I think you can't judge whether Charlie's resurrection was a cop-out or not until we see what happens next.

Well, it depends what you're thinking they're copping out from. It is possible (though I lack the faith) that there will be painful repercussions from what happened to Charlie.

What is clearly evident is that Dominic Monaghan will still be on the show next episode. Taking his face away from us and them would be a very ballsy move. I love him, and I'd be as upset to see him go as with anything non-negative the show could do.

Sorry Liese, about the spoil.

Oh, no worries. I wasn't complaining. And you were right, anyway, about not buying it. 'Course I can't say I wouldn't have bought it, but I did rather doubt it, regardless.

didn't Hurley specifically say at the beginning of this last ep that it was Ethan who wasn't on the manifest?

Yeah. He did. <crackpot>But what if he had changed his name (from Lance!) and really was on the plane and Sawyer - who had the manifest picked a name off the manifest to tell people he was!!?! Remember his flashback never put him on the plane, or even on the right continent. </crackpot>

Otherwise, we're back to did Sawyer tell Hurley his real name, or was his name listed as Sawyer on the manifest. There are of course, holes in the crackpot theory, what with knowing the backstory to his name, though. Unreliable narrator?

Oh, and in response to Steph's question, also potentially zombie dad. Unless he's not there. In which case, file under, Hallucinations, Vivid, which the island also appears to have in plenty.

also potentially zombie dad

OK, that right there? That'd creep me right the hell out.

Love the recap. This in particular made me chuckle:

"IF YOU DON'T STOP FOLLOWING US," says Ethan, "I WILL KILL ONE OF THEM." In reply, Jack bleeds on the mud.

Another exciting moment in the Incredible Advertures of Jack Sheppard, Ineffectual Hero.

I can't decide if it's more disturbing that cleolinda didn't recognize that what Sawyer was unfolding in front of Sayid was a straight razor (not nail clippers), or that I did recognize it.

What is clearly evident is that Dominic Monaghan will still be on the show next episode. Taking his face away from us and them would be a very ballsy move.

But if he had stayed dead in this episode, but then came back later as a hallucination or was brought back in some other way, would that still be non-ballsy? I guess I just don't get the emphasis on the writers' cojones in risking the wrath of Dom's fanbase as opposed to telling the best story.

ETFGrammar & clarify

I was surprised cleolinda didn't recognize the straight razor, too, dcp. I don't think Sawyer intended to actually use it, though. I think he was more interested in how Sayid would react to thinking he would.

I guess for me, killing off Dom's character, at least for an episode ('cause mind you, not all the major players are onscreen every episode) would have been more powerful.

However, since we still have not gotten utterly and definitively into fantasy yet, there wasn't any way to have him only mostly dead for that long, and still come back in a (presumably) practical and physical way.

Until Sayid stole the maps from Danielle, did anyone have any proof that they were actually on an island? Or were they just guessing?