Besides knowing just when Sayid's rocket went off, he'd also have to know just how long his cigarette fuse would burn. This is where I start to think that we're dealing with a level of cunning/care that I'm not sure Sawyer has.

It just occurred to me that maybe what set off Shannon's asthma was the fumes from the bottle rocket she had to set off.

That rocket went up within about 30 seconds of Sayid's. Their watches would have to be synchronized, Sayid would have to reach a position to send his up at the exact moment he intended, AND Sawyer would have had to accurately predict how long a cigarette that wasn't being dragged on would burn before catching the actual rocket fuse. And then he'd have to cover 2 km to an unknown location to intercept Sayid before the cigarette could burn to that point.

Unless Sawyer pulls off a mask to reveal Kevin Spacey as Keyser Soze underneath, I'm not buying it.

I agree, askye. There's a darkness to Locke's helpfulness.

Kate got into it a great deal more than she intended, which probably explains why she didn't do it in the first place.

You gotta admit, Sawyer/Kate has about 10 times more chemistry than Jack/Kate. I'm usually skeeved by the whole "good girl secretly wants the sexually agressive baaaad boy" plot, except Kate is decidely not a good girl and she can totally give as good as she takes--so it worked for me. They are both pretty fucked up and I can't imagine anything good can come of the relationship, but there's definitely heat there.

As for the kiss itself--OK, there was way more tongue than I'm used to seeing at 8 pm on my TV screen, but the real hotness came from the side details. Like the expression on Sawyer's face before, the little moan during, and the way the blush suffused Kate's face at the end. Yowza. (That said, there was a little part of me that yelled at screen, "Girl! Haven't you heard about blood-born infections? You do NOT go for a mucosal contact with a dude with a BLEEDING mouth whose Hep B, Hep C and HIV status you don't know!")

Some people use helpfulness as a method of control. It's especially insidious, because if you confront them about it, they can get offended and righteous.

Issues? Me? Why?

I'd have to rewatch, but I'm pretty sure Sayid's plan was "At 5 o'clock, everyone set off your bottle rockets to signal that you are in position and ready. After the third rocket is fired, everyone switch on your antennas." So Sawyer wouldn't have to know when Sayid's bottle rocket went off, he'd just have to figure out how to rig the rocket to go up around 5pm. So Locke's theory/accusation is sound there.

However, the whole reason for the bottle rocket thing was because the battery life of the antennas was pretty short. So that's where the accusation breaks down, as if Sawyer turned the antenna on early, the battery would have most-likely died before Sayid could start getting a signal. But neither Locke no Sayid mentioned the antenna part.

Personally, I agree with askye. I think Sayid woke up after getting clobbered and his first instinct was to blame Sawyer. He then finds out Sawyer was covering Kate's position. He goes to confront Locke and Locke gives him a reason to blame Sawyer again, even if it doesn't completely add up, he's willing to believe it enough to ignore that.

Kathy -- weren't there a couple of days between last week's and this week's episodes?

Sure Locke got Charlie to give up the drugs, but he was so...I don't know. He finds the kid's dog, he finds Charlie's guitar...I'm not sure if he's actually finding these things on his own or using the island to help him...but he comes off as being helpful. Weird but an asset and I think he quietly gets off on having this power.

It seems as if he's silently sowing discord without anyone knowing it's him and is setting himself up to be indispensable so he can eventually usurp the power from the "heroes". [If they get rid of Locke who else is going to kill the meat?]

As I remember it, Shannon was distracted talking to Anonymous Woman and only remembered to light her rocket and turn on the antenna when the woman pointed out Sayid's rocket blast.

Another thing is that we know is that Sayid started to get a signal on the transceiver when he was knocked out, which suggests both Shannon's and Sawyer's antennae were turned on. If it was Sawyer who hit Sayid, why would he have turned his antenna on? It would have frustrated and distracted Sayid more if he could not get a signal, which would have been more difficult if the antenna was turned off.