And why am I being namechecked again?

Sorry. You're my number one love conundrum.

There's a song in there, somewhere.

My first instinct was country song, but the word conundrum would cause too many brains to explode. Blood drenched cowboy hats everywhere.

Blood drenched cowboy hats everywhere.

That sounds like a good country song, to me.

Blood drenched cowboy hats everywhere.

That sounds like a good country song, to me.

Sounds like Garth Brooks featuring Korn, to me.

Two more times than ita, then.

Tired of breathing, have we?

Also, a big damn WORD to JZ for his wonderful summation of what is fucked up about Locke as a person (and wonderful about Locke as a character), especially:

Locke's agenda is known to Locke alone. Interact with him and you're either playing into it or thwarting it all unawares (in fact, if it turns out that he was the one who clocked Sayid, you can be going about what you believe to be totally neutral business entirely unconnected to him and still thwart him and bring a thumping upon yourself without having any idea how or why). His agenda is both so purely internal and so vastly big-picture that there's no guaranteed safe way to guard against it or even make an informed choice to assent to it.

ita, Locke used Charlie as boar bait in The Moth.

a big damn WORD to JZ for his

(psst, tavela, JZ is a her)

Locke used Charlie as boar bait in The Moth.

I have a near-complete block on that episode. Can you give me context? I'm assuming it wasn't part of his "just say no" program.

Hey, tavella, are you Tavella on TWoP? The one who helpfully posted someone's Fuselage translation of Jin's dialogue with Hurley? If so, thanks. It doesn't sound like he's fluent either.

Also, ha! He did say something mean.

I have a near-complete block on that episode. Can you give me context? I'm assuming it wasn't part of his "just say no" program.

There was a scene where Charlie was running away from something, and it turned out he was being chased by a boar in order to lure the boar into one of Locke's handy boar traps. Back when they were all buddy-buddy.

Well, he sure didn't tell Charlie he was doing it. He said, "Charlie, I need your help with something."

Then he was nowhere to be found. Charlie hears some rustling. Then he starts running for his life. The boar gets caught in a trap/net.

There's no way an herbalist is going to have as much medical value as a surgeon. I'm not saying she's not valuable - but applying basil to a severed artery is not going to be as effective as somebody who can sew it up.

I'm still unclear on how a surgeon without any instruments managed to sew up a bleeding artery. Because, need a curvy needle and some really strong thread -- did they unwind heavy-grade thread from around coat buttons? Do people flying from Australia even take their coats with them? I'll grant that he has the expertise to sew up a bleeding artery, but the tools are what I'm talking about.

The most useful aspect of Jack's medical expertise, right now, is psychological: everyone seems to think, "Yay, doctor," and presume a certain level of civilization safety net. Which illusion will be punctured by the first Lostite who comes down with appendicitis, because anybody watching a doctor improvise abdominal surgery outdoors, with a hunting knife, some alcohol for sterility, and no anaesthetic -- they'll change their minds about how strong the safety net feels.

You'll notice there are no diabetic Lostites, or heart patients, or anyone with a chronic ailment who needs regular medication to survive. Because, even if they had been cast, they'd be dead by now.