And to carry it even further, maybe Locke's "I didn't pick up anything about him" act was an act, and Locke is totally in cahoots with Ethan and the island bunch, despite the running running running after Claire.

This is my thought.

And to carry it even further, maybe Locke's "I didn't pick up anything about him" act was an act, and Locke is totally in cahoots with Ethan and the island bunch, despite the running running running after Claire.

I could buy this. If too much stuff turns out to be hallucination, though, I'm gonna be annoyed. And by too much I mean only a little more than what already is.

Maybe he got whacked, and Locke spread mortar & pestle goo on his head, and the whole of Rosseau was a hallucination, too!

The episode after the whacking, though, he returned to camp perfectly fine. Rousseau was after he took his self-imposed exile following the torture, so unless Locke's goo takes a couple days to kick in, that one doesn't work.

he might be able to win over Sawyer by somehow getting him to let go of his self-hatred

My suspicion is that Sawyer has already been mostly cleansed by the healing waters of The Island. Cure him any more, and he'll be boring.

Oh. Damn. (eta: Hee, crosspost makes this all about Sawyer instead of my faulty speculation)

Okay, next on the chopping block -- did Boone show any sign of recognizing Sawyer? Sawyer probably wouldn't remember him, what with all the thrashing about and protesting, but the cop definitely directed Boone's attention at Sawyer, so he should remember. I have evidently mentally filtered all of Boone's interactions, so I don't remember at all any interaction between the two of them.

And Sawyer finally got placed in Australia, huh?

If Rousseau was an hallucination, where did the maps come from?

Does anybody think he knew that the hatch was in the forest when he told Boone to go back to camp?

If we assume that Locke is in cahoots with Ethan, then that's a fair assumption to make. I don't, though. I think Locke's got a plan all his own.

Also, does anyone have any theories as to the significance of the compass?

Aww, my computer ate my post.

But, if we do get into a 'The Stand' scenario, what are the teams looking like?

Team Randall Flagg (bad guys): Locke, Walt, Boone, Charlie. (The last would break my heart, but seems inevitable.)

Team Mother Abigail (good guys): Jack, Sayid, Michael, Sun, Hurley, Shannon, Kate, Sawyer. (Kate and Sawyer not being your traditional 'good', but who here is? I don't see either of them falling under the thrall of whatever this thing is. Also, while both of them have dirty pasts, I think they like the idea of being one of the cool kids.)

Wild Cards: Claire, Jin.

To balance things out, at least another somebody will have to go over to the dark side.

Why is Locke's side bad?

To balance things out, at least another somebody will have to go over to the dark side.

Locke will magically learn Korean, thus getting in good with Jin, who will discover that Sun speaks English and join the other team.

Also, Sayid could likely go dark. You're right about Kate and Sawyer; as much as either one might work on Locke's side, they're antiheroes, not villains. I know many would love if Hurley went dark, and it would definitely be a hell of a twist, but I don't see the seeds of that yet. It could happen, though, if he starts feeling really unappreciated and stuff...except we already know Locke creeps him out.

Why is Locke's side bad?

Cause he hits people on the head and ties them up in the forest. Of course, Jack and Sayid tied Sawyer up and tortured him. So.

Why is Locke's side bad?

Yeah, I'm not too sure about this either. Why shouldn't we agree with Charlie's assertion that Locke's the most likely person to save them all?