Thanks for your detailed post FloPo. I always enjoy reading them and I like some of the points you raised.

I fall in the middle on how I feel about this episode. Desmond is one of my favorite characters but I didn’t love this episode. I thought the first 45 minutes were really slow and rather disappointing. The scene with Claire was unnecessary and a lot of the stuff with Charlie was boring. While I loved seeing Charlie again, I didn’t quite get the point Charlie was trying to make with Desmond. But then badass Eloise shows up and the episode improved markedly! But good or bad, I am along for the ride!

I loved the way all the characters and events from the past are woven together – George aka Minkowski, the scientist’s aside to the rabbit, “you’re next.” Charlie being saved from death several times with Charlie and Desmond recreating the scene from Hydra station, Daniel saying “we have to talk” once again with Desmond, Widmore sharing the scotch with Desmond that he wouldn’t let him drink back when he was Penny’s suitor. Eloise saying, what happened, happened in reference to Drive Shaft (and we know that it meant much much more!) and Penny running the stairs in the stadium like Jack did when he first met Desmond.

Enter badass Eloise and the episode started to pick up for me. She is creepy! She reminds of an all-knowing witch. “I want you to stop. It is a violation. Stop looking for it. You’re not ready.” She clearly knows a lot of what is going on in the flash sideways where I got the impression that Charles wasn't in the loop as much. (Maybe that's why they're still married! )

I am trusting C&L to bring all the strands together from the Losties to Dharma and Widmore to Jacob and MIB to create a Lost mythology we’ll be happy with when the show is over but I do understand the frustration some people are feeling. I agree that “Happily Ever After” will end well for Desmond but I am not so sure about Sun and Jin. The title pertained to 3 people – Charlie, Daniel and Desmond and the loves of their lives Sun and Jin’s story wasn’t mentioned. Daniel give us a clue to the ending when he said “what if this isn’t supposed to be our life?” I still believe that the flash sideways stories are not our ending but I don't think of them as a waste. The characters are on a journey and these stories are part of their journey. Things will change again depending on what happens with the war among Jacob, Widmore, the Losties and MIB.

You wrote, " So, is the problem to go back in time and prevent the detonation, OR, is the problem to contain XLocke from leaving the Island?" Definitely food for thought! I think that is a big question for the remainder of the season. Although at times I hated Widmore this episode, he is becoming ambiguous, much like Ben. Is he good or is he bad? I am beginning to think that he is not as evil as he has been portrayed. I think that he will join with Jacob’s crew to contain the smoke monster.

One last thought: Desmond and the flight manifest, "I need to show them something." Who is he showing the flight manifest to? The candidates?