>I thought this episode was great.
> Storylines come together around
>Desmond, as they always have.
> He's the audience's Constant,
>too.

Then it's bad writing because he wasn't part of Oceanic 815, not a Lostie. I rarely ever felt a connection to Desmond, the island's tool.

>I loved how we started to
>see everything cross over in
>this episode. Desmond and
>Charlie's connection is still present.
> The stadium where Desmond
>and Jack met is now
>the stadium where Desmond and
>Penny meet. Desmond pushing
>the button in the MRI
>machine. So much more.

With fiction anything can come together. It was cute at best, hardly meaningfull and running the risk of losing credibility.

Speaking of which:

>I thought the 1970's EM machine
>was totally appropriate and consistent
>with the fact that they
>were using Dharma's barracks on
>Hydra Island and therefore using
>old Dharma equipment. It
>looked appropriately old and dusty
>and goofy and 1970s because
>it WAS 1970s stuff.

The Time traveling plotline was a cop out from the start. When a sci-fi writer is out of inspiration, he writes a time-traveling story where anything goes.

Although I had a lot of difficulty swallowing the idea of time travel, I accepted it as part of the mysteries of the island. Somehow the EM forces of the island made it possible. I could buy the kool-aid.

BUT, the EM machine we saw didn't depend on island forces. We saw the counter at 0 and it went all the way to max on its own. That means the island didn't contribute. That means the 1970 box made of bells and whistles was supposed to be able to do that. I don't buy that kool-aid at all. Why? The 1970s had 8-track players, no time machines.

Worse: With all the power his corporation has given him and 30 years to improve the machinery, Widmore completely relied on that piece of junk. He didn't even bring some outside computer to monitor it. What a joke.

Well, the guy did rely on a geologist to play the role of anesthesiologist so maybe credibility shouldn't be a consideration. I didn't know Lost was a comedy.

>I do not consider the Desmond/Penny
>storyline a soap opera and
>I do not think that
>it's only important to the
>"romantics."

Good for you.