots-in-a-trench scenario.

Thanks for disagreeing though...good practice eh?

Robots?! Well now you're just being ridiculous...

I'm clinging to an interview I read some time ago (which, of course I have only vague details of so I wouldn't know where to find it fory ou) where one of the producers/writers/whatever said that everything on the island had a rational and logical explanation. Fake-o plane crash sounds a lot more rational than a parallel dimension. At least for now.

As far as the wreckage, if there were no bodies found perhaps some family members (especially those with a sizeable amount of coin to blow, i.e., Penny) would continue searching and digging deeper. Throwing a corpse or two in among the metal bits would create a more convincing scene and hopefully send them on their way. If indeed this was created by the mysterious Dharma people, who seem to be of unlimited funds and willing to do whatever it takes to protect their little island there, this kind of attention to detail would be included in their fiendish plot.

(I love saying "fiendish plot".)

Plus, I love a good conspiracy.

To tell you the truth -- I'm leaning more towards the side of my other wacko theory than this one. Never underestimate the fieeeeeeendish plots of those with obscene amounts of money.