did I see that bagua symbol on the damned shark?!

The BF saw it too. Of course, we were also watching Lost and taping VM, so couldn't rewind.

I so called "Mike" and Sawyer being on the wrong side of the island. But Jin saying "Others" was still scary as hell.

Loved Michael and Sawyer on the raft, except when Sawyer removed the bullet, that was just nasty. Michael was like the only person who could make Sawyer look calm, rational and like he was working in everyone's best interest by comparison.

Flashback-Michael kept making me want to smack him, until I remembered about BitchWife's hiding the letters from Walt. I also still don't understand why the choices were either injunction or signing over paternity rights - why could he just say, 'fine, take him to Rome but I'm still the father & you have to pay for me to fly there once a year for visitation' or whatever?

I was again filled with the mind numbing hatred of Walt's mom with special bonus, her lawyer too.

I mean JESUS. It's not like *Michael* up and left for Amsterdam! She whisked Walt off before he said his first words and all, and he got the crap knocked out of him by a car.

I mean, JESUS. Shut up, Bitchface Waltmama.

did I see that bagua symbol on the damned shark?!

Yes. Cree. pee.

May I just say how glad I am that Jin's not dead? (DH had to put up with me periodically whimpering "But where's JIN?" during all of Michael and Sawyer's special Moments. Not that they weren't very special and I do love both Michael and Sawyer very much, but it was VERY MEAN of them to leave me wondering about Jin's alive-ness for the full hour.)

I love freaky Hatch!Guy.

I hated walt's mother as well. I'm not sure why she was made to be that much of a stone cold bitch...if the writers want to make Michael extra sympathetic, but she kept acting like she was the party being wronged.

Much (almost all) of Michael's sympathetic qualities seem to come from being wronged by stone cold bitch. Without that factor he is pretty much an annoying screw up.

Without that factor he is pretty much an annoying screw up.

Which, honestly, is why she probably didn't feel too bad about taking Walt away from him.

did I see that bagua symbol on the damned shark?!

Yes. Cree. pee.

Maybe the island (including, of course, the hatch of doooooom) is all one big social experiment a la The Truman Show, and the bagua symbol is an advertiser's product placement. (Not to us; but in the fictional Lost-world.)

I have to say that my extreme hatred for Locke continues, but I was able to watch most of this.

There will be no dissing of my man Crazy McCrazy Locke!

Poor Locke seemed very frustrated in the promo. I love how he gets fixed in his mind exactly how things should be, then just can't understand when it doesn't work out like he planned. Then again, it could just be I understand this frustration.

Bagua means eight trigrams, that are the building blocks of the I Ching. It's used as a map in Feng Shui to guide a person as to how to enhance their environment.

eta: When I saw the symbol, I was reminded of the Blue Sun.

I love how he gets fixed in his mind exactly how things should be, then just can't understand when it doesn't work out like he planned.

Which is just how a man who has lived inside of his own mind most, if not all, of his life should react when confronted with the real world for the first time. You can just tell that he's had this fantasy of himself as the Great White Hunter John Locke for years, surely longer than the four years he's been in the wheelchair, and the island isn't cooperating like it should!

For most of the first season, I was sure that Locke had this elaborately hidden life before being paralyzed. After seeing the Dad-takes-his-kidney flashback and seeing how he behaves in situations such as Boone's death and next week's preview, I'm thinking he worked retail most of his life, instead.