The weird part is, Locke is gaining power over people by subterfuge, quietly. Like, dude, if you openly made a move for power, there's a good chance you might become the obvious leader anyway. Why are you going to all the trouble to create rifts?

I've been wondering that myself. I mean, he pushed Jack into 'you must become leader!' when Jack would have been perfectly happy to stay in the doctor role and let Locke take responsibility, or Sayid.

All of this said, I will laff and laff if Sawyer and Kate turn out to be the deciding personalities in the Paradise Island Civil War. They're the only "I'm on my side" characters, and I wonder what it would take to win each of them over securely.

I don't think there is a securely in their cases. But I'm inclined to think that they'd end up on the non-Locke side. Sawyer doesn't strike me as someone who would take being manipulated well, and Kate knows lying and fucking with people's heads too well not to recognize it if Locke made a play for her.

ETA: And I totally agree with Robin here:

Boone's that dangerous thing, a weak person who thinks he's strong, so the only way for him to get away from her stronger will is for her to disappear. I think HE thinks he's made a great leap forward, but he just exchanged Shannon for Locke, as far as I can see.

Yeah, that was a really insightful comment, Robin. It gave me chills when I read it.

About Locke, I never watch Survivor, and only really know anything at all about the first season because of all the press it got, but I keep getting a Richard Hatch vibe off Locke, in that he's already playing a survival game. Does it feel like that to anyone? I don't, by the way, mean anything necessarily innocent or fun, when using the word game.

How do you differentiate between playing a survival game and just surviving well?

tav,

I've been wondering that myself. I mean, he pushed Jack into 'you must become leader!' when Jack would have been perfectly happy to stay in the doctor role and let Locke take responsibility, or Sayid.

Locke seems to want to do shit on his own schedule. So that might be why he wanted someone else to be a leader. He seems to enjoy going off and doing his own thing and not really reporting to anyone. He would have cut Boone loose probably except for the fact that they share that secret. Locke definitely would have liked to discover that thing by himself.

BTW, when I saw that metal piece and glass bit in the ground, that reminded me of a porthole. Given that there's no clear entry, I would probably look around for awhile and see if that is just "skylight" and the real door is elsewhere on the ground.

How do you differentiate between playing a survival game and just surviving well?

I don't know if I did. I don't know if I can. He just has this vibe about him (I mean, besides being all magic), like he knows how it's likely to shake out, and so he's not just planning about food, shelter, etc., but island politics. It's miles apart from say Jack, or Sayid.

It's funny, because last night I was filling a friend in on Lost so she could watch it with us. I gave her what little background there was on Boone and Shannon and said there was something weird going on, possibly in a Flowers in the Attic kinda way.

She asked "Oh, like Cruel Intentions?" And I was all "No, they aren't steps." Oops.

I sure as shit wouldn't sit around staring at that thing in the ground. I would start digging around it to see how deep, far, etc., it was. Gives me the squick that they don't.

On another thread it was suggested that Spike and his amulet is in there.

How do you differentiate between playing a survival game and just surviving well?

When playing the game, the smartest, the strongest and the best hunters frequently lose because they are too strong. In true survival, those skills are an asset to the group, not a threat.

On another thread it was suggested that Spike and his amulet is in there.

Actually, they were talking about The Show Soon Not to Be Known as The Inside. But it's a viable theory all the same. Spike comes out, gets burnt to a crisp, end of story.