I loved all the new characters, and I hope we continue to learn more about the other survivors.

Yeah, I was impressed with the extras who got lines and even names! Anyone else catch the woman in the final golf scene who says, "Yeah!"?

I have to say, I was quite amused by the fact that everyone in the Republican Guard speaks English so fluently, not to mention the crazy French woman who'd been alone on the island for 16 years...

My question is, if she knew English, WHY THE FUCK WAS THE TRANSMISSION IN FRENCH?

And I loved the mention of the black rock--yay again for megan's translation!

OMG seriously. That was one hell of a moment, when I realized the actual translation of the message was coming into play. Very, very impressive.

Like the tight shot on Jack and Michael looking all serious, and then (of course) we see that they're standing on the golf green discussing which club to use--that's the kind of thing the ME writers love (loved?) to do.

And, well, who didn't pick up that immediately? Granted, that was a rare instance where they didn't use that at the beginning of an episode, but I totally called it.

Oh, by the way, people saw the preview for the next episode, right? Let's all start getting afraid for Claire...now.

My question is, if she knew English, WHY THE FUCK WAS THE TRANSMISSION IN FRENCH?

Well, or both. If you're putting out a distress call, I'd think you'd want to use all of the languages at your disposal. (What other languages does she know? When she was asking "Where is Alex?" I caught Spanish, Italian, and German, and I know there were more.)

Oh, by the way, people saw the preview for the next episode, right? Let's all start getting afraid for Claire...now.

NO! CLAIRE AND THE BABY WILL BE SAFE AND HAPPY FOREVER!

I have to say, I was quite amused by the fact that everyone in the Republican Guard speaks English so fluently

I don't think they did. I think that was a director's trick to indicate that they were still speaking in Arabic (?) but for the actors to continue in English to remove the need to subtitle half the ep. That's how it appeared to me at least.

This wouldn't have worked with "House of the Rising Sun" because we needed the HSQ of Sun speaking English.

I think that was a director's trick to indicate that they were still speaking in Arabic (?) but for the actors to continue in English to remove the need to subtitle half the ep.

Yeah, I actually got that, but I still thought it was funny, especially to have them start out in Arabic and switch over to English so quickly. Like I said, Naveen Andrews' Arabic sounded a little hesitant and awkward to me, so I can understand that if he doesn't already speak it fluently, it's going to be difficult for him to do those scenes. But it still bugged me a bit. Plus, then I couldn't figure out right away whether Danielle and Sayid were speaking English or French together (or Arabic???).

Yeah, that's what I thought was happening -- we had the magical translator gizmo in our teevees.

NO! CLAIRE AND THE BABY WILL BE SAFE AND HAPPY FOREVER!

This bears repeating.

I don't think they did. I think that was a director's trick to indicate that they were still speaking in Arabic (?) but for the actors to continue in English to remove the need to subtitle half the ep. That's how it appeared to me at least.

Yeah, it was very Hunt for Red October, only it was cooler in the movie. But, then, they had more time for that kind of thing.

it sure looked like the guy who played his superior officer was a white dude, which was both distracting and disappointing.

If I'm reading IMDB right, I believe the actor's Navid Negahban. There's no biographical information included, but I wouldn't necessarily assume they abandoned any pretense of realism and just cast Joe Random. (Mind you, I can't remember if the character's name actually was Omar, but I don't remember any other males in this episode who would have been significant enough to get actual names. I could be mistaken.)

(ETA: Oh, unless the guy Sayid was beating up on in the beginning was Omar. But no, I think that was "Prisoner". On the other hand, the woman who played Nadia was Andrea Gabriel, whose heritage I don't feel qualified to guess but who has in the past been cast as a Latina. Hollywood is a strange land -- on the other hand, we already knew that since Thomash and Sean live there.)

(EATA some linkage, and also to apologize for the nitpicky rambling; blame it on my Sociocultural class, and my blond-haired green-eyed Mexican American professor.)

Hey, that's right! And then he was all "I just hope one day I'll find her again!" What's the deal?

Regrets, he's had a few, but then again....

Yeah, it was very Hunt for Red October, only it was cooler in the movie. But, then, they had more time for that kind of thing.

That's exactly what I thought! But they didn't have any cool-sounding placenames like "Armageddon" to use as the transition word.

Now that Locke has acquired another young acolyte in Walt, how long is it until Michael has his flashback ep and throws a hissy fit over losing his influence with his son at the same time?

Now that Locke has acquired another young acolyte in Walt, how long is it until Michael has his flashback ep and throws a hissy fit over losing his influence with his son at the same time?

And if it's by the same person who wrote "The Moth," we'll get a line like, "I could build an aqueduct, but I couldn't build a relationship with my son."