I think Lost since the return has been at its highest form ever. Near every episode has been amazing. If it continues like this, even with the bad episodes at the beginning this could be Lost's best season ever, just from the strength of where its going right now.

I think that other than the simple scenes like Jack playing the piano, the conversations between Locke and Ben, and the great pacing of the show now, finally the mystery of it all is back. Magic box... the man who brought them all here... Locke's recovery... whether Ben is being truthful or not in all situations... It is perfection right now. Only thing forgotten lately is the characters showing up in each others flashbacks, though that hardly hurts it.

I only wish the audience hadn't abandoned it.

This episode seems quite important to the scenes with Ben in the hatch. When he was in the hatch he tried to manipulate Locke to not press the button. The only consequence of not pushing the button that we know of is that the communications with the outside world are down. I think that Ben knew this and this was his aim at that time, in the same way that he manipulated Locke into blowing up the submarine. Remember Juliet told Jack in the video that some people wanted a change? Ben wants to prevent anybody from leaving the island just like Locke does.

But Ben did push the button, when Locke got his legs trapped and he had to climb through the vent.

The 12 week gap really, really hurt Lost. Ep. 6 did 17.15 m, then ep. 7 did 14.49, then episode 8 did 12.84, so down 25% in viewers just between 2 episodes. I have a feeling though, that Lost's season 3 DVD will do very well, due to good wom from people. Lost is just a very difficult show to be able to watch every episode. If you miss one episode, its very hard to get back into it compared to other shows...but with a good finish for season 3, matters would be helped. I advise ABC to release the season 3 DVD in June or something, and not in September when the first Lost season came out, so the wom can spread.

next year it's going to run like 24 and probably move back to 8. It's ratings will go back up .

Wow, just watched last night's episode. Fucking phenomenal. That was definitely the best episode of the season and it's right up there with the best of the series. O'Quinn deserves an Emmy for his outstanding work here. The main thing that I loved was that it brought so many new mysteries into play, something that had been lacking from the show in the recent episodes. Next week's sounds great, although I haven't actually seen a preview yet. Lost is on a role fo sho.

Does this mean you liked it? Can't believe it...

I was worried that Terry O'Quinn would never get another Emmy nomination, but I think he has to have this one in the bag. If Elizabeth Mitchell deserves a nomination (I fail to see the appeal in Juliet or the actress's portrayal), then O'Quinn deserves the win.

Just to put this in perspective.

Charlie attacked Sun on Day 55, November 15, 2004
"The Man From Tallahassee" was Day 81, December 11, 2004

Season 1 ran September 22nd 2004 ("Pilot") to November 4, 2004 ("Exodus Pt. 2")
Season 2 ran November 4th 2004 ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") to November 27th 2004 ("Live Together, Die Alone")
Season 3 ran November 28th 2004 ("A Tale of Two Cities") to ???

I always think it's important to keep the timeline in mind when talking about Lost. For example, in Island time, it's only been about 8 days since they last saw the Monster.

Thanks for that! I didn't realize we were still in 2004.

Yup

When Ben showed Jack the footage of the Red Sox winning the World Series earlier this season, it had just happened in real life, at least in the show's timeline.

Yeah, I also think it's really important to consider that the entirety of Season 2 and the amount of time from when they open the hatch to when it is destroyed only happened within 23 days (magic number!).

Ana Lucia and the tailies meet up with (and kill Shannon) on Day 48 (Monday November 8, 2004) and she and Libby are killed on Day 64 (Wednesday, November 24, 2004) which is only 16 days (magic number!).

Other fun facts.

Jack almost gets killed on Day 8 ("The Moth")
Claire is stolen by Ethan, and Charlie almost killed on Day 16 ("Raised by Another")
Boone dies and Aaron is born on Day 42.
Claire is missing for a total of 11 days.

Even more fun facts!

The Black Rock was lost in 1881, was piloted by Magnus Hanso, who is bured on the island (this is referenced on the map in "Lockedown")

Regarding the skeletons (Adam and Eve)

Ben pushed the button. Essentially it looks like the button has done a few things:

- Produced an electromagnetic event that has alerted the outside world to the existence of the island
- Isolated the island inhabitants by creating an event which has cut off communication to the outside world. It appears that there needs to be two way communication to somehow leave the island (this was true of Michael/Walt as well).
- Fundamentally changed Desmond.

So yes, I imagine that Ben did push the button, for the same reason why he wouldn't directly destroy the submarine. He wants the Survivors to do it so he doesn't have to appear to be losing control of The Others.

The important thing to me about "The Man from Tallahasse" was that Ben obviously knows a lot of what is going on the island but he still doesn't completely understand how it all works and this really seems to bug him and make him particularly jealous of Locke. If the Hostiles did "purge" the DHARMA folks, the obviously knew about The Swan (they had maps anyway) and chose to leave it alone.

that episode was amazing. The last 4 have just been spot on perfection.

There was a great article in the Sunday LA Times about Locke and Lost.

Bad news... the article mentioned it would be 5 weeks before we see Locke and his father again.

Someone in the main cast, or a guest star?

He's got an episode on May 16, which is when he's rumoured to go.

Hmm... well that leaves two choices, and I'm willing to bet it's one over the other.

Or wait... three choices. Uh-oh... [Zapp Brannigan] Kif, we have a conundrum...[/Zapp Brannigan]

Ay ay ay ay ay ay

Everybody's talking in white, which must mean a whole lot of shit goes down tonight

Paulo + Nikki's episode is tonight...

Oh shit...

producers say this is supposed to be the best episode of lost of all time. it better be.

"Marge, you say that so much, it's lost all meaning."